Success breeds success

I'm fatigued. Tuesday night I did a very hard workout. Wednesday night I completed my income tax returns. I was up until 1:00 but it had to get done. Now I just have to file it.. So no workout Wednesday at all- that sucks.. So tired. It was another long day Thursday. I fretted a bit about the workout that needed to get done, and it wasn't until 9:30 pm that I could finally claim some time to myself and head to the basement. Intervals lasting more than 15 minutes are a real challenge for me- I either have ADD or my legs are built for all-or-nothing contractions, not these carefully metered, just below threshold efforts- which drive me completely insane- and this weakness which I'm working on also explains why I often get into the winning break but fall apart when it matters most. Here's the workout:
20:00 WU
5:00 FT
5:00 RI
15:00 FT
10:00 RI
15:00 FT
10:00 CD
It's true that I set my computer to display average watts and I try to hold a certain target wattage for the duration. The first 5 min are a shock to the system, really intended to get your juices flowing for the real efforts. The 1st 15 minute effort blows, but it blows mainly because all I can think is "I can't do this again!".. I get through it no problem, and my heart rate tops out at about 174. Surprisingly, after 10 minutes of recovery I'm rearing to go again! Of course 60 seconds into it I'm thinking twice.. I'm resisting the urge to look at the time elapsed. I'm counting the letters on a cardboard box, over and over again. I'm closing my eyes. I'm trying to apply force to the upstroke to balance leg fatigue. I'm looking at the time every 20 seconds and I can't stop imagining how good it will feel to stop. In the end, my heart rate is 183 and I average only 7 watts less than the 1st 15 minute effort. Wiped.. I am actually light-headed after I stop.. Like I could black out and fall to the floor, but the feeling passes.. And after 1 minute my pulse is down to 158. After 2 min its down to 130. It sounds cliche but success in training translates into success in racing. So why not be happy about pushing through a hard workout which you typically suck at? If I can do it in the basement, I can also do it on the road. So you see, we're training body and mind here, as it should be. Thanks for reading.

YTD Performance Management Charts- a comparison

One thing that immediately stands out about the winter of 2009 is that I did seven consecutive weekends of 3-4+ hour rides, and then took a big break. What happened is that we went to San Diego for a one week getaway. We went to Legoland, Wild Animal Kingdom, we drove up and over the mountains to Borrego Springs, we saw two stages of the Tour of California.. While we were there we went to the Carlsbad YMCA for swimming and Spinning classes.. So I got a much needed break after so much volume in Jan/Feb. Things resumed as before in March..
In 2010 things are a little bit different. I have been stingier with my weekends, relative to doing back to back long rides.. then I get severely ill right after my trip to NYC for the Toy Fair. This knocked me on my ass until early March, when food poisoning put me behind some more as well. Now I am playing a slow and steady game of catch-up.. and as of this date, I seem to have a level of CTL (chronic training load) which is par with 2009.
As I explained to Solobreak recently, my training volume is still only about 75-80 hours for the year.. maybe 90 hours by the end of March.. so endurance fitness is not exactly where I want it to be. It's not in the toilet, but it needs work. Thanks for reading.

The secret to enjoying your job is to have a hobby that is even worse.

Racing does not necessarily equal correct training

..especially if you are driving one hour each way and you're behind the curve relative to base endurance. Anyway, I'll bet a lot of us cracked 200 miles for the first time this week. I couldn't have done it if I went to Wells Ave.. I needed to control my intensity and do a proper amount of volume, so instead I got a little bit extra sleep and rolled off at about 9:00, intentionally late for the pick-up race at Ninigret, but headed there nonetheless. A nice tailwind the whole way south on Route 2 is indicated by the speeds on the chart below. After tooling around for a few laps at Ninigret (there were about 20-25 guys there going pretty damn hard for March- I put in a couple of nice efforts as well).. I knew it was time to go. We had a birthday party to reach at 2:00 pm and I had a two hour date with a strong headwind. Even so, average speed was respectable, for one traveling solo with fenders and heavy wheels.. My weight is down to 166 (after the ride yesterday I was 164). I think the double 90 minute rides during the week are going to pay big dividends. I never got under 170 last season (except after a 4 hr ride), and here it's only March. There's a lot of portion control going on as well, it's not just training volume. To all of you who like to take jabs at my weight (you would think I was 5'-0" tall if you didnt know better) when I am down to 158 pounds in June and riding you off my wheel, you can go suck it. Here's the ubiquitious data which you come here to see:

Blackstone River Bikeway

My commute to work isn't all bad..
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Victory! I made it to mid-life

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
>Theodore Roosevelt

It's the last day which I can ever really call myself 38, and tomorrow is the 1st day of my 40th year.. so where did 39 go?

Thinking about the next three months of warming weather, I got excited about the possibility of doing three round trips per week, to work and back (Tues/Wed/Thurs) and doing one way trips Monday and Friday. Weather permitting, this is a total of 208 miles, and this doesn't include the weekend. Of course this doesnt account for the occasional Wednesday night Ninigret race- how would I make that happen? Probably by driving home Wednesday nights and driving to work Thursday mornings. Or I can skip Ninigret and do my own thing, or go to Wompatuck.. Last spring Tobi S. came over to me after Ninigret one night and pointed at my saddle, "How's that working out for you?" I wasn't sure what he meant at first. Oh yeah.. my saddle's nose is pointed down a few degrees. "I haven't changed it in years, and my junk doesn't get numb anymore." The other day I foolishly messed with my saddle, setting it more (but not quite) level and raising it a few millimeters. On the increased height, I have no issues. I think it was the correct turn of the dial.. but leveling off the saddle was a mistake. After 20 minutes I am so completely numb that I can be castrated and not ever know it. Stick to what you know.. Looking at the shoes I'm now wearing.. it's hard to believe I've been wearing them since July 2005?? I guess that's the best possible advertising that DMT can ever hope to have, because 5 years of riding [for me] is about 25,000 miles.. If I could find some new old stock I'd buy them again, but the stuff on the market now is so featherlight.. (I like the Mavics and the Sidi Ergo2s) that these are tank-like in comparison. I get to drive to Fairfield CT tomorrow for a mandatory Pre-bid meeting.. at 2:30.. not exactly where I want to be on a Friday afternoon on my birthday. I'm expecting to make the trip to Wells Ave on Sunday to see if these guns can still go fast after such a long winter. Maybe I'll ride there and back, or go early and do a team ride in the area beforehand. I was a hit last night on the ride home with my green arm warmers. People like that you make an effort. and I'm about as Irish as a sishkebab. Had the shirt too, at work. Sadly, it never occurred to me that I should imbibe some beer or spirits. We didn't have any at the house anyway.. and it's not usually something I crave.. drinking that is.. One thing about commuting by bike- it sure is easy to forget that your wallet is still in your backpack and discover it after a 1/2 hour drive to Officemax where you went to buy a new toner cartridge for your laser printer last night. Yeah that was me.. but I was with my boy and so it doesn't matter. He was totally FLYING at Goddard Park the other day. Dropped mommy and I like two sacks of potatoes. Rick Newhouse Crit has a kid's race.. maybe we should go to Ninigret and practice a few laps. I don't want him to pull a 'Murat' and take himself out in that first sharp corner. Thanks for reading.

Can't wait..

.to try on my new "Wasabi" colored wool arm warmers after work. In the spirit of this Day o' St Patrick.. My company will be offering it's own line of wool arm warmers this fall. How does the idea of a wool base layer that comes with matching arm warmers sound? Think of it as a long sleeve wool base layer with detachable sleeves. We will be the first to offer it as a nice affordable matching kit.. These will be marketed under our new brand: PurWool. (There should be a horizontal dash above the u) thanks for reading.
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Made where? And it's $85?!

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Who do you see?

Name the race and name the people.

Food poisoning, but there's good news too

Not the ideal way to lose weight, but I’m down to 165 pounds this morning because of a rancid gyro sandwich I ate for lunch two days ago. Did not sleep a wink the night before, and last night was only marginally better. My guts have been having painful spasms on and off for the last 24 hours. I don’t really know how I managed to ride to work yesterday morning without blacking out and crashing. It was cold, damp and I was going on no sleep. You know, I was suspicious of the sandwich they served me when the meat seemed to be overcooked.. a telling sign that they are not too confidant of it’s freshness or suitability as food. The lack of good places to eat around here (in Cumberland) is really getting on my nerves. Back in the day when I worked at Millwork One, Haruki Japanese restaurant was only 2 minutes away. Now there’s a Chipotle 1 minute away from there too (Garden City).. Here in Cumberland, I don’t know what f people eat. I am not the type who brings lunch from home. I don’t have time for that, though I do try.. but my plate is too full as it is to stop and put leftovers into Tupperware.. oh and to remember to bring the empties home and all that. The weekend appears to be very crappy weather, making it an ideal time to hit the gym and lift some weights, do a spin class, and complete my 2009 tax returns. We are purchasing a home in Warwick and yesterday something happened which makes me feel a lot better about the deal- after 4 months working at this new job, I finally got my first win yesterday. It was a publicly opened filed-sub bid for the laboratory casework contract in a brand new high school in Groton CT. My bid was the low number and not by much, meaning that I didn’t leave a lot of money on the table. It feels pretty damn good to sell ¼ million dollars of product in one fell swoop, and it does a lot to help secure my income and to make the purchase of this new house easier. Another huge win this week: one of our team’s sponsors had reached out to me last fall and offered to write a check for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. I declined and told them they didn’t have to pay us so early- let’s wait until the early spring when racing begins. Over the past few months I was beginning to second guess my approach, but I resolved NOT to call and pester them for the money. My faith and my patience paid off- the check arrived yesterday- enough to pay a large number of entry fees over the next two seasons. Anyway. Here’s a picture of our new place, below. And why not, here’s a picture of our old place too, which is now a rental property (orange shutters). The 3rd floor is available for $700 a month, heat and hot water included. It’s a nice space. I installed figured anigre wall paneling up there which I salvaged from the old Arthur Anderson space in Boston- it was taken over by Standard & Poors and they threw away truckloads of figured anigre paneling and doors. If you recall Arthur Anderson was tied to the whole Enron debacle. Please direct some of your positive energy towards the houses- I could use all the help I can get in keeping one rented and for closing the deal on the other. Those of you who bought some wool apparel from me the other week- I am immensely grateful. Thank you.

Four commutes = 106 miles

This is hard, especially in the AM. I rode home from work twice this week, and rode to work from home twice this week. If I did the round trip five days a week, it would be 265 miles, and 16 hours of training.. but I doubt this will happen. My goal is to make a minimum of 2 round trips a week (just like this week) and maybe up it to 3 in April and May. When the weather is nice, I can ride the back roads to get home and get some more "alone time" to do intervals or speedwork. This would occur mainly on route 116 as it circles all the way around and down to West Warwick. One thing I'm finding impossible to avoid is for my clothing to get completely drenched with sweat. After disrobing this morning here at the office, my pile of smelly clothing had to weigh about 15 pounds. Yucch.

FOR SALE: EPX Carbon Road Bike with Campy Chorus and Rolf wheels

Murat's back-up road bike is FOR SALE
Very lightly used with minimal wear and tear. First $1250 takes it. Or you can bid on it at EBAY and see where it goes.
The wheels are perfect. The drivetrain is like new. Weighs 17.8 pounds.

The first bike commute of 2010

I ended up leaving the office a little later than I expected, and got home 7:15 ish.. The whole ordeal took 1:30:26 to complete, door to door. The first part of this 26.37 mile journey is on a bike path- a really nice one. Much of it is ridden with water on both sides of you. After about 4 miles this launches you onto route 122 South, where you suddenly become the red-headed step-child of the motoring world. Central Falls is not the ghetto.. unless you live in East Greenwich. Then it's like the Bronx or something worse. Route 122 takes you right into the heart of Providence, where the chances of being smooshed into biker paste is unfortunately high. I must have stopped at every red light in the city. I rode on part of the last held COX Criterium course for a bit and shortly after this, I could finally exhale after getting onto Allens Avenue and passing one of my favorite watering holes. Let's just give it the code name "Desire". Then the ride begins to quiet down.. at least until I reach the airport area- then it gets crazy again. This is going to be an interesting commute- nothing like my old familiar ride into Cranston. Cumberland is a land far far away from E.G., and at 6:00 am I am going to repeat the exercise.. It will be mostly uphill and mostly into the wind. I hope to make it in one piece.

Riding 4+ hours is easy..

..when you're in a big group. Even though the speeds are higher, you are doing less work in a double paceline where you get to pull for 10 minutes every hour or so.. The rest of the time, you're sucking wheel, chit-chatting, eating, drinking, looking around.. the only ones cracking more than 3 watts/kilo are the two guys at the front. With this in mind (and mountains of data to prove it) I embarked on a lonely journey towards the roads that I like the most, out in the reservoir area of Coventry and Scituate. This was going to be a morning of deliberate sensory deprivation and hill climbing. My only friends were my iPod and my ego.
Fifteen minutes into my ride on Division Road, I passed Mr Billy Y.. presumably (and later confirmed) to be on his way to meet the ArcenCiel ride at 8:00.. I sort of hoped he would pull a u-turn and trade pulls with me for 4 hours, but I was also tempted to turn around and head down there with him.. The problem with big group rides are the stops. Not that I mind them so much.. but the quicker you get the four hours over with, the better. In a big group, there is a preliminary stop to wait for everyopne, there are flats, pee breaks, kwik-e-mart breaks, dropped riders (sometimes me!).. all of which can make a 4 hour ride take 5 hours to complete. My plate is full, I can't afford to waste an hour, as much as I love the company I am in, I love my wife more. Anyway, long story short, I pictured a ride in my mind and in spite of repeatedly feeling like I wasn't going to make it, the ride was completed successfully in just over 4 hours. Speed was not impressive and neither was power, but relative to the usual big group ride, I actually clocked more TSS in 4 hours than I would have otherwise done in 5.

Saturday was beautiful and I treated wife and child to some off-roading at Big River for 90 minutes. What could be better? My legs were smoked from Saturday's TSS and I needed to shut it down for a couple of days. I'll admit though, that my OCD got the best of me and after the end of the season finale of Big Love, I went down into the basement for a one hour tempo spin, just to keep the engine primed.
Today I plan to ride home after work, then ride back in tomorrow morning. First bike commute of the year! 27 miles each way. Wish me luck.

Tour de New York is Coming!

My good friend Todd Scheske is in the news again. Between being a promoter of races such as the Rochester Twilight Criterium and the Tour de New York and being President of the very prestigious Genesee Valley Cycling Club, Todd helps me to train effectively and to time my peaks correctly. Today’s news article at VeloNews is pretty exciting, and if I’m not mistaken, the Tour de New York will also feature a downtown criterium for women, juniors and masters, with the Pro crit being the Feature Presentation of course. That’s another excuse for me to head out there and spend some time with my younger brother, who is finishing up his degree at Rochester Institute of Technology. As a team affiliated with the GVCC, maybe we can head out there as a Team and kick some tail!

Thanks for reading.

Racing this weekend?

Were it not for losing a week of training with a chest cold and related fatigue, I would be doing back-flips about this weekend’s opener at Charge Pond. Right now, I’m on the fence about it, and would prefer to keep working on endurance with a 4-5 hour ride than drive far away and pay money to enter a one hour drag race where someone is certain to crash, if not from nerves it will be from someone getting their doors blown off and then being unable to properly handle a bike. It is tempting, all the same.. Playing it by ear at this point. I rested yesterday- not even a light spin. I’m listening to my fatigue and it’s saying “whoa, 250 TSS on Sunday and another 72 on Tuesday.. even a light spin tonight will just increase your tiredness..” Well, I feel good today. Coughing is finally under control. Mucus is much reduced, though the occasional nose-blow is colored much like honey mustard salad dressing.. Gross. Anyway, here’s what I did Tuesday night, below. The 2nd interval was supposed to be 15 minutes. I failed- it would have wiped out the rest of the workout. So I compromised and did a 5 minute effort, followed by a 10 minute effort, followed by another 5 min effort. That’s 25 minutes total in the pain cave, not bad for a sick person.

Sunday: The Return

Obsessive compulsive types like me go through a living hell when they can’t ride due to illness, due to life requirements, or due to any reason at all really. Your hero took one final day of rest Saturday (but not without doing a one hour indoor spin) and on Sunday morning, he was ready to hit it hard. First off, I felt under-dressed. I blame this on the fact that I perspire profusely when I’m sick, and the extra moisture was giving me the chills.. Also, it was a very damp kind of cold on Sunday morning. I got to the meeting point ½ hour early too, meaning that after riding fairly hard for an hour (to keep warm) I had to spin easily back and forth on route 3 until everyone showed up. I shivered some more and at one point almost swore that I was going home. Two total hours of riding in this miserable cold felt like enough foolishness. As it is, my legs felt completely thrashed and dead to me the whole way there. I knew I was in for some punishment if I stuck around. But I don’t throw a leg out of bed at 6:00 am just to ride for two hours.. So I waited for all attendees and much to my surprise we were honored by the presence of a recently crowned National Champion and World Championship medalist. Those of you who need to know who this is, already know.. Well from what I read relative to the previous weekend, this was going to be another “average 20+ mph-or-die” kind of a ride.. Fine and dandy.. My Blackberry has GPS. I can always shut it down at any time that I need to and find my way home. Things were pretty civil and low-tempo up until we turned right onto route 49. Here, we split into two groups and let a gap open up- to practice pacelining. I wasn’t feeling too stressed until the road turned up and pointed up albeit gradually, for basically the whole way.. My front group was caught and passed after about 10 minutes, and the profile of route 49 is such that after another 5 minutes, your hero fell apart completely and some friends waited up for me and towed my ass back up to the rest of the group, a couple of times.. My lungs and head are so filled with goo and I am hacking so much throughout this ride that my judgment relative to riding is being questioned by others.. and rightly so. After the tempo mellowed again, I took the B-Line home and ended up with 75 miles in about 4:15. Slower than usual, but Sunday rides are hilly, and I’m sick.. The rest of the group apparently did just under 100 miles in just over 5 hours. I expected to be put into difficulty all day. That’s why I did it. And that’s probably why I am tolerated by this great group of guys: because they know that my heart’s into this 110%. At the end of the day, I am satisfied that I did the best I could with the situation I was in, and that puts one hell of a spring in my step today.

Thanks for reading.

Stella Azzura retro bar tape

This stuff is harder than it looks to install! The flat top shape of modern bars also means you need to be careful not to "wrap yourself short"..
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Weight = 167

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TSS=68

I guess I could have just spun for 15 minutes and then explained how important it is to slowly ease back into training after missing an entire week with illness.. I don't have time for that and I'm allergic to bullshit.. so my preference is to pick up where I left off, by repeating a very recent workout and trying to detect any residual weakness from having a cold. We're back on track.This was a very common workout for me when indoors:
20:00 WU
10x:
1:00 EN 110rpm
1:00 FT 90 rpm
5:00 RI
5x:
1:00 EN 110rpm
1:00 FT 90 rpm
15:00 CD
Apologies to those of you who would have preferred to see me thrash myself randomly for 90 minutes without any real structure or purpose, and then judge my workout by the amount of sweat on the floor.

HasyunUSA and WeeBIKE- now separate websites

During one of my recent late night insomniac episodes, I found the mental fortitude to set up a new retail website to separate the Kid’s Bikes we sell from the Merino Wool Underwear we sell. The wool apparel can still be found at http://www.weebike.com/, but the storefront gives very little indication of this, so those who are interested in kid’s bikes, primarily see kid’s bikes.

To make our Google Adwords campaign for wool underwear more effective, it seemed pretty obvious to us that those who want to buy wool are not interested in kid’s bikes, nor are they interested in buying wool from a site where kid’s bikes are featured. For this reason, http://www.hasyunusa.com/ was born. As simple and plain-jane as this site appears, it is no easy task to get the domain name transferred over and get the merchant account codes, certificates and passwords installed. This Hasyun site took me about 2 hours to create, and it’s automatically populated with everything that I have in my Ebay store, within a minute of launch. This meant that I had to go in and delete all the non-wool items, but this only takes a few minutes. So now you know.

Some of you also know that I am sponsoring the ArcenCiel Racing Team with a combination of merchandise, discounts and cash. The ass-end of their kit is going to look something like this:

It’s an honor to be affiliated with such a classy bunch of masters. I won’t drop names here but the initials of TB, RR, DK, BM et al represent incredibly strong men who ride all winter long and win races regularly. They are also an older group who has an appreciation for wool cycling apparel.

We’ve been in business 2-1/2 years and so far, so good. We haven’t lost any money, and we’re blessed that a lot of our money is sitting tight in the form of inventory. This means growth! Even so, every cent we have made that didn’t go towards purchasing more inventory, has gone towards the support and cash sponsorship of the M1 Racing/WeeBIKE.com Racing Team. We have been covering nearly all entry fees for our riders and we are probably the only team offering prize-matching- something which a few of our guys have done very well with- our team won six races last season.

All this cash outlay means we are basically running the operation hand to mouth. We recently had to take a loan from a family member so that we could put a deposit down on a home, said loan being in anticipation of my tax return check. Don’t let the 2 retail websites and the 6 blogs fool you: we are not wealthy people. I own a rental property in West Warwick and I rent a condo in East Greenwich so my son can go to a good school. Some very attractively priced FannieMae foreclosures are hitting the market right now and you can pick them up for only 3% down if you get a Homepath mortgage. Go to Homepath.com and you will find everything you need to know, including the listings for your area. It’s free. This is where we found the house we are buying, which is in the Cowesett area of Warwick. Buy on weakness, sell on strength!

There was some point which I needed to make but it’s lost on me at the moment.. Indeed- here it is. It would please us immensely of the racing community which we support could consider reciprocating and maybe thinking about buying some of our Hasyun Wool Underwear or one of our many brands of kid’s bikes. We have sold wool underwear and bikes to people all over the world, but our recent decision NOT to open a brick and mortar retail store was directly linked to the fact that we are selling to people everywhere EXCEPT in New England. I don’t know how any kind of overhead can possibly be supported when the community you live in is not spending any money. We’re nonplussed, but grateful for all of the hundreds of customers which we have in places like UK, Russia, Israel, Australia, Canada and Mexico. Some local sales will make it a lot easier to have enough cash to close on this property which we are trying to buy.

This morning I was flipping through my new Velonews and discovered one of the product promos was for a short sleeve merino wool base layer, by a company called Capo. This “limited edition” item is selling for $80, and from the picture I found of it online, it’s practically see-thru, and no indication is given of exactly how much wool is used to construct it, or where it’s made. As a person engaged in the wool trade, I can tell you that the cost of this piece is probably about $7-10, depending upon the volume. The rest of the $70 mark-up goes to cover overhead, advertising, distribution, fancy web design, freight, customs, packaging, and expensive ads in Velonews. If you detect a little bit of frustration, you are right-on.

We sell a high quality short sleeve merino wool blend base layer for $29.95, plus $2.95 for shipping. Our competition, be it Capo, Ibex or Smartwool, is engaged in some kind of delusional price-point which only the wealthy and ignorant can afford to pay. There is no way that any of the people I train and ride and race with can afford that kind of dough for a paper thin wool undershirt of unknown wool content and unknown origin. That being said, I want to announce that our introductory period for our apparel is ending on February 28^th. On March 1^st the new price of our 75% merino wool blend short sleeve base layer will be adjusted to $39.95, which is still ½ the price of the boutique brands. For select teams in the New England area, I will be sharing one of two Coupon Codes which can be used at checkout. One will be for 10% off and for teams which I sponsor, it is a LOT more.

We have recently added two types of long underwear for men: black in 75% merino wool blend, and beige in 100% merino wool. Please go to the website and browse the selection: http://www.hasyunusa.com/ These are both reasonably priced for $38.95 and $39.95, respectively.

Let me tell you what happened to me last night.. Some of you have heard that I’m in the middle of a very nasty chest/head cold. Well last night I was feeling a little better, and I went to bed with my Hasyun Merino Wool base layer as a pajama top, because I had the feeling that it would be a night where I am going to sweat buckets. Four hours later, I awoke to heed nature’s call. Lying on my back, the covers pulled up to my neck, I felt very snug and comfortable. It wasn’t until I threw the covers off of me that I realized that I was lying in a pool of sweat, the sheets, blankets, wool shirt and flannel bottoms all soaked through completely. The important distinction to make though, is that wool retains 70% of it’s insulating properties even after it is soaked through. With any other type of undershirt, I probably would have woken up 3-4 times to change shirts. This means that the wool shirt allowed me to get more rest, and keep warm too. For the record, I have one Hasyun base layer which I bought 3 years ago- and it fits me better and better with each washing. Seems to have a ‘memory’ relative to my body shape. These things are built to last with flat stitched seams using a double knit interlock fabric.

Well I’ve said a lot more here than I expected to, but hopefully you have learned a few things about our business, about the teams we sponsor and where to go find foreclosed homes. Thanks for reading.

Grandpa got a bath..

I've never owned a bike which was put to such heavy use, as this one.. So yeah I think of it as an old man- but a fit one- like Harrison Ford (he's 67!?) The design of this frame seems a little bit dated, but I am pretty sure that it's as stiff a frame as anything else I can replace it with. I can't get the chain to rub the front derailleur when stomping on the pedals, so I'm thinking it still has a good amount of life left. It needs to because I can't afford a new bike right now.. We're buying a foreclosure from FannieMae and we need every penny for closing. I'm going to throw a pair of Zipp 404 tubulars on it and see how it goes. I have a pair available to me for a great price, and I figure shaving off a pound of rotational weight is going to help me more than a new frameset will. Besides, I don't think I will enjoy obsessing over a new bike's sensitive paint job. This old LOOK has a lot of battle scars already.. kind of the way my knees do..
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PowerTap Crap

This is from last Saturday.. I did not require the device to tell me how much force to apply to the pedals, no, that kind of worked itself out in accordance with the company I was with. I like using the device as a flight data recorder though.. comparing successive weeks and seeing a pattern which indicates success.. Thanks for reading.

best luggage ever

For $2 you get this lightweight and indestructible bag that perfect for whipping bike race stuff into from across the room.. Unless you're the type who wastes their time folding clothing.
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Thoughts about Coaching

Consider this: On top of racing a bike, you are working a challenging life smothering job and running a home based business and managing a masters racing team and you have a demanding wife and an active six year old son and you rent an expensive condo and own a rental property and you manage a retail website and contribute to five blogs, and from this hurricane of stress you manage to steal 10-15 hours a week for bike practice (a miracle in and of itself)..

Successful self-coaching.. as it relates to a correctly planned training program, with the optimal amount of volume, intensity and rest, is not something you fall ass-backwards into, especially when you don’t have the luxury of riding as much as you want, whenever you want to.. Sound familiar?

It’s not so far fetched that the person described above may not have the brainpower left at the end of the day to figure out the best way to optimize their limited training time. For masters like us, it’s “now or never” time. Masters are chewing through their handlebars in the last 1k2go for their results, rightly so, as they are not getting any younger. Indeed, for those who really want to be successful, the age of 40 is not the time to “wing it” relative to a successful training program, and even if we know how to get to 90% of our potential for success, it’s the last 10% which matters and it’s the last 10% which is the easiest to screw up. Some race results are measured in millimeters. It doesn’t take a very large advantage in form to break from the top 10 of your races into the top 3 of your races. Hire a coach for the correct reasons.

Thanks for reading.

 

Nonplussed

Let you in on a secret:

There is a house for sale on Ives Road in Warwick- happens to be ¼ mile past the main entry to the infamous Goddard Park- a picture perfect little house with all of the features, the price, and the taxes which we were looking for- walking distance to the park and to the beach- front view of a golf course, fenced yard, solid foundation, mature landscape, deck, shed, etc- it was a foreclosure being sold by Fannie Mae- priced $100k less than the previous owners paid for it 2-1/2 years ago- we offered a little bit over the asking price on the 1^st day it was on the market.. and lost it to another buyer somehow.

It’s funny how you can attach yourself emotionally to a home that you want, imagine your family’s future in it, even look forward to using your windtrainer in it’s basement, and then *poof*. A bucket of ice water when you are informed that your *above-asking-price* offer wasn’t good enough. Yeah we have a rock solid pre-qual letter in-hand. I should feel blessed and lucky for having the ability to buy a 2^nd home but.. instead I’m nonplussed.

Thanks for reading.

2010 Field Test No 1

If my power data ramblings do not please you, tough luck. I got home from a relatively easy day at work and after horking down a burrito bowl from Chipotle (nothing but rice, black beans, meat and hot salsa) I noticed my resting h.r. was low- as in about 50 while standing up looking in the mirror. Yesterday I took rest- just a light easy spin on my spinning bike. Last Sunday I thought I might try a field test during my indoor training at Providence Bike, but aborted that idea after the 5 minute "blow-out". (280 watts?!) Meaningless to you, I know.. At any rate, I was feeling up to the task tonight, so I just did it. 20:00 warm up, followed by three 1:00 intervals in zone 5, 1:00 apart. Then 5:00 recovery.. Followed by a zone 4+ 20% interval of 5:00 (300w+ this time), then 10:00 recovery, and finally, 20:00 TT. It was a success. (Note: "success" is indicated relative to completion- in years past i am guilty of aborting a couple of field tests simply because fatigue caught up to me about 7-8 minutes into the TT. No such failure on this first try) Anyway, I set a realistic target and hit it hard. By starting out conservatively I was able to really control the intensity in the 2nd 10 minutes. I changed gearing and cadence a few times, and it helped.. The last 2 minutes were eye popping. I actually went a little past 20 minutes to average it up to where I wanted, meaning that I did better than the PT indicates. I'll download in the morning and see what's what. Thanks for reading.
Update: Added below is the 20 minute TT chart from last night, and at the bottom left, find the data from a field test from the same time last winter (1/23/09). Last night's data is on the right.
It pleases me to see that the winter program is bearing some fruit. When you consider that I am 5 pounds lighter this time around, it looks even better from a watts/kg standpoint. Thanks.

1989 UB Classic Criterium

I do not rejoice in finishing 2nd, but laying eyes on this photo for the 1st time, 22 years later, is quite a treat. I call your attention to the larger gap which Ryan Muncy and I opened on the field that day. Facebook made it possible for to re-connect with my old friend and to see myself in a photo finish. Pretty cool I think.
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Bike for sale: Redline 9-2-5

I paid $450 for this bike and put maybe 500 miles on it.

I don’t know the size, but I’m 5’-9” and it fits me nicely.

Yours for $300.

Moustache bars are not included- I sold them on Ebay.

Yeah- someone paid money for them, go figure.

Weight-lifting with GF/Spouse

Dear wife has been in occasional (diluted) care of a very good trainer at the YMCA. Last night for the first time, we actually hit the Nautilus machines together, taking turns on each respective piece of equipment. I think the biggest difference for her was that I pushed her to do the extra last few reps, where she would have otherwise stopped (because the trainer is usually minding 6-12 other people). Everyone has a different approach, but it’s my belief that if you are doing 15 reps, it’s the last three which really count, and that they should be hard. The other difference is that in areas where strong improvement is needed, a minimum of three sets is ideal, performed consecutively with not more than 1-2 minutes in between. Weights can be adjusted for fatigue, but the last set should be performed to failure, preferably in the range of 8-10 reps. I plan to engage in weightlifting not less than twice a week for the next two months, and do it on a more consistent schedule. It’s been hit or miss so far this winter- some structure will really improve the results. A lot of “junk-lifting” up until now! I’m pressing 320 pounds on the “Nitro-Leg-Press” machine- close to twice my weight. I usually work my way up from 260 in 20 pound increments, meaning that my fourth [fatigued] set is the 320 (12 reps). Does adding mass concern me? Indeed it does, but being stronger is worth it I think. As long as I am mixing it up with stretching, Pilates, Spinning classes, targeted windtrainer workouts and very long weekend rides, I really don’t see how it’s possible for some extra lean mass to slow me down.

This begs the question: why use carbon handlebars if they’re weaker than aluminum ones? I’m still mentally wrapped around that axle, and don’t really know what to tell you! I guess my point is, if I were a pair of handlebars, I’d rather be made from aluminum than from carbon. Thanks for reading.

Soreness and water retention

I am always looking for ways to get leaner, change fat to muscle, develop structural fitness etc. This includes some weight-lifting at the gym- mostly the machines instead of free-weights. I say “some” relative to the frequency which I find myself at the gym, which is about every 1-2 weeks. My resolve to go 2-3 times a week is never successful, but I am trying, I really am. To make up for the lapses, I tend to go a minimum of two circuits on the Nautilus machines, using weights which are compatible with 15-25 reps, depending on the muscles I’m working. On some machines, I prefer to double back and do a 3^rd set- such as the vertical chest press and the abdominal machine. The first set is not done to failure- I make sure that the last repetition of the 1^st set leaves something in the tank for the 2^nd set, where I really go for the maximum number of repetitions, and do it to failure. This means the last repetition is incomplete- it’s the one which makes me look like a weakling.

So I did my bi-weekly weightlifting Wednesday night, sandwiched in between two intense Spinning Sessions- Tuesday and Thursday.

Ever seen the episode of Three’s Company where Jack Tripper is walking around like a zombie because he over-did it at the gym? That’s kind of how I feel, especially the upper body. The plan is to rest today and do a light spin on the windtrainer Sat evening when I return from NYC. Sunday morning I am leading an indoor training session at Providence Bicycle. Come out and join us at 7:30 am with your bike and your trainer- you will be treated to a 90 minute program to the tempo of my personal playlist and it’s all complimentary- no cost to you to join us. Visit www.providencebicycle.com for more information. Apologies for digressing..

An interesting observation relative to weight-lifting- after any hard work-out I gain 4-6 pounds. Indeed, Wednesday morning (before my workout) I weighed in at 168, but by the time I undressed for bed (post workout), I was a hefty 174 pounds. We can blame some of this on my diet throughout the day, but certainly not 6 pounds of it. I believe the rest is fluid retention, which damaged muscles need in order to repair themselves. Cellular migration is easier when lots of H2O is around. This conclusion is supported by the fact that I’m simply not peeing with any of the frequency that I usually do. As of this AM, I’m down to 172 pounds. Some of this could be the added mass of scar tissue involved in muscle repair, some of it must be the H20 which I’m retaining. It’s assumed that I did not add any fat during this past 36 hours, especially with the spinning classes thrown in there. At any rate, my expectation is that I will be back down to the good side of 170 by the time I mount the trainer on Sunday morning. See you there.

Masters Cross World Championships Results

Results are here
Two more podiums for New England, USA. Congratulations to J Bold and K Hines and everyone who made the selection and had the kahunas to go out there. This gives new meaning to my persistence in the elite 35+ cross races. I've thought about down-grading myself to cat 3 or 4 VERY OFTEN, but where is the honor in that? Better to be [occasionally] lapped by national champions and world champion medalists, I say!

FOUR medals total for the United States when you consider this podium!:
Dames 1960 +
1 USA19591029 RUSECKAS MARILYN 0h23'20''
2 ITA19600712 PIZZOLOTTO LUCIA 0h23'27''
3 USA19590221 PFLUKE LILLIAN 0h23'45''

I salute everyone who made it to worlds. Welcome home.

2010 LBL Ride

What a great group of people to be riding with. I had a very good time. It's too early for me to be doubling up consecutive four hour days, though I can tell you that most of this group is already doing it no problem. With 82 miles in my legs from Saturday, I was apprehensive about doing LBL and falling apart 1/2 way through, being an anchor on the group.. Yes I had some cramped legs to deal with on some of the hills, but I got myself over no problem. Truthfully, I was on the fence about going until about 6:30 am. I went to bed pretty late and did not set the alarm clock, thinking that if I wanted to do the ride badly enough, my body will wake unassisted. My eyes flickered open at 6:30, so the decision to go was made for me.Here is a pic from the 2009 LBL ride

On the move..

Bright Sunny No Wind 25 degrees
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10,000

My uninteresting Blogger profile page was viewed 9,999 times before I checked in on it just now.. Very lucky timing on my part, dontcha think?

 

Equipment changes

Is it true that most guys use 44 cm handlebars? It astonished me to discover that the busted carbon bars shown below are 40cm center to center.

A team mate has a spare set of carbon 44s which I am being encouraged to try out. Common sense tells me that this enhancement offers sprinters and climbers more leverage, assuming that the bike is being rocked side to side using the arms. For the low price that I can get these 44s, it’s worth trying them out during the winter before the racing begins. My bigger concern is having enough room to maneuver through tight spaces. I do believe that I’m built to use 42 but I’ll try these out for short money.

Other news: I’m re-engaging my yellow carbon EPX for the road races. Longer wheelbase, longer cranks, Rolf Vector Pro tubulars, Campy Chorus and it’s in pristine condition. The LOOK 486 is feeling it’s age and looks a bit dated. I’ve also laid it down pretty hard on two occasions. So I’m in the hunt for a newer bike to use in the crits, sized 55 or 56 cm. Who’s selling? Any used Litespeed Archon frames out there? Cervelos are nice too.. TTYL.

Hurled to the ground

Some diagonally running RR tracks in the Boston area (Jerusalem Rd area?) got the best of me on Sunday and I went down like a sack of potatoes. Shredded my hip and knee.. Bruised and swollen. Broke my handlebars. I was in line to cross these tracks and I saw others ahead of me get their rear wheel caught and go sideways and somehow recover.. Watching others do these acrobatics right in front of me meant I squeezed a handful of brakes instead of focusing on a proper bunny hop. I am sore but luckily I suffered no serious damage. Eastion EC90 handlebars are snapped in two though.. I was able to complete the ride- my handlebar tape held the bars together..
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18%!

I weigh 168 pounds, 18% of which is bodyfat, or 30.24 pounds.

Dropping 10 pounds (assuming that all weight lost is bodyfat) means that I will be 158 with 20 pounds of bodyfat or 12.6%. Still too hefty to call myself an “athlete”, I know..

Ten pounds- doesn’t sound like much, does it? Would you consider humping a gallon of milk around in a backpack all day? Because that’s what ten pounds would almost feel like- A gallon of milk is only 8 pounds.

Don’t dismiss the meaning of 10 pounds. It’s a lot of mass which places a lot of demand on the body relative to running, biking, and walking. For older folks, this added heft makes the simple acts of getting up from a chair and walking up a flight of stairs a lot more strenuous. The problem is that while muscles adapt easily to added stress, joints such as knees and hips do not adapt so readily, and the adapted muscles can be strong enough to cause injury to joints. For me, losing 10 pounds is the same as dropping 6% of my bodyweight and I’m cautiously optimistic that this will make me at least 6% faster on my bike. I’m trying.. Staying at race weigh all winter long is more than half of the battle. I did it! The gradually increasing training volume of the next 3 months should get me to where I want to be.

Uninsured Accident

Okay our car didn't catch fire or anything.. but my wife went to Shaws Supermarket last week. Her mother and my son were waiting in the car for her. An uninsured motorist slammed into the rear of our Honda Odyssey. Luckily the occupants are okay, but the van now has $3000 of damage, two days before I am supposed to turn it in (end of lease).. and guess who is stuck with paying a $500 deductible? I now have to extend and pay the lease an extra month or more just to get the repairs done.
Apparently Metlife will pursue the driver for the $500 on our behalf, but it could take months or years to collect. If they do not pay up, they lose their license and registration privileges, according to my Metlife agent. Whatever misery can be heaped upon this P.O.S., is fine and dandy with me. According to wife, the driver [she] could not even be bothered to apologize, and nearly drove away from the scene, were it not for the efforts of my mother in law to stop her.

Merino Wool Long Johns anyone?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and ask for Rhode Islanders to please honor us with just one purchase of our wool apparel or our kid’s bikes at www.WeeBIKE.com

Over the past 2 years, sales are a disappointing goose egg for the ocean state and I am at a loss to understand why.. We’ve sold goods to Australia, New Zealand, Israel, UK, Scotland, Denmark, Canada, Japan, et al. galore,... but nothing in Rhode Island.

I tend to go out of my way to do business with companies which sponsor bike race teams- for example: Chipotle and Metlife Insurance get thousands of my dollars annually. Are you there Karma? It’s me, Murat..

What can I say? We’re disappointed. Today a man in Ohio called me wondering whether to choose 100% merino wool, or to choose the wool blend for the wool long johns kit that he wants to wear while out hunting. After 20 minutes on the phone with me, not only was he fully informed about the processes used to extract lanolin from wool and the expected life expectancy and the proper care and washing instructions, he was sold on the simple fact that someone was willing to talk to him and help him make the correct buying decision. Two minutes later my Blackberry makes the distinctive bike bell sounds that I programmed to go off whenever a sale is made at WeeBIKE.

Oh well.. One day we’ll sell something in Rhode Island. Was it the odds or the probability of a sale that go up, the longer that this continues? Maybe neither, I don’t know. I didn’t take any advance math.

Humor me. www.WeeBIKE.com

 

24 hour bug?

I skipped work yesterday and slept until 11:00- my throat was so sore that I wanted to amputate it. Mid-day I was feeling better and even ventured out to Fairhaven MA for a pre-bid meeting at a new cancer clinic being built there.. This virus is being killed quickly whatever it is. Today I have some residual irritation in my bronchia, but my throat is all better. Weird.

2009 Racing Accomplishments

I have 12 minutes left in my 20 minute warm up before I start drillin' it. I'm riding my road bike indoors, attached to a resistance trainer device. To help motivate me for the 30 minutes of self induced suffering which will follow the warm-up, why not frame an outline of 2009's accomplishments? Wow only 9 minutes left- this takes long to do on a Blackberry!
1. Ninigret training criteriums: Four top ten finishes in 2009, including a couple of field sprint wins. Also one 4th place overall finish in a field sprint. This is harder than it sounds.
2. I only raced Wells Ave a couple of times and on the first try I snagged a 5th place finish
::6 minutes left and my HR is still a lowly 119 bpm..
3. Three of our M1 Racing team in the top 7 of the Cyclonauts Crit 35+: J Alain Ferry wins it solo, Matt Kressy takes 4th and Yours Truly takes 7th. In the Pro race which followed, I won a $10 prime which was awesome. Someone tried to follow me for it and could not hold my wheel.
4. Masters Nationals in Turkey: I took 9th in the 10k TT going cannibal against aero kits galore, only 22 seconds off the podium.. 8th in the road race the following day.. Six man break took off right after my little break was caught- base of the hill. This is a long story.. I was dropped like a brick on the first big climb. I thought about giving up.. The guys who were dropped on the flats were catching up to me. This was a T-shaped out and back 70 km course. I still had about 50k to go, and more climbing after the turn-around. Dead legs started to revive on the downhill. I started picking people off and they were all jumping on my wheel. After about 10 minutes of completely burying myself, I caught the main field of about 25 guys, a few guys followed me there the whole way. Caught the field right at the turn-around, with dead legs, at the base of a gradually steepening 4 mile climb. I fought. I bled from my ears in pain. I chewed through my handlebars.. And about 300 meters from the top, I could no longer follow the attacks of these former pros.. Dropped again, this time for good it seemed. Field was blown apart into smithereens. Again, I want to quit so bad, I hate myself, I feel humiliated. But the race is far from over- still 40k to go.. I shake it off after the summit, the main field of about 15 guys is back together up the road, or so I thought. Another 35 mph ten mile time trial later, I caught the field, only to discover that six of the favorites detached themselves.. No one would work except my teammate Murat Akyazi and 1-2 others. Everyone else was content to race for 7th. Murat and I tried repeatedly to escape with two others- an ideal amount of HP to bridge.. No such luck- we kept getting sabotaged by blockers. At the end of the day, largely due to my efforts at the front with Murat, we held the gap to only 2:57. In the field sprint, I followed an attack at 500m to go. Sat there until 300 to go and uncorked it. Unfortunately, a was being used as a lead out by two other former national champs, who both got around me (after an hour of avoiding pulls, it was pretty cheap) one of these two were DQ'ed for taking water from a vehicle, the other one stood- making me 8th overall. What's there to be proud of here? Never giving up, no matter how strong the urge. Fighting tooth and nail from being dead last on the course, to working my way up to 8th. Next year will be different, for both the RR and the TT. Mark my words.
5. The M1 Racing team strikes again at the Concord 35+ Criterium on August 2nd. I was not feeling on form for this one, and had finished mid-field in 2008. Midway through this hammer-fest (faster speed than the previous Pro race, according to the announcer) I found myself following a serious attack and rotating with Ciaran and Billy Y.. And about 5 others. This was not the recipe for success which M1 Racing needed. Not only would I be burning matches needlessly for this group, the big guns of Matt and Alain needed to be up here. My best approach to turn this to our favor was to be an anchor. It came back together. With 10 to go, Alain came alongside and told me not to lose his wheel. I was so gassed I immediately lost him. With 5 to go he came back to get me again, and this time I followed. He went up the road as soon as we saw the front- and we blocked as best we could for a few laps. With 2 to go he was caught and even with blown legs Alain mixed right into the top 10 and stuck it out to the finish 4th place in the field sprint. Matt Kressy took the final corner in 1st place and took his 4th win of the year. For my part, I turned myself inside out to keep close to Alain and finished 9th- an impressive perfomance for me, in my book.
6. Keith Berger Criterium 30+: In 2008 I did my best result here- 6th place. I was off the front from the very start and never saw the field again. In 2009 it was a little different. Wife and I were moving the contents of our house into a condo, and I had the nerve to drop everything and go to East Hartford- tired and out of form, and I snagged 14th out of a large stacked field- which was 8th in the field sprint (5 were off the front) another win in my book, all things considered.
7. Cyclocross- I started five envents and completed four. Of these, I was lapped at only two races and I managed to complete the leader's lap at the other two. This was a first for me! I'm about as graceful as a 3-legged penguin on the barriers and on the run-ups. I expect to pull myself up into the top 50 percentile one of these days. A cross bike that doesn't suck might be helpful!
Thanks for reading.
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There is no children's bike shop..

..in downtown East Greenwich on Main Street..
..Yet.

Stay tuned..

Murat reminds you: Keeping promises to yourself is the best anti-depressant ever, and there is no pill to reverse the regret of not trying your best. Hopefully you do not require such relief for 2009 and may you rip the legs off of 2010 in all regards.

Happy New Year everyone.

Best,

Murat

Nothing like a chance encounter with bike stuff while estimating woodwork

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Happy Holidays from Bisikletci

2009 GP of Cross Day 2 (Goddard Park):

If you want to join me on any of my epic winter weekend rides, reach out to me at: murat at weebike dot com. Come on, it's time! 90 mile rides in January pay huge dividends in May.

Also, I am offering a $5 store credit to those who register at www.WeeBIKE.com. Use it towards one of our many wool undergarments, base layers and tights. (I'm wearing the tights right now- they are the perfect breathable base layer under my work clothing) Anyway.. I update accounts once a day so please allow 24 hours for your $5 store credit to appear. This is the same merino wool that old Solobreak and the entire M1 Racing-WeeBIKE and ArcenCiel Racing Teams are using.

Have a safe and happy Christmas everyone.

Still on the Good side of 170..

My BMI has been steadily declining for the past 4 winters.. 185.. 178..173.. and now, 168..
Is 2010 the year when I break the physical/mental/power threshold of 160 pounds? Very good things will happen if I can make this so. The twice weekly Spinning classes combined with the 4-5 hour rides on the weekends, are working.

Spinning Bike for Grandma?

Problem: My mother in law is 5'-3 and 200 pounds. She has been steadily gaining weight ever since her knee problems surfaced, which not only cause her severe pain, it also prevents her from engaging in any of the kinds of activities which would light the fuse on some weight loss. Coupled with her extremely slow movement to both prevent further injury and to avoid falling down, we have some badly under-utilized and weakened leg muscles and a metabolism that's slowed to a crawl.
Solution: Good friend of mine in the woodworking business was lucky enough to be acquainted to Chris Hinds and back in the day, he bought a nice LeMond spinning bike from Providence Bicycle. It hasn't seen much use and so my friend is offering it to me to borrow or buy for a good price and my hope is that I will be able to take this home and get Grandma into a low impact program of sweatin' to the oldies. (It's in the back of my minivan right now!) She needs surgery on one of the joints, but the Doctor refuses to do it until she drops significant pounds, or else the repairs will not last.
Hopefully this is going to work. She's not quite 60 yet and it's time for an intervention of sorts. Thoughts?

RACEMENU

Quickly quickly

I'm done with the "Spinning" classes at the Kent County YMCA, seriously. The trainers are fun-lovable and all, but when I recently asked the alpha-in-charge instructor about being a substitute instructor [for free] I was given a boatload of bullshit such as "you would need to apprentice with me for a few classes". Fuck. Coming from this person, this is quite an insult because s/he sucks at instructing spinning class, and uses the worst possible music ever. When I offered to do some private classes this person had the nerve to inform me that my guests would be required to pay $25 to $30 each for the privilege of using their cramped smelly spin room, which definitely violates life safety codes. Why is insulting my intelligence so fashionable? Sometimes I play the fool to avoid intimidating people, and they are so easily fooled that I should be on broadway I guess.. Back when there was an awesome Union Velo spin class at the Attleboro YMCA, all we had to pay for the private class was $5 each. So I'm contemplating writing an e-mail to this person with words designed to injure, but my calm gentle nurturing demeanor prevails. I could remind them that I donated about $6000 worth of brand new cabinetry to them early this spring, but that would be wrong.. Yes I am indeed a certified Spinning instructor- I took an all day class and read a manual. It's not rocket science, and besides, if you have hundreds of hours of indoor intervals under your belt and understand about perceived exertion and heart rate zones, you are already 1/2 way there.. There's more to it of course- technique, hand positions, music selection, an ability to inspire people to suffer. Oh well. My new Spinning class is the Bally's North Providence. After tonight's excellent workout (I felt like I could rip the cranks right of the bike tonight, after recovering from the torture which NBX GP of Cross put me through this past weekend) I went to the front desk and asked for an application. I won't deny that Bally's has a lot more eye candy and that people seem to go there as much to ogle each other as to work out, but the hormonal surges which are induced undoubtedly make people push a little bit harder, and help them do that extra repetition. Well I 'm way off into the weeds again. All I really wanted to tell you is that NBX toughened the shit out of me and pretty much lit the fuse of my 2010 training plan. I rode like a man possessed in my Spinning class tonight. If you have never tried a Spinning class, it's much like a cross race in duration and intensity, except that you're riding a fixed gear and enjoying the sweaty cleavage and exposed tramp stamps which surround you. Just sayin'.. Thanks for reading.

Buy my wool underwear, tights, base layers and children's pajamas HERE.

Weebike.com now offers Merino Wool Base Layers by HASYUN

I think it's a notable improvement over last year: I completed both NBX 35+ elite races this weekend and avoided crashing, avoided being lapped on day 2 and avoided finishing last both days. On day one I was disappointingly lapped pretty darn close to seeing 1 to go, and only by the top 6 finishers.. Coming from a crit rider who never touches his 5 year old clunker of a cross bike in between cross races, that's something to feel good about. I do this for fun and to stay sharp in the winter, that's it. Okay maybe so does everyone else.. I just tend to do it poorly.
One of these short sleeve merino wool base layers pictured below occupies my wardrobe for the past 3 years. It has been machine washed about 25 times and improperly thrown into the dryer at least 1/2 dozen times. It shows a little bit of wear but it's as comfortable as ever- today I used it as my 2nd skin underneath my long sleeve jersey at the NBX Cross race at Goddard Park. Retail price is only $29.95. You can buy these from me at Weebike.com. It's not the fanciest web site around selling this kind of product, but that's why it only costs you $30 instead of $60. Your support makes it possible for Weebike.com to sponsor three elite racing teams. Below there is a wealth of information relative to the merits of merino wool apparel. Thanks for reading.

TERMERINOLOGY of WOOL

WHY WOOL? Wool is a natural, sustainable and biodegradable resource.

ODOR FREE Wool is antimicrobial. Due to superior wicking, absorbing and moisture evaporation, odor causing bacteria is defeated.

TEMPERATURE REGULATION Wool fibers have tiny pockets of air which provide a buffering layer of natural climate control.

BREATHABILITY Only wool dissipates sweat from the skin immediately as a vapor, keeping you dry and comfortable.

RENEWABLE Harvesting wool uses much less energy than is takes to make fossil-fuel dependent, man made synthetics.

WHY MERINO WOOL? Merino Wool is the most comfortable fiber you can put against your skin!

NO SHRINKING Merino wool does not shrink when properly cared for. Machine washed and sensibly dried wool gets softer and more comfortable.

NO ITCHING Merino wool is prized for it’s fine micron diameter and owes it’s light and airy feel to this distinction. Inferior itch causing wools should be avoided.

4 SEASON FUNCTIONALITY Merino Wool is comfortable in a wider range of temperatures and activities than any other fabric.

HEALTH BENEFITS Merino Wool is comfortable, but wearing it is a healthy choice too!

ALLERGIES Wool’s long fibers don’t stick out to give you that prickle effect. Wool is hypoallergenic. A wool allergy is rare, when existent, is caused by lanolin, a natural coating on the fiber.

BODY TEMPERATURE Wool releases heat better than synthetics, improving body temperature regulation. Lower heat retention helps you to work harder for longer.

NATURAL FIBER Wool’s completely natural moisture management system ensures your skin stays healthy, by removing sweat from the skin’s surface before it condenses into a liquid.

FLAME RETARDANT The wool fiber outperforms all other common textile fibers in terms of fire resistance. Wool is difficult to ignite and never melts, so it can’t stick to the skin like synthetics do when they burn.

WOOL CARE Wool is a very durable material which will outlast all other inferior types, with proper care.

HAND WASHING TIPS Hand washing is not necessary, but is encouraged because it improves the life span of your garment. To wash, use a mild detergent in lukewarm water and then rinse with cool water. Gently squeeze to remove soap and excess water. Never wring your wool garments while washing or rinsing.

MACHINE WASHING TIPS For most wool garments, use the gentle cycle with cold or warm water with a mild non bleach detergent. Powdered soaps should be dissolved completely before adding your garments.

DRYING TIPS Drying wool garments properly will preserve their size, shape and feel. After washing, lay flat or hang to dry. Wool apparel tends to dry more quickly than any other fabric.