DMO's Cyber Attack

It would appear that my lack of blogging has inspired a cyber attack by Dr. David "DMO" Morrissey. I admit that I have opened myself up to this by total disregarding my pathetic blog. But enough about me, let's focus on Dr. Morrissey.

For those of you who are fans of The Smiths, you might remember Dr. DMO, Professor of Speed, as the lead singer for this awesome 80's alt band. After the band fell out of fashion, DMO went back to school to get his PHd in physics and advanced TT aerodynamics.

DMO, as many of you know is a vegan. Do you remember the classic Smiths album "Meat is Murder"?

David making a statement



DMO pictured on his second solo album Bona Drag

Does anybody else think it is fishy that DMO is hangin' with a bunch of "physicists" in Aspen??? I, for one, ain't buyin' it. I know for a fact that they check for physicists at the Aspen city limit and unless they have a Screen Actors Guild card they don't get in. No, DMO is in Aspen as a celebrity. The famed Morrissey of the Smiths.

Nice try "Dr. Morrissey". I think the pictures reveal who you really are.

My plan for today was to take it easy and just log a few miles in zone 2. I was doing well riding through Scottsdale and up to carefree where I sampled a new coffee shop. Looking over yahoo maps I decided to ride out to Bartlett Reservoir and which would be a 34 mile loop. I had no idea what the terrain would be like. After riding uphill to the Bartlett Reservoir Rd I aimed my bike downhill from an elevation of 3,000 feet. I rapidly descended 600 feet before see-sawing up and down 500 feet for the next 10 miles. I made as high as 3,100 feet before riding 6 miles downhill to the reservoir which is at 1600 feet. Next up, turn around and ride out! These are all small ring climbs without question and much of it in my 25.

After digging my way out, I rode back to Fountain Hills to log my longest ride of the year, (95 miles).

Ups and Downs

Here I am back in Arizona. I flew in from Detroit last Monday and picked up a Honeywell trip Thursday through Saturday. While on layover, one of my Facebook friends suggested I do the Arizona State Road Race Championship which took place today June 7. Well, as I crossed the country on Saturday morning I thought about my week's training goals and it dawned on me that doing the road race would have some great training value in addition to experiencing the local scene.

As most of you know, I lost my job at Ford last December and that event pretty much blew up my training. My form is really at base 1 day 1. Last week's effort at West Branch ended in a DNF due to muscle cramps. Since then I have been formulating a plan to deal with this menace for once and for all. The main cause is probably a lack of training but I believe secondary factors could be potassium, calcium or magnesium deficiency. I have been messing around with supplements and diet this last week and the road race would be a great opportunity to see if anything I was doing was effective.

The race was in Globe, AZ which is about 85 miles from my apartment in Fountain Hills. That meant getting up at 3:30 am which really wasn't any problem since I had just spent three days in the eastern time zone. The drive was really cool with the sun coming up over the mountains. There was some really beautiful countryside to look at but the towns were kind of isolated and, well, strange. I really needed a pee-break by the time I hit the little town of Superior, AZ. At just the right time I came upon a rest stop with what looked like a new building containing the bathrooms. When I pulled in I noticed a "CLOSED" sign at the women's bathroom. A Mexican woman charged out and let fly at me:

"The bathrooms are CLOSED!!! Can't you read, C-L-O-S-E-D!! We have had some vandalism and you have to go somewhere else!! Don't you understand? The bathroom is closed!!!"

All this before I moved a foot away from my car. Truth is I began to get some kind of kick out of watching her get more and more stirred up the longer I stood there without saying anything. She never really disengaged from her rant long enough for me to leave anyway. Awesome. As I pulled out another car pulled in and she went right to work on them.

Globe's main feature is a copper (?) mine. Trust me, it's no Scottsdale. The race registration was at the IBEW which didn't have the parking necessary for all the riders so I moved over to a shopping mall nearby. I was pressed for time and was rushing to get ready. After pumping my rear tire I heard a hissing sound. Yep, flatted. I got a new tube in and didn't even have to use a tire lever. I have Michelin's on the bike right now and they are much easier to get on and off than the Vittoria's. I managed to get myself registered, pinned and peed with 10 minutes to go! Pretty typical for me even without kids I guess. Everyone seemed to be in a similar position so the first 5 miles were at an easy warm up pace.

The first climb came at around the 7-8 mile mark. This is where my eyes were opened. Clearly the climbers were bent on shattering the field right away. I normalized 370 watts for 6 minutes to just hang on to the main group. Even at this effort we still couldn't keep the goats with us and a little group got away never to be seen again. That climb was about 1.5 miles and it nearly killed me. If I would have done a little homework on the course I would have turned around right then and there because another climb came up just a 1.5 miles later that was a little slower since the really fast dudes were already gone. This one was only 331 watts for 6.5 minutes.

After finishing these two climbs I figured cramps were definitely on the menu but from here the course was easy. That is until after the turn-around point. It was great riding downhill for what seemed like miles. Of course, that meant we were going to have to go back up that same road but in my oxygen deprived state of mind I wasn't paying much attention. Amazingly, my legs were feeling great and I felt very strong as we proceeded to the turn-around. I was basically playing defense the whole time not knowing who the real threats were. One team had at least 7 riders in the field. I was near the front until mile 41 when we hit that big 5 mile hill that was so much fun riding down. It was at mile 42 that I felt the first hint of a cramp. Not bad considering and it really wasn't a problem unless I stood up. I made it through the first 1.5 miles at 290 watts then the lights went out. As Phil Ligget would say, "Bridge to engine room, we need more power but there's just nothing there." I finished the climb dropping off the back at 231 watts and even that was a struggle. If the race ended at mile 40 I was in good shape! Problem was I had to make it to mile 59!

I watched the group ride away from me but was satisfied that I was achieving my goals by continuing. When I backed the power down my legs felt better but I began to notice that I just couldn't generate significant power from this point on. I just became a different rider. My raison d'tre now was getting deeper and trying to see if and when the cramps would force me off the bike like last week. After topping that long hill my power dropped to 206 watts from that point to the end of the race but I made it and it was a lot tougher than I could have managed on my own out on a training ride. It was also great to be around the sport and watch others gutting it out.

Stats on the day:

Entire workout (185 watts):
Duration: 2:49:25 (3:17:58)
Work: 1879 kJ
TSS: 226.7 (intensity factor 0.896)
Norm Power: 243
VI: 1.31
Pw:HR: -16.8%
Pa:HR: 28.92%
Distance: 56.983 mi (my bike computer needs calibrating...should be 59 miles)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1190 185 watts
Heart Rate: 121 192 169 bpm
Speed: 2.1 47 20.2 mph
Pace 1:17 28:24 2:58 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 1427 163 lb-in

Check out that max speed. I didn't even notice it when I was on the bike. There was some occasional downhill hammering that must have dialed it up to 47 mph. My HR hit 192 bpm on that first long climb at 370 watts. Geez that hurt.

Note to self:

Next year, do this race 10 pounds lighter, get someone to work the feeds so you can carry just one bottle at a time and for goodness sake get your training plan together with a big emphasis on big, big hills!!

West Branch

James and I are signed up for West Branch. My head tells me this is a mistake for me to enter this race but I felt so good at crit practice last night that I just had to enter myself. Granted, it is the 45+ but those hills would shred me in the 1-2 field.

James is racing the 4-5 field which is going to be fun.

A New House

Dear Friends we have a new home! Jeanne came out to Phoenix last week to work with Eva, (our awesome realtor), and I on final selection. Eva and I realized before Jean came out that we would have to rule out short sales and foreclosures because of the ridiculous amount of time the banks are taking to give a response to offers.

We got our list down to four homes. All were conventional sales. One was a flip, one was a new build and the other two were Las Sendas homes that were overpriced. After pouring over the data we determined the new build spec home was the best bang for the buck. The flip was very competitively priced but it was under contract before we gave it serious thought. That left low-ball bids for the two Las Sendas homes and the new one. In the end the latter was the only one left standing.

Google maps/Earth doesn't have the road on their latest edition so if you want to have a look try these coordinates:

33° 26' 52.88"N 111° 38' 37.65"W

That's our house on the right. It is about 80% complete. Below is a pic of the model after landscaping which will give you a better idea of what we think it will look like. We ordered up a pool for the kids that should be complete by the time they arrive in July.

We aren't thrilled with this whole thing move to AZ thing but having a nice home in a good location for riding and living will be nice. All are welcome for visits and cycling camps. Remember, racing starts the last week in January so if you want to get an early start come on down. Chris Aten will be in Flagstaff and we'll be seeing him at the races and maybe even Larry Warbasse if he is still with Waste Management.

...one more thing...DMO, sorry, no spa! Could be a big mistake I know but we just couldn't spend another five thousand right now.


On The Cycling Front

I've been logging some early morning miles in AZ lately. It is beautiful, really. Getting up before the sun and riding out with lights, watching the sunrise over the mountains, what can you say? My routes have between 2,000 and 5,000 feet of climbing. No matter how easy you intend to ride you cannot escape some zone 5 climbs unless you stay in the parking lot. The daddy climb so far is Usery Pass but Dynamite Rd. at 9 miles is by far the longest hill. Dynamite is an easy climb while Usery is much steeper but definitely shorter. With a hard effort, I can get up Usery in 15 minutes. I feel like I am gaining form but still at the very beginning. James and I are targeting two TT's in July which will be both a test and a target to train for. We are highly motivated to make a good first impression there. Looking over past results we think we should be able to make some noise. There are some fast 45+ masters but if I have decent form I should be top 5 on the 40K. The state RR championship is coming up in early June but I won't be able to attend.

Saturday found us making the trek to Frankenmuth for a typical edition of Das Tour of Frankenmuth. Rain and slightly chilly. Abi and James raced and I had no bike which meant I was relegated to bike mechanic, bib pinner and feeder. For the race I worked the feed zone. It was very fun I must admit. All the fields were just flying through the zone. Picking up a bottle at 25-30 miles is quite a task. I managed to hand off two bottles and had one bad transfer.

The fours had a bad crash in the feed zone on the last lap. Several Fusion riders and another guy from Rockford tangled up at high speed trying to get position. The guy from Rockford flipped into the ditch on the left side of the road. The awful grinding sound was finished off with a blown tube which sounded like a blast from a pistol. We ran over to help and as we did you could hear the Fusion guys swearing. I knew they were okay. The Rockford guy was climbing out of the ditch after which he collapsed with a broken collarbone. Another guy was laid out trying to catch his breath. He ended up riding to the finish. The Rockford guy needed medical attention. I hope I never suffer that particular injury. His pain seemed intense. I felt badly for him and all the others involved.

James missed the crash and ended up placing 24th which made him very happy. He has really gained strength. That field was absolutely flying as were all the fields. No wind, perfect temps; nothing to slow them down.

Abi was first in her age group by 5 minutes! The other girls wanted to make nice and ride together but sweet little Abi put down the hammer and just rode hard until she couldn't see them any more.

Coincidence

Out on my morning ride the other day I noticed a fit looking rider up the road. I kicked it up a bit to see if I could catch him. He noticed me at a stop sign and asked if I was from Michigan. I replied that I was and he told me that he just recently graduated from Cooley Law School and was practicing in AZ! When in Michigan he raced for Team Venom and he knows Joey Schaard very well! Small world 'eh? His name is Alex Benikov and he now races for Bike Haus.

Jean and I bought a house today in Mesa. I tried to look it up but the address is coming up about 8 miles west of where it really is. It is in a brand new development that is on the bike route. No crowded city streets to get to the prime riding roads.

What it is?

It has been a while so I thought I would throw up a post for the five people who still stop by.

We sold our home in Saline and hope to ink a deal on one here in Phoenix next week. There are lots of things that still have to happen before any kind of normal life can begin. Maybe, just maybe, we will be settling in around Christmas. Really, no hyperbole here. After the move we need to get school squared away with lots of issues to be sure.

House shopping in this market is a real hoot. Most of the homes are either short sales or foreclosures. If the owner is still living in the home during a showing things get interesting. These folks are living in their home without paying the mortgage. They are not motivated to clean their home or make it the least bit appealing. I had two homes yesterday that were intentionally trashed up! I won't go into detail but suffice to say they went out of their way to dirty things up.

The riding is incredible out here. I can't get over the daily scenes I am blessed with. Incredible vistas and wildlife. I rode by a rattlesnake today and it surprised me. I went back to look it over and it was dead. Poor little guy was just trying to warm up and something must have ran it over.
I rode by what I thought was a live one a few days ago at the edge of the road but upon further inspection I determined it was some kind of constrictor that mimicked the coloration of a rattlesnake.

My rides usual begin just before sunrise, (around 5am). This gets the ride in before the heat of the day. It's actually really nice. I love getting it completed so early. At this time of the year it can be a little on the cool side riding downhill out of Fountain Hills. At the moment I am chosing between two routes. One goes north around the McDowell Mountains through Scottsdale which is 43 miles. The other is out towards Saguaro Lake and Usery Pass which is more like 65 miles. Many riders meet across the street from my apartment at the Safeway to begin their ride. I haven't met many hard-core roadies yet. Most are tri-folk. That whole thing is crazy-poplular out here. I was passed for the first time today by a motley group riding a mix of road and tri bikes. I shadowed them but elected to give them some room. TT bikes and road bikes don't mix well in my opinion. The 43 mile route features an 8.5 mile climb! I don't mind these at all. You just set up your effort and sustain it. Usery Pass takes me about 15 minutes to climb at 280 watts. It is a natural interval that makes for a nice workout.

I miss my family a lot. It gets kind of lonely out here sometimes. I don't work very much so human contact is infrequent. The local sports bar has proven to be a great place to watch the Red Wings though. Lots of displaced Michiganders wearing their colors and loudly cheering the boys on. Pretty cool.