I hate my trainer

Some days you have it and some days you don't. I put in 2 hours on the trainer yesterday and it seemed like I was re-living Debates Devos 2007. It was a tempo ride, (zone 3), which was a snap last Sunday but just a pain yesterday. The previous day's volume was 3 hours which went pretty well. Perhaps the accumulated stress just took its toll. Anyway, I am looking forward to the RR week that comes up next. Today calls for 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Lastly

Still more...

The Master

Now that kid was good wasn't he? Check out the real thing now, John Henry Bonham. What has always been amazing to me is that Bonham made so much sound without using double base drum rigs or double base drum pedals like so many drummers use today. He did it all with an amazing sense of rhythm. It is just my opinion but I think he is the prototypical rock and roll drummer. Watching other drummers emulate him is a thrill to watch.

Seething with envy...

I have been playing drums since high school. Basically, I am a very ordinary hacker type drummer, (way better than Jake Ritlewski though.) I was working in my studio today and put this little ditty on for some entertainment and was absolutely shocked. This kid is amazing! Enjoy.

Merry Christmas

If you're like me, you got up this morning, made coffee and sat down for a quick look at the Freep and the local blogs. The family is still asleep waiting on the agreed upon time to check out their gifts.

This has been a wonderful Christmas and I want to pay tribute to my wife. It is her birthday today and she has been a great cheerleader for the cyclists in this house. She goes to all our races, cheers us on, pins jerseys and exhibits enormous amounts of patience with the long hours of training we do. Not only that, but she makes Christmas happen in our house. Thank you Jeanne and happy birthday!

To all my readers, I wish you a very happy Christmas and a blessed, fast and safe new year.

Blogging in winter...

Sometimes it seems like I should just mothball this thing until spring. Really, what is there to talk about? Well, I guess there are a few things. On January first, the First Dozen ride takes place in Dearborn. This was a lot of fun last year as we gathered the SLC team in Northville and road to Dearborn for the ride. John Rigdon won the thing and just might have big plans again this year.

If you can make it to that parking lot corner of W. Cady and S. Center St. in Northville, come on down and join us. I don't have a time yet but will post one when it is agreed upon.

I had a great tempo workout on the computrainer last night. I was shocked at how strong I felt holding 230 watts for an hour and fifty minutes. My heart rate averaged 150 bpm. It is still early in the base building phase but I feel as though I am gathering strength and building a sound base of aerobic fitness. Steve McGregor is a genius.

Flying the line and other life events

I am presently seated in seat 4c on a NWA regional jet winging my way back to the "D" from Savannah, GA. I dropped off one of our airplanes this morning for an inspection. Savannah was cold but bright, clear and no snow. Metro airport was still digging out this morning. We had a clear path to the runway but it was still pretty slick. The runway was in very good shape. We blasted through the clouds early on and broke out on top in time to view a beautiful sunrise. What a privilege it is to do what I do for a living. There's no way I could describe adequately what it is like to rocket down the runway in this amazingly powerful jet, lift off the runway at 140 miles per hour then climb through a low cloud deck at 5,000 feet per minute then fly out of the top of that same cloud deck. We sometimes take if for granted and cease to be amazed but not today. It was amazing.

Blog Changes

Some of you have noticed I deleted some comments recently and weren't pleased. First off, please forgive me for doing this to you but I have been allowing anonymous comments and that potentially invites graffiti type comments. Some blogs I read get some real off-color stuff in their comments section and I don't really want that so all comments from now on will require you to register with blogger. It is painless and that will make sure we have the necessary context when reading them. When we are anonymous we may be tempted to write something we might not otherwise post. Thanks for understanding.

Week 2 of Base

The volume is kicking up to 16.5 hours this week. It is going to be a real challenge getting it done due to a challenging trip I have to crew mid-week. I think I have a plan that will work but it will involve hotel stationary bikes.

Race Calendar

Have you all noticed that the Wolverine TT is going to be the day after Dexter? Hines is going to be the day after BTR again. That's the way it has to be I guess but racing Dexter Saturday then the TT Sunday is going to have some affect on my time. It is going to take some planning to get maximum performance on those TT's.

Today's Sweatcast

Sweatcast today from 1:30-3:00pm EST. Ciao.

Our First Sweatcast

Wow that was a HUGE success!! It was great to have Fabian, Tom B. and George stop by. Thanks for helping James out with his pedal stroke George! I just want to make a cautionary note here to the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders...we are running a very "G" rated sweatcast and it is not a kind of online hook-up thing. You have all been banned!

Value Added

For those of you who use Yahoo Messenger, I will be broadcasting my workout today from 1230pm to 230pm. Come on by and say "hi". My Yahoo Messenger ID is dander10. See you there.

Almost forgot

One thing left out in the update was that I got a flu shot. After what I went through last year I want to do everything possible to be flu free in '08.

The latest...

All the news that's fit to print...


The Gala SLC End of Year Party

Saturday was the end of year party and it was well attended by the team. We enjoyed pizza, salad, pop and a rousing presentation by our own John Rigdon. The big news here is we had a chance to see our new cat 3 team all in one place and it was a beautiful thing. James commented to me that we have a "very strong team". I guess you have to get everyone in the room to get the full-on realization that we have the personnel to put the hurt on the cat 3 field next year. We are not resting on our laurels and are still looking for more riders who fit with our team. My hope was to have 25 riders. We won't make that but we will still have a large team numbering over 10 somewhere.

Computrainer Epiphany

No question this thing is the shizzle but they provide some of the lousiest supporting documents I have ever seen. Vague nondescript manuals that leave you wondering what is going on. The thing to do is try different things to make it talk, so to speak. My concern was that it wasn't calibrated and I was right. Using the manual and extrapolating, I discovered how to calibrate this thing so that a 250 watt 10 minute interval is not a near-death experience. After calibration I was floating up to 220 watts without a whole lot of stress. The HR would climb to around 150 bpm but that was it which, as you can imagine, pleased me greatly. It also explained why Bikeboy had such a rough time with it.

Interval day

I just stopped by the computer on my way to the torture chamber for 1.5 hours plus 2 x 10 zone four's. I am procrastinating, big time. Made myself an espresso to get through it all. After I need to go to the gym and by then a million other things will be clamoring for my attention.

Base training starts next week with 14 hours. Let the games begin. The season begins in earnest.

BTW Doug, it looks like I am going to pull through. It doesn't look so good for you. If you don't make it can I have your new DA grouppo?

Last Bike Will and Testament

Still not better today. In view of that and the Cat's most recent request, I hereby bequeath, upon my death, my Mavic SL wheels to Doug "the Cat" Gatto. Goodbye cruel world!

Sick

I finally succumbed to the same bug that has picked off each of my family members. Thursday night saw the onslought begin with a sore throat and fever. I medicated with Motrin and the fever subsided. I awoke feeling pretty good the next morning so I flew a trip to New York. We toured around Chinatown, Little Italy and Greenwich Village. At dinner I developed the fever again and had to buy Motrin since I was a long way from the hotel.

Still down today but hoping tomorrow will be better.