Saturday, December 31, 2005

New Years Eve

It's New Years Eve Morning. Lindsay's flight was hella late. She was supposed to get in @ 10:30, but got in a little after midnight. Then after waiting for baggage and all that crap we didn't leave Indy until around 1:00am, then by the time we got to bed it was close to 3:00am. That's wicked late for me, I usually go to bed around 10:30-11:00. Oh well, no big deal.
The shop closes @ 2:00pm today, so I'm going to plan on doing a 20mile, or so, cross bike ride on some gravel/crappy roads east of town. I may be too tired though, we'll see. Tomorrow's looking okay weather wise, so I want to get in a road ride (probably the same one I did Tues 'cause it is about the flattest thing I know around here [which makes it just under 2,000' in about 35 miles] and I value flat(er) rides this time of year.) That will put me w/out a day off this week, but that's okay for base building, I guess. I'll take one next week. Then I think there's a b-town cx race the following weekend; sweet.
We have no plans for tonight. Probably be best to just stay home. We don't have any hangout's here like we had a few in Muncie. It took years to find the joints that were up our alley there, so I guess they'll turn up eventually. But as for this party night, may be bed early.
Happy New Year!

Friday, December 30, 2005

am lift

Lifted this morning. No 2-a-day today. Firday is lift only. Plus I have to go to Indy to pick up Lindsay tonight.
I sped through the wieghts today. There are far too many people in the 'gym' wearing cycling shorts to lift, etc. That isn't right. People: cycling shorts are for cycling! I wouldn't show up to lift in a swim suit (speedo). They're for swimming! Maybe I'll show up to lift kitted out, bibs, jersey, helmet, maybe even a skinsuit, and see if I get wierd looks form "those people." Plus (the reason I sped through lifts) there's this one dude I see @ the Y every so often who wears cycling shorts w/ knee high socks. This is a 100% Type A/"short man" guy. It bugs the crap out of me when people have poor form lifting. It's the easist thing to do, just don'ty nmove your back, or whatever. This dude has piss-poor form, inhales on the lift and exhales on the release (which is backwards) and dresses like a freak. On top of all this he breathes SUPER LOUD. He totally distracts me form my work out. I hate that people have that power over me, but man, this guy annoys me like no other. For the Frankfort readers, he is Ed Neihaus, whom I hate(d).
Anywho I get to see linds tonight, it's been a week or so. She has xmas presents here when she gets back, that should excite her.
Don't wear cycling shorts to the gym!!

Thursday, December 29, 2005

am roller

I put in 1hr on rollers this am. That's about 3 episode of Boy Meets World. Actually, an epsidoe is 21-22min long, so I did the 200 situps routine during the last episode. Nothing to report, just an easy spin, then off to work in a few miutes.
Lindsay got me a killer coffee cup for xmas that I've used everyday since. It's hand made on a pottery wheel. I saw it at the Musgorve Orchard earlier in the year, but didn't enough $$ to buy it. She went back and got it for me. It rules. It looks like an old tin cup, but is ceramic (or whatever pottery stuff is made of). She og tme also a double espresso cup from the same lady. Really cool to have locally made wares like that.
Oh yeah, my hair clippers blew up and caught on fire while I was cutting my hari the other night. I had just cut my whole head to a uniform 3/4" and "poof" the clippers, literally, blew up in my habd and caught on fire. It went our quick and by itself, but a) it freaked me out and b) I coudn't work my fade, so my hair is all one length. We have a Walmart gift card w/ about $10 on it, so when Linds gets back I'm gonna go get some new clippers. I've had the ones that blew for probably 5 years and they cost about $15, so I got my $$ worth for sure, considering 1 cut is $11.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

am/pm

So I lifted this morning. It was really nice outside here, 52*, light wind, cloudy. I wanted to stick to my plan, rather than go for a ride. As it turned out it started raining when I was in the gym; score. I did a 40min roller ride after work for my 2-a-day. Just an easy spin.
Temp dropped throughout the day, and it's supposed to cool down. Maybe snow in the forecast. It's winter training time, so what do I care? An outside ride here and there is nice, but I pretty much expect to be inside most days. Plus my plan only allows for a couple of opportunities for outside rides per week anyway. Maybe Sunday (New Years Day) will be okay for an outdoorer???

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Windy outside

I got in a 45min roller spin after work last night. I watched 2 episodes of Boy Meets World, which is almost exactly 45min. Perfect.
I went outsdie for 35miles today. The weather is great, but it is super windy, up out of the South. All of the southbound sections of the ride were spent head down, grinding@, like, 16mph, until a southbound climb came around, which was spend head down, grinding @, like, 10mph wishing for death. I went out Bethl to hwy45, to Southshore Dr, acrros SS and in Old 37. It was an involved ride, as some of the descents were 35+mph, but there is sand and some slick spots on the roads. Plus I saw, I'd guess 10 dogs. None chased, but they always put me on edge. So between scanning for dogs, ice and sand, my neck and eyes got quite a work out too. I'm glad I was able to put in a good outside base ride. I think B-Town winter training is a recipe for fast. It's just as windy here as Muncie, only you're either being smakced in the face w/ wind or your climbing. Or BOTH!

Monday, December 26, 2005

Post xmas

Having xmason a Sunday worked good for me. I usually take Sat off, but instead I rode then and took Sun. off. Then I hit the gym this morning and will do a little roller ride tonight. I got the DVD's of Boy Meets World to watch while riding. That should help make time go by. The Y was bust today cause most peole don't have to work. I was able to get my stuff in w/ no hassle, but there was a lot of peeps there. I moved up my weights for lifts, except for squat, which I decreased and added 1 rep and 1 set (per Coach Creer) (I'm not telling how much I'm lifting, it's embrassing how weak my sqaut is). I need to get to the grocery as I'm out of just about everything. Have to try to do that after a p.m. spin.
Hope everyone had a great holiday, I did.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Outdoors :)

Yesterday John called the shop and said nobody "had to" come in today if we wanted to leave early for our holiday destinations. I opted to not go in. When I got up it was 38* and I decided to get in an outside road ride. It was in the low 40's and hella windy, but I felt awesome. I pushed strong into the wind and spun when it was behind me. I only rode about 20m, but it was great to get out on a non-freezing day. In fact, I was overdressed. I had on my under-helmet neoprene hat thing and a jacket over two other layers. I had to take of the jacket and cap and shove them down into the back of my jersey. I looked like a hunch back, but I decidexd I would tell any on lookers it was a speed hump. There were no on lookers, seeing as it's xmas eve and; like most college towns, this one is a ghost town. It's knid of nice because this is a pretty busy town for it's size. Everyone wants to live here becasue it rules. One more thing about the ride, and I know it sounds like a broken record, but the Rock-n-Roll lube stuff is the boss. My bike rolls better, runs smother and pedal better than ever before with this stuff. The guy who sells it is a total wacko (it took me 28 minutes to order from him over the phone because he wouldn't stop talking and not just about grease, about EVERYTHING [and yes, adultry is included in that]). But he knows his lubes and he makes the finest.
I'm gonna hit the road for home soon and come back tomorrow. Happy birthday tomorrow to J.C.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

indoors :(

Looks like a roller ride today. I really wanted to get outside. I watched the forecast last night and it said a LOW of 32, so I figured it'd be somewhere around 30-32. It's about 19-21 since I've gotten up and I don't want to brave that this early in the season. I guess I'll ride rollers, per 'the plan.'
I did 40min on the rollers last night for my 2-a-day. I have to take Lindsay to the airport tomorrow am, but I think I'll be able to hit the YMCA before to lift. I can't remeber what time we need to leave, but I know it's kind of early (maybe 9 or something).
Matt and Zach went to FL to train for a week and are coming back today. Yesterday MAtt got in a pretty bad wreck on bike. He hit a road cut that was not pointed out by Zach (in front of him) and went donw hard, cracked his helmet all to hell and road rashed his face/shoulder/ankle all up. The other riders said he was out for a minute or two, but he said he's feeling fine now. He, like most of us, has no insurance, so he has to do the home CT scan, which is basically watching for dizziness or messed up vision. Hope he (and his $5,000 TT bike) are okay.
Well, on to the hampster wheel...

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

am lift

I lifted again today. It's been two days, but I'm getting the routine down. That's good because it cuts timethrying to figure out what's next. I'm incorporating some medicine ball throws for full body strength and it gets the heart rate up too. Plan is to ride rollers tonight.
All of the race schedules are up. Ohio Valley, Indiana Race Series and DINO. That means my calendar is complete for 2006, except cyclocross of course. That won't be anounced for a while. IRS has a whole series of Morgan-Monore State Forest time trials. Plus it has a Lake Lemon Road Race. These two things rule because there on my stomping ground. That's where we train several days a week. Plus IRS has a MTB race on it's schedule. I'm planning to add a few more RR's and TT's than last year, since there's so amny around here to do. Still focus on MTB, but do more road as well. Should be a busy year; cool.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Roller spin

I spun on the rollers this morning. No interval, just kept cadnece aroun 90-95 and mph around 17-18. I meant to ride for an hour, but ended up an hour and ten minutes on accident. It won't hurt anything, but it's weird that someone like me (who loaths indoor riding) would accidentally ride too long. Oh well, I did my 200 situp routine and that's that. Tomorrow is another scheduled 2x w/ weights in the a.m. and a roller ride p.m.
I'm not too sore at all from lifting. I can feel some soreness, but it's minimal. Mainly in my but (lunges) and my upper chest (dumb bell bench). Can't complain about that. Being tore up from staring lifting can put people out for a couple days some times.

Monday, December 19, 2005

P.M. roller ride

I did 40 min on the rollers when I got home from work tonight. I"m going to do 2-a-days 2-3x per week for a month or two. I have to FORCE myself to work out in the evening. I don' t like it, but I'll do it for awhile, I can use the base.
I totalled my year mileage. I have 4,767.2 for the year, and my files are cleared for the new year (which starts for me today). That 4,767 doesn't include trainer or commuting miles, so I had a pretty good year for a full time worker.

Back at it

I'm done with my week off. And I started lifting for the season. I went to the YMCA thi smorning and did my usual weight routine, but w/ lighter weight than usual. It always takes me some time to remember what it is that I do, since it's been a year or so since I lifted. It's about a 40min routine and hits full body. Pretty good stuff, muscular endurance lifting. I want to incorporate a couple more core excersises, but whatever, I'll figure it out as I go.
I plan to ride rollers tonight for a short time (probaly 30 min-1 hr, we'll see.) Just an easy spin to loosen legs muscle and to (try to) ward off DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). I wasn't too bad w/ DOMS last year, but there's no way to tell until you wake up the next morning and the one after that. Could be rough commute tomorrow, hope not; we'll see.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Pizza and a concert

To top off my week off, we went for pizza last night @ Mother Bears. We went to The Spin Doctors show at The Bluebird after. It was the Toy for tots show, so if you brought an unwrapped toy, you got in free. The Dr.'s were good. The singer has these killer high-kick dance moves. They sounded really good, like thay haven't lost much and they're happy to be performing still. We didn't stay for the whole show, but heard a couple of hits and some new crap. They went on about 10:30, after the opening band played for little over an hour. The opening band was some crappy pseudo jam band that was a total Phish rip off. The dude used the exact sae guitar effects as Phish. They played the obligatory "Tied to the Whipping Post" (Almond Bros, I believe) that every half-assed jam band in the country plays. Oh well, The Dr.'s were fun and put on a good show; I'm just getting old and don't like being out till, like, midnight anymore. At least there's no smoking in B-Town, so if you do go out, so don't smell bad and you don't have a hacking cough the next day. That rules.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Lazy Dayz

Well, I have not worked out all week. Riding to work is the only excercise I'm really getting. I feel lazy, but it's supposed to be good for me. I'm (trying to) sleep in an extra half hour or so each day for growth hormone/recovery's sake.
I finished overhauling my road bike with Rock-n-Roll lubes and cleaners. It is super smooth now. I put on a new chain and it's ready to go. Too bad next time it's ridden outside it will totally thrash the new and clean stuff. I have a couple of rides to do on cross bike in mind to are on gravel and crappy roads that are around 20 miles or so. It should be some decent riding for crap weather when road riding isn't a great idea. We'll see come next week and the following weeks.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Rebuild time

I'm overhauling my road bike in the week I'm taking off. I did both hubs last night and I'm doing drivetrain and headset tonight. I should be done wed or thurs and it'll be better than new with the Rock-n-Roll lubes through out.
I'm still doing my situp routine this week. It's quick and I'm sure won't inhibit my recovery. I need to maintain as much core strength as possible because during the season I don't do any core specific work, just riding, which strengthens the core, but is not specific to it.
I'm going to clean the Apt. this morning. I haven't vacuumed for over a week and when we're tracking in nasty crap from the outside slushiness, it needs done more often. So that's my plan this morn.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Bloomington Bandit Cross #2

Today was #2 of the Bloomington BAndit CX Series. The race was at a little park in a neighborhood off of Rogers St called Thompson Park. It was 32* and snowing w/ maybe a hint of freezing rain. Ideal Conditions for cross, they say. We rode an off road cinder trail out to the course, which sucked. It was hub deep snow the whole way and no one had been on it on bike, foot ski, nothing. It was just us blazing the trail. The course went around the parameter of the park throug woods, over iced-over bridges, then throught the center of the park field where there were the 3 barreirs. After the barriers was a sand box crossing that had to be ran through, you just sunk into it. It was a cold, tough race, but it CX and it's a 3 minute ride to the meeting place from my door. Can't beat that.
My plan is to take off all next week from all training. Then start lifting the following week with a few rooler ides squeezed in. Then roller/trainer (or outside) rides the following with lifting (maybe some runs too). Next cross race is Jan 15, but it'as time to think about 2006 season now and I need to have time off, says coach Andy Creer. So I'm going to take a week. It's actually kind of hard to take a week off when you train and are active 51 weeks a year. It will do me some good though.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Rent

We saw Rent the movie tonight. I have seen it on stage twice and the movie was absolutley great. I was blown away. It was a very good adaptaion, it left out nothing, added a few things, but kept to the original well. A few of the dialogue parts in the movie are sung on stage, but overall, I loved it. The origanl cast was awesome to see doing the show. Very moving.
I need to end this post with the declaration that I am straight. As an arrow. Ask my wife. I just like Broadway stuff, what?

Indy Cross Series Final

Raced the Indy CX finals today onice covered in 8" of snow. Riding, or racing as it were, on ice is super hard. The whole race my heart rate was under contorl, my legs felt fine and my lungs were fine, I just couldn't keep my bike in a straight line. I felt either drunk or like it was the first time I'd ever ridden a bike (or maybe the first time I'd ever ridden a bike drunk?). Lindsay said it was comical to see all these guys riding super slow then just falling over seemily at random. That's how it was too. We were riding crazy slow, then your front wheel would hit the edge of the snow and take you whever it wanted you, then when you try to get back on course, you slide on ice. It was a serious bitch. But, I did it and that makes me tough, right? I'll be even tougher after tomorrow's Bloomington CX race, right? We shall see.
I ended up 9th at the race (a few suprise fast guys were there, and a few of the dude's I normally beat rode very well in the BAD conditions). I beat my "arch rival" in sereis, but he still beat me in the series overall by 1 point! I ended up 3rd for the series. Not bad, I'll take it.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Ankle deep in snow

So it did snow. A lot. I'd guess 6-8" fell here. It was coming down hard and steady all afternoon. I was overhauling a Little 500 commuter bike yesterday and I left early when I finished it, about 5. I rode home in falling snow and about 4" of it on the ground. It was a difficult ride home. It's like riding in sand. More resistance and it makes you slide around. Can't lean into turns either. Plus there's only a couple of options in terms of where you can ride (in the care tyre tracks), so cars have to drive behind you and can't really pass. I'm not going much slower than they are anyway, I just don't like having cars waitng behind me. I said to Lindsay when I got home "if I can ride to and from work in this and stay upright, plus race cross in it, I'll be a bike handling superstar by Feb" that's the bright side.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Computrainer

Well, I finally put in over anhour on the trainer for the year. I did a pre-programed course called "chirs winter spin" (for BZ and MSTNBNR's sake if they want to ride it). It was a 21.4 mile course with a long 2% climb in the middle and rolling otherwise. The hour went pretty fast. I had "Saved By The Bell" on the tv and my Ipod on plus the computrainer screen displays, so I had plenty of distractions. It didn't feel too torturous.
We're supossed to get a big snow storm later in the day; up to 4" here and more north. Could make for soem interesting CX over the weeknd both here and in Indy.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

A.M. Run

Nothng exiting today. I couldn't get out of bed untill 8:15, but that's okay when I'm running and it's this cold. It was 11* this morning. I actually ran about 1min faster than I normally do on my road route, maybe it was the cold. I'm going to find an hour or so long ride on the computrainer tonight to do tomorrow. Then off Friday, and back-to-back racing (weather pending) for the weekend.

A.M. Run

Nothng exiting today. I couldn't get out of bed untill 8:15, but that's okay when I'm running and it's this cold. It was 11* this morning. I actually ran about 1min faster than I normally do on my road route, maybe it was the cold. I'm going to find an hour or so long ride on the computrainer tonight to do tomorrow. Then off Friday, and back-to-back racing (weather pending) for the weekend.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Stadium CX FREEZING!

I rode cyclocross over to and at the stadium this morning. It was about 13* and snowing. No real wind though. I put in about 45 minutes. That's enough in this cold. The snot on the wipe cloth of my glove froze so when I went to wipe my nose more it just slid off. The water in my bottle froze, so I couldn't drink. It wasn't too bad once I got over the numbness. After that intial shock (about 15min, I'd guess), it wasn't as terrible as you may think. It was nice to get inside though (even we haven't turned on our heat yet). The last Indy CX race sis this weekend and counts for double points, so I don't want to slack this week on training. Plus Sunday is #2 of the B-Town CX Series, so I have busy race weekend ahead.Let's hope the weather holds out for us...
~~~does anyone else notice that the dominate theme in all my entries is the weather? Maybe I should be a meteorologist. They probably make good $$.~~~

Monday, December 05, 2005

Rollers

I rode an easy 30min. spin on the rollers today. Just trying to keep rpm around 95 and spin the legs out. No real agenda. It's supossed to be a cold week, but I want to get outside a couple of times, at least. The forecast says low teens in the a.m. pretty much all week though. It may be a difficult training week. One thing was reinforced this morning: I hate riding inside. I need to qiut thinking like that though; I need to be more positive toward inside riding or I'll never do it.
I get paid today, then it's to the carwash after work to clean my MTB.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

MTB in Nashville

Today Dan and Josh Prater came down and we went over to the Brown County Sate Park to ride MTB's. It was cold, below freezing, and the low parts were muddy, but the rest of the course was frozen. It's a great trail. It has some good climbs and long descents. It has non-Indiana type climbs. Typically, IN climbs are short and steep, but the climbs at BCSP are longer and more gradual. Then the downhills are longer and more technical. It has the makings of a great race track. We got off the loop to do a 2 mile climb that empties into a gravel parking lot, then turned around and went back down it. It was a killer climb, super hard in the winter. You overheat easy due to all of the clothing you're wearing, then you start sweating a bunch, which makes you wet, which makes you even colder. It sucks. Anyway, we hit 30mph on the way down that hill. That's smoking on a MTB. On all of the climbs my (Oakley) glasses totally fogged over and I couldn't see a thing. I had to take them off and stick them in the back neck collar of my jersey because they wouldn't stay in the vent of my helemt. Dumpster glasses anyway.
We rode for just under 2hrs, and my recently overhauled MTB is totally covered in mud. Looks like it's to the carwash for it, then another o'haul w/ Rock -n- Roll grease(s).
We got Jiffy Treat burritos after we got back to B-Town and that's about it.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Arctic Run

I ran my road route today. COLD. It was 14* when I left and my desktop weather thing says it's 17* now. It didn't feel too cold. I wore two pairs of socks, knee warmers, tights, three upper body laers and two pairs of gloves. I was running down third street and there was a limo parked on the sidewalk. Third is one way, the direction I was running so I had to get in the road (with traffic coming behind me) to get around it. I thought to myself "that better be f**king Mellencamp, or I'm going to be pissed." Then I thought "f-that, I'm already pissed." So I ran by it and hit the passenger window hard (with my layered golves) and flipped off the driver. Why do people think crap like that is okay? What about handicapped people? It would have been great for someone ina wheelchair to have to go out w/ traffic behind them to get around some loser in a limo. Oh well, I guess I'm off my soapbox and done playing vigulante...for now.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Sponsorship!

I sent a race resume to Rudy Project a few months ago and was selected for sunglasses/helmet sponsoship. This rules. Rudy makes killer eyewear that looks good and is a great deal. Almost all of their glasses come with three lenses that are are super high Itallian quality and carry a lifetime warranty. Plus, I've been looking for a new helmet since Giro came out with the Atmos. I don't care for the Atmos, it doesn't ft my head well. I have tried on Rudy helmets and they fit well and feel good. I'm psyched to wear and represent Rudy (even though the stuff isn't free).

snowy cross

I rode cross bike out to Wapahani today. I decided it would be a nice snow ride, rather than the stadium. It was. I had a good ride for it being 29* and snowing. Once my fingers lost feeling, it was all good (my fingers always hurt when it's real cold, than they loose feeling and are fine). Wind was calm and it wasn't really muddy, just an all around good ride.
I plan to run my road route of (I think) 3.4 miles tomorrow. It's supossed to be even colder...