Friday, March 31, 2006

$$!!; Getting better.

I was looking at the Ohio Valley Racing website for something and there’s a notice on the front page that says several people didn’t pick up their winnings from the Hueston Woods race and to contact the dude to have their checks mailed to them. As it turns out, it paid to top 8, so I won money, as I was 7th! I’mnot sure how much it is, but whatever, this is the first time I’ve EVER won money racing. I’ve been in prizes plenty of times, socks, t-shirts, a tube, but this is money. I’m kind of pumped on it. Makes me feel all pro and stuff.
Here’s my pro style shout outs- I need to thank Lindsay for being supportive and letting me use the car to get there, Josh for racing next to me, Tortuga for the kit and well wishes, Rudy Project for sunglasses and helmets, all of my loyal readers, and most of all, mad props to Allah.
BTW: That’s all a joke, I’m no that full of myself or whatever that would qualify as .
I’m feeling better today. My throat is far less sore. That’s after two days off of workout and extra rest (naps). I’ll do it again tonight after work (nap) and I don’t work out Saturdays anyway, so by Sunday I should be back-n-better. Yippy.
It was 76* here yesterday. And sunny. Man, spring is here, put the Gershwin on the turntable. True, it’s raining today and supposed to drop back into the 40’s-50’s next week, but that’s spring. Oh and Daylight Saving is tomorrow. This will be my first time ever doing this, so hopefully my routine doesn’t suffer. If it does, I figure it will be only for a day or two anyway.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Sick day; a few numbers

So stuck to taking today off. I usually have to force myself into a day off (and I told Lindsay to not let me workout today), but my throat took care of that for me. I slept in a couple extra hours, which is good. It’s almost 50* and sunny, which sucks for me, but oh well. Pretty soon it will be nice all the time and won’t be a big deal. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow a.m., so it may be another one off. I’m not going to get out in the wet with a cold. A few days off will be good for me anyway.
I looked at some of the ascent numbers between my standard rides in Muncie vs. here. It’s kind of funny:
I did hill repeats to get in some climbing in Muncie. This was riding out to the Prairie Creek Reservoir and riding as hard as I could up "the hill" 5 times. It was a 27 mile ride w/ ~550’ of climbing.
My ride to replace that here involves no intervals, but is a route w/ 4 climbs. It is 25 miles and climbs ~1440’. Big difference?
My standard tempo ride in Muncie was out the Cardinal Greenway to the reservoir do a loop and back in. The reservoir (w/out the green way) is 12.6 mile loop w/ ~185’ of climbing. Total feet climb w/ the greenway is ~420’ over 33 miles.
My tempo ride here is out to the Bottom Rd. loop, which w/out the ride out is a 9.5 mile loop w/ ~505’ of climbing. Total ride is 1558’ over 33 miles.
For Muncie peeps comparison sake: Hagerstown (which is Muncie’s hilly ride) climbs ~1070’ over 60 miles.
So my standard Tuesday tempo ride here climbs about as much as Haggerstown+ the Cardinal Greenway both ways AND a Res. Loop, but in about 1/3 the distance. It’s hilly down here.
My point in boring you w/ these numbers is: I feel way stronger of a bike rider already. I’ve not lived here even a year yet and notice it. Racing road on a lot of the same course I’ve raced for years, I notice I can climb w/ much more ease than ever before. At Hueston Woods I was using the hills to recover. No joke. I’ve always been light and had good power-to-weight ratio, but it’s increased a lot and I can tell.
Summary: riding hills all the time will make you fast.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

The race of truth

I am feeling the early stages of a cold. I was going to meet Ryan this a.m., so I went out. If I were going alone, I would have stayed in. I decided already I’m not going out tomorrow for some R&R (rest & Recovery [I don’t relax]). So it wasn’t the best day out, as my throat hurts a little and I have a little cough.
So Ryan Josh and I went out to do this time trial that a local guy has made a web-site for to track progress. It is 4 miles and broken into 2-2mile sections. The first 2 miles is the Pinegrove boat ramp into Lake Monroe. Basically, the first 2 miles are all uphill. Then the second 2 are flat, so if you can climb well and recover fast, this is your course. The deal is, being on the verge of sickness doing an 11-minute anaerobic effort probably wasn’t the best idea, but whatever. My idea was to go out and do North shore/South shore which wold have been a really hard 40-45 miler, so I was glad we did less time/distance, but w/ a hard effort. Although I won’t make anywhere near 10hrs this week, that’s fine. I have no races for a few weeks and should worry about not being sick. The Indiana Race Series Morgan-Monroe State Forest Time Trials start next wee, but those are peripheral, so again, whatever. MTB starts up in about a month. No worries.
Here's the link to the website for the Pinegrove-Knightridge TT:
http://colinallen.dnsalias.org/cgi-bin/pgkr.cgi
Note as of this a.m., I'm #1, as Ryan Shanahan hasn't posted his yet, he was 9 seconds to my better.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Wet/Windy (do I, don't I? do I, dont' I?)

One of those "do I ride, don’t I ride" days.
I did.
I decided I wasn’t going to ride trainer. If it was raining, it was back to bed for me. It wasn’t raining, but it was wet from last night’s rain. It was over 40*, but 100% cloudy and semi windy. I had planned on doing the Bottom Rd loop, so I did. It didn’t seem too bad once I got out. I felt pretty good and never really had a straight head wind. I’ve done a slight schedule change and moved my mid-distance tempo from Wed to Tues, and making Wed the hard day as Ryan doesn’t want to ride Tuesday. So Wed. will be the Shanny rides.
I got a good scare that really bummed me out and had me stressed all day yesterday. Lindsay called me at work and said the computer crashed and wouldn’t re-boot. I was thinking ‘great, either I need to come up with some dough, or we will be a computer-less household.’ I got home and screwed w/ it for about a hour, including removing the box and cleaning/tightening stuff. Well (obviously) I fixed it somehow and we’re good for now. It’s got me thinking about backup/upgrade options though.
The Race
I ended up 7th. These races pay out to top 5 and 5th, 6th, and me (7th) all recorded the EXACT same time (and this using timing chips, not the old stopwatch/camera method). So I guess, technically I won $$ (although it’s probably like $10 split between 3 people and they’ll give it to the person actually listed as 5th). But whatever.

Note from today’s ride, it’s about 35 miles, and I had to stop to pee 3 times. And I peed as soon as I got home. I rarely stop to pee and if I do it’s only once on, say, a 50mile ride. Plus my throat is a hair sore. Uh- oh.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Ohio Valley Hueston Woods

Hueston Woods OVR race was today. I have raced this course several times in college and in OVR’s. It is a lot of people favorite course, so the heat was on from the line. It started fast and people were attacking right away. I was in the front for awhile, but given the furious pace and people moving all over the place at the front, I decided to move to the back of the front group to avoid trouble. Josh was there, so we hung back for 3 of the four laps, making sure to hang on the lead group, but a) do no work and b) stay out of any crashes (there were no crashes, but it was hairy at the front). So with one lap to go, I moved to the front and started taking some long hard pulls. Josh and I agreed to work with the Dark Horse team from Ohio to try to break up the Saturn of Dayton team. The Saturn guys would not work at all. They wouldn’t pull through at all. Nick T from Dark Horse is in the points lead for the series, and this is my last OVR race for the year, so I figured I had nothing to loose pulling hard for him, but he had much to gain. So anyway, I stayed at the front for the whole last lap and ended up 6th or 7th. It was an uphill finish, so I had to weave through non-climbing type for position. I’m happy with that. I rode good and felt great. I had a good OVR spring series. Already looking forward to next year, but it’s MTB time now!
As for the weather today, it was weird. It was fairly cold, but the sun was out when we started. By the second and third laps, it started hailing/snowing/raining real hard on us. The hail hurt super bad on my face. Then it would turn sunny again. It repeated this a few times. Weird.
I’ll post my result when it’s up.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Cold+rain+snow=dumpster

So I hard-headed it and went outside today. It was 33* and it started raining within 10 minutes or so. The rain turned into snow and/or little sleet things due to the cold. Wet is one thing (one crappy thing) and clod is one thing (another crappy thing), mix them together and it’s miserable. I set out to do 1.5hr, 4 hill ride, but cut to short to a 46min, 2 hill ride. It sucks, but what are you going to do? I’ve had a pretty bad training week. I blame the weather for it.
The plus side is I got an awesome new winter hat I got see in action. It rules. It’s a normal cycling cap, but made of winter material and has a flap that goes over your (my) ears and down in the back of the head and covers the neck. It is sweet and works great. I’ve wanted one for a long time, but could only find US Postal Service ones back in the day or Discovery Channel team ones now. I found a few killer wool ones one Ebay in past few months, but they went for from $35-$60, way too high for me. I found a Discovery Channel one on Ebay, and even though I totally didn’t want the insignia it had, I bid anyway, half hoping I wouldn’t get it. I got it for $22. They wholesale for $20, but not working at a Trek dealer anymore, I can’t get one for that. That is the one and only disadvantage of not selling Trek.
Anywho, this Sunday’s road race will be my last RR for awhile. After that I need to start riding MTB once a week or so to get my skills and handling back in line. I’d like to take next week easy, but after this dumpster week, I’m not sure.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Inside again

The cold had me inside again. I wanted to get out and do my 4 hill ride, but it just wasn’t happening today. I reluctantly got on the trainer and did a 18 mile uphill ride. It was fine, but my left knee has been bothering me off and on, and it was on today. Most of the ride was between 2-6% grade, but a few times it kicked up to 10%. The final climb was 10% for awhile, so I got off. I figured w. a sore knee about the worst thing to do is grind on a trainer @ mid 50 rpm. I iced it when I got home and it will be fine. It doesn’t bother me at all outside. Just inside. I think it has to do with the lack of stabalization muscles used riding inside. You don’t have to stabalize (hold yourself up) inside, so you’re neglecting some small muscles. It’s like using a weight machine vs. free weights. I, again, hope to get out tomorrow. I’d like to make up the 4 hills ride, but we’ll see. I really don’t want to ride trainer any more. I was spoiled by our mild winter, but like Brian Wilkes said, "nature always balances things out."
Sunday is the Hueston Woods road race in Oxford, OH. I always like this race. The course suits me pretty well. It’s rolling w/ 2 good climbs. I will have a crappy week under belt going in, but we’ll see what happens. I got off the front last year on the last lap, but couldn’t get clear. A well timed attack before the first of the two climbs could result on a solo win. I’ll have Josh there, plus new pseudo teammate Nick from Ohio. He’s a younger kid that pretty fast. He has told me he likes my style and will work for me if I want to break. Nice kid. We’ll see how it all goes.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

sunny+snowy=inside (again)

As expected, the 5" or so of snow has been reduced to, lets’ say, 4.99". Plus it was around 20* when I got up. Needless to say, it was another Computrainer day. I did a 31 mile ride I’ve done before. It’s a good ride w/ a few rollers and one hard climb that sits @ 10% for a while. It has good down hills too for recovery. It is a well thought out compu course. I’d like to get out tomorrow for my hill ride, but I’m not counting on it yet. May be an insider; great building week to a Sunday race w/, like, 5 inside rides. Oh well, happy spring to all!
The roads were really clear yesterday for my ride to work. I had no problems at all. I expected it to be bad, given the rate at which the snow fell. It fell @ over 1"/hr. It was clear by 11-noon though. It was hella cold though. And windy too. It’s warmer today w/ nothing but sun and appears less windy. Good.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Yeah, it snowed/Race Result

There was snow in the forecast. It snowed. I’d guess 4-5". I set up my bike on the computrainer last night anticipating this snow. I did a 34 miler on the compu. I’m actually kind of glad I could get out because my HR was low and I felt like I wasn’t fully recovered from Sunday. Anywho, it’s going to be an interesting ride to work today.
The Race:
I ended up 14th. That’s fine, as I said, I don’t feel like this course suited me too well.
AND, I meant to give props and/or shout outs to the house with the yard full of hillbilly’s out cheering for us during Sunday’s race. These guys were hilarious. They had signs made and everything. They had totally been drinking all day and made it seem as if they wait all year for the OVR to come to town. One in particular stood roadside w/ a beer hand-up every lap. It never got old to him. Nor did it to me, my hillbilly friend. Can’t wait to see them next year.

I'm guessing another indoor ride tomorrow. I'm leaving my bike on the comutrainer.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Okay race day, just okay

The weather was okay, it was nice and sunny, but pretty cold, really. We got off to late start, so I took 3 "one last pee’s." That’s where you say "okay, one last pee before the start," but w/ the start being pushed back, it makes that a hassle. I have never ridden the RR course sat St. Leon, but I knew it had a really big climb in it. As it turns out, that’s about all it has. It’s otherwise a flat course. It didn’t suit me too well. We did only 2 laps of the ~15 miles course, so I had to us lap 1 to learn the course. That climb was definitely huge. It is one of the bigger climbs I’ve ridden. It is just under a mile long, gains almost 400’. That’s a steady 11% gradient. Hard! I was in the front (first few) over it the first lap. I started it in the group and it was like riding the Hilly 100 hills; people everywhere and me having to weave through them to get to the front. I decided that next lap I would have to be at the front before the climb. At the top on the first lap I shifted into my big ring and took off solo. This lasted all of about 2-3 minutes due to the road following the climb being long and flat. I was chased down easily. But the pack was all split up due to the climb, so the group was smaller.
So lap two when we hit the creek basin that the climb climbs out of, I moved to the front. But I moved up too early, not remembering exactly where the climb was. So me and another dude ended up doing all the pulling through the flat basin, then I pulled one other guy up the climb the whole way. He stuck to my wheel like glue and we couldn’t get off the front once we reached the top. We reformed and rode to the line as a group. There was (at least) one Team Saturn of Dayton guy off the front, but I finished in the next group, probably just out of the top 10. Not a bad day. I spent a lot of time on the front, but could never get off the front.
My stomach was completely wrecked after I was done. This happens when I rode really hard. I felt like total crap the rest of the day. I made it home and laid down for several hours and whined. Then I went to bed, whined some more and fell asleep. I feel fine the a.m., but I need to figure out what tied my stomach on knots after really hard efforts. I think it’s lack of salt. I’m going to experiment w/ e-caps (salt tablets) and see what happens. I get plenty of sugar from Gatorade/GU, but very little salt.
I’ll spin out on the rollers in a few minutes and see what I can do the rest of the week. It’s supposed to snow a good (bad?) amount tonight, so outside rides may be hampered. I had a good building week last week; this one may be done inside.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Clod easy(ish) hour

It was cold this a.m. When I left my weather bug desktop said it was 32*. It felt colder. There was a really stiff wind, of course and that, coupled with it being cloudy, made it feel colder. The sun came out during my hour, and that made it better. I actually got a full on tail wind today. It was nice. Especially given that I wanted to ride easier.
The wind has got me about half pissed off anymore. It’s everyday. Muncie’s wind was (is) real bad w/ few trees and no hills to block it. But when it hits you down here it’s like insult to injury w/ the hills. I guess it makes you faster, it just sucks to deal w/ it every stinkin day.
Oh yeah, it's St. Patties day. I have on my green demin Wrangler jeans, so I'm covered. No $$ = no going out, and that's fine w/ me. The Irish Lion is probably the place to be, but I'd rather nap.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Hills and Wind

Temps were outside-able, but it was cloudy. Can’t have it all I guess. I got out and wanted to get some hills. The wind has been blowing stiff for the past, well, few weeks really. I had planned (via google maps pedometer) a 24 mile ride w/ 4 climbs. I had to get going a little earlier because I work at 11:00 on Thurs and Fri. It was a good ride and the sun came out about halfway through. I had to fight the wind for awhile, but the hills went well. I felt good.
I saw Ryan, Tim and Josh heading out as I was on my way in (they work later Thurs).
Tomorrow I plan to get out for about an hour and not hit it hard. Planned ride has two hills, but I’ll just spin them out. That is, if the weather holds. Who knows, it was forecasted to snow today and turned out to be a really nice day. I guess it goes to prove, ‘they’ still can’t predict the future.
I have to agree w/ Muncie bud Tim Green on his dis-taste with ealry spring weather. I have a brand new pair of Continental Grand Prix 4000 tyres I want to put on, but want to be sure I'm done riding inside first. They were free from the Conti rep. Free tyres that sell for about $100 rules. G.P. 4000's are supposed to be the best thing to have come along for a while and mine have 0 miles on them.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Hard (accidentally) outside

I went out solo this a.m. and rode the Bottom Road loop. I wanted to ride tempo, but I had a stiff headwind and was forced into riding pretty hard the way out. The ride in was cake, but out was hard. If anything floods down here, it’s Bottom Road first. It hasn’t rained in a few days so I figured it would be passable. It was. It was a good ride and I felt strong, it’s just so difficult into a constant, pounding, non-gusting wind. It’s like trying to walk and having someone standing in front of you with their hand on your forehead. I’m feeling good and looking forward to racing this weekend. It’s a "climbing" course, so hopefully I’ll have the legs. It looks like the forecasted snow has been omitted, so I’m planning on getting out tomorrow. Then short Friday, off Sat. and race day.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

D.I.Y.

For any interested parties, here is the link to the recipe I used for the tzatziki sauce I made:
http://salad.allrecipes.com/AZ/TztzikiSc.asp

It's great on chicken, turkey, veggies, heck probably even pancakes!
It's killer, check it out.

Fast or Warm?

That's the question I asked myself this a.m. "Do I want to be fast or warm?" I decided I would benfit more from riding than sitting inside being warm.
It was 29* (it was 71* yesterday) and super hella windy. I called Tim Cote yesterday to ride today. That was a good thing, because if I wasn't going to meet somebody, I probably would have petered out. We rode the Morgan-Monroe State Forest loop which includes the Beanblossom climb. I think that's the first time I've been up Beanblossom this year. Man, that climb's tough.
Anywho, we had a 360* headwind. No kidding. We had a headwind the whole ride. There was a small stretch of cross, but majority headwind. And strong. It was rough. Ryan is out of town so it was just the two of us w/ no Ryan Shannahan draft. No RS draft makes any ride harder, but especially w/ the kind of wind we had today. We rode hard and maintained an above 18mph av, which is pretty good for that ride regardless, but is really good w/ that wind.
So, super sunny, bitter cold and hella windy. A good ride though. I guess fast, not warm.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Indoor spin

I can hardly believe it's still raining. There already is, but I bet on the news tonight there will be several reports of serious flooding. Hopefully I can get to work in a window of clear. The last three days I've wore waterproof pants and jacket, but my feet got soaked. Actually, that was Thurs and Fri. I wore my waterproof (goretex stuuf, nut rubber) boots Sat, but made it in during a clear patch, so it wasn't really much help.
I judt did what is becoming my standard Monday ride, 1hr on rollers just to spin. I think this is very helpful after the either hard efort ride or race Sunday. I was thinking I would put the rollers out on our prch thing is nthe summer an ddo an easy hour D.A.R. (day after race). It's just too hard to find a nice easy spinner ride around here due to the terrain. Don't get me wrong, it is tops from every other aspect, but the one day a week you want to do a an easy flat spin, your options are few.
I made some tzatziki sauce (greek cucumber/yogurt sauce), so I'm going to eat it on about everything for next week or so. I've been making these vege gyros w/ diced cucumber, red onion and feta, now w/ some tzatziki they should be off the hook. Although, I think I'm going to make a chicken gyro tonight. It's 10 a.m., I just ate breakfast and I'm palnning dinner already. Man.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

The Window

Okay, so about 6" of rain has fallen over the three days here. Very wet. Dan and Josh came down to ride today. Plan for 1:00, they left Indy after 1:00. Got here a little after 2:00. We took off around 2:30 and rode to Spencer, which is about 20 miles there, 20 back (40 total, duh). It has probably 6 big climbs total (3 each way). It's a good ride that I like to do. Just ride to Spencer, go around the courthouse sqaure and come back. Knock itout in about 2 hrs. We rode it pretty hard, we had a cross/head wind both wyas, really due to the surrounding storms. The wind was all over the place and it was rpetty strong. Like I said, we rode it pretty hard and when we were about 15 min or so from home it started sprinkling. I thought for sure we were in for it, getting poured on. Not to be though. It cleared up, then let loose once we got in. We were lucky to get in that window. It was actually pretty nice, overall. We all thre wore shorts! That's the first time this year! That rules. We turned an otherwise crappy day into a good ride. Sweet. It was wet and we had a lot of water on the roads to deal with, but I'mnot complaining. It was great to be able to get out duringt his monsoon.
The weather is looking okay for next Sunday's RR in St. Leon, IN. It's a week away, so we'll see what happens, but so far, do-able. Neither Dan nor Josh can go next weekend, so i'mon my own, but whatever, road' sjust trianing for MTB anyway, right?

Friday, March 10, 2006

Lord Wellington Osaku Goldstein's identity crisis

I'll get to the title explanation in aminute. First, Lindsay and I went to eat at Noddle Town Chinese joint tonight. It was good. I had a tofu/vegetable dish that was doen well. Here's the kicker though, they take cahs only. Fine, if you want cash only, but in this day/age, it needs to be posted in large ass print on the door so it's seen clearly BEFORE you enter. No one carries cash anymore. Not accepting cards at your business is a bad idea anyway, but not posting that you only take cash is just irresponsible. Anyway, we were paying for our own meals seperatley and the guy says he can go use the card machine at some restaurant next door, but can use only one card. Pretty shady.
So after dinner we went to Borders Books to look at magazines and stuff. This is where we came across Lord Wellington Osaku Glodstein. When we walk in and went to the mag rack, there's this Japanese dude talking super loud (yelling really) into a cell phone. Everyone around is looking at him and each other and laughing amongst themselves. I join in this fun. Now here's where his name came from: he's clearly japanese, but kept saying into his phone "I'm so bloody pissed right now," so I figured he's a Japanese Brit. Fair enough. BUT, he kept dropping his call and he would give a very Jewish "oyy vey," so I assume, 'oh, he's a Japanese, British, Jew,' hence the name. Oh, and he had a pony tail too. Anywho, he's yelling about how "bloody pissed" he his onto his phone and I looked at him a gave a shrug laugh thing. He looks at me and has the nerve to say "mind your won business." I say "I'm trying to, but you're talking way too loud to allow that." That's the beginning/end of our confrontation. Probably for the best. We did catch him say however, that he makes $20,000/month! Pretty sweet cash. The next person he was talking to (yelling to), though, he wanted to come down to hang w/ him tomorrow. The Lord told this friend "I don't have any furniture, you'll need to bring a sleeping bag." I guess his first check hasn't been deposited yet.
PEOPLE: NO ONE WANTS TO LISTEN TO YOU TALK ON YOUR PHONE. EITHER TAKE IT OUTSIDE, DON'T ANSWER IT, OR TALK QUIETLY IF YOU MUST!
Disclaimer: Those who know me know I'm not racisist or (too) ethnocentric. This situation occured due to the rudeness and lack of recognition of cell phone etiquite demonstrated by The Lord. Not by due to his ethnicity(s).

After The Rain

There's a swet 80's music reference for you.

Today it is low 40's, wet and drizzley. But, having looked at the 10 day forecast, I figured I better get out while I can. Yeah, the 10 is something like 9 days of rain and one day of snow. This is one of the two times of year that S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder) grasps many people, me included, though to a more minor degree than some.
Anyway, I went out and rode my short loop ride, which is about17 miles with two major climbs and a roller or two. I rode super good. I killed the hills and rode the ride 4 minutes faster than I did it last Thurs. I felt great the whole time. It has on it one tricky decent. It is fast and curvy. I'm hesitant on it when dry, so I was extra cautious today. But, it was covered is debris from the high wind and 'severe weather.' Actually a lot of the ride had debris on it. I think it's rained like 2" here already and at the bottom of the hills a lot of debris has collected. I can imagine most of those hills being virtual water falls during the thivk of all the rain, then when the rain stops, or "after the rain," all the leaves, sticks, gravel and crap just stays where it was washed away to, the bottom. Navigating around the heaps was no big thing, but it's new to me to see that. Pretty weird, yet makes perfect sense.
Our Sunday itenerary is up in the air due to a few things. Josh wants to ride dwon here instead of in Indy. I'm cool w/ whatever, BUT it looks like more rain, so it may be trainer, trainer, trainer. Let's hope not.
Lindsay's on spring break from work, so we get to hang out every night this week. We'll get to have dinner together too. Should be good. She made this killer carrott/ginger soup a couple weeks ago and she's making more. I may have written about it already, but man it rules.
I left work early yesterday because it was dead and I was tired. I took a couple hour nap and woke up with a bad lower back pain. I went about my evenng w/ it and it still hurt when I went to bed. It hurt this a.m. too. I wasn't 100% I should ride, but did anyway. It actually hurts less now after riding, so that's good.
I cut my hair last night too. I was getting a little shaggy and needed to do it, but hadn't. After charging up w/ a nap, I had the energy to spend doing it. Good, I look better.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Bad ride = crappy workout

Still rainy and/or wet, so I had the computrainer all hooked up and ready for this a.m. I had to drag myself out of bed. It took my about 20min of banter to get up today. So then I got on the compu and loaded a pre-made ride caled "long." It's 18miles, and I wanted to do about an hour, so I figured this would be perfect. Wrong. Within the first minutes it starts a climb that lasts about 5 min an dis 12-14% grade! No time to warm up or anything. I say, oh well, and mash through it @ about 38-40 rpm, 4-5 mph. Because I've been pedaling for about 3 minutes, I can't get my heart rate up at all. On a huge compu climb, I'm hovering around 118-125 bpm. So then the ride goes down hill @ the same rate it went up, about 12-14%, which means in the 53x12, spinning out, no effort around 32mph. Then it just hits another 12% wall for about 5-6minutes and flattens out for a while. At this point I'm getting mad because the course sucks so bad. It keeps going from pedalling as fast as you can w/ a low HR to such a high hill that you can't get your HR up because you can't pedal faster than about 39rpm. It's been about 1/2 hour though and I don't want to stop and load a new course. So I decide I'll just stop at 1 hr, regardless of where I am on the course. Then the next climb comes. Gradient goes to 8%, 9%, 10% and I tell myself "as soon as that hits 12%, I'm stopping." 11%, 11.5%, 12% and I'm done. I put on a worthless 41 minutes. Given how tired I was, I should have just stayed in bed. When you can't get you HR elevated, it means you're tired, not sleepy, but in need of recovery. I did a situp routine and spent a little time stretching. Should have stayed in bed.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Cloudy+rainy=Computrainer

I did a 31 miler on the computrainer this a.m. It was raining pretty much all day. I set the compu up last night, anitcipating the rain. I chose a course that had two pretty good climbs, one of which is about 10% for several minutes. I spent about 1hr45min on it and it wasn't too bad. Computrainer is a far better way to get in trainer miles. Looks like it'll be compu tomorrow as well, so I'll just leave it set up.
The tornado sirens were being tested during my ride, which I couldn't hear due to my Ipod and the trainer. Lindsay woke up and came down to tell me the sirens were going off, but I had already read on the herald times online that they were testing them today. I was reminded of this because the siren is going off again right now. I hope it's another test.
Looks like this weekend we have a group forming to do a long ride up in Indy. My funds are low, so I can't race every weekend, as one race ends up costing me close to $50 w/gas/entry/and food. So me and Tim may drive up to Indy and ride 80-100 miles with Josh and Dan and some other people. We'll see. The weekend is supossed to be real warm, hopefully it's nice after these couple of crap days that are upon us now.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Cold+sunny=outside

This a.m. it was about 30*, but 100% sunny, so i wanted to get out, as the rest of the week looks like warm and rain. Ryan had to go the Dr. this morn and Tim had school stuff to do so I went it alone. I did the Bottom Rd. loop, which is about 34miles w/ only a couple climbs. I wanted to ride hard, but it a little difficult in the cold w/out a fast wheel in front of you. Anyway, I rode it hard enough and although cold, it's a pretty nice day.
Sunday's Race Result:
I ended up 8th out of around 41-42. No too bad. Dan and Josh were right behind me, but I think just outsdie the top 10. Good job to all.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Easy a.m. spin

I spun on the rollers fro an hour this morning to get the race out of my legs. I felt fine when I got up. I was a little tired and had to kind of drag myself out of bed, but I've been worse. I ate a Cliff Buidler high protein bar post race, a PBJ peanut buter and Jam, I hate jelly) on the drive home and had some red meat at dinner. So I had no shortage of recovery fuel. Knowing what;s in foods and what those things do is an awesome thing. Coach Andy Creer has been trying to get me into this for years, but only fairly recently have I grasped it. An athletes body needs different hings at different times and you can do yourself some real favors if you pay attention to that.
Tomorrow is looking pretty good for a big outside ride. I'll get ahold of Ryan and Tim and whomever later and see whats going down.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

OVR #1 Reilly Road Race

Today was the first of the Ohio Valley Racing Series. The race is in Reilly, OH and is a an about 8 mile course with one descent climb, a few rollers, two train tracks and some fast down hills.
My race day started yesterday, really. I put on my race wheels (Ksyriums) with my prefered race cassette, which is a 11-23. I haven't ridden these wheels since about October or so, but have overhauled them. The 11-23 cassette is Campy Record and has 4 titanium cogs of its 10. They're hella expensive too. My chain is prett new, it has less than 1,000 miles on it. That's the back story. So I wanted to ride on my race wheels rather than just showing up on race day having not ridden them. So I decided to ride my road bike to work. Man, the slightest bit of pressure on the pedals and the drive train just totally skipped. I was almost to freak out mode by the time I got to work. I know my chainrings aren't wore out enough to be causing this, but I don't know if it's in the hub (the pawls missing) or a wore cassettte. Ksyriums have to be lubed with mineral oil, which mine were, so I was sweating. I had to call Lindsay and have her bring my other wheels so i could swap to my other cassette and hope that fixed it. It did and I was totally relieved. So I have a cassette that wholesales for over $200 that is wore and I'm down to one cassette beweetn two wheels, but at least I had a definative answer to my problem. Wheww.
The Race
It was an okay day. The sun was out for the start, but was covered later. The temp was in the low 40's and dropped throughout. We started out slow, and continued pretty slow. There were a few total rookies who should have been racing Citizen class to get experience. One guy in particular was all over the place and making a lot of people mad. He was fast enough to keep up, but speed is only part of the eqaution. Experience in road racing goes a long way. ANYWAY, After the (I think) 3rd lap me, Josh Prater and another dude were at the front on the fast decent. This turned onto just me and the other dude on the flat, which turned into just me on the climb. When I noticed I had dropped the group, I stood up and hammered up the climb and opened up a big gap. I stayed off for an entire lap, with one lap left. My gap was big. I could go way faster alone than the group over the 2 railroad crossings, I could corner much faster, decend faster and really, climb faster too.
Dan and Josh thought I had it won, but then the cat 5's caught the cat 4's becasue they were doing one less lap. Some of the 4's snuck into the 5's to get an adavantage. When Dan and Josh noticed this they rode up to the 5's to tell the 4's tp drop back into their own race (and to not chip into my lead). Well, Dan and Josh moving up was percieved by the 4's as a chase, so they reacted and caught back to the 5's and reeled me in. I think I could have stayed off. My heart rate was pegged, but I can do that for the 25 or so minutes that the lap was. Oh well. I styed in the front of the group when caught and sprinted in the top 10 somewhere. I'm guessing 6th-7th. Results aren't up yet, but I'll post it when they are.
Overall, I'm happy with my ride. I rode great and felt great. Tired, a little worked, but feeling good.

Friday, March 03, 2006

What a difference a day can make

Man, below freezing this a.m. Kind of a drag after the past few days, but I got out anyway. I wanted to do a short easy ride so I went and did the short Hoosier Hills route. It's just over 15 miles, so it's short, but as for the easy part, well overall it's not bad, but it has one huge climb in the middle of it. It's about the easiest short ride I know though, so it has to do. I just shifted into the 23 and sat through the climb. Otherwise I spun and treid to keep the effort down. It's been a real good build-to-sunday race week. A couple hard rides early in the week, then a couple decreasing effort/active recovery rides. Off tomorrow and to OH Sunday. Sunday's forecast hasn't changed much, still looking to be around 408 to lower 40's. That's fine, especially if the sun's out. I always get a little worried about these first road races of the year beacuse there are almost always crashed due to people either having not ridden outside at all and are sketchy, having not ridden in a group and are sketchy, or just getting on over their heads and get sketchy. I've been fortunate since I started road racing in about 98 or 99 and have only crashed once. (I'm knocking on my desk, which is wood or wood laminate). Let's hope for another crash free Ohio Valley Series campaign.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Short, windy day

It's really nice out this a.m. The sun is fully out and it's almost 45*. There is a super stiff wind though. I'd say it's close to 10mph, which isn't too bad, but w/ almost 30mph gusts. I couldn't really decided what I wanted to do, so I rode a loop I made in the really cold part of the year, just to be able to get outside. It's about 17miles, so it's short and has 2 climbs on it. I rode it at tempo, not hard, not easy keeping a good cadence. Nothing big, but WINDY. I had it took me about 10-15 minutes of intrapersonal banter to get myself out of bed this a.m. My legs a are a little sore, or I can feel them anyway, from the last two days and Sunday's ride. Based on that I almost had myself convinced to stay in bed for more recovery.I'm glad I got out though, once I did. I plan an easy spin tomorrow, but I'm thinking my easy spin(s) may have to be inside on rollers from now on due to easy roads not existing here. That's the ONLY problem riding here, easy is a thing of the past. I'll get something figured out...

The new greatest thing ever award goes to:
cycling.tv.

This rules. You can watch almost every race that happens in Europe, live or delyaed, for free on your PC. I'm super into it. The coverage is by far, leaps and bounds, etc. the best I've seen. Way better than any tv networks and most races are in their entirety. It has tons of road, MTB, track, tri, it is my new favortie thing.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Easier, Shanny ride

Ryan and I rode this a.m. We went out and did "the Btoom loop," which is a loop around on Bottom Rd. This is known as the flattest ride possible around here. I didn't know the ride prior to today, but I'm very glad to have it in my arsenol now. From my house it's 33 miles, which is a little longer thanI'd like for an 'easy' or 'everyday' ride, but whatever. I have to get across town to get to Bottom Rd. The ride climbs just over 1500' in the 33 miles, which is alot compared to any Munice ride, but not much for around here. For the Muncie riders: it climbs about as much as Hagerstown, but in about 1/2 the distance. And I now consider it flat; I've been brainwashed by the hills. But that's good. We rode pretty easy. It was a good ride after yesterday's hammer fest. And this is a perfect kind of "default ride" to do also. Kind of like the resevior in Muncie. It's the default ride that you just go do. That' kind of how I want the bottom loop to become. We'll see. If the waether holds I want to do a mid distance tempo ride tomorrow. Ideally just under 30miles @ tempo. We'll see, it' supossed to rain.
Lindsay made some hella good carrot and ginger soup. I had it last ight fo rdinner and I'll have it tonight too. It's that good.

5: # of outside rides last Feb. in Muncie
7: # of outside rides this Feb.
~250: # of miles ridden last Feb.
~295: # of miles ridden this Feb.

Looks like, for all practical purposes, I'm in about the same place as last year. The difference: all of my miles this year are Bloomington miles. Bloomington miles=harder miles (more quality).