2009 Bike Commute No 1

Tried out my new Novarra backpack yesterday and I'm pretty happy with it. Previously I was using a messenger bag, but it's not good for the times when I really need to train after work- too much swinging around and instability. This thing hugs you and has straps across the chest and midriff which make it feel nice and tight- like a parasite has latched onto your back. Sounds awful, but it's what you want when you need to do some hard work on the commute home, especially out of the saddle type stuff. So yesterday I braved the cold and rode to work and rode it home.. Nothing to get excited about, but it felt like an eternity since the last bike commute back in November. Oddly, even after wolfing down a nutty powerbar and an orange at 3:30, I felt famished on the ride home- like enough to stop and grab a Snickers bar.. but I resisted the temptation. I think the body was stepping up metabolism or something, maybe something to do with doing two rides in one day? I think it goes a long way towards getting lean- riding twice in one day that is.. (just ask G-Diddy, who believes his bodyfat percentage is in the single digits) I wonder if there is a way to measure muscle percentage. What's a healthy value for this, I wonder.. I drove in to work this morning, but all my bike stuff is in the car, so I'm riding home tonight and very much looking forward to it.. There will be timed intervals involved..
Thanks for reading.

Wells Ave No 1

I don't want my scores of blogosphere fans to bite their nails all night so I will dispense with today's result- your hero was 5th in a knife fight of a field sprint, in which finishers 3 and 4 nearly wobbled into eachother from fatigue and closed the door on my acceleration. I was in the sweet spot of the train but as luck would have it, my line was was not clear all the way to the line. Fine and dandy. That's racing. Interestingly, avg speed was about 2 mph higher than last year's Wells Ave opener of March 23. Power? I won't bore you with numbers but I am ahead of schedule in all CP durations, especially the magical Normalized Power value for 60 minutes. It's good. Bad news that we had guys on our team become involved in two crashes. They are going to be okay but $5000 bikes don't heal without throwing big wads of cash at them!

How does this happen?

And this is from only one side of my chain. I wouldn't have discovered this without cleaning the muck and filth off of it last night. I was halfway commited to go to Charge Pond or Plainville today, but that would risk iminent equipment failure and injury. No bike shops are open in time for me to fix this situation and make the start line. Next chain will be a 2008 Dura Ace- they're about $35 on Ebay these days.

Power=work/time

Monday no workout. Tuesday no workout. Instead both days included minimal sleep and stress overload. Wednesday night I tried to get back on track with some 10 and 20 minute FT intervals after a looong warm up (30 minutes). The first 10:00 FT was fine and dandy. Then recovery, then into a 20:00 FT.. but it wasn't in me. I ended up doing about 5-6 minutes before I decided to just spin it out for the rest of the hour. Last night was a different story:
20:00 WU
5:00 FT
5:00 RI
3:00 FT+10%
3:00 RI
Repeat 3 more times
10:00 RI
5:00 FT
5:00 CD
Explanation? Work was halfway enjoyable for a change, wife is coming around from her cold, and some other tidbits of good news managed to give me wings. It is pretty scary how factors outside of training and preparation can affect form. In fact it got me to thinking- is it possible that anti-depressant pills such as Prozac and others can enhance an athlete's performance? Let's face it-it's harder to focus on intense training and harder to perform in a race when you are under depression, stress and anxiety. It would not astonish me to discover that this is an idea which is already being abused.

Thank you Chipotle!

I know that some have a low opinion of "fast food".. So I stopped eating the burritos wrapped in a tortilla and I switched to the "burrito bowl", which is a lot fewer calories, fewer carbs. The bowl is simply a couple of scoops of rice, some meat, peppers and onions, hot sauce, sour cream and grated cheese. So satisfying.. While at the AToC the other week, we won a whole bunch of free Chipotle food coupons at the Chipotle tent. And dear wife's Blackberry has GPS and can find all Chipotle's in our vicinity- there are a few out there! Our favorite was the one in Encinitas. So yeah.. couple or 3 times a week, I indulge in a Chipotle burrito bowl. I encourage you to try one with the green chili sauce- medium hotness. Such good quality food for only about $6-7, IMHO.. All their ingredients are promoted as hormone free, organically raised, vegetarian fed etc.. good things. and I am in love with their minimalist decor. The raw edges of veneer core plywood exposed, foregoing the application of edgetape or solid wood nosings- which add lots of time and cost, but little else.. The minimalist menu.. simple, easy to understand.. really makes the menu at TGIF or Chilis or Applebees or (pick one) look like a French whore. Okay enough about that subject..
So Saturday I weigh myself pre-ride.. and for the first time in a very long time, I am under 170.. pre-ride.. where before I would set out weighing 172 and get home weighing 168. I'm firmly into the good side of 170. Success!
No riding for the past two days and I'm grumpy.. but to my credit, I have been getting up at 4:30 am to get to Boston appts at 7:00.. That, and dear wife has bronchitis and laryngitis, so I'm playing nurse maid for the past few days. Monday was a deliberate rest day. Last night, not so much.. but I was fatigued from the two early and long days in Boston and stressed about wife being sick, so.. let it be.
I'm eying Plainville and Wells Ave this weekend to have a little fun, but we'll see. If it's under 40 degrees either day, I'll be more inclined to do a couple of long rides. Playing it by ear.. Thanks for reading.

Dearest in Christ.

Must-contain-maniacal-laughter.. I populate one of my other blogs (www.scamlisting.blogspot.com) with about 4-5 of these Nigerian advance fee fraud e-mails, every day. (Yes it is purely for the Google Adsense dollars, but at least I am truthful- and believe it or not, people have thanked me for it) This is the first time I am seeing a person so twisted that they exploit and lie about terminal illness and religion in one neat little package. The scammers are getting more bold and more creative as the economy goes down in a death spiral. This one is original, I'll give it that. I encourage you to write to these cretins and have fun with a little bit of scam baiting.  From: From Charles and Elizabeth. charlestoure_001@yahoo.com Subject: Dearest in Christ. To: sarawak_cardiology@yahoo.com Date: Thursday, March 5, 2009, 8:21 AM From  :Mrs Grace Tapia Email :grace.tapia@ymail.com Address:N11-Olof Salem Street        P.O. Box 59022,Safat 13060 Kuwait. Dearest in Christ. With Due Respect And Humanity, I was compelled to write to you under a humanitarian ground. My name is Mrs Grace Tapia,from Kuwait.  I am married to late Dr Ramsey Tapia  ,who worked with an oil company in Ivory Coast for Thirty-two years  before he died in the year 2005. He died after a brief illness that lasted only four days Before his death we were both born again Christian. Since his death I decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of (US$5.8 M)(Five Million,Eight hundred Thousand United States Dollar) in a General Trust Account with a prime bank in Abidjan . Presently,this money is still with the bank. And Recently, My Doctor told me that I would not last for the next six months due to my cancer problem (cancer of the lever). Presently this money is still in the Bank.  Having  known my condition I  am in need of a HONEST Hearted Individual Christian or Church that i will utilize this fund the way I am going to instruct herein. I want somebody that will use this fund according to the desire of my late.husband to help Lessprivilaged people, orphanages,widows and propagating the word of God. I took this decision because I dont have any child that will inherit this fund, And I dont want in a way where this money will be used in an un Godly way. This is why I am taking this decision to hand you over this Fund. I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going.I want you to always remember me in your daily prayers because of my up coming Cancer Surgery. Write back to me as soon as possible because any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing another person for this same purpose, Hoping to read from you soon. With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the Bank in Abidjan. I will also issue you an authorisation letter that will prove you the present beneficiary of this fund. May God bless and keep us as we seek to serve him. Yours in Christ Mrs Grace Tapia

Hell

It's 60 degrees colder here than in San Diego and I'm back at work with another head cold. G-d help me to refrain from clawing my own eyes out and/or jumping off a ledge.

Airport security

They threw our son's 8 oz container of sealed vanilla milk in the trash (along with our three small bottles of Coke, which we figured would happen) A one liter bottle of water is $5.05

Only in Cali..

Will you have a female spin instructor who is over 60 and kicking your ass.. We are guest members of the Escondido YMCA this week and let me tell ya, this place makes the Kent County Y look like a pile of Puke, and it makes the best Bally's you ever saw look like a rinky dink P.O.S. Last night's spin class was FULL. After 5 days off the bike it was just the thing- I felt rested and strong. Tonight's class I held something back so that I could drill it hard tomorrow. Now I need to choose which class to do- there are 6 or 7 to choose from throughout the day, all with different instructors. In fact, the entire fitness schedule is up on a pair of 52" plasma screens- kind of like you would find in an airport. Impeccable. Exemplary.

T minus 12 hours

At about 4:00 am we will be putting shoes on our feet, grabbing our carry-on bags and skooting over to TF Green for our 6:30 am connection to Newark.. in none other than a Dash-8 400.. Yuk. I'm having trouble believing that I passed on taking my road bike on this trip. What was I thinking? Maybe I can rent a bike if the urge to ride is just.. unstoppable.

San Diego Time

We're at TF Green airport at 4:30 AM Saturday to catch a 6:30 flight to Newark, then a 6 hour flight to San Diego which has us landing about 9:30 AM. TIme enough to get checked into the hotel and on the road to Saturday's finish of the ToC? Mebbe. We are definitely spending Sunday in Escondido for the finish of the final stage.
I will not be bringing a bike with me on this trip- we're hoping to find a local YMCA where we can work out and join the spin classes. I will probably go a little insane about not being able to ride, especially if it's sunny and warm, but the thought of carefully packing a bike and paying $100 each way to check it, and potentially have the airline lose it [like the last time], isn't so attractive. In other news, I got my new Powertap sharkfin to replace the one which was repaired twice. No love from The PT folks on this- I payed the full $60 price for this part. Oh well. They did not have a lot of sympathy for the fact that my heart rate strap has never worked properly. I guess I should have reported the problem within the first year of using it, some time before clocking 12000 miles on the thing. I am so tempted to buy a pair of used ZIPP 404's with PT.. Tubular.. I can use this tank-like DT hoop as a training wheel and race on the good stuff. Before you begin to throw rotten tomoatoes for suggesting ZIPP with PT, consider that the very best data comes from racing. Being that this stuff interests me and engages me immensely, it makes sense for me where it might seem silly to others.
The last time I was in San Diego for the 2007 ToC stage in Long Beach. Mark Mc and I coincidentally raced the masters crit which was held right before the pros raced on the nearly identical course. I did not finish due to a crash. No, due to the officials not realizing there had been a crash- they pulled my group of 10 guys in complete ignorance- we were chasing after coming to a complete stop to avoid the crash.. which was caused by someone hitting one of those infamous reflective pucks at 33 mph. For the 1/2 race that I did complete, we averaged 28+ mph, in February. I think Mark got 3rd or 4th. I wonder who I which New Englanders I might bump into this time out in Escondido??

Bad Ass Mofo

Finally, my three year old idea to use a label maker on a race bike is catching on.. at least at Rock Racing:

Wanna Race?

From left: Murat, Bill D, Matt K, Joe B and Ralf G.This was not a repeat of last weekend where I trained more miles than the Tour Of Cali peloton raced in the past two days.. Instead I did my favorite hilly 40 mile loop- and twice! Saturday I went out in the afternoon with the intention of trashing myself from start to finish. I'm after a key piece of data and the only way to get it is to just drill it for over an hour. My previous attempt on this route was January 10th and my time was 2:19:39. This time, I took off 11 minutes (2:08:38) and added over 20w to both avg and norm power. This is especially encouraging when you consider that I'm about 3kg lighter than Jan 10th.. Our team's annual spring ride/meeting was Sunday and we repeated the same route, but at a pace where we could talk to eachother.. and besides the legs kept reminding me of Saturday's effort.

Rest Day

I was dog meat at last night's spin class. A hard weekend, followed by two days off the bike in favor of upper body and core work- legs are not feeling the love.

Monday-Tuesday.. Wednesday

Nautilus-Pilates.. SPIN Class tonight.

No Rest for the Weary

As much as I wanted to sleep-in late on Sunday morning, I knew that this would have been incompatible with my goals. A shorter and less intense ride was needed to keep the legs feeling loose and so I ventured north on 116 to meet some of the other RI locals at the infamous Gazebo between routes 6 and 6A. Timing my departure perfectly, I got there with a few minutes to spare in just under 40 minutes. Lucky for me, the ten of us meandered back towards the roads I know and love, and where route 14 crossed 117, I said my farewells and headed back east towards home. It was a wet and warm ride punctuated with some stiff winds and even some rain towards the end. All the snow runoff made for a messy ride though. The bike is in very sad shape.. Here's the data which you have come to expect: I adjusted the Polar pickup on the fork so it holds the signal better. I also repaired the Powertap- the two were off by only about 1/4 mile of distance. Thanks for reading.

First Century of 2009 in 5:12:30

Funny thing about today's ride. The Powertap quit working at the 4:20 mark (he-he) The question is, how long ago did the wire snap? Since I look down at it pretty often it was a minute at the most.. You might recall my very ugly but effective repair job I did two months ago. Well it's the first place I looked when I noticed the speed and watts readouts went blank. The purple wire was separated again. Your quick thinking hero had a back up plan, of course. His Polar heart rate monitor was busy recording speed, distance, heart rate, elevation and so forth, so he immediately hit the lap button to at least get good data for the rest of the ride. The Powertap was kaput, but it was reading 4:20 and 84 miles ridden- that's 19.4 miles per hour. Being so ticklishly close to the century mark, I decided then and there that I must do at least another 16 miles or else regret it until I die. Expecting to do the same average speed for the rest of the ride home, I did all kinds of math in my head in terms of how much longer I would need to ride. (One sucky thing about the Polar 720i- it refuses to give you the mileage of a ride, while you're recording data) With the Polar now recording a new lap for me, it seemed like a sure bet that one more hour would cinch the century, no problem. In fact, I got to my neighborhood a little bit early and just kept riding- went up Seven Mile Hill Road and back down it, adding 1:07 to the 4:20 I clocked on the PT. Surely this meant that my total would be around 105 miles or so. Unfortunately, I doubt if I'll ever know the true mileage- it turns out that the Polar was losing signal all throughout the ride and it only recorded 80 miles at the 4:20 point, where the Powertap recorded 84 (these two are usually dead nuts even) Oh well. I just wanted to know one thing- the exact duration of my 100 miles. Well it's anybody's guess, but I'm going with a conservative 19.2 mph average (the first 4:20 was 19.4) and going with 5 hours and 12.5 minutes to complete the first 100 miles. (16 miles in 52:30 makes sense) Sounds like a safe bet. Of this, I rode solo for one hour to meet the group, I rode 2:30 with the group, and then I rode 2 hours solo to get home. Please use the comments section to congratulate me and heap praise upon me for my accomplishment.
Overall ride time: 5 hours 28 minutes
Overall distance: 105 miles
Average speed: 19.2 mph

Above, the Powertap data is more reliable than the Polar, at least until wires break. The purple speed graph below shows a lot of 'zero' speed, when in reality we stopped only twice to pee, once for food and I stopped once to check out the PT.

Never forget your hard hat!

One of my jobsites has a good way of deterring visitors from forgetting to bring their own hard hats.. Below, we spy the 80 ton crane that I have to rent in order to hoist Premium grade woodwork in through the window of a Penthouse on Beacon Street. Why does the name of a local racing team come to mind? Interestingly, I have a team of carpenters working on all levels of this 11 story building, for the past year, and one of them is a former racer who was probably better known as "Big Dig". He has an open invitation to join my team, as his employer and mine are both owned by the same person, but I understand completely when the "life requirements" of a 20-something make it necessary to hang the bike up for a while. Been there, Derek. Your place is reserved, whenever you're ready.

Successful Resting

Let me reiterate, it's a "rest week", not a "rest weekend"..
This week: A grand total of 3 hours logged in four sessons on the trainer, none exceeding 130 watts average. I've been good. I'll do another hour tonight with a few 60 second spin-ups to 140 rpm in a small gear. The legs always feel "funny" after a rest week, and gently reminding them that they will be required to do very hard work after said rest, is probably a good idea.
It will be a good weekend to pound out a couple of solid 4 hours rides, and I will refrain from doing them with a hangover this time!

Frederiek Nolf found dead in hotel room at Tour of Qatar

Exerpt from VN article:
"The Topsport Vlaanderen team quit the tour Thursday morning and race organizers were making arrangements to return riders and staff to Belgium. Other riders on the team have also withdrawn from the Etoile de Bessèges in southern France, said team director Walter Planckaert.
According to Merckx Thursday's fifth stage — from the Camel Race Track to the Doha Foundation — will be shortened to 40 kilometers and neutralized in remembrance of the young Belgian.
"Out of respect for Frederiek Nolf, the riders will form a cortege throughout the stage," said Merckx."

Catching up with last week

I didn't post much last week because of a nasty sinus infection which developed on Sunday, the day after my epic 87 mile ride (talking about 10 days ago here) In spite of my head feeling like a drum, I went to YMCA and did my weightlifting Sunday night. Monday I was kaput- could barely get out of bed- I called in sick.. this didn't stop me from going to my spin class at 6:00 though. I felt horrible in the beginning, but at the end I was better. Tuesday I dragged myself to work and put in a double shift until 11:00 pm, leaving the office only for lunch and to do the Pilates class at 6:30. Feeling a little better at this point. Wednesday was awful in terms of what I went through at work. People generally need to exploit weakness (if/when they can find one) in order to get the best of me.. and a handful of different people decided to throw me under the bus on Monday while I was out sick and still answering calls and e-mails with my Blackberry. This made for a highly stressful and depressing week overall, but all the more reason to stick to the training program- I did indeed go to the SPIN class at the Y on Wed after work. Thursday I rested- no bike, no workouts or Pilates or anything. Just rest. In fact, I went to bed at 8:00 and slept until 7:00 am. I really needed that. Friday was business as usual, though thoughts of a different career path were very strong and at the end of the day, I was almost surprised that I wasn't packing my things into a cardboard box. Friday night I did a highly challenging 75 minute ride which averaged 225 watts- I drilled a large number of 1-3 minute intervals with 1-2 minutes of rest in between. Much of the week's frustrations were driven into the pedals I think. Saturday an easier indoor ride with three FT intervals of 5:00 a piece- not leg breaking, but it felt hard after the previous workout. Saturday night your hero went out drinking and shooting pool with good friend and former co-worker Kaan Duru. We went to Snookers where I easily won all but two games in a three hour period. I used to play for money. My cue stick was purchased when I was 16, about 22 years ago. I'm a little better than average right now because I hardly ever play, but with a little practice, I'd have no fear of entering a local 9 ball tournament.. So Saturday night I pretty much had a good time and drowned my sorrows with six Sam Adams Light beers and a Mojito for good measure. In bed at 1:30 with a spinning head, meant that I was in rare form Sunday morning for the LBL ride, which you've already read all about. Sunday night I did not go and lift weights- too tired and cramped up. I did my Nautilus last night though, and wow, I looked in the mirror after all that lifting and couldn't help noticing the torso taking on a very distinctive V shape. That fires me up. This morning I did a 20 minute recovery spin and tonight there's Pilates, so.. yeah the beat goes on. This is a rest week so I will be reigning myself in on the SPIN class and the intervals. I'll save myself for a nice long hard ride on Saturday when it's predicted to be over 40 degrees out. Thanks for reading.

Sunday's LBL ArcenCiel Ride

The ArcenCiel team has an annual ride that's called the "LBL" and I was fortunate to be a part of it this Sunday. Your hero had a terrible day of cramping and low energy, but the good people in today's ride got me to the end of the 66 miles with lots of generous pacing, pushing and encouragement. I think the total TSS of Friday and Saturday was more than I realized, and that the six or so beers I uncharacteristically consumed late into Friday night did me no favors. (It was a very rare guy's night out- and such nights are not to be wasted on sobriety) Anyway, it was a hilly and scenic ride where I had no idea where we were most of the time, and I never knew when the next hill would appear, or how far it was to the top. This is never an advantage. The first hill where I cramped hard was in CT- actually on the Stonington RR course, heading up to the winery in reverse. I was doing A-ok up until about 2/3 the way up, then I fell apart very hard and very suddenly when the cramps attacked. Then we hit a steep pitch not long afterward where I was cramped so badly I thought the legs were going to just lock up and send me to the ground. The profile chart below shows two similar hills in succession- these are the ones which hurt me, and ironically on the really big hump afterwards I was able to hold it together without too much difficulty. Humor me as I make my excuses- it's the fourth week of a strong and gradual build-up of TSS- to wit, I've gone from 50 to 70 in the span of 31 days. (Same period last year I went from 43 to 53) Check it:
The next chart tells the story in detail. I also pasted in the values of todays CP60- which gives a very encouraging 255 watts of normalized power. On this date last year, my best Norm CP60 was 243 watts, and I was 7-8 pounds heavier too. Need to look for the positive in today's poor performance, and there it is. Even on an off day, at the end of a challenging 4 weeks, the data proves that I'm way ahead of the curve relative to 2008.Thanks for reading. Here's the profile of today's ride:

M1 Racing is growing

Our budget for fuel is the same in 2009 as it was in 2008. This means that with gas prices under $2 (instead of over $3) we can afford to support some more racers. Reach out to me if you are interested using reiscotools@yahoo.com. There are some requirements for those of you who want to be considered for the "A" team. If you are as fanatical about training and racing as I am, it's obviously a big plus.
M1 Racing are also in the process of developing a package of benefits for prospective members of our new "B" team. This program is going to be an attractive way for new racers to be in an environment which nurtures, develops and teaches the things which can't be found in any book about bike racing. It's also a smart way to shoe-horn yourself into a pretty darn good New England team, one that is attached to one of the finest racing clubs in the country, the Genesee Valley Cycling Club.
You can learn more about Millwork One Racing as well as the new "B" Team by writing me an e-mail or by attending the Providence Bicycle Introduction to Bicycle Racing Night on February 19th. I will be there along with Mark McCormack and Matt Bodzione of NBX Bikes to help people find their way into New England's strong local racing scene. This event requires you to RSVP to either joe@providencebicycle.com or to me at reiscotools@yahoo.com
See you there!

Bananas in the tailpipes

You know the scene- Beverly Hills Cop- Eddy Murphy stuffs Taggart's tailpipes full of bananas. That's what it feels like to have a nasty sinus infection, I think. I'm miserable- all yesterday, all night, and so far today. To add insult to injury, our heating oil company "forgot" to fill us up and we ran out of oil Saturday night. House was 50 degrees- thank goodness for the propane fireplace in our mester bedroom. They came and filled us up on Sunday, but now our hot water heater is not working, probably from sucking down blockage from the bottom of the oil tank.. Oil company is back here today, working on it.. I hope they realize that this is a problem which they themselves created. At any rate, I'm home sick today- caught myself a bad head cold this weekend- though I suspect that it's been incubating for at least a week. Saturday your hero did the unthinkable and went out again for 5 hours- 4:45 of it actually riding. Saturday morning at the 8:00 am ArcenCiel ride, our large group had the pleasure of including FUJI team members Mark M. and Tobi S. I rode down from my house with a nice tailwind, then I rode with the group for 2 hours, then I broke off right after we passed Ninigret Park and headed solo up Route 2 all the way home in 1:45, just like last weekend. This time it was a little tougher, with winds gusting to 30 mph, it was slow going on some of the flat stretches. So 4:45 of ride time overall, 87 miles. It was not terribly cold out, but I can tell you that the temp was highest when I left the house- a balmy 39 degrees. It dropped throughout the morning. I had some cramping issues! It was an occasional ping here and there, mostly in the hamstrings, mostly in the 5th hour. My left hamstring is still a little tight and has some soreness.

Last night, I felt lousy but I forced myself to stick to the Nautilus program.. went to the YMCA to do my double set of weightlifting. Did a 15:00 run on the treadmill first (1.5 miles) and hopefully this was not a mistake. My hamstring feels worse than it did after the ride Saturday. Tonight's spin class was full as of last night, so I'm on the waiting list.

This speaks for itself

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Rest: Thursday or Friday?

I'm not sure if this will carry into the racing season, but so far it's felt pretty good to let the spring unwind a little on Thursday instead of Friday. Last night I did YOGA at the YMCA, which was not too challenging. It was more like 75 minutes of non-stop stretching, going from one pose to the next. I'm pretty good at the more difficult balance poses. Definitely a good way to test for weakness in the feet and ankles. Tonight I'm going to play it by ear on the indoor trainer, but definitely plan to include 2-4 varied durations of FT. I'm getting ready for a fitness test which should take place in about 10-14 days. My expectation is an FT in the 250-255w range.

SPIN data

I surprised myself tonight- the computers on the SPIN bikes do not display average watts, you only see current watts. The average is displayed only at the end when you stop pedaling. After last week going from 200w to 184 w average between Mon and Wed, I expected something similar tonight, but instead the numbers went up: 231 watts, 87 rpm, 156 bpm, 62:14 duration. I was feeling pretty good tonight, and with dear wife at my side this time, I must have been trying to impress her or something. She did a great job, though she would enjoy it more if she used the new Shimano spinning shoes I bought her a few weeks ago! So my numbers are looking strong and I'm encouraged. Some will opine that I'm going to burn out in May.. I say to them: What's wrong with having excellent form in early spring- nothing wrong with being the fastest mofo in March and April- and Success breeds Success. Having a crappy and out-of-form spring where you're struggling to race your way into shape, is not the recipe for a good season, it's the training plan of a procrastinator. I've done it myself enough times to know that it leads only to mediocrity. I'm tired of being 'best of the worst' or 'worst of the best'.. No thanks, not this season thank you very much..
The plan is to rest tomorrow- maybe a recovery spin if time permits.

DO try this at home

Change of plans Tuesday- A conflict of schedules required me to skip Pilates last night, so instead, I did Individual Leg Training, later on. (This is the poor man's Powercrank) It goes like this:
20:00 Warm-up
3:00 right leg in 39x16 (other leg is unclipped and resting back by the rear skewer)
1:00 spin both legs
3:00 repeat with left leg in 39x16
1:00 spin both legs
Repeat 2 more times
5:00 Tempo
5:00 Cool down
When I first did these a few weeks ago, I had trouble turning the 39x19 for 1:30, and only one or two sets at that. Now I'm doing three sets of 3:00 in the 39x16. The last 15-30 seconds should hurt but still have good form- no chain slap.

Monday Recap- 172 pounds

Here we go again?? Well, sort of.. This may well be a repeat of last week in all ways except one: that is, your hero will demonstrate certain feats of strength, relative to last week. Tonight's proof of adaptation came in the form of a 67 minute long SPIN class- last Monday's data is found in last Monday's post, below. Tonight I added 25 watts to the average, in comparison:
225 watts, 92 rpm, 166 bpm. This is partly because our instructor had us up and out of the saddle a lot more this time. I also believe that Saturday's long ride combined with Sunday night's Active Recovery paid some dividends. I hope to be up early to do a light spin, and then a Pilates class tomorrow night.
It may seem as though I'm doing too much too soon, but relative to the goal I'm trying to reach, I'm just doing what's required. I can honestly report that as of this date, my weight is lower than it was at the peak of my form in late June/early July of 2008. A lighter Murat is a faster [more powerful] Murat. I've enhanced my training plan to include work on my core (Pilates), upper body (Nautilus), flexibility (Yoga) and regular bursts of FT level intensity (SPIN class). It's a lot of work, but the variety has made me into a very engaged participant. I'd rather not be fretting about the need to lose weight and the need to add "structural fitness" come April and May, when I can instead focus on getting some good results. Propelling 15-16 fewer pounds down the road is going to make a huge difference in 2009. I'm committed.

Late Night Spin

I worked hard yesterday, and I can feel some stiffness coming on, especially in my right hamstring. Just before dinner, I went to the Y and worked out. First I did a 15 minute run on the treadmill to warm up- 1.4 miles to be exact. Then I did the Nautilus circuit (skipping over all leg machines) I hit all the upper body machines twice in one circuit. Pushed myself a little. The weights I'm now using are about mid way down the stack- though I continue to do between 15 and 25 reps. I felt pretty stiff and pumped after this workout, but I believe this is still better than being a flexible weakling. After dinner I took a 20 minute power nap, awoke to the smell of fresh coffee and indulged in a cup with dear wife while Reis took in an episode of Bob the Builder. They headed up for bed at 10:00 and I opted to do a recovery spin before bed. So I'm now turning 90 rpm in my 39x19- only 130 watts. This has helped me to pass 10 minutes already, not bad.. Recovery rides are boring.. And blog posts about recovery rides are especially lame... But I think it's important to do something light with the legs on the day following a 70 mile ride.. If you've followed me along all this past week to see what I'm up to- many thanks for showing interest. I'm not trying to impress anyone- this journal is more for my benefit than it is yours.. But if it serves to inspire you or other readers to get off their tookus and get going with a proper 2009 training program, beginning NOW, then that's Fantastic. If 2008 was a disappointment for you, then please refrain from repeating the training program which failed you in 2008. I'm not a coach (at present) but that's fundamental common sense advice. Thanks for reading.

Ninigret?!?!

It was inevitable. My entire ride today was on Route 2. Not the most exciting place to be.. Short punchy rollers, flats in between windswept turf farms, and some rough patches which require one to ride center lane. Made it to the Arcenciel meetup point in 1:05 - into a mild but vexing headwind. We had 10 of us at the beginning but lost one.. Meaning we always had a lone tailgunner at the back. I used Route 2 to get down there, and our group continued down Route 2 all the way to Charlestown.. All the way to Ninigret.. Where it was time for me to stop pressing my luck and take the B-Line home, which happened to be a u-turn and back up Route 2 the entire way. It's a good thing I reversed when I did. My ride ended up being 4 hours, and towards the end I was daydreaming of food. Both bottles were frozen- even though I added powerade to one and the other was insulated. In fact, I think I was a bit dehydrated. In the 3rd and 4th hours I had some cramps zap me in the quads and hamstrings. 173 pounds when I left the house. When I got home I raided the kitchen: two fruit yogurts, an orange, a 16 oz Shaklee milkshake, and some other stuff I can't even remember. Even after all the replenishment, I was still 171 pounds after this ride. PT says 70 miles, and I noticed that some data was cut out maybe due to the cold maybe power lines.. Probably did more than 4 hours and 70 miles. The temp when I left was about 14 degrees. It was 23 when I returned. Thanks for reading.

Thursday: Rest, Friday: ILT

Thursday after work I was pretty much cooked, so I napped on the couch after eating some home made pizza.. went to bed at 11:00 and had an extremely restless night of sleep, sprinkled with 3 or 4 instances of becoming awake. Woke up tired.. Today (Friday) was an especially challenging day at work. For the first time in perhaps years, I had to skip lunch and surprisingly, I did not turn into a four headed dragon. After work though.. I went to Chipotle with a vengeance and helped myself to a burrito bowl, which is basically the contents of a burrito minus the pasty tortilla- mainly rice and steak with some chili sauce, peppers, onions, sour cream, and grated cheese. There are worse things a person can eat. So I'm looking at my 42 day TSS constant and trying to increase it very gradually week over week. From the latest four weeks of data, I see that the past four Fridays go like this: 45.0 49.3 52.7 54.8
I'm thinking that a monthly increase of between 12 and 15 is going to be both manageable and fruitful for now through March, though I can change course pretty swiftly if it's necessary. Having all this data at my fingertips feels like cheating.. Of course there are times when I need to say screw the charts and the TSS- you're tired- take a day off.. Like some of you very self-aware train-by-feel au-naturel under-trained types, I don't need a Powertap or a HRM to tell me that I'm tired either, BSPVD.. Anywho, here's the chart telling you the story of tonight's workout: 20:00 warm-up, then 2:30 individual leg training in the 39x17, 1:00 breaks in between, 3 total sets, followed by 20:00 of tempo with some high cadence (105-120, depending on what's playing on 95.5 WBRU) followed by some slower work. I'm starting to really like The Killers.

S.tart P.edaling I.ndoors N.ow

Spin class after work was a hoot. Some of the things they make you do are just nuts- I skip what I don't like.. such as when the instructor has 100 pound women turning 5-6 watts/kilo at 45 RPM.. I'm not letting the watts go higher than I can comfortably do for 5 minutes at 70 rpm. Foolishness if you ask me. So yeah- S.P.I.N. could stand for a lot of things.. but some instructors want to rename it G.R.I.N.D. I think.. My vitals for last night, not as impressive as Monday: 87 RPM, 184 watts, 162 bpm, in 60 minutes of duration. I was on a different bike, who knows how accurate these things are, but I felt tired, no doubt about that. After the SPIN class, I hopped onto a treadmill for 15 minutes. 3 minutes walking 4 mph, 9 minutes jogging at 6 mph, then another 3 minutes walking at 4 mph. Trying to ease myself into better running form, which is extremely easy to do when you're starting from a baseline that equals "untrained". All I want to do in 2009 [for running] is to get used to how it feels, so that I'm not so blown away during cross season.
I'm taking it easy tonight. There's a "YOGA Flow" class at 6:30 which I may try to do.. Thanks for reading.

Tuesday Recap +

Don't worry, I will tire of this eventually. Slept a little better last night, and got to the Y after work in time for the Pilates class- man was it full tonight. And two other guys in there this time. This did not make it any less embarrassing when your hero, during a more strenuous maneuver involving his very weak trunk/abdominal muscles, let one rip in all it's audible glory. Fortunately, it had a bark but no bite. I've been in there other times and witnessed some silent yet deadly emissions from some of the women. Made my nose hairs curl.. After getting home I was not content to got o bed without a proper turn of the pedals so I did a light spin for one hour while opening mail, reading stuff, even wrote an e-mail.. After uploading some data from the PT I decided to take a look at the past 40 or so days of training and compare to the year before period. Below, we have Dec 1 to the present. Farther down below, we have the same period one year ago.
Looking at one year ago, it's very easy to see why my knees were shot after Jan 13- I did two epic rides that weekend- 4+ hours on Sat and 3+ hours on Sunday. You can see the huge spike there in the pink ATL. I have avoided such Tom Foolery this winter, and I'm increasing training load in much more metered doses, as you can see in the above chart showing you how my CTL (42 day constant in Blue) is moving up a lot more gradually this year. Year before, CTL jumped 11-12 points in two days, from an already low TSS of 45/day. It's little wonder I needed to get the Active Release therapy to my knees. No such problems in 2009.

Monday Recap

40 minute spin in the morning, after an extremely restless 6 hours of sleep. After work, I bolted over to the Y for spin class with my wife. A challenging 61:41 at 200w average, 94 rpm and 159 bpm. The new shoes feel weird but gave me no discomfort.- my old DMTs have the DIY heat molded insoles and I didn't realize how well they conform to me, til tonight.

SSSsss... Rosssssaaa..

From the land where child laborers skillfully wrap round gear shift knobs and motorcycle gas tanks with brittle burl veneers.. somehow.. I give you this work of art: a DeRosa clad completely with the skin of a python, which the artisan/former Turkish National Team member claims he trapped himself. I believe him about the laminating.. There are a few more pictures, but my time is limited at the moment.

Saturday: short and tough, Sunday: Nautilus

Having slept in a little late and missed the 8:00 am ArcenCiel ride on Saturday (it was 15 degrees out- my limit is 20 degrees) I ended up leaving on a punishing solo excursion at 3:00, making sure to take my headlight because I knew it would be dark when I returned, and it was. This ride was challenging- it covered more than 2/3 of my usual 57 mile loop- meaning I basically hit all of the hills and skipped the easy part. I'm encouraged by this data! Today I slept late again, missing spin class and Yoga.. Roads were incompatible with bike riding so I ended up going to the Y and doing a challenging set of Nautilus- hitting most of the upper body machines twice. I keep a chart to monitor progress and on most machines I've increased the weight considerably since my first session. Tomorrow night I'm doing spin class and using my new shoes, picked up from the clearance rack at Providence Bike: These things have about as much class as a pair of Crocs, but they're cheap, brand new, all mesh and extremely light. I plan to break them in over the next 6-8 weeks in spin class and then decide (ugly or not) whether they are worthy of replacing my tired and nearly four year old DMTs. My other purchase from this weekend is a little more unusual for me: I haven't the slightest idea what to look for in a running shoe, but These ASICS Gel Cumulus are double wide and they fit like a glove. Tried them out for 15 minutes on the treadmill at the Y- blissfully comfy. I think I did all-right getting these for $29 at Marshalls.
The week ahead is going to include a lot of variation, including spin classes Mon, Wed, Thurs AM, Pilates on Tuesday, Yoga on Thursday PM, some easy spinning and FT work on the windtrainer, and of course, some long fat burning rides on the weekend. I could see myself sticking to this pattern for the next 4-6 weeks with no problem.. and I should be thanking my wife for discovering that we could do many of these activities together at the YMCA, all while our little one is in the free child care and having a great time in the supervised gym activities. It's a win-win no-brainer and we're both getting stronger and losing weight. Thanks for reading.

Individual Leg Training Continues..

Thursday night- 30:00 easy spin warmup, 2:00 intervals with one leg, one min between legs, two min between sets, three sets in the 39x17, 10:00 cool down. Next week, 2:30 ILTs. Yay!

Pilates+

After Pilates Tuesday night, I did a circuit of Nautilus. If you think that Pilates is for girls, I encourage you to try it. True, there's only myself and one other guy in there.. and it's true, we spend a lot of time lying on our backs with our legs up in the air doing various acrobatics. But man does it blast your entire core, and quite intensely. By the end of the session, I can barely lift a leg or do a crunch. Wed morning I did a 30 minute spin, then around 5:00 dear wife calls and says a spot opened up in the 5:45 spin class at the YMCA. This was my first time there and I was impressed with the bikes (shown above). Wearing my heart rate monitor, I found that the HR shown on the Keiser M3 was redundant. Then I noticed that the HR on the display matched my Polar watch, spot-on. Then I realized that the spin bike's computer did not have sensors in the handlebars, it's designed to pick up my Polar signal. How cool is that? These things also had a very fluid magnetic resistance (in lieu of friction) and they displayed power and joules. At the end of the workout, it displayed average HR, Power and Cadence, which for me was 156, 180 and 95 respectively. Niiiiiice.. I can take that data and enter it manually into my Peaks software. Like it a lot. One thing I did not like was the saddle- too squishy, too large.. and the room we are in is too small, the bikes too close together. Spinning is something which women do more than the men, and I can't complain if some of the participants are, you know.. easy on the eyes..

Here's a link to the Keiser M3 spin bike website: http://www.keiser.com/m3/index.html

The first thing which struck me was the simplicity- look at the four bolts which secure the bike to the pedestal. I like the clean lines and the simplicity. Yoga tonight.

2006 Cyclonauts Criterium

This set of pictures in my Flickr account has a few good shots. Here we have Kyle Gates with the after-burners on in the 30+ Masters Race. Lots of familiar names in the results! I was jammed up behind a crash with only one lap to go. Lucky I didn't get taken down.

On the Treadmill, literally and figuratively

yesterday no riding- but we went to the Y after work and I did 20 minutes on the treadmill and did one circuit of Nautilus (no leg machines)
This morning on the windtrainer:
20:00 warmup
10:00 FT+10%
10:00 R
10:00 FT+10%
10:00 Cool down
Tonight: Pilates!
In spite of a careful diet with careful portions, I'm adding some muscle mass, but what better thing to replace fat with, than lean muscle? Keeping the Nautilus reps at 20-25 is probably a good idea. I don't understand how there is any health benefit (besides getting ripped) to lifting the whole stack of weights for 6-8 reps, yet I see a lot of older, taller, yet pear shaped guys doing this. I guess it's possible to be strong as an ox AND out of shape.

Sunday's 4 hour grind

This chart tells a story indeed! Don't let the speed fool you, this was H-A-R-D. It was also the first time I've been in a multi-rider up hill locomotive. I'm humbled by the way that older, more mature bike racers (translation: masters) take care of their fellow brothers. Many thanks to Todd B., who showed us how it's done, by doing it. I salute you and I salute Bill D who gritted his teeth and grinded it all the way home through the pain, without cracking. It was a great day if you ask me.

2009 Resolutions:

Pilates, Yoga, Nautilus, Repeat.

No 587: Last post of 2008

It appears that I'll be heading out of work early today. Need to make it to Providence bike to pick up some items before they close for the holiday/snow. I'll probably head straight home after that..
Bisikletci Murat wishes you and your family a safe and happy New Year.

2008 Season Recap

Data

The data for today's ride, compared next to the 3 hour ride I did two weeks ago:

1% of 8000

Your Hero did 1% of 2008's total mileage today, in a duration of 4:35. I'm a little worn out of course, but I'm very happy about my knees. Usually, at about the 2:15 to 2:30 point, the knees begin to protest, and by the 3rd hour, they're doing more of an LA riot than a protest. I can attribute today's pain free ride to a few things. See if you'll agree:
1. On Friday I did a one hour Level 1 YOGA session at the Y (awesome- I loved it and I'm going back for more.. Nega Coach will be proud- always preaching the importance of stretching)
2. The yoga was followed by two completions of the Nautilus circuit (Very light weights, 20 reps, focused on establishing settings and proper form) a light soreness today is accompanied by the positive sense of progress in the "structural fitness" department.
3. It's warm today! (56 right now) My worst knee pain occurs primarily on the very cold rides- when it's under 30 degrees.
4. Lately I noticed that my seat's a touch too low, primarily from observing my reflection in the window when I'm on the windtrainer. I hoisted it up about 4-5 mm and it feels so much better.
One other revelation of today's 80 mile ride- very cool that I did not cramp up even once during the ride.. But after I got home and leaned over to remove my booties, THEN I felt a nasty and breath-taking pinch in my hamstring. Data galore and possibly some other trivialities coming up later. Thanks for reading.

What if..

..every bike race team in New England were to contribute one gently used kit into a collection which is sent overseas and given to a less fortunate person to use? My team has already sent four full sets of Millwork One uniforms to Turkey this past season, two of which are being used by a racer who we fully support. Recently, I also sent five complete Union Velo Racing uniforms which were given to a few of the local upstart racers in Bursa Turkey. I think it's pretty cool that the roads and trails of Bursa, Turkey are populated with Millwork One and Union Velo uniforms.
If this idea turns your crank, please show interest with a comment, or write to me privately at reiscotools@yahoo.com. If a large number of New England teams participate, I'd like to start a new blog which covers this topic more appropriately. The idea is for every New England team to add one or more international riders to their team roster. Bike racing is extremely cost prohibitive for most poeple in Turkey. This idea will make our sport more accessible to more people. Think about it.
FYI, the next care package departs for Turkey on Jan 2nd (it's a Specialized Tarmac Expert complete bike), There will be plenty of dead air space inside of the bike box. Can we fill it up?

New Britain Criterium 2008 Redux

A new friend I made at the race this summer sent me these pictures from the 30+ race. I attacked with one lap to go and then fell apart completely with 1/2 lap to go, finishing nearly dead last. Whatever.. Cool pictures.

Adaptation: one leg intervals

Nothing does as good job of proving adaptation to stress, than a power meter. To wit, a week ago I did a set of one leg intervals. They were pitiful- 119 watts average, per leg. (Call this my untrained benchmark) Four days later, I was able to do two sets, same gear (39x19), separated by a 5 minute recovery (1 minute between each leg) Average watts were high 130s in the 1st set, low 130s for the 2nd set. Speeds and distance also way up compared to the workout. My next session of one leg intervals will be in the 39x17, and go 2 full minutes. The data of the 1st 90 seconds will be fun to watch. These intervals will increase in duration by 30 seconds every couple of weeks, until I reach 3:00 minutes. They are indeed evil as Brendan correctly pointed out. Those last 10 seconds really turn you inside out. Another interesting observation: leg is stronger than the right.

It's not too late..

..to buy a Likeabike Jumper in any of six colors and have it delivered to you in time for Christmas, as long as your location is within a 60 mile radius of Providence RI, or you are willing to make a trip to our location to pick it up. Go to www.weebike.com, there's a link in the sidebar where you can choose a color and make a secure payment via Paypal. If the recent blizzard has made it difficult to get out and find the perfect gift for the 2-5 year old in your life, please consider a LikeaBike Jumper. All colors are in stock locally in RI. Let's face it, if you're reading this, you probably spent more money on your road shoes, or pedals, or carbon handlebars than you will for this, the most top-shelf toddler bike on the market- the LikeaBike Jumper. All aluminum, rear suspension, Schwalbe tires, made in Germany. What's not to love?
This video is excellent!

On second thought..

I didn't expect the snow to continue into Sunday. Wishful thinking. It's not that cold out right now, but a family walk to the local Cumberland Farms to buy some Twinkies (for our son) was challenging enough- never mind trying to do it on a bike. Snow shoveling for the past two days has been quite an excellent set of workouts. Last night I did an hour on the trainer and two sets of 90 second one-leg intervals. It's rather interesting with the Powertap, seeing which leg is stronger and by how many rpms and how many watts. I'll show you later, if the mood strikes. Tonight I'm aiming for a 90 minute trainer session with a few Zone 4 efforts of 2-5 minutes each. Legs are freshly shorn. What a difference it makes- all mental of course. It's in line with the "looking good is feeling good" mantra. Looking strong is feeling strong, imho. Besides I plan to do some spin classes at the Y and I don't want to be mistaken for a newbie.

Winter Wonderland Ride on Sunday?

Are you interested and crazy enough for a three hour ride on slick wet icy roads this Sunday? Does your bike have full fenders? If yes and yes, reach out to me and we'll meet someplace on the roads of RI. Sunday. I promise it won't suck.

I hate Boston

Seriously.

Oral surgery

In the pain cave with sutures in my gums after a root evac
This sucks

One leg intervals

Do you want to discover which of your muscles have been "dead wood" all season long? Perform a set of one leg intervals on your trainer. Start out at 60 seconds/leg in the 39x19. This is harder than people realize. Add 30 seconds a week and as many gear inches as you can hold 90 rpm with. Later on, add sets (separated by 5 min recovery) You will find your abdominals and other core muscles becoming involved in the last 15 seconds of the effort.

Better to burn out than to fade away

I am saddled with a severe case of burn out at work. It's been a tough year for me.. A couple of very high end multi million $$ projects on Beacon Street for very wealthy and demanding people combined with very difficult architects and designers, has really taken it's toll. Being a punching bag for general contractors is not a satisfying occupation. I spent two weeks overseas "on vacation" this past May, tending to my father. Not exactly a vacation. That event took more out of me than I can even comprehend.. My coach was astonished that I had any good form at all this year, after what happened (losing my dad) The rest of my vacation time wasn't used for laying on a sandy beach or anything either. I went swimming all of twice, all year- at Narragansett Town Beach no less..
Long story short, I plan to take the day after Christmas off and the day after New Year's Day off. That means that after this weekend, it's 3 days work, 4 days rest, 3 days work, 4 days rest. Niiii-ice. But in order for this to happen without having a meltdown at work, I'm putting in a lot of extra time both last week and this week. Probably 70+ hours. It's little wonder that my heart rate's elevated..
How many hours/miles of base fitness can I add to the hopper for 2009? As it stands now, I will easily pass 8000 total miles for 2008 with just a few more three hour rides.

Glad that's over!

and glad I didn't wimp out. Did more climbing than I planned (2740 feet), missed my ride mates by a few minutes down at Route 3/102 (that was a buzz-kill), so I did my ride alone. This means that for 3+ hours I never had the benefit of a wheel to follow or a body to draft. Charts later... These are the rides which we will be comparing to similar rides of 12 months ago. Should be interesting to see where I stand.

Time: 6:49 am, Temp: 20 degrees, Wind: calm

I'm fighting a very strong temptation to go back to bed and bask in the warmth of the flannel sheets and down comforter which are still populated by my other two family members.
I don't completely understand what compels me to suit up and grind out three hours of endurance training, but it might have something to do with hating myself if I don't do it. I'm no longer coached, so the only person I'm accountable to these days, is myself. Obsessive-compulsive behavior? or a well disciplined work ethic? I don't know which.

One race report left for 2008

Maybe..
It's going to be colder than I like, up in Wrentham. I have a blown side wall from NBX, I'll have to throw an old tire on there. Need a tube too.. Some extra sleep tomorrow morning would be good.
Racing or not, I need to be there in order to retrieve something from Matt.
I'm not pre-registered, and I haven't downgraded. That limits me to the Masters 123 and the Killer Bees, again. I should have downgraded. Maybe I'll get down-graded on the spot by an official. One of these days someone is going to point out that I am constantly lapped and that I pose a risk to the ones who are lapping me. An anonymous mid-field finish would have been possible in the 3/4 field.
Maybe.

Paris-Tours: A nail biting finish

Somehow I accidentally managed to set my DVR so that it records every bike race on the VERSUS channel. It was delightful to discover that it had recorded Paris Tours. So I propped by bike and trainer in front of our 32" LCD and did a nice brisk 60 minutes of indoor training. The coverage was two hours, so I had to FF through the commercials and I watched the ending after I was done training. So very awesome that Philip Gilbert's team mate held that pace for the last 2k, holding off a charging field by only seconds and helping PG take the sprint. Tyler Farrar won the field sprint for 5th, right on their heels. Pretty amazing- I did not know this. Anyway, 60 minutes of zone 2/3 training (190 watts average) were happily completed and dying of boredom was avoided, thanks to Versus and my DVR. That is all. I'm off to one of my projects at Harvard.
In other news, Murat is mysteriously down to 170 pounds this morning. Hmmmm.

Pectoral muscles do not propel you forward on a bike

I love saying that, if not for it's raw truthfulness, for it's tendency to make certain peoples' skin crawl. I can now do 50 consecutive push ups. The last five are tough- they take a second or two longer than all the others, but I do them.

NBX Cross Day 2: Master 1/2/3 Race Report

When I opened my eyes this morning and looked out the window, going to Goddard Park seemed very improbable. It took some digging- some soul searching- some quiet comtemplation- and finally just saying the words "Let's go" to myself, before I sprung into action. Family debated a little bit about going with me, but I persuaded them to "htfu" and get ready to leave (in my kind and loving way). When we left the house and our minivan employed it's traction control system just to get moving (we had 1" of snow) I knew it was going to be an interesting day of racing. We got to the park in good time- right at 9:30. I mounted my Fuji and remembered that the front wheel was still flat. I smartly grabbed the 3 pound front wheel off my commuter bike before leaving, just so I could ride to registration, and probably steal it's inner tube. Said commuter wheel with Kenda tire did exceptionally well on the slippery ride to the carousel- using it in the race even crossed my mind, no pun intended. So after saying hi to Bill Y, J-Lo, Jim P and Chris D along the way, I make it to the carousel in time to register for the 35+ 1/2/3. Problem is, I don't ask how much to pay and I ignorantly write my check for $35 just like yesterday. Wrong. It's $40 and I don't have another check nor do I have any cash. I leave my license and go outside to do some panhandling. Christopher Dale whips out a fin for me without hesitating and I'm on my way. (Thanks again Chris) Number 164 is mine. I then make my way over to the pit to inquire about a front wheel (or a tube). Adam Sullivan offers me one of his wheels to use, but I'm not a lucky person- it could be a taco when I return it- you never know (thanks for offering though Adam) So my pit friend is more willing to sell me an inner tube than loan me a front wheel- don't blame him one bit- except I have no cash. Dear wife has it. So I promise to return to pay the $4 later on. Fine and dandy. From here, I go back over the bridge, back to the car and make myself ready to race. No trainer time though- I go straight out onto the course, and not a moment too soon. After chatting with team mate Lynn Samartano (16th in the women's 3/4 race) I realize that the race is being staged and I take the b-line straight to the start. Within moments, we're on. I can't deny that I expected to have an easier time today than I did yesterday. The legs were opened up, the course was technical with lots of slick hairpins and bottlenecks. If I could find the strength to sprint out of every corner- like in a crit- I might have done ok.. and this positive thinking worked! For my first 3 laps, I was not dead last, even though I started there. I was passing people. I had about 5-6 stragglers behind me. I'm going into the corners aggressively, powersliding the front wheel (that feels so cool when it happens and you recover from it, avoiding certain collision with the ground) I'm sprinting out of the saddle and getting some good speed. The worst parts were the sand pits and run-ups. This is where my weakness was always evident. I had to go deep into 180 bpm every time I had to run, plus my lower back felt like it was being kicked with steel toe boots. Then on my fourth lap I started to lose steam, heading down into the 2nd sand run (which was a LOT longer today) funny noise from the rear wheel- and pedaling seems a lot harder- sounded exactly like a spoke had popped and the wheel was rubbing. I get down to the sand, thinking nothing of it- how bad can it be. I hump the bike to the top and try to ride but the wheel is jammed. I dismount to the left of the bike, look at things, see nothing. I try to loosen the brake cable, but this isn't working. I start riding again, in earnest. The wheel is rubbing badly. I make it around a couple of switchbacks and the tire blows ka-boom. Turns out the tire bead failed and the tube was out of the rim (afterwards I see that the tire is shredded from the explosion) I try to keep riding, but the turns are too numerous and too icy to be riding on the rim.. I start to run. The pit is about 300 meters away. Once through all the turns, it's a straight shot for a while, so I start riding again, carefully. It's faster than running. I ride over some roots and almost lose it, but I make it to the pit without crashing. A rear wheel is quickly applied by my pit friend and I'm off. Everyone passed me by this time of course, and I lost a big chunk of time fiddling with the bike and running. From here, the finish is just about 150 meters. Lap card says 2 to go. I'm just beginning my 5th lap. I make it down to the 1st sand pit, make the run up, and then I see what I was dreading- the leaders down on the asphalt, kicking the crap out of eachother- flying. Needless to say, somewhere around the time I jumped the wooden barriers I was lapped by the first few leaders, and then by a few more, and by the time I completed my 5th lap, Paul Curley was the last to go by me and I watched him beat someone to the line as I followed them across the finish. My time for 5 laps- 51:15. Three minutes prior, Mark M won the race and completed his 6th lap. I'll often wonder whether yesterday's or today's flats caused me to be lapped. Let's just say it didn't help, and neither did starting at the very back of the field, as I always do. The accordian effect of the first run-up no doubt strings the whole field out pretty good, and being the first 20 guys through there is a clear advantage. There's no denying that I suck at running- I'm biomechanically inept at it, plus my Fuji is an overweight piece of shit, but I'm using the equipment which is compatible with my ability, I suppose. Maybe in fall 2009 things will be different. I admit that this cross thing has won me over a little bit- and the most compelling evidence I can give you is that I dug-deep and finished both races this weekend in spite of flatting and in spite of running all over creation to reach the pit and in spite of the knowledge that I would be dead last and lapped. That says something.
FULL RESULTS are UP at USA Cycling. Thanks for reading.
Here's the ubiquitous data file showing my heart rate and such:

NBX Cross at Goddard Park Day 2 Masters 1/2/3

This time I raced with the masters at 10:30. I wrote my check in the wrong amount when I registered, and thanks to my friend Chris Dale's deep pockets and generosity, I was able to pay the deficiency and settle up and get my license back. The pit crew helped me with a front wheel yesterday, they sold me a tube today, and they also gave me a rear wheel when I had my shotgun blow out in today's race. More on that later, but many many thanks for all of the help in the pit! Thanks to them, I did lots of running these past two days and I'd have two DNFs to my name were it not for them. This was an excellent weekend of racing- organizers, sponsors, volunteers, pit- everyone and everything was a class act- a model for others to follow. If I could complain about one thing- why not?- parking is too damn far from registration. TTYL.

NBX Cross at Goddard Park Day 1 Masters 1/2/3 Pictures

The way it usually goes for 'ol Murat, the race begins when he opens his eyes in the morning. Indulging in some extra sleep is a weakness which even Solobreak can't help me with and were it not for his call at 7:00 am, I would probably have slept until 9:00 and not 8:00. First order of business- dump the hamper on the laundry room floor and wash my cold weather apparel until the stink is gone. Check. Out the door at 9:22, planning to get there at 9:35-ish, one hour to get all sorted out and warmed up. Wrong! There's no gas in the minivan- it's running on fumes.. and I discover that I've forgotten to bring water. No worries- a quick stop at Sunoco and I get a quick $10 of gas and buy H2O. I'm down 8 more minutes.. So I get on my way- south on Route 2, Murat is snagged by every single red light there is. No amount of cursing gives me relief. I get to the park and pull over onto the right hand side thinking I can quickly make my way to registration. Nothing doing. I'm chased out of there and told I need to park in the field like everyone else. Down another 5 minutes. Here's the part that really turns my crank- what I did not expect is that it would take 10 minutes to ride from the car to registration. Didn't plan for that, no sir. I get to the table at 10:02 or :03. Registration for the Masters 1/2/3 is closed. I keep my cool. Who wants to get ready to race in only 25 minutes (15 if you count the ride back to the car). So your hero ends up registering for the 2/3 race (killer bees? first time I ever heard that one) In the first 30 minutes of waiting for my 12:30 race, I made myself useful and took over 200 pictures of the racers in the race which I was not permitted to enter. Warning- I use a 3 megapixel Kodak that I bought at Target 4+ years ago, out of the box, no instructions, and it's held together with a rubber band which I renew every few months because well, it breaks on me and lets the batteries fall out. I'm not a photographer. If you find any photos which are worthy of printing, you're a lucky bastard. In the spirit of giving you these mediocre photos, Murat put $25 toward a Pro Flickr account, so in case you find some picture in there which don't suck, there's a button in the sidebar where you can donate a buck or two. Humor me.
Here's the pictures at my Flickr account Enjoy.

Drumroll please..

My eagerness to dish up photos caused me to forgot to tell you the story of my race. This was my first 2/3 cross race ever. I was a trooper, I started at the very back per usual.. and after a few laps, instead of the usual "ride at my own pace all by myself" bullshit, I hooked up with 3-4 guys and stayed glued to them! This required me to push deep into the pain cave occasionally, primarily after the run-ups, where I am absolutely horrible. At any rate, just before completing lap 4- I did a power slide into the last left hand corner with my front wheel- a miracle that I didn't dump it hard. The two guys on my wheel had to squeeze the brakes. After going through the finish, my front tire turned to mush- and in no time, it was down on the rim. So approaching the first and more difficult sand pit, I'm done, or so I thought. We're not lapped at this point.. Hopes were dashed. I told my drop-mates about the flat and the immediate reply was "Lucky bastard". Hehe. So I shoulder the bike and run it all the way around the course to the pits. Watching me run is like watching a horror show, but I make it. A very quick neutral wheel change follows my clumsy prancing over the barriers and I'm off. Unfortunately, I lost some big time here and got myself lapped by the leaders a little beyond that muddy off camber corner. (2 to go changes to 1 to go, of course) By the time I reached the 2nd sand pit, a few more guys went past. From there I just held my meager speed and finished my 5th lap in exactly 45 minutes flat. I used the Polar HRM, and the data says that I reached 189 bpm on 3 or 4 occasions, and that I averaged 175 bpm for the 45 minutes. To wit: I should admit here that this was the most fun I've had in a cross race, and I'm wondering if maybe it was because I was in the 2/3 field and not the Masters 1/2/3 field. It seemed to me that these younger riders were more interested in having fun than in beating each other's brains out. End result- 64th place out of 67 finishers and 73 starters. Thanks for reading.

Canada's tolerance for obesity

Read about how obesity is rewarded in Canada while others are charged 90 Euros to bring back an extra suitcase of what remains of their dead father's belongings. -uck you Lufthansa.