Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The good half

I’ve taken advantage of the good half of the week. I got out for a little recovery Monday, about an hour, easy. I was sore after Sunday’s effort. I don’t really get sore from riding anymore, but I pushed really hard Sunday when I wanted to back off. I defiantly paid for it, but it was worth the price.
Tuesday we rode time trial bikes. This was the first ride I’ve done on my newly built TT bike. This bike is fast. It’s no too uncomfortable, but feels pretty unstable. It’s steep and has a lot of drop from the seat to bars, so it’s to be expected. I rode it for about 1:45, and felt much better than I expected to. Coming back south was into the wind, so I got a chance to feel it’s aero benefit. It’s gonna be fast.
Today it rained in the morning, but I rode cx anyway. It was wetter than I thought it was going to be, so I got hella dirty. I rode about 1:15 on some gravel roads and stuff, so it was fun, but wet. Whatever, I just wanted to get out while I can.
I looks like tomorrow is the 1st of the crap days. The weather guy said there could be as much as 8" of snow by Friday! I plan to ride trainer tomorrow.
The DINO off road marathon is Saturday and several Muncie people are coming down for it, so hopefully it doesn’t get too bad. We’re all hanging out Friday night, then they have to run 26 miles the next day. Poor saps. As I (think I) mentioned, we may go th Louisville Sunday for CX, so if it hella snows, it could be ugly.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

T-Giving Week; The state champs

I got in a full week of training after the week off. I was able (willing) to get outside every day this past week. It was cold in the mornings, but great weather during the days. Anyway, I go tout every day.
Thursday was thanksgiving and I got out for a \under 1 hour before we headed to my parents for the lunch meal. It was nice to be home and I always love the feast.
After we left their house we went to my brother’s girlfriend’s parent’s (follow that?) house to hang w/ them a little. They have a killer pad on a lake west of Indy. We ate some more there.
Today was the KOA campground cross race, which was the Indiana State CX Championships. It was a little muddy, a hard course but a super nice day. I raced in shorts and short sleeves w/ no base layer. It was close to 70* I think. Anywho, long story short, I am the 2006 Indiana State CX Champ! I got 2nd overall, but the guy who beat me was from OH, so that makes me #1 finisher from IN. I got paid for the 2nd and a medal for the 1st. Though I wasn’t paid/paid, paid/medal is still double dipping* in my book, and that’s the sweetest way to win. (* double dipping is when you’re in the money overall AND in the money in a subdivision and get paid for both)
We are considering going to the KY State Champs next weekend in Louisville. Nit 100% sure yet, but maybe. The weather is supposed to get back to nasty later in the week. Looks like I may have to bust out the trainer for the first time this year later this week. Blah.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Back on it

Week off: done.
I’m back on the wagon. My last couple days off were nice. Lindsay’s parents were in the state over the weekend, so Linds and I went up to Indy Saturday night to Beef and Boards dinner theatre w/ both of our sets of parents. It was nice. We ate and saw Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. It was a good production of it and we enjoyed the evening.
Sunday Lindsay and I went to Ladyman’s diner here in B-town for breakfast. It is being demolished in December and will not be opened after 50 years in business. Another company bought their building and offered them to start back up once the new building is built at a much higher rate of rent. The owner, knowing it was unaffordable, decided to just close. "…and don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got ‘till it’s gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
I had a few things I needed to do afterwards, so we ran to the mall and I got a sweet pair of North Face shoes from the shoe store in the mall for $30, marked down from $75. Sweet deal; and my old shoes were falling apart.
The rest of Sunday I did nothing. I got bored out of my mind.
Yesterday I rode a short road ride, about an hour. I felt really labored, but it was about 30* and I had taken a week off, so whatever.
Today I rode about 2 hours road, and felt okay, but not good. Again feeling labored.
I plan to ride cross tomorrow.
Thursday is thanksgiving, so I want to get in short ride before heading home for the day.
This weekend is the IN ST CX Championships. I hope to win it. Hopefully I start feeling better riding this week.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Time off

So far in my week off I’ve drunk way too much coffee in the a.m. and almost gotten my road bike overhauled. I should be done w/ it tomorrow morning. I’m getting a little sick of working on bikes right now.
Since the second week of October I have overhauled DP’s MTB, o’hauled my MTB, o’hauled Lindsay’s road bike, (moved her parts to a new frame) built my TT bike (which is Lindsay’s old frame w/ aero parts) and o’hauled my road bike. Plus routine crap on my cx bike AND worked on bikes everyday at work. Man, that’s a lot of working on bikes. I guess that’s what I do though; it’s my thing.
While working on my bike all morning I tend to keep filling my coffee cup and end up w/ a stomach ache. At least it keeps me busy so I don’t bounce off the walls. Not working out is hard to do when you’re used to doing it every day as routine. Giving my body a week to heal up will do me some good though.
So, no race this weekend, which is a first in 5 or so weeks. Then next weekend is the IN ST CX Champs. I really want to do well there. If I can pull off a ride like I had this past weekend, I can be the IN ST CX Champ. We’ll see, I try to not get worked up over 1 race and look at the whole, but I’d really like to win this one (and note: I don’t have to cross the line first for this distinction, I just have to cross the line in front of other racers licensed in Indiana, which I did this past weekend).
One step at a time though, I have to get through this rest week, train some next week, recover from Thanksgiving, then get it done.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

and so it begins

My week off for the year.
I finished off the week in training pretty normal:
Wednesday we rode road, despite a "slick road advisory." RS TC and I rode the Morgan-Monroe St Forest loop pretty hard. It felt good to ride hard on the road.
Thursday I rode out to Wapahani via the Clear Creek Trail on the cx bike to work on mounts. The footbridge I dismount and run over was slick as snot due to it being wet, and I fell on it the first time I hit it. Lesson learned, and I walked it the remaining laps.
Friday I rode short/easy road. Just 17 or so miles easy.
Today was the Major Taylor Velodrome cross race. This course has agreed w/ me in the past and today was no different. I beat (and dropped) several fast people and took second. $30 pay-out for 2nd, I’ll take that. I felt great, rode good and placed high. My average hr was lower than normal, but I rode faster, that’s good.
So w/ no race this coming weekend, I’m making this week my annual week of no training. I will not workout this week at all. I will ride to work everyday, but that doesn’t count. I have my road bike tore down for it’s yearly overhaul to be done this week.
There it is: body maintenance and bike maintenance.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Misty

Today turned into an off day. It rained a decent amount, but it wasn’t actually raining at ride time. It was very wet out and misting. It was enough mist that if one were out for an hour or more s/he would be totally soaked and cold. No thanks. I opted for dusting and sweeping instead. Not nearly the workout, but whatever.
The rest of the week looks good, so I should have my opportunities. This Sunday’s CX is the race @ Major Taylor Velodrome in Indy. It starts on the track and goes out and around it. It’s a pretty good course, not too technical, and w/ a couple of long open sections that a) are chances to hammer if you’ve got it left and/or b) very open to the wind. The road section goes south and then you dismount, over barrier, turn 180* and head north on the grass. So if the wind is either N or S, you’ll have a push one way and a headwind the other. I guess I’ll just hope the wind is light and not a factor.
Over the past week or so I have been listening to, in chronological order, X’s albums when I’m getting ready for work and stuff. I’m basically listening to one until I decide I’ve had enough if it, then putting in the next. I usually have one in for a few days before changing. I’m to their third so far, so I’ll have it in and listen to it through probably 3-5 times over the next few days.

Monday, November 06, 2006

CX sunday; the 'rents

Yesterday (Sunday) was a B-town CX’er. #2/5. This one was around the SRSC, which is the "new" gym, then behind/in front of some of the sorority houses on Jordan av. Anywho, this was a tough course. It was about 50/50 pavement and ungroomed grass, which is very hard to ride through. Plowing through it is a more appropriate phrase than riding through it. It had two barriers on a up hill, so you had to run your bike up the hill after the barriers before remounting. It’s just too hard to remount on a uphill and if you miss your pedal or something you have to get back off anyway, so the safe bet ids to run the whole hill. I rode really good and ended up 4th. I was the final finisher on the lead lap, which means everyone behind me was either lapped or dropped out. I couldn’t get my HR settled in, which is typical for CX, and furthers my thought that I NEED to warm up before these races. I start feeling settled around 35-40 minutes usually, and these are 45-50 min races, so I spend most of the race trying to fight off a heart attack. Probably not the best way to do it.
When I got home form the race I realized I had forgotten my key and Lindsay was riding MTB in Nashville, so I went back out and rode for another hour, pretty easy. I rode out on some of the gravel roads east of town. So all-in-all I had a pretty good day of riding.
Then last night my parents came down for Lindsay’s b-day (which is actually next weekend, but they’re busy then) and took us to a nice Italian joint (Puccini’s on 4th) to eat. It was a nice evening hanging out w/ them. We went to a couple of stores to look for few things my dad needed, so we were able to spend a few hours w/ them, which was nice.
Today I rode short on the road. Just to recover and try to work out this hurting in my right calf. I hit my right calf several times w/ my pedal on a run through part of the course yesterday. It was a pea-gravel section that couldn’t be ridden. And while carrying my bike and running I kept running my left pedal into my right calf. It feels like a deep tissue bruise, so I wanted to go out and get it moving w/ and easy hour or so. Done.
Looks like rain tomorrow, but I was planning on riding 35 or so on road. Maybe not now…

Friday, November 03, 2006

My week, my year (my stats)

What a week, I rode road twice and ate pizza once!
Monday I went out short as recovery from Sunday’s CX. Then I took off Tuesday. It was rainy and I had plans for the rest of the week anyway, so I figured it would be a good day off.
Then Wed we went out for a 2 hour cross ride out on the gravel roads east of town. It was a good hard ride and Steve, a new guy in town I invited, tagged along and rode really strong. Notable on this ride was the Tim Cote and Fred both rode all the way up the unride-able gravel hill on McGowan rd. Studs. The other three of us (Ryan and Steve and I) all have single front chain rings, so that’s our collective excuse.
Thursday I rode CX out to Wapahani Park via the Clear Creek Trail. I wanted to go to Wap and practice remounting off of dismounts. I do it wrong and am robbing myself of speed/time. I land w/ left foot on the ground and use it as a boost to get my butt on the seat. What I need to be doing (and worked until I got it consistently) is to jump a little higher and land fully on my seat w/ my feet off the ground so I keep rolling instead of landing w/ a foot on the ground and slowing myself Fred Flintstone style. I think I got it down to where I am doing it consistent, but we’ll see how I perform in a race setting this weekend.
Today (Fri) I rode short road again. It was cold today (and yesterday), about 28* when I left. Great.
Sunday is B-town CX #2. Whoo-hoo!
Thursday night Linds and I went to Mother Bear's Pizza for a pie. This place rules for those of you who get to B-town or who live here. It's a national award winning joint w/ a local feel. Good stuff.
Here are my stats for the year in racing:
NORBA (MTB) Expert:
State Overall rank: 14/30
National Age Group: 36/241
National Overall: 252/1424
USCF (road*) Cat IV:
State Overall: 1
State Age Group: 1
National Overall: 332/2621
*Indiana Race Series races are not USCF, they are ABR, another governing body. All of the Ohio Valley Races are USCF and a few Indiana (but not IRS) races are USCF. Confused? Sorry.