I should be doing something else but...

At the moment I am sitting in my off-site office here at Sunergos Coffee in Louisville, KY. I got the call from "The Man" yesterday to take my turn flying the company shuttle. It is an early morning (4am get-up) but it is great once you get going. I'm out the door around 445am, make a stop at the ATM then straight to Starbucks on Washtenaw near Arborland. This is a 24 hour variety Starbucks. "One grande drip bold with room please." They reply, "I'm sorry but we don't have bold this morning sir...would you like a shot of espresso in the morning blend at no charge?" "Yes please!" I say in return. Back in the truck and into the morning now at 510am. I arrive at Metro Airport at 5:25AM, finish my coffee and some news segment about the price of oil and I'm on my way into the office. I pass by security hailing them as I go and waltz into dispatch to find out that my first destination is completely fogged in. Now I spend 25 minutes reviewing weather and plans for a diversion to another airport at the destination city which is Cincinnati, OH.

We get a late start out of Detroit and sure enough our destination is fogged in so we change our destination to the main Cincinnati airport. We land, taxi in and unleash 23 agitated passengers upon the servicing agency at the Cincinnati airport. We are late leaving because there is mass confusion amongst the passengers. One got off thinking he was in Louisville. Another walked away without his bag and still more were unsure of how they would get to the plant.

We finally arrive in Louisville and hour late. I hitch a ride to Sunergos and here I am doing this when I should be getting important work done. I have a sunergos mocha java in front of me which is getting the creative juices flowing again. Lunch will happen at some point. The ladies, (I am the only male on this four member flight crew), will call me when they arise from their beauty sleep and we'll sample some of Louisville's finest cuisine. Then, it's back to the airport for two legs and into the office back home for some paperwork then I94 back to Saline. That's my day.

We had our first training session in the office Saturday. It was really nice. We had 5 riders with room for at least a couple more. Only problem was one fan for all of us! Ouch. I cooked. The kids really get off on the computrainer but they suffer on the hills.


Preparation phase starts later this week for some of my athletes and next week for the rest. It is exciting to see the training get under way. I have lost about 5 pounds from the end of the season. I know many of you have put on a few and I don't want to make you feel bad. Sorry. I decided to lose weight in the off season instead of gaining so I dieted for about three weeks suffering like a dog the whole time. I can't eat like that and train simultaneously it is just to rough. I am status quo now but I would like to do a slow deficit to lose another five before the start of the season. That means I need to cut out another 17,500 cals between now and May.That means something like 3000 cals per month or around a 100 calorie deficit per day. That should be do-able if I can resist the holiday feasting. If I can race at 150lb this season that would be great.

Passing the word

Hey all. Check out Bikeboy's latest posts. He has his "Bikeboy Awards" out for 2007. Great reading.

Doug's Fatal Decision

Here's the deal. Doug is taking a nasty old Al specialized Allez and putting DA on it. I have published numerous posts against but to no avail. I want to start a grass roots avalanche of pressure to get him to change his mind. I want you...no I'm ordering you all to go to his blog and hammer him! Don't let him make this awful mistake!! He has an incredible bike hook-up with our team and can get an amazing deal on a carbon bike. C'mon everyone, bring the heat. The Cat is a stubborn rider but if you all bring the heat he just might relent.

You slavishly read this pathetic post day in and day out and for what? Now you can do something for the good of all humanity. Please, don't let this happen! Write the Cat today and implore him to change his mind. Write your congressman and senator and ask them to apply pressure. You can make a difference!

Reflecting

I'm back baby...I'm back!! Enjoy this photo-recap of the past season.

You all need to get a life!!!!

I have been enduring a withering barrage of criticism over my inattention to this blog. Please accept my apologies but come on people...really...you need to move on! :-)

The off season has been very refreshing. It helped me to see what a toll the season took on me. It has been great to step away for a while including blogging. After the Priority Health Classic I had no interest in racing and little in riding my bike. I promptly left on an extended trip to Asia then the recovery was enough to keep me away from training for some time after returning. In place of riding regularly I have been interviewing athletes, preparing my office, setting up and learning the subtleties of my Computrainer, etc.. I have only one more annual plan to write and that would be my own. I am the last in line for coaching and I must say I am not the right coach for myself. If anyone wants to hear an opinion on self-coaching just ask me. It works but just barely. You get structure but no objectivity.

So far, I am coaching five athletes next season plus myself. It should be a ton of fun given the range of athletes. I have two U-23s and three masters racers. All are talented and should do well in the coming year.

At the moment I am out on another trip hitting both coasts plus Florida. It will be nice to not have to do these for a while.

My training will kick in next month. Preparation phase first until mid-December. Weight training, plyometrics, stretching and some on-bike training. Slowly I am beginning to look forward to the season. It will be a grind but I think fitness base is such that I could have a better season than the last. I could potentially see a 40K at :57 or less and a 20K under :27. I think these are very reasonable goals if I can faithfully ride my plan. I will need a new TT bike since I don't presently have one. That will be a trick. I also need to equip with a new powermeter. I have my sights set on the SRM at the moment. I love the powertap but the wheel issue is just too much. With the SRM I can use any wheel set I want. The SRM is more costly and isn't quite as accurate but considering the wheel issue I don't think it is too much more to spend.

How's that for an update?

Well...

It continues to be slow on the news front. We are kind of disconnected from the cx scene here at our house. My athletes and I are all in transition phase right now so we are not involved in any regimented training. I am conducting athlete interviews, writing annual training plans and finishing up the office. All that's left there is trim work, carpet cleaning and install of the wall mount LCD. The install will be complete next week.

Thankfully the jet lag let up Sunday night and I slept 12 hours! Things are mostly back to normal since.

Competitor Radio

I was goofing around on the internet tonight and I stumbled into this very cool internet radio site. Check out their archives and you'll be amazed. I listened to a very good interview with Betsy Andreu and another one with David Walsh.