My Midlife Bike Crisis

AZ State Road Race Championship

2010-05-16T23:47:00.000-04:00

This race has been a pain in my head for the last year. It was this race that yielded the most humiliating defeat of my entire cycling career. Hate is a word I don't throw around nonchalantly but I HATE this course. I see pictures of this course and my stomach begins to turn. Yes, it is possible to hate a road. I know this to be true because I hate that wretched 30 mile patch on AZ 188. I hate the first little burner hill and I hate the second little burner hill. After today I even hate the six mile downhill section. So it goes without saying that I hate, really hate, the six mile climb that never seems to end...ever.

James and I hit the road for Globe at 5am drinking coffee and enjoying an early morning together. We got to the race with plenty of time but everything went meshugina from that point. Long line for pre-reg riders. I blew my rear tire out riding to the start line. I pinned the wrong bib and had to re-pin. And the kicker...I lubed and donned James's size small shorts. Nice, eh?

The good thing in all this was the race was delayed a half-hour for some reason and this actually worked to my benefit with tall the chaos circulating. Meanwhile, I ride by the Marcucci's and they are wired tight and organized to the hilt. How do they do that?

The race started finally and GST and Landis attacked the field from the gun. I'm still confused at this strategy. I mean, what is it going to accomplish? Was anyone going to sit idly by in the first 7 miles on one of the few flat stretches? The attacks went nowhere and we settled down for the first wave of searing pain that would be ours on the first 1.5 mile burner hill. Yes, it did hurt. Last year it cost me 373 watts. This year the price went up to 376. I made it with the main group as the field split nicely in two. We hit the next climb just a mile later and this time I dropped off the back. Near the top of the hill a Landis rider caught up with me and said, "Let's go", and we did. We chased the entire way down that stupid six mile hill. It hurt even more than the uphill part. We traded short hard pulls until we made it back on. It was so sweet! With a lot of help I made it to the lead group of riders, (albeit half dead), and began to count the number of 45+ jerseys in the group. Still quite a few. In fact, I think there may have been more 45+ than 40+.

Now, at this point in the race it was evident to me that I was a rather large TT specialist sharing space with guys who could really climb. My people were behind us now. I knew that six mile climb was going to get out of hand so I pledged to myself that I would sit in the back and try to get as much recovery as I could so as to limit the damage on the long climb. Two riders, (GST and a team I didn't recognize), were 30 seconds up the road. Landis had two guys in the group. One of them was the dude that worked with me to catch back on, Lemke. The other was a familiar skinny dude that can fly and my guess was he was being protected for that last climb and flurry into the finish because Lemke was working super hard now to bring back the two man break. He asked another guy riding without team mates to help him but left me alone. I wouldn't have helped if asked. I don't have anything against those guys but I why should I help them reel these guys in only to blow up on that long climb? Unless they totally collapsed I was going to get dropped and so I planned accordingly.

At the turn around we learned the break was 45 seconds in front of us and the group chasing us was 45 seconds behind us. I knew I could out climb those guys so long as I didn't blow up. This is pretty much how it played out. Once we hit the climb the power meter began pinging off 330 watts which I just couldn't do at this point so I dialed in 290 and just let them go. There was nothing else to be done. Limit the damage by maintaining my gap over the chasers. One or two of the elite guys did blow up and I managed to keep them behind me. That long hill is really long. Did I mention that? It really stinks watching your field just go off into the distance. Pretty soon I couldn't see them anymore which was fine. No one came by me except one skinny junior from Tribe. This kid was flying. I caught his skinny, junior-geared rear end on the downhill but he took off on the next climb. We basically road the rest of the course together. He really helped me keep the pace up. I passed Jake who complained of flats, out-of-true wheels and a sore butt.

As I rode the last ten miles I kept creeping up on and passing fields. Each time my hopes would rise that they were dropped riders from my field but alas, only women, juniors and some really, and I mean really, cooked cat 3's. No one passed me except one dude in the last 1K. He was a rider from a different field so I just let it slide. If he were one of the chasers I would have put up a fight but as it was it was taking 178 bpm to hold 250 watts. Clearly, my day was coming to a close.

I have no idea what my placing was nor do I care. This is not about the other racers now. It is about that course. I know this isn't rational but it's honest. Last year I managed 210 watts from mile 42 to mile 59. This year I did much, much better. Last year I got passed by women. This year I was the Andy Kaufman of the biking world. James and I were looking at some race pics on the internet tonight and I shuddered. The shot contained all the surrounding hills and that weird rising/curving road that reminded me of all the pain the course inflicted on me, again. I vow to you now, that next year, I will ride that course 10 pounds lighter. Before I die I will do one race as a climber and it will be next May.

A New Gear

2010-04-06T12:56:00.000-04:00

I am now finishing up my second build phase and beginning the taper to my first seasonal peak. Something is fundamentally different with my engine. My power is up dramatically and no I am not doping. During my recent race simulations I sustained FTP for nearly two hours. Well, that means it is time for testing but I haven't found a convenient moment yet for this.

While racing Saturday with the team, I watched James, Steven and Brad ride away from me on Usery Pass. At this point in the race I had been doing more work than these guys but, still, when I hit the pass I could see that they were going too fast for me. To hang with them I would have to sustain something over 320 watts and hold it for almost fifteen minutes. Instead, I let them go, dialed in 300 watts and just held hit gambling that I could catch them on the downhill. The finish of that race is another story but it made me wonder if it isn't time to increase my FTP.

Yesterday I went out to that same 3.5 mile climb resolving to do three twelve minute repeats at 310 watts, (my former FTP was 292). Hitting the first effort I felt comfortable with my power fluctuating between 310 and 340 watts. My HR averaged right around 170 bpm and I felt pretty comfortable. When I got home I was pleased to see an average power of 323 watts for that effort. The second time up I managed 310 and finally 307.

While my endurance is still dubious with the cramping issues the elevated LT should lessen the impact. This increase in power means I have a bigger engine than I have ever had before which is making me contemplate the question, "how"? What is different this year?

One thing is the ability I have had to train outdoors. Overload is much easier for me if I feel the wind and have the distraction of moving scenery. I think another is the heavy emphasis on VO2max specifically 4 minute and Tmax intervals. My philosophy has changed from the past in that I no longer assign myself a number of intervals to complete. Instead, I assign myself a power to maintain and continue the efforts until I can no longer sustain the power. In some cases that has meant doing way more reps than I otherwise would have done. Specifying the number of reps may have done some psychological damage in that I shut down once reaching the required number of intervals. Lastly, just going out and riding as hard as I can for as long as I can has had some impact I believe. Setting out a course then riding it TT style aiming to hold 290 watts.

San Tan Crit

2010-03-04T15:16:00.000-05:00

Going for the "Full Dybowski" this Saturday:

Masters 40+
Masters 30+
P12

Just two more years and I can try for whatever you call it when you add in the M50+!

Jersey

2010-02-24T21:47:00.001-05:00

No biking for me this week. I am on the road doing the training thing.

The Week in Review

2010-02-21T19:33:00.007-05:00

Sorry it has been so long since posting but life has been pretty busy. Week before last I was flying quite a bit and last week I held a very busy bike camp here in Mesa.

Only Neal Blatt came out for a week of training but I hope to see more of you next time. If you want some personal testimony about the epic riding that took place talk to him. We put in over 25 hours of riding over intense climbs, brutal intervals, great food and incredible views.

Day 1, Sunday, we warmed up with a 1.5 hour ride around the Usery’s and up Usery pass. Day 2, Monday, we completed a 2.0 hour morning workout on Usery Pass, (Neal did 12 minute base LT efforts while I did 4 minute VO2max efforts), followed by lunch and light weightlifting. We rode a 2.0 hour endurance ride to Saguaro Lake in the afternoon.

Day 2 we rode from my home to Tortilla Flat and beyond to the end of pavement on the Apache trail. This was an incredible day as we had to battle stiff easterly winds for most of the ride out. The vistas are beautiful but the tourist density was way higher than I have ever seen it. Once you get into the mountainous area the climbing is of a switchback nature. We paused for a Kodak moment at the Canyon Lake overlook before gliding down to the lakeshore. Just a couple more climbs saw us descending into Tortilla Flat. Neal wasn’t hungry yet so we pressed on up the “Microwave” hill for another 50 minutes before reaching the end of pavement. The road just beyond Tortilla was flooded to about 3 inches. The rains are turning the wash there into a river and there was man panning for gold. He told us he had even found a few flakes. Neal’s Garmin reported the Microwave to be 5%-7% for about 3.5 miles. Once we made it up this it was easy switch backs to the end. After turning around we took guesses on how long it would take to get to Tortilla. I guessed 10 minutes. I pointed my bike downhill, recorded 47.4 mph on the Microwave and made it down in about 12 minutes.

The restaurant was so jammed with tourists I couldn’t see waiting so we rode over to the marina where we were seated in less than twenty minutes.

After lunch we climbed out of the there and returned to Mesa for a 4.5 hour volume and lots of great memories.

On Day3, we drove up to Cave Creek to ride out to Bartlett lake. We climbed about 1,000 feet to get to Bartlett Lake Rd which got us to 3200 feet. Down we went 600 feet in 3 miles before oscillating up and down for about 4 miles before descending from 3200 feet down to 1800 feet over 5 miles to reach the lake. From here we began interval work performing 12 minute LT efforts. Neal at 95% of FTP and myself at 100%, (Neal is still in base while I am in build training). We rode up that five mile hill for twelve minutes than returned to the bottom for another. After three I realized I was going to need water before returning to Cave Creek so we took a break and bought a bottle or two from the convenience store, (trailer), at the lake. The plan from here was to do intervals until we climbed up that long hill. I planned on two for myself and it almost worked out. As I was coming to the end of my second effort the hill changed to a descent for almost a mile before once again turning into a longish climb. I extended my interval to 15 minutes trying to put an end to all this. Fifteen didn’t do the trick but I had had enough and ended the interval workout. When I reviewed my power profile it revealed that I had completed an additional 12 minute interval on the way out to the lake completely by accident. I was simply trying to ride hard and managed a serendipitous twelve minute interval at a perfect 292 watts!

For me, this was the hardest ride of the week. We clocked in at three hours and forty minutes scoring 255 TSS points, 6,000 feet of climbing and a very sore taint.

On Day 4 we scaled back intensity and rode easy out to Fountain hills and back making a lunch stop at DJ’s. By this point the week’s volume had caused a saddle sore flare up making the last hour or so of the four hour ride pretty rough.

Day 5 we drove to Tucson and Neal soloed up Mt. Lemmon. I spent the day with Maria touring the University of Arizona. She auditioned for their theater program which is very competitive admitting only 12 freshmen each fall. Neal reported an epic ride climbing for over 20 miles to Summerhaven where he lunched on pizza.

Day 6 was race day but since it was Neal’s last day we got up early and rode for an hour and forty minutes. We kept things on the lighter side just enjoying the morning. We were graced to see a group of wild horses, (Red Mountain Brumby’s), crossing the road in front of us. We stopped to take it in and it struck me what a privilege it is to live where I do. Just an ordinary ride and I take in beautiful vistas and wild horses! Amazing!

The race was the Sun Devil Criterium which is an office job very much like the Allen Park Crit course with good pavement. James raced the 3’s and the Jr’s back to back. What a stud! He hung on to get a top 15 finish in the 3’s which was very gratifying for both of us. He got shucked off the back at Tucson a couple of weeks ago so riding well was a big confidence booster. Immediately after he jumped into the Jr race and did amazingly well considering he had ridden a 50 minute crit just minutes before. My goal was to sit in the pro/1/2 race. When I signed in I noticed I was the oldest rider in the field and immediately began to wonder what the heck I was getting into. It really stuck out to…21, 23, 33, 19…then, Darrell Anderson 48. Not only that but there were several pro’s signed up for the race. I saw at least one Kenda team member, some Oakley guys, (they had their crazy semi pick up truck with them), plus Chris Aten and his herd of Bike Haus riders. Eric Mercott was there with his body builder legs. Sal S________, (can’t remember Sal’s last name…he is going to Belgium to join his team shortly). You get the idea. My whole thing was to survive this without a humiliating DNF.

There was an acceleration early on that made me think I was in trouble. Someone was drilling it at the front and I was up over 500 watts trying to stay on. If this kept up I was toast! Thankfully, it was the only one of these and the race settled into a back and forth rhythm as attacks were made without success. The thing with this field was that they went really hard then went ridiculously slow with the pulse of attack and catch. After about forty minutes I realized I was feeling strong and fresh; that familiar feeling from the past when you sense that the riders around you are wearing down. This shocked me greatly but I was still not willing to race. I wouldn’t call what I was doing racing. Racing means you are attacking, chasing and being a player. What I was doing was almost like sitting on the sidelines and watching. I’m not proud of this but even at this point in the race I was concerned there was some surprise that was going to drop me off the back in the last twenty minutes.

In the end I had poor position on the last turn, a rider caught his pedal and went down in front of me and it was really over. Mercott won his 5th race of the season and I settled for a pack finish. Chris Aten just missed the podium in 4th place. Not bad for a guy who says he can’t sprint!

It was obvious to me that I had way over estimated the effort level required to race this thing. This was just one race and next time it might be totally different but it was far from the hardest crit I have raced. I guessed a normalized power of 260-270 watts but I even overestimated that as it showed a measly 255 watts and a TSS of 75 points.

Jean, Neal and the kids congratulated me on finishing. It felt good initially but after looking at the file and reflecting I have to say I did not race even close to my potential. Even at my lofty age, it seems like I can open gaps and accelerate at an above average level. Just to check I would glance back occasionally to see what my acceleration had done and could see a descent gap. My max power for the day was just shy of 1200 watts and this wasn’t the finishing sprint. In a practice race earlier in the season I managed just shy of 1400 watts in an attack so even in that respect I was racing below my potential. So, I have to say I am content that I met my goal but disappointed that I didn’t make any adjustments and summon the courage to gamble a little more. I will certainly race differently next time.

The Slacker

2010-02-08T08:43:00.000-05:00

Feeling motivated last night I set the alarm for 4:15a hoping to have enough time to catch the 5a Brumby ride. The ride out is 7 miles from my hom$e. Early on it became apparent that I was going to miss them so I gambled on which route they would take to Usery. Well, Like most things I guessed wrong. I knew I would run into them if I just rode the oppoisite direction around the loop.

It was inky black riding in the desert at night. My headlight gave me just enough light to be recognized and see the road but not enough to really gain perspective on my location. Having ridden this route at least a hundred times I knew where I was based on the grade of the hill and which gear combo I needed to ride it.

Just before Usery Pass I saw multiple headlights making the turn onto Bush Hwy. This had to be them. I turned around, slowed and waited to catch on. When I did I was shocked by what I saw. Twenty riders riding wheel to wheel in pitch black conditions cutting through it with twenty or so headlights. One rider had a wicked strobe for a tail light. This thing would go off bright every few flashes. I learned to just look away before it blew out my retinas.

Some of the group were obviously experienced racers and others were not. Imagine how freaky it is riding a choppy paceline up and down hills in those conditions.

Some tri-dudes went to the front and drove the pace into the 30's. (I only know this because I checked my max speed after I stopped at Starbucks where I am now hiding out). Going fast w as fun and felt effortless but I still couldn't tell where I was. I was surpised when I realized we were on King Kong hill. I was number 2 wheel most of the way up until 2-3 dudes srinted for the top. My bike needs a twist on the limit screw as it is jumping on and off my 25. All the way up the hill I was fighting to keep the bike on the proper gear. No way I was going to sprint. I need to take a look but I am also concerned my right shifter is failing. I really hope not. Dura Ace shifters are waaaayyy too much $$$.

Did I mention it was 46F at ride out? Given it was cold, my bike needs some attention, I can't see my power output, the Brumby's have all gone to work and I have had zero caffeine I pulled over at Starbucks. The sun is now coming up and I think I will re-mount my trusty steed and head over to Usery Pass for some hill repeats. Have a good day all!

For my DNA homies, this MWF group rides out of Val Vista and Hermosa Vista at 5a. Mondays and Fridays they ride straight up McDowell to Ellsworth. Wednesday they take Thomas to Recker through Red Mtn ranch to Power. The ride is fast but not super challenging until you get to the hills.

Flapjack TT Report

2010-02-06T23:21:00.004-05:00

We hit the road at 5:15 am to pick up Jake and make the trip down to Picacho. We made a quick pit stop in Casa Grande before arriving at ride out at 7:30am. Jake and James went out first and I tried to get slotted last so James and I could share my gear. No dice. I had to ride out only 20 minutes after him. Sorry Jim!

The course was 20K with the first half into a quartering headwind and uphill around 500 feet. I hit it a little hard going out. It had been since last April since riding a TT and I was antsy and choppy in metering out my mojo. It really became a sufferfest early on as I was balancing on the razor's edge between LT and VO2max range. It took forever to get up that hill, turn around and get going in the right direction. Still, I wasn't feeling great going downhill. I was still fighting to ride steady. My power would be down at 260 watts then 330. It was just crazy. Riding along I thought it was going to be a very disappointing result.

When I saw the 1,000m sign I drilled it up to 400+ watts to blow myself up. That was a long 1,000 meters my friends. It hurt...bad. I kept the power up though and rode through the line to snag a 29:00 good for first place in the master's 45+ and top 5 overall, (I think). The beautiful thing was I managed 301 watts which puts me in basically the same form I had in August of 2008!

James set new power records but had a disappointing time. Check his blog for details. He rode his road bike with aero bars, rear wheel cover and no aero wheel on the front. He was wearing his old Chrono helmet too. I think the crosswind and his set up sank him. He still won his age group but we are flumuxed on the time. It just isn't making sense. Next weekend I suspect things will be different when he gets all my aero stuff for the Valley of the Sun.

Flapjack TT

2010-02-06T07:06:00.001-05:00

The truck is loaded up and we are out the door to race the Flapjack TT! The Black Widow was in classic pre-race mood yesterday so fingers are crossed!

Tmax again

2010-02-05T01:01:00.002-05:00

This has been a strenuous training week already. Tuesday I attempted five four minute VO2max intervals near the top of zone 5 and it nearly killed me. Today was my second Tmax workout. Last time out I made 5 and nearly killed me. Today I was feeling pretty good and just kept cranking them out and managed 8! Awesome!

I was spinning around after and my thoughts turned to last weekend's crit. I didn't write anything about Chris Aten's race. Chris raced like a real pro against real pro's. He races for a big team, Bicycle Haus, and they were having some trouble getting their folks into the breaks. Chris was there doing the work to bring back breaks and neutralize attacks when his team did manage to position a rider there. Most of the pics in my second post are of Chris. God job Chris!

VO2 Max Death March

2010-02-02T22:35:00.003-05:00

Just rolling down the road all cockey getting ready for 5 x 4 minute VO2 max efforts at the top of zone 5 I had no idea how hard these were going to be. The first one was rough. The second one I huffed and puffed through the last minute. Completing the third was very, very hard. I saw a unicorn ridden by NPH on the fourth one. The fifth...well, I made it three out of four minutes.

If you haven't picked up an ID wrist band yet go to http://www.yikesid.com and get your's ordered up. James has one and the metal plate fell off. These guys sent out a new one immediately and added some extras to boot! Great customer service. Tell Bruce I sent you!

Score One for the Consumer

2010-02-02T12:14:00.003-05:00

After the crit on Saturday, James complained that his left shifter wouldn't work. Sure enough the shifter just wouldn't pull the cable far enough to get the the chain up on the big ring. I proclaimed the shifter "broken" and resolved to find him a new one on Ebay.

After reading some internet posts I decided to see if I could salvage this thing. They are hard to get at and look like a transmission inside. Nothing I did made a difference. I went to my LBS and they didn't have a shifter in stock. I called another shop and they had a new one that just came off a bike and he was willing to make a deal on it. Probably could have landed it for around $120. That seemed pretty good but I decideded to keep pushing. The next shop started asking me questions about the shifter and the bike which puzzled me. As it turns out Shimano tried to save money by building a common shifter for double and triple chain ring setups. You can tell if you have one of these because the shifter doesn't have "Double" written on it. Shimano has had so many problems with this that they are warranty replacing them sight unseen and this shop owner got this important info to me and saved me $120!

The shop: Global Bikes
The owner: Scott
The City: Gilbert, AZ

More U of A crit pics

2010-02-01T01:20:00.003-05:00

U of A Crit

2010-01-31T10:29:00.006-05:00

James and I hit the road just before 7am to pick up our buddy Jake and drive down I-10 to Tucson for the U of A criterium in Tucson. We had a beautiful desert sunrise as and great weather for our day.

I attended the U of A for a couple of years back in the day so this getting to hang out on campus for a day was an added treat. The campus area has changed quite a bit since I left in 1986 but Tucson hasn't which is nice.

We rolled into town, hit the Safeway on Campbell and Broadway for a bathroom, espresso and chamois butter stop before driving the few short blocks to the campus. We went through the regular circus of registration, unpacking and warming up which always seems like a crazy rush.

Jake raced the cat 5 at 1020a. James and Jake were up next at 1100a for a 30 minute junior race then it was my turn to race the the masters 40 + and masters 30+ back to back.

James had a great junior outing missing the break but racing like a pro from that point on. He ended up placing 2nd in the 15-16 field. He ended up setting a new best 20 minute power suggesting the race was very fast. The great thing about junior racing out here is that the fields are bigger and have stronger racers. Forty juniors lined up yesterday! James said he used to dream/make videos about such a thing.

That's James in the white, black and yellow DNA kit six riders back.

The 40+ race seemed very strenuous to me. I haven't raced a crit since the Priority Health crit in Grand Rapids in August 2008 so it could be that I had forgotten how hard these races are. Of course, there were those pesky older cat 1's and 2's who either felt too old to enter the P1/2 race or wanted to do a second race so the field had some very strong riders. The course had six turns and was very smooth with lots of large buildings that had some effect on a stiff southerly breeze. The finishing straight was the only long stretch of road with all other sections being 100-200 meters before a ninety degree turn. Moving up wasn't a problem though as there were sections that offered natural opportunities.

I raced aggressively near the front for most of the race finding my way into a four man break that I had great hopes for. It was too short of a race, I guess and we were too early on in the race for it to stick and we were brought back. At the second prime bell I was 3-4 back and I could see an opportunity may be developing. Sure enough a rider two up went on the back hill and I grabbed his wheel. I let him pull me hard to about the 50 meter point and I gave a little sprint to get him at the line. James thought I waited a little long to go around him but I wasn't interested in burning too many matches to win. I felt good that I used just

enough having to throw the bike at the line to win it. In the end a couple riders small gap but were caught by the field sprint. I didn't race as a aggressively as I needed to on the last lap and ended up eighth out of forty. Not bad for my first day out but the kicker was I was scored as a DNF! Because I went immediately into the 30+ race then finished up my 3 hour volume for the day I neglected to check results until the protest period was over. My fault I guess so I won't complain. I have the finish on video thanks to James and I clearly finished in 8th position.

That's me in the black, white and red DNA kit on the right hand side of the screen.

After finishing I changed bibs, rode around the course one lap and lined up for the next race. The guys around be were talking about how fast the last race was and how this one was going to be even faster because there were some pros in it one who raced the Tour of California in 2009 and made some noise there. Great! My goal was to hang on and get some extra intensity into my legs. This was all about the training.

I raced this one conservatively knowing I didn't have a full tank of gas. I figured cramps were on the menu but I didn't know when. In light of that I just found a large, fast rider who was very predictable and sat on his wheel in the pack. It worked well as my normalized power for this race was almost 40 watts lower than the first one and I averaged almost a half mile per hour faster. Some lessons to be learned with that one!

I began to feel some cramping after the first 20 minutes but nothing limiting. I keep thinking about the coming full leg shut down but it never happened. I felt a cramp or two but as soon as the intensity let up a bit I recovered and could go again. It was funny because I wasn't racing aggressively and I found myself in a good position on the last lap! It just sort of happened without me really working it out. If I had a sprint in my legs I could have had a very good finish but as it was I sat in my saddle and spun as fast as I could across the line for 9th place.

Tmax

2010-01-28T10:33:00.002-05:00

That was one short brutal workout. I performed the test at 400 watts, (my peak power output on test), to see how long I could go until total collapse. That was fun. After some recovery I managed four Tmax intervals. Each one was really tough to complete. The last one was just a brutal suffer-fest. On warm down both calves cramped. Can't wait for the next round!

Update

2010-01-27T09:28:00.002-05:00

Not much posting going on lately due to my flying schedule. On January 17 I took Alaska Air up to Anchorage to pick up a trip. We spent a day there before flying on to Chicago and Morristown for a quick layover before flying home to Phoenix. The next day I flew right back to the east coast landing in Cleveland for a layover. The next morning we were off to Cincinnati and Phoenix. It was six days on the road and it totally blew up my training schedule. To accommodate this I moved my rest week back and started build 1 this week. As it turns out it was all good. My old legs needed the rest as I found out on Monday when I went out to perform 3 x 12's at my one hour power. The intervals felt easy and I kept my power 10 watts high. It seemed a shame to leave it at only three intervals so I completed one more up Usery Pass.

Today will be my first Tmax interval of the year. These are very hard to say the least. In fact, it could be called a break through workout. Saturday James and I will be racing in Tucson at the U of A crit. James is doing the junior and cat 3 races. I'll race masters 40+ and 30+. I watched the 30+ race on Sunday and those dudes were flying. This should be a very good early season test of my fitness.

Home Sweet Home

2010-01-12T23:54:00.002-05:00

After leaving California the brutal cold of Alaska was an amazing slap back to reality. The beauty of that state from the air is nothing short of amazing but after landing in thirty plus knot fifteen degree winds I have to say winter in Alaska is best experienced sparingly. I got off the airplane walked to the bag compartment and my hands were in serious pain. It took all of ten seconds.

Second straight day of posting

2010-01-10T01:29:00.002-05:00

Hi Doug! Here I sit in southern California flying for the "Man". The "Man" pays so the man gets my services.

Today we walked to Balboa Island and had lunch after which we took the ferry over to Balboa penninsula. This area is one of the most amazingly wonderful places I have ever been too. Back in my Ford days we made regular trips out here and learned the ropes. We stay near a big mall which has the obvious conveniences but we are within an easy walking distance of Balboa Island.

I managed an hour on the spin bike.

Bringing a dead blog back to life

2010-01-09T00:52:00.004-05:00

They say that keeping a blog alive requires daily entires and maintenance. Well, if this is true then I have failed magnificently. Let this be the first of a season's worth of entries.

I am on the road flying for Honeywell this weekend but while on the road I am riding hotel bikes and trying to maintain my training focus. Today's ride included a 2 hour torturous ride on two very primative hotel bikes. I survived.

The season starts soon and James and I are prepared to give Arizona our all!

DMO's Cyber Attack

2009-08-08T00:29:00.006-04:00

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.

2009-06-08T20:09:00.005-04:00

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

2009-06-07T17:00:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-27T18:57:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-24T20:17:00.005-04:00

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

2009-05-20T00:25:00.002-04:00

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?

2009-05-16T19:37:00.002-04:00

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.

A Tribute to Bikeboy

2009-05-05T21:24:00.002-04:00

Yes, he is my son and I am biased but I want to honor him here on Midlife Bike Crisis.

James came onto the miscene in 2005 at the age of 10. I entered him in the Hines TT and fretted as he rode off on his own for 20K. After he left the start line I jumped in my car to follow him to the halfway point to make sure he was okay. After, I sped back to the start to see him come in. He gave his all on his little 24 inch road bike.

Since then he has been much more than a bike racer. He is an advocate for the sport here in southern Michigan. Anyone who visits his blog knows what he does for our sport. I can't tell how many times complete strangers have come up to him to say they read his blog. I guess he is a rock star of sorts.

His on bike performance has been magnificent. As his coach I couldn't be prouder. Look at the TT times for him against others when they were his age and you'll see he is a special bike rider. His training year begins in December with base training. He works hard on the trainer all through the winter. Recently he discovered nutritional science and has added that to his regimen cutting out many foods that teenagers covet.

Most of all, I am proud of the way he has handled adversity. He has sought to become a man and not just a bike racer. He wants to live a good and honorable life. He wants God to have first place.

Well done James. I am proud of you.

Spider Monkey on the Loose

2009-04-23T12:52:00.002-04:00

I officially begin my training and racing season this Saturday with the Willow TT. Sure, I'm 46 and out of shape but I shall not whine any more. If I am willing to enter there is no excuse for anybody! One more thing, I won't be hiding, I entered the 1-2 field! I must be the favorite!

Home

2009-04-17T17:12:00.002-04:00

I made it back to the "D" around 5:30 am today. James and Jeanne came out to pick me up. We all went back to bed for a few hours.

We decided to see if the Black Widow would fit James this afternoon. With a couple of adjustments we determined that James has a new TT bike! He is pretty psyched but I am restraining him from going too crazy. He has to get used to the bike if there is going to be any real benefit by the first TT.

Back to PHX on Monday.

Desert Life

2009-04-17T00:18:00.002-04:00

After the ride mentioned in my last post, I had a pretty rough recovery. I ate, showered then made an attempt at going to the library, (they have places to sit down there.) I was so blasted that I felt that a short nap was necessary. After that I was well enough to move on.

I did the same course on Sunday. This time I packed twice the calories. I made it to Saguaro Lake six minutes faster than Friday and felt great. Continuing from there I climbed Usery Pass and rode down the other side to Mesa, around Las Sendas, down Power Drive by Red Mountain before heading back to Saguaro Lake for more water. The difference between the two rides was quite noticeable. I got home in about 3.5 hours after riding about 62 miles and normalizing 211 watts.

Monday, I went back to work. Things are still pretty new and it had been almost two weeks since I had flown the new airplane. I sat down and it was as if I had never been to training! As James would say, it was "horrible!" To make things worse, the jet acted up every single day of the trip, (4 days in all). If it wasn't the plane it was the passengers showing up early and forcing us to work at crazy fast speeds to get the flight out.

The good thing was that I got to see the Cubbies play at Wrigley in Chicago. I am now a Cubbies fan, sort of. Tigers first but I am hooked! Wrigley is just crazy cool with the old scoreboard, grandstands on the buildings and on this day Michael J. Fox led the chorus of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

At the moment, I am sitting at Sky Harbor airport waiting on a flight to go back to see Jeanne and the kids. It is going to be fun but I already dread the flight back on Monday.

Getting back to the bike

2009-04-10T18:56:00.002-04:00

I rode out of Fountain Hills today bent on making it to Saguaro Lake and maybe even Usery Pass. This video is taken on the climb a lot faster than I took it. I was moving along at 10.2 mph pulling 290 watts all the way up. It just kept going and going. When I got to the top I turned around and went back down hitting 43 mph. Incredibly, I had some dude in a pickup truck, (why is it always someone in a pickup?), lean out the window and yell at me for riding on the road and not in the bike lane. I just shook my head. The speed limit is 45! At those speeds I darn sure wasn't going to ride on the loose gravel and all the junk that lives on the shoulder.

Cippo Gets Pranked

2009-03-25T15:06:00.001-04:00

Cippo nearly gets clipped on a training ride and is shocked to see that the dude that nearly ran him had two of his bikes strapped to the back of his RV!! Enjoy!

School

2009-03-14T22:51:00.002-04:00

Greetings from New Jersey! I am halfway through the training program for my new jet. I have my Blue RC4 here with a set of rollers doing intensity whenever I can. Time is quite limited.

Moving Towards “Normal”, I Hope

2009-03-06T22:52:00.001-05:00

They say job disruptions are life events on the same order as divorce and death. I don't know if it is all that bad but to say it is a "major" life event is certainly true. The last week was spent establishing a new life with a new company in a new city. It is so strange to think about moving somewhere to live when you can't even navigate due to unfamiliarity. The first day on the ground, last Sunday, everything seemed so strange and plastic. The first area I explored seemed devoid of character filled with nothing but shopping malls and asphalt. I went back to this area on Thursday and it seemed completely different. I am not saying it was so different that I want to move there but it was better. Well, until I noticed a sign that warned against tree climbing because it may bring about falling scorpions. Geez, falling scorpions; we're not in Kansas anymore Toto!

The job is new in some ways. I will still fly airplanes for corporate America but now I fly for a company that actually produces components for the very airplanes I fly. For my former Ford colleagues, I was shocked to see the same expense reporting system that Ford used. So that hasn't changed but is this a good thing? The weather was near perfect but that will change.

Yesterday was spent looking for temporary housing for the next three months. Wow! You don't get much when you want to spend $500-$700. This was depressing. The apartments smelled and were located in what looked like free-fire zones. Whimpering as I drove, I made my way to the Gilbert Post Office to try and get a box. I was told I could not do this without an AZ address but you might be surprised to hear the best customer service I have experienced in years was had. My clerk kept working the angles until she came up with a solution that required Jeanne to go to the Saline office, fill out forms, fax them to the Gilbert Post Office, etc.. In the end, it worked! Voila, I have an Arizona address, well, kind of. The state is not very tolerant of people dropping into town and trying to establish residency this way. They do allow some flexibility for people in my situation but I am uncertain of the limits of their patience.

While Jeanne was doing her thing at the Saline PO, I worked the internet desperately trying to find a solution to my housing woes. While cruising sublet.com I found a place in Fountain Hills. Now this looked promising. I called the manager up and asked if he could do a 3 month lease and I was shocked to hear "yes". So, after a quick trip to the Ford dealer, (BTW I purchased a new Ford Focus on Tuesday), to drop my new address for the car's title, I rode out to the Hills. Oh man, what a difference! What a beautiful desert setting! There was abundant mountain, cactus and red rocks. Excitement grew as I approached my destination. Upon arrival I was overwhelmed! Now this was more like it! Great views, clean city, great riding possibilities and decent rent! No need to run out and purchase that AK47 here. I plunked down a deposit, filled out an application and drove off with a hopeful feeling that I was almost ready to begin living in Arizona. The way back to Mesa was blessed with a perfect sunset and light playing on shadow over the mountains. Things were improving for sure.

Leaving today, there was a major traffic jam on the 60 which I take to get to the airport. No problem, I re-routed and made it to the airport with only one navigational error. I presented my badge to the guard and was waved in like I belonged. (BTW, my office is actually in the factory at Sky Harbor airport.)

The hard part is being separated from Jean and the kids. I have been away from home for weeks before but never months. Looking ahead a little too much I guess, but I find I'm always a little sad. This is going to be a real tough stretch for us. Next week is the beginning of a three week stint in New Jersey, then, back to the D for an all too brief stay before leaving for Phoenix again on March 28 this time for good except for visits. In the mean time I have to remember that each day is getting us closer to normal again. Nothing has been normal since November but every day since we have been moving towards a goal. Are we half-way? I don't know but we are getting closer all the time.

ATO Goodbye...

2009-02-20T10:14:00.004-05:00

Uh-oh! Somebody's numbers aren't lining up!

2009-02-14T09:20:00.002-05:00

Lance Armstrong's drug-testing program scrapped
Associated Press
DENVER -- Lance Armstrong scrapped his much-publicized plan to set up an independent drug-testing program on Wednesday because of high costs and nearly impossible logistics.

When Armstrong announced his comeback last year, the seven-time Tour de France winner said he wanted to prove he was clean, and was teaming with anti-doping expert Don Catlin, who would test him and post the results online.

But Catlin told The Associated Press that after months of negotiations, both sides realized the program wasn't workable this year.

"It was going to be difficult," Catlin said. "There were so many issues in trying to get this going -- legal issues, financial issues, and we sort of tried every which way. Finally, it made more sense to put it aside for the moment and maybe take it up at another time."

Armstrong began his comeback last month in Australia. He is training this month with Team Astana in preparation for the Tour of California, which starts Saturday. He also has announced plans to ride in the Tour de France this summer.

Mark Higgins, Armstrong's spokesman, did not immediately return messages left by AP seeking comment.

The news first was reported by The New York Times.

Armstrong still will be subject to testing by UCI, cycling's international body, and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Part of the problem in working out a deal with Catlin was the logistical issues of adding another round of tests.

"And we were having to figure out how to pay for it," Catlin said. "You're coordinating collectors ... doing all these things. It became a nightmare of logistic issues and also, when you're drawing blood, an athlete can rightfully complain if you take too much."

Armstrong bristled at an AP report that came out in November, shortly before he was to begin training in earnest, that said the Web site he promised when he announced his return was nonexistent.

"It's a tough thing to organize, but we'll make it happen," he said.

He added that he stood ready to be tested every day. "Whether I'm in France or in LA, no one's trying to pull a fast one here," he said.

Though he never tested positive during his record-setting career, suspicions were always out there, which was one reason the 37-year-old cyclist went to Catlin to quiet the naysayers.

Catlin long has been acknowledged as the gold standard in anti-doping testing. He ran America's first anti-doping lab in UCLA for 25 years and left to set up the nonprofit Anti-Doping Research to develop new ways of catching drug cheats.

He is a proponent of performing baseline tests of athletes for a number of illegal substances, then comparing subsequent tests against the original results. It is widely considered a more accurate way of testing than the method most commonly used, but is also more expensive and time-intensive.

UCI has begun performing baseline tests. Under Catlin's program, Armstrong presumably would have been tested the same way -- but there were too many moving parts to make it work this year.

"We were going to put it on the Web and that got a lot of internal flak because we didn't have horsepower to deal with it," Catlin said.

He said it would have taken two scientists devoted primarily to the Web site to post the results and explain what they meant.

Home Improvement

2009-02-10T22:07:00.002-05:00

I didn't ride the bike today. I didn't ride the bike yesterday either. I did ride the bike on Sunday and it was glorious even though I had to ride before church and again in the evening. We are nearing the end of our home improvements. The counter top is in and the next item is refinishing the wood floors. After that, de-clutter, stage and wait. Phew! Next up will be moving to Phoenix, learning a new airplane and job and learning to survive without my loving family near by. The best thing about losing your job is being able to spend 24 hours/7 days a week at home. This has been awesome! I have not felt a need to get alone time. My family is simply the best. Not perfect but wonderful all the same.

Update

2009-02-02T06:25:00.004-05:00

Hi all. I have been taking some hits regarding the paucity of activity on my blog. Well, as most of you know I lost my job with Ford Motor Company this month. We received the news December 2 which was nice because it gave me a couple of months on the payroll to look for a job. I am happy to announce I have secured a position with Honeywell in Phoenix beginning February 23. The company is terrific, the location is great and the airplanes are awesome.

Over the last two months I have worked harder than ever before in my career. It was difficult to get on the bike so blogging just fell by the wayside. I ho

pe to have more free time as we move forward but the sale of our house is going to be a killer for the next couple of weeks. We have contractors and realtors coming in to get things lined up. De-cluttering is also a full time job.

Here's a pic of the new airplane I'll be flying.

And the front office...

Locked Out

2008-11-17T13:36:00.000-05:00

So here I sit at my doctor's office helplessly locked out of my car. The keyless entry system is usually wonderful but on this day it lured me into a trap. After locking up the touchpad failed and I am trying to get roadside assistance. Bummer.

CX Fans

2008-11-03T11:22:00.003-05:00

Bikeboy read an article in VeloNews about being a proper cx fan recently. Apparently, doing this right means making a complete jackass out of yourself which is right up my alley. For help, I enlisted the help of JoeLek. He took up the challenge and produced not one but three Lion of Flanders flags of varying sizes, multiple cowbells, a bucket with drumstics and last but not least Bobby! It seems like making noise is really the key here and completely abandoning the least bit of self-awareness giving yourself completely to the task of yelling, screaming, waving and in our case banging drums. Our contribution to the cacaphony was a very loud drum from our kit. We yelled, screamed and yes, we did bang the drum silly. We hammered away on that thing carrying it as we yelled disturbing neighborhood dogs and probably their owners too. It was one of the funest bike related things I have ever done. I highly recomend it. In this crazy day in which we live an occasional abandonment of all self-awareness is very threraputic.

mmmm....Bike Food

2008-11-01T15:22:00.001-04:00

Eat To Compete: Butternut Squash-Mashed Potato Shepherds Pie & Stout Soda Bread
Friday, October 31, 2008 10:44:00 AM PT

Happy Hallowe'en! Once you've polished off that bucket of candy, you'll be hankerin' for a hearty hungry-man meal with real nutrition, but have no idea how to make. This month’s recipe is as tasty as it sounds, and a lot easier to make…

- By Casey Weaver -

Since I no longer live in West Los Angeles, the enchanted land of the double tail-wind to which I can attest, (see October’s Off-Season Myth Busters), this will be the first time in my life that I’ll have to contend with actual temperature change, and dare I say, precipitation. Though the prospects of this are frightening for someone born and raised in Southern California, the potential for reinvigorated staple Fall dishes to combat the spiteful cold far outweighs any ominous threats from above.

This dish has gone through a couple different variations. It started out as a savory tart, progressed to a pot-pie, lost it’s crust and became a stew, and is now presented to you as a variation of the cold-weather classic, the shepherds pie. The pie calls for stew beef, but can also be made with chicken or turkey. Some athletes are very particular about their consumption of red meat, and wisely so, as some cuts of red meat are very high in saturated fat and cholesterol. And some athletes avoid red meat all together. But not all red meat has the same nutrient profile, and certain cuts are considerably leaner than others. When at the market buying meat for this dish, keep an eye out for extra-lean stew beef if the fat content is a concern of yours; it is almost always available.

Red meat has its upsides, too. During training periods of particularly high intensity or high volume, our bodies can all too easily become iron deficient, leading to reduced performance and feelings of fatigue. The occasional serving of red meat is a great way to fight this, but as previously stated, be vigilant with your selection and always know what you are putting into your body.

Choose a tastey cut of lean beef - you'll be glad you did.

Meal Plan Timing
In terms of timing for this meal, I like to get the meat and potatoes cooking, then make the bread and get it in the oven, then return to the rest of the shepherd’s pie. If you do this, do not forget about the bread in the oven. If timed right, the bread will be done just ahead of the pie, and will be rested and cooled just in time to serve. But do whatever works best for you.

Butternut Squash-Potato topping
1 lb Yukon gold potatoes, about 4
1 medium butternut squash, halved, seeded, and peeled
½ cup beef broth
1 t fennel seed, coarsely chopped
1 T extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
Pecorino-Romano cheese
salt and pepper

Fresher ingredients always make for a better dish.

Filling
1 lb extra-lean stew beef, cubed into 1” pieces
2 broccoli crowns, cut into florets
5 shallots, 1 finely chopped, 4 sliced
2 parsnips, sliced
½ crown cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets
½ head radicchio, sliced into ½ inch slices
1 ½ cups beef broth
2 T fresh lemon thyme
black pepper
3 T olive oil, divided
cooking spray

Soda Bread
2 cups bread flour
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 ¼ cups reduced fat buttermilk
6 oz stout beer
1 egg, beaten
1 T molasses
1 T dark brown sugar
1T baking powder
1 ½ t baking soda
1 t salt

1. To start, cook the meat and potato-squash topping
The first thing you want to do is get the meat cooking. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be, and once it is on the stove you can go about getting everything else ready without having to really think about it.

In a medium saucepan, sauté one finely chopped shallot in one tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat for about five minutes; season with salt. Increase the heat to medium high and add the cubed beef. Season with salt and pepper and let cook for about eight minutes, stirring often and making sure all sides get browned. Once browned, add in one and a half cups beef broth and the broccoli florets, stirring a bit to help submerge the broccoli. At this point the florets will not all be totally submerged, this is ok as they will cook down. Cover the pot and reduce heat to low, cooking for at least one half hour, but ideally closer to a full hour. After about fifteen minutes, open the lid and stir the contents, breaking down the now soft broccoli with your spoon. Recover and continue to cook.

Once cooked you will remove the beef and add it to the filling, but be patient and read on and we will get there.

2. Cook the Potatoes and Butternut Squash
Start by cutting the potatoes into about two inch cubes. Personally, I like to leave the skin on my potatoes to add a little more substance to the topping, and frankly, I’ve never been afraid of a little extra fiber. If you want smooth and seamless mashed potatoes, feel free to remove the skin.

The squash is a different story. Halve it lengthwise, remove its seeds, and peel it with a vegetable peeler. Cut it into cubes about the size of your potatoes. Place both the squash and potatoes in a large pot of water on the stove, bring to boil, and cook until soft when pierced with a knife (note: the potatoes will take longer to cook than the squash, so they should be your determining factor of when the two are done).

Once cooked, strain the liquid and return the potatoes and squash to the pot used to cook them in. Mash them to a coarse consistency, then add in one tablespoon of olive oil, one half cup of beef broth, and the coarsely chopped fennel seeds. Continue to mash them to your desired consistency, then season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. For the Filling
At this point, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

I like to bake my shepherd’s pie in a twelve-inch cast-iron skillet. You can do all the preliminary cooking in the same skillet for simplicity’s sake, or if you do not want to dirty another dish. But I find it much easier to sauté all the ingredients in a larger skillet or sauté pan, then transfer them to the smaller twelve incher. This way you have plenty of room to stir and are not constantly knocking little bits onto the stove, which means any time you saved by not having to wash another dish is now irrelevant because you now have to do a major stovetop scrub down.

Sauté the remaining four sliced shallots in two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat for about five to seven minutes, stirring often, until beginning to soften; season with salt. Add in the sliced parsnips and cauliflower florets, continuing to stir.

With a slotted spoon, remove the beef from the saucepan and transfer it to the parsnip and cauliflower sauté, stirring to combine. Pour the melted broccoli into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the pureed broccoli over the beef and vegetables and stir well to combine, then stir in the radicchio and lemon thyme, and cook for an additional one to two minutes. Season with black pepper to taste.

If you are baking your pie in a separate dish, give it a quick shot of cooking spray, then transfer the filling. Spoon the mashed potato-squash-topping evenly over the filling and top with pumpkin seeds and desired amount of Pecorino-Romano cheese.

Place the assembled pie in the preheated oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes.

4. For the Soda Bread
There are a few things the pop culture media and network news absolutely love to report on, and second only to animal heroics are the health benefits of culinary vices such as alcohol and chocolate. Rest assured that not only does the stout in this soda bread add a complexity of flavor, it also improves your health at the same time…

Any stout, such as Guinness, will work just fine, but I strongly recommend going down to the corner store and seeing what some of your local microbreweries have to offer. There is not one microbrewery out there these days not offering a dark and flavorful stout, and it is just these types of details that really create the intriguing nuances in your food. Not to mention if you buy a six pack, you now have the perfect pairing for your meal.

One last quick note. While making this bread, unlike many recipes where all the wet ingredients are mixed then added to the dry, I like to omit the molasses when combining the other wet ingredients, then stir it into the already formed batter. Often times viscous ingredients like molasses or honey do not mix well with other wet ingredients, and are much easier to work with if added straight to the batter and gently stirred in.

Bake the Bread
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl, stirring to combine. Mix all the wet ingredients, except for the molasses in a separate bowl, stirring well to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, then add the molasses, gently stirring to combine.

Dump the dough on a baking sheet or into a skillet sprayed with cooking spray and bake for about 45 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Note: Bread can be separated into two smaller loaves, or baked as one large loaf.

About The Author:
Casey grew up in the kitchen inspired by his mom and grandmother, who ran the catering and cooking instruction company, Cooking in the Canyon, in Brentwood, Ca. He has worked as a private chef and currently works with the catering company Gourmet Solutions. He received his undergraduate degree in Communication Studies from UCLA, currently races for the NOW-MS elite amateur team, and coaches endurance athletes with Velo-Fit, llc.
• See more of Casey’s work online at his website: CulinaryCompetitor.com
• Contact Casey at Casey.b.Weaver@gmail.com.

It is a healthy thing...

2008-10-30T14:46:00.001-04:00

Gerdemann criticizes Armstrong comeback

By Agence France Presse

Posted Oct. 30, 2008

Top German cyclist Linus Gerdemann, known for his staunch anti-doping stance, has criticized the return of Lance Armstrong to professional cycling, citing the doping suspicions — all of them unproven — that have dogged the seven-time Tour de France winner.

"This is not positive for the credibility of cycling," said Gerdemann, winner of the Tour of Germany. "But there's nothing anyone can do about it."

Regarded as the rider who could help restore cycling's credibility in Germany, where doping scandals have left it on the scrapheap, the 26-year-old Gerdemann claimed the first mountain stage of the 2007 Tour in his debut but missed this year's race, and the Beijing Olympics, because of a broken leg.

Gerdemann's sentiments echo those of German television chiefs at ARD and ZDF, who have refused to cover the Tour de France next year after a spate of high-profile doping scandals, including positive tests by German riders.

"For us, Armstrong is a piece of the past we don't want to see again," Rolf-Dieter Ganz, head of communications at ARD, told Die Welt newspaper on September 14.

"The future belongs to young riders, certainly not to Armstrong's generation, which we had hoped to have seen the back of."

From Velo News

2008-10-29T11:39:00.001-04:00

The Explainer - Why not block?

By Charles Pelkey

Posted Oct. 29, 2008

Cancellara credits this win to effective blocking

Photo: Graham Watson

Dear Explainer guy,
Why is blocking such a rarely used tactic? It seems that when there is a long breakaway that teams with riders in the break do not block or slow down the chase. Why is that? More typically, these riders do not take a turn at the front. I would think it would be better if those riders took their turn at the front and slowed the pace.
Cosmo Scrivanich

Hello Cosmo,
It does seem like there isn’t a lot of blocking going on in big races, but it does happen, albeit subtly.

First off, as I’m sure you know, the term “blocking” isn’t exactly precise. It sure as heck isn’t blocking in the sense that it is in American football. In cycling, blocking obviously doesn’t include physical contact. It’s more disrupting than it is blocking, but we’ll use the standard term, anyway.

Blocking is not really an overt tactic. It can’t be. If a team were simply to move to the front of the peloton en masse and slow the pace dramatically, it would serve only as a temporary disruption. In response, other teams would just move their riders to the front, punch it and fight to keep the blocking team from reaching the head of the peloton. The result would actually be a counterproductive increase in speed.

Successful blocking often takes a much more subtle approach. Teams intent on letting a break survive may move one or two riders up in the peloton. Those riders then “soft pedal” when riding in a pace line up front. They may also let a small gap develop as they ride through, forcing other riders to expend unnecessary energy closing that gap.

In fact, much of the most successful “blocking” doesn’t take place at the very front of the field, but near the front. Riders can tuck in behind the chasing team’s workhorses and let small gaps form, forcing other riders to close the gap, or to slow the riders in the front.

If the tactic is too overt, it won’t work, as the disruptive riders are either forced out of the paceline or simply ignored in the rotation.

That said, there are some really terrific examples of riders using the technique to great effect. Perhaps the best recent example comes from the seventh stage of this year’s Tour de Suisse. With 5km remaining, CSC’s Fabian Cancellara launched one of his trademark solo attacks, just as the sprinters’ teams were ramping up the pace and trying to form up their finishing trains.

As the reigning world time trial champion, Cancellara was a perfect candidate to make that move and he held off the hard-charging peloton all the way to the line. But there was a moment when it looked like he might be caught in the final kilometer. Just as the gap began to narrow, Cancellara’s teammate Bobby Julich moved to the front of the chase, prompting a “WTF?” reaction from many watching from the sidelines.

Was Julich taking up the chase? It sure looked like it. But the American then allowed a small gap to form behind the rider at the very front of the chase, leaving just one rider to chase Cancellara. It didn’t take long for riders to counter the move and swarm past Julich, but the chase had been temporarily disrupted — long enough, it turned out, to allow Cancellara to reach the line two seconds ahead of the main field.

Cancellara knew where at least part of the credit belonged.

“I was alone out there, but the team really did its part to help me hold the gap," he said.

It’s fun to watch a race at those key moments and see whether anyone is employing tactics to disrupt a chase. It’s often hard to detect, but it's part of what makes bicycle racing so cool.

Dead Blog Again

2008-10-24T08:31:00.002-04:00

So sorry my loyal readers. I know you are few but you are a distinguished lot deserving so much more than this meager blog offers. Alas, what a shame.

Anyway, the off-season continues. This thing called "work" has really picked up. I get many more last minute calls to fill in for a sick colleague. It is great to have a job right now but it is more difficult to train.

I came back from the last trip quite dilapidated. My power had dropped dramatically along with my endurance. Since then, I have been working on base period intervals, some long rides and a tempo session here or there. It is a slow process but my form is beginning to return. I don't want to enter build training at this juncture but I need to re-gain some of the lost form then hold it until the training season begins.

Otherwise, the kids and wife are great. Life is great if you don't read the papers or watch TV. I recently put great limits on the amount of TV, radio and internet time. Funny, I am much happier now! It's like that great Police song, "Too Much Information" from the album "Ghost in the Machine". You remember that one Giff?

Chongqing Traffic Accident

2008-10-04T05:14:00.001-04:00

Terra Cotta Soldiers Pit 1 Part 2

2008-10-04T05:13:00.001-04:00

These pottery soldiers are thought to be the eighth wonder of the world. They date to around 200 BC.

Chongqing walking tour part 3

2008-10-04T05:11:00.003-04:00

Sidewalk cafe!

Chongqing walking tour 2

2008-10-04T05:11:00.001-04:00

I never felt threatened on the walk. We got some strange looks though.

Walking tour of Chogqing Part 1

2008-10-04T05:10:00.001-04:00

My crew and I left the hotel and walked the city for an hour or so. Here's what we saw.

Leaving Helsinki

2008-09-30T19:17:00.001-04:00

The three separate alarms I set go off in a symphony of noise welcoming me to a full day of airline travel. This is low key stuff compared to my normal pilot workday. Missing a wake-up call or a meeting time could be a major, major issue. Not so today. All we have to do is meet our driver and traverse the lonely streets of this town, negotiate the airport check-in and security and we are basically into relaxation mode.

As I sit, we have made it to the gate at Vantaa airport and even made a coffee and pastry stop. I commented in the limo that I could live here and I could. I told Jean that this is the "Land of the thin haired people." I might as well be strolling through an Anderson family reunion. Everybody looks familiar and has hair like Abby and me, (that is when I had hair). Whispy thin hair. The city is so clean. This is so remarkable after enduring the filth of China for a week.

Getting home means I can once again ride my bike. It has been ages. The last time I rode was the day of the Ann Arbor PH race. I needed the time off pretty badly. My bike thoughts now gravitate towards long fall-ish rides through Waterloo and beyond. CX?j Maybe but it isn't what sounds good. There are some maintenance issues awaiting me when I return. A couple of wheels need to be trued and some other little issues. Bikeboy and his sister are on a fall retreat with their school so It will be Mrs. A, Abby and myself for a couple of days.

Walking tour of Helsinki part 5

2008-09-29T11:35:00.003-04:00

Helsinki Walking Tour 4

2008-09-29T11:35:00.001-04:00

Helsinki Walking Tour Part 3

2008-09-29T11:34:00.003-04:00

Walking tour of Helsinki Part 2

2008-09-29T11:34:00.001-04:00

More!

Walking Tour of Helsinki Part 1

2008-09-29T11:33:00.001-04:00

I spent the day in Helsinki.

Attention all athletes...

2008-09-27T06:48:00.001-04:00

Fill in the blanks.

Victory is _____% ______and _______% _______!!

Pilot's Nightmare

2008-09-26T19:08:00.003-04:00

Getting sick on the road is just plain bad. Worse yet is getting sick on the road in a foreign country.

I awoke yesterday with a dull headache and abdominal pains. I new I was in for it because our flight attendent developed similar symptoms the day before. I didn't feel awful just not right. As the day progressed I became more and more sypmptomatic with headache and fatigue. The city we were in had tremendous pollution and it was raining. In those conditions it is more like "mudding" than raining. I began to wonder if it was the atmospheric conditions causing it but probably not.

I went to dinner with the crew and then excused myself because I needed to get some relief from the headache and fatigue. I went to my room and laid down. It was 5pm. The next thing I knew the clock read "1200 am". I got up sent some email then collapsed again until 6am! Still feeling poorly but much improved from the day before I went down for breakfast where I learned our third pilot on the crew had also been felled by this thing. He would not be available to fly. When I saw him I could see that he had an even worse case than I did.

As a side bar, I gotta tell you that this China thing gets really old. Finding a smoke free zone can be really difficult at times. Restaurants, non-smoking hotel rooms, hotel lobbys, elevators are all frequently smoked up. Industrial towns like the one were in have smog so think you could cut it with a knife. You should see the mess the mudding made out of our jet! Streaks of dirt are running down the sides where rain fell then dragged mud down the side of the fuselage. Nasty, nasty, nasty. The pollution thing is so bad here and it doesn't seem like there is any plan to fix it. More cars are going to be on the roads not less. They are building more refineries to produce more gasoline which will produce more pollution.

Last night we landed in the next town and rode to the hotel. I had a dull headache that was very tolerable. Well, that changed as the evening progressed. I met the crew for dinner and by the time that was over I had what can only be termed a migraine-like headache. Just being awake was terrible. I crashed at around 9pm but was in and out of sleep because my head was bumpin' so much. At around 3am I took Ibuprofin and awoke at 6am headache free!! As I write I feel almost normal.

Ugly Americans

2008-09-24T08:31:00.002-04:00

We landed in Guilin, China today which is a very beautiful place. Oddly formed mountains rocket up to the sky in myriad shapes and sizes. That being the case, many westerners touring China stop here. My crew was having a night-cap in the bar and we were able to observe Americans ordering drinks and just getting along. First off, we are all fat. No question. We are fat compared to the rest of the world. Next, we expect the world to conform to us. This fellow waltzes up to the bar and proceeds to order the most bizarre martini I have ever heard. Imagine you are Chinese and you basically know a trade language which in this case is a very limited range of mixed drinks. As he explained it was clear the bartender had no idea what he was asking. They brought in a second who knew more English. This also flammed out. The American got frustrated but what did he expect? The bartenders were patient and kind but struggled to understand just exactly what this guy wanted.

Why do we think the world must revolve around us? Unless you speak Chinese, you better plan on some minor inconveniences when it comes to such things. This morning, my hotel bill was messed up. I made one attempt at getting it fixed, (the error was in my favor), but I could see it was going to lead to massive confusion at a time when the hotel clerk was totally alone. I dropped back and punted the issue away. This is what you have to do when travelling internationally. If you can't speak the language be prepared to be flexible. Just because your from the U.S. you can't expect the rest of the world to understand what your life experience is all about. You can't and won't get "it" the way you want "it".

Still out on the road

2008-09-23T04:58:00.002-04:00

Hey all. Anchorage is in my rear view mirror and I am somewhere in Asia twelve time zones away from home. We flew out last Saturday and are working our way back around the globe. After a few more stops in Asia we fly on to Helsinki where we hand the keys to the jet over to a relief crew. That crew will continue on to another destination while we cool it for a day before riding NWA back to the D.

I have taken some pics but for some reason I can't upload anything on Blogger. Being able to make an entry here is a big improvement. Maybe next time I'll be able to use all the available features.

The name of the game here is high humidity, pollution and temperature. Lots and lots of people and cars. You really appreciate the good 'ole USA. We live in, bar none, the best country on the planet! All the malcontents need to hit the road for a bit and see how the rest of the world has to live. Just breathing clean air is amazing or experiencing a crystal clear day. We take all that for granted. Folks over here just don't have those days.

Anchorage

2008-09-19T01:42:00.003-04:00

Another trip another beginning city. I left Detroit this morning and flew on NWA to Seattle. From there I flew Alaska Airlines to Anchorage. It was a nice day of travel except for the couple in front of me on the way to Anchorage. They behaved as if the entire business class area was their living room howling and carrying on.

Here's to you Ray!

2008-09-17T15:06:00.002-04:00

Happy birthday Ray, AKA "Big Ray", AKA "Dybo", AKA "You make me hurt so bad", Dybowski! You're an inspiration to us all!

A Happy Ending

2008-09-17T14:32:00.003-04:00

There a lot of quality folks in the cycling community. Oscar, owner of Great lakes Cycling and Fitness, is certainly one of those. Both he and his service manager were upset that Ritchey had given me less than good service on my broken wheel. I went in today to check on the status of the missing paperwork and Oscar said he was going to get involved directly. A few hours later he called me to say that I can pick up my wheel. When I asked about the charges he told me that there wouldn't be any!!! No shipping, no crash replacement, nothing! He stepped up to bat for me even though I am not a regular customer of his. That has all changed. Let me encourage all of you in the AA area to throw some business his way. Way to go Oscar! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

The decision is...

2008-09-16T22:39:00.003-04:00

Thanks for all the input. I ordered the 566 because it is red. Ray says they go faster so that ends it. Thanks Ray! Really, I did order it but in the end it is about re-sale value. Sadly, I don't think it comes in red if you order it with SRAM Rival which I did.

Still no word on my broken Ritchey wheel.

Tomorrow is packing day. I hit the road Thursday for another twelve days. Let's hope things settle down for a while after this.

New Bike

2008-09-16T06:57:00.002-04:00

I am looking at a price differential between a brand new Look 566 and a very slightly used Look 555 of $400. This would be James' bike for next year. We are moving him into a size medium frame. The fit doesn't look too bad right now so I am confident he will grow into it nicely. Should I go new or slightly used?

Off Season Day 5: Lions Football

2008-09-14T22:25:00.004-04:00

Now that is how you lose a football game my friends. These guys are taking this fine art to a whole new level. I'm a huge pessimist went it comes to this team it is hard to find anyone who is more doubtful that they can figure out a creative ways to lose a game but c'mon! You're winning by one point after a major come back with minutes left in the game and you end up losing by over 20 points! That's a quality loss my friends...quality.

Day 2...Bikeboy's Soccer Game

2008-09-11T18:10:00.000-04:00

Here I am in the stands watching the Wildcats take on Clissfield Christian. BB looks good so far making solid passes. It's Wildcats 6 Blissfield 0 with 6:37 leftin the first half.

Ritchey Rant
After 3 months my broken now repaired Carbon wheel tha( I broke at Allen Park finally arrived. I asked how much and they shrugged and said,"dunno". Ritchey sent the wheel with no accompaning paperwork. So, I left the wheel with the shop instead of giving them a credit card number. My plan is to write the "Mother of all Complaint Letters" when I can present with the proof.

For contrast, a friend of my sent a broken Zipp in and got it back in. a week. As always, buyer beware.

Wildcats 8 Blissfield 0 at the half.

Thus begins a long series of inane, boring off season posts...Episode I: Diets

2008-09-10T23:40:00.002-04:00

Transition has begun for me which means dieting has begun. This year I am going to make it down to a new fighting weight of 150 pounds. That means I need to lose around 8 pounds before I start base training. It actual feels good to eat less after a season filled with excess. If I can't train at least I can do something that will help me to ride faster next year.

For me, the first step is always to completely cut out refined sugars. Once I get a few days between me and the last cookie my ability to fight the hunger cravings greatly improves. Tonight I dined on a salad while flying to New York. "Hold the dressing please. I'll go without." Not only that, I left the cheese.

Aren't you glad you stopped by today?

for DMO

2008-09-09T22:57:00.002-04:00

DMO, check out this video from the Grand Rapids race last Saturday. At :25 seconds a crash takes place that takes me out along with a Coastie and one of those pink dudes. The guy with the camera caused the crash I'm told. All I know is I was riding a straight line and then, boom, I am on the ground facing backward about to be run over while skidding atop the Coastie. He suffered way more than me. The rider with the camera, (John Coyle), goes on to win the race. The course was very technical and it was hard to move up. My thinking is that people started to push it a little to gain position on this the second to last lap. Check this out though. It is a really cool video.

Eric and Giff did a great job fighting for position. Eric ended up 4th and Giff was 7th.

I was out on Sunday so I'll let the others tell the tale.

After the crash

2008-09-08T22:14:00.002-04:00

Yesterday's race didn't really work out for me and that's fine. I was praying about the race on Saturday night and it struck me that I was placing the bike and racing in front of God. Long story short, I decided I would go to church and take my chances on getting to the race in Ann Arbor.

The race previous to mine was delayed which gave me the opportunity to get things together in time. Problems developed as I began my warm up. After the crash on Saturday, I straightened my handlebars. The crash wrenched them pretty badly. Well, during the warm up I noticed some play in the headset. The SRAM neutral support lent me some tools to fix it but no dice. It was still loose. Time was running out now and I was seriously worried that I had cracked the steerer tube in the race the day before. There was no way I was going to race on that course at that speed with a steerer tube that might give way and leave me doing a very poor impersonation of George Hincapie. At least he didn't have buildings, cars and signs to run into.

After pulling my handlebars completely off, pulling the fork out and inspecting the tube I determined that it was sound. The problem must have been in my adjustment at the SRAM tent. It was then that I heard the start.

James was a bit disappointed but it was really okay with me. I don't know how well I would have done on that course with my gimpy leg.

The racing was awesome! Kudos to my team mates, Eric, Giff and Zach who absolutely killed it! Well done men!!

Live from Grand Rapids!

2008-09-06T15:51:00.000-04:00

Hey all. I'm coming to you now from the Priority Health Cycling Classic. The action is fast and a bit dangerous today as this course is very technical. The pro's are on the course right now. They have 60 minutes to go. Four are off the front representing Bissel, Priority Health, Successful Living and Texas Roadhouse. It looks like it is coming back. Yes, that four man break has been caught and Karl Menzies of Health Net is attacking.

My race went well right up until the crash. These things happen in bike racing. I am grateful to God that no one was seriously hurt. I have some bruises. I fared much better that the guy I landed on.

Menzies attack went nowhere. Now it is Paul Martin on the attack.

Every field has had multiple crashes with the exception of the women. I guess they just make better drivers.

James is selling Jittery Joes stuff for SLC.

Martin's attack has been neutralized.

Well, that's all for now.

Jet Lag

2008-09-05T06:33:00.002-04:00

It is a little shocking to me that my little trip 6 time zones west has left me with serious jet lag! Last May, I traveled around the world and had less of a problem. It may be the length of time I spent in that time zone that caused the problem. I am falling asleep in the middle of the day and waking up at 5-6am after only 6 hours of sleep. Four days of this is usually the maximum so hopefully today is it.

Yesterday's ride got put off until after dinner and then the rains came. So, another day on the trainer.

Racing

2008-09-03T10:02:00.003-04:00

It should be an interesting outing this weekend as I ride my first crit since I don't know when. Go easy on me Kroske, okay? I'm not comin' at you like a spider monkey this time. Conversely, I'm comin' at you like a timid sheep seeking a friendly wheel. I pray God, don't let me get dropped!! Oh the shame!

Homebound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-09-01T22:49:00.002-04:00

I am about to leave the hotel to board NWA nonstop to the "D"!! Watch out Mrs. Anderson, here I come! BTW, it is our anniversary tomorrow. Feel free to send email to dander10@comcast.net and congratulate her on 19 years of putting up with me. She's a saintly woman folks!

Goin' Mobile

2008-08-30T21:35:00.002-04:00

Tonight we fly my friends! Oahu is beautiful but I say enough.

I managed one on bike ride this week and four stationary bike sessions. Yesterday, I attempted VO2max intervals with just a heart rate monitor. Ouch! I got four of them done and bailed. It really, really hurt by the time I got to the fourth interval.

Here's a picture took at the beach the other day with the paraglider.

2008-08-29T03:43:00.005-04:00

It seems like this trip is endless. It was two weeks ago today that I left the "D" and I won't be home until next Tuesday! Many think this job is glamorous and yes, it can be, but if I had my 'druthers, I would be back in my little vinyl sided house in Saline chasing Mrs. Anderson around to the chagrin of her kids. Embarrassing them is my life's ambition!

Today was body surfing day. I went to this little beach and the surf was just right. The first beach's waves bordered on the obscene. They were just enormous. I stopped there on the way home and just watched body surfers and boogie boarders kill it...almost literally.

While awaiting a wave, I noticed the a crowd gathering on the beach and pointing in my direction. They began to shout something I couldn't discern over the sound of the waves. Concerned, I made my way to the beach when I could hear one of them yelling, "Stingray!" Big deal. Who's afraid of a little stingray? Well, it turns out this was a different kind of ray something like a Manta Ray. It had no tail and beautiful speckles on the underside of its wings. We were allowed to swim up close and examine and when the ray had enough it just left.

About this time I looked up and saw para-gliders. The beach is on the windward side of the island with a bluff which forced the trade wind straight up the bluff. The para gliders jumped off the bluff and spent well over an hour soaring. Later I noticed a hang glider that was covering serious distance. He flew into and out of view, could be seen far in the distance before returning to land on the beach.

Riding into Honolulu

2008-08-28T03:23:00.001-04:00

After my long ride Monday I had to deal with Honolulu traffic.

One for The Cat

2008-08-28T03:20:00.001-04:00

Doug wanted more pictures of bikini clad women. I have this offering. This lady was waaaaaay pregnant. She climbed down a rock ledge to get to this beach in her bikini with her baby leaning over its edge. Hopefully, Doug won't clamor for more bikinis after this one.

Touring the North Shore

2008-08-27T16:25:00.002-04:00

Here's a pic from Sunset Beach on the North Shore. You might not appreciate the steepness of the grade but it was large enough that kids were sledding down it picking up good speed before plowing into huge waves that broke right on the beach. The way the waves broke reminded me of Kanopoli beach on the island of Maui. We put our kids in that water when they were much smaller and I almost lost two in the first few moments of our vacation. After a quick rescue, we decided to find more appropriate beach for the them!

Salt in the eyes

2008-08-27T05:22:00.001-04:00

Here's a video I took nearing the end of my bike ride the other day.

Turtles

2008-08-27T05:20:00.001-04:00

After looking some of the island over yesterday I decided to take a closer look today. I shot some video in this little cove that was very popular with the turtle population. The video is poor quality but if you look closely you can see them.

I am not a Honolulu fan but I am now an Oahu fan. The north shore beaches are very cool. I spent some time swimming Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay both sites where the big winter waves hit.

Oahu Ride

2008-08-26T05:42:00.006-04:00

Check out these pics from my ride out of Honolulu today. I rode out counterclockwise out of Honolulu to the Marine Corps Base at Kano' he Bay.

Seattle-Portland-San Diego-Honolulu

2008-08-25T04:03:00.007-04:00

Away

2008-08-20T14:18:00.005-04:00

Blogs thrive when they are meticulously maintained and updated. That must mean mine is dying. I sit down to write and I just can't make anything happen. Sorry. I haven't ridden my bike in a week. James has made it onto the hotel bike a couple of times.

Jean and the kids got into town on Saturday which coincided with "Seattle Hempfest 2008". All I can say is, wow. Throngs of shirtless tattooed lovers of hemp. They scared the kids a little but seemed pretty harmless. The sad thing to me was how they were using the plight of the disabled to further their cause. It was all too obvious that the vast majority of these folks were stoners. They walked by the disabled in their wheel chairs hauling their bong pipes not even batting an eye. Medical marijuana appears to be a lame and inconsiderate way to pry open a door to legalization. Now, I am not one to make a big deal out of such things. If we want legal marijuana is it all that different from legalized alcohol? But to trot these poor folks out and run over them in an obviously insincere ploy at a sympathetic legislative response is just reprehensible. 'Nuff said.

On Sunday we attended Mars Hill Church in Ballard. This church and it's planting network have become pretty visible in the circles I travel. It is sort of a grunge church if that makes any sense. The music was led by a band that had us sing a lot of material they have written and recorded. The worship pastor preached for at least an hour and it was great! We were challenged to address idols in our lives and deal with it right then and there. I loved it and need it.

One of my favorites

2008-08-15T23:56:00.001-04:00

A favorite of mine

2008-08-15T23:54:00.001-04:00

Last Crit Practice

2008-08-14T03:59:00.002-04:00

AAVC crit practice continues until the end of the month for most but not for me. I leave on a long trip Thursday that will take me away from the "D" until after Labor Day. It seems like my season has come to an end. God willing, I'll make a descent showing at the PH races but it will be tough considering the interruption in my training and the field composition at that event.

The last crit practice is always a solemn thing for me as it marks not only the end of the road season but the end of summer. My season was marked by training interruptions and didn't flower liked I hoped it would. That's okay though. My team had a good year and it has been crash free so far.

We raced the usual short races with one long 20K race. Some of the usual suspects were absent making the field a little more tame this night. Regardless, my power file shows I raced hard. I noticed that my right handlebar drop felt like it was flexing some. I didn't think much about it until the last race when I mentioned to anyone who wanted to hear that I thought my handle bar was broken. It wasn't obviously broken just more flex than I was used to. The end of that race saw me laying down a 1200 + watt sprint. On the warm down lap I commented again and James Knight said, " Oh yeah, that's broken." I unwrapped the bar tape and found a crack at about two inches below the shifter. It wasn't until today that I contemplated my fate had that bar come apart at 33 mph on the final sprint!

On another note, I broke down Ada's performance a little more after Saris sent me a new downloader, (I sheared the top off the old one). I produced 292 watts for 50 minutes in M45+ race at 174 bpm average. After recovering for a couple of hours, I was only able to produce 250 watts with the same average HR. Let me tell you, a cat 3 race looks a whole lot different at 250 watts than it does at my usual 280-290! I was working hard to not get dropped.

Hines Park TT

2008-08-11T07:23:00.003-04:00

We were greeted by one of the coldest days of the summer when we awoke at 5:00 am Sunday for the Hines Park TT. James, Maria, Abby and myself loaded the bikes and hit the road at 530 am for the ritual stop at Starbucks before driving to Nankin Mills for the race.

Almost immediately after arriving, the wind began to stir which is a bad omen at 630 am. That would be the main feature of the race this day. Steady winds blowing out of the northwest yielding a tailwind for half the course and a headwind for the other half. This begs the question; does this result in a faster course, a slower course or null effect? I somehow remember a fragment of my college days that say drag doesn't increase linearly with an increase in speed. Dr. Speed, can you help? If I am right, this day's conditions result in a slower course but I will defer to those who have the letters before and after their name.

Maria helped me get the kids ready so that I was able to get a reasonable warm up in. James and Abby both got off without a hitch. James turned in a 31:34 which is a new personal best. Abby turned in a 46:?? cutting a minute off her 20K from earlier in the year.

After multiple trips to the bathroom, I hit the road at 8:54 am. Riding downwind was a hoot as my speed was over 30 mph for much of the time. Then the turn around and the inevitable slowdown. My power looked good holding steady at 300 watts and the average speed steadily fell. I watched it drift down rapidly into the 28 mph range then it slowed and began to settle in the 27 mph range. It clicked down slowly from there. I knew it was going to be a good time but I was loosing hope that I would equal last years Hines time of 27:14. The wind was pretty strong and I sensed the rider who could best get out of the wind was the one who had the best chance. I hunkered down as low as I could go and suffered on.

There wasn't a lot left as I saw the finish coming into view but I dialed it up to 500 watts and proceeded to blow myself up. When I crossed the line I was just happy it was over. It hurt a lot this time around. The last few miles I was thinking about the team TT coming up and that I really didn't want to do it.

No one noticed my time so I rode back to my car to get some recovery going. Giff came over with the run down on everything. He asked, "What time do you think you got?" I said, "27:30". "Wrong, 27:03," said Giff. So I won right? Nope. Third place. A 27:03 nabbed a third place in a cat 3 20K! My time from last year won by 30 seconds. This time I missed second place by a whopping 15/100's of a second and first by four! It is too bad we don't have announcers like Phil and Paul who could showcase this kind of competition. No one there realized the battle royal that was raging for this race. Pretty cool really. The winner, Steve Andriese took 4th overall with the second place finisher Jimi Minnema in 6th and myself in 7th. Considering the overall winner was Graham Howard, a pro from Bissel, I would say the cat 3's were outrageously fast this day.

My TTT partner John Burrows was working hard at recovery along with me. I was trying everything in box of tricks to get myself together in the hour and fifteen minutes I had between races. It didn't look too good until right before the start. When we rolled up I felt like I was ready to race and as we flew downwind I realized I was feeling better than I did in the first go. We battled the wind but the elements and tired old legs did us in as we crossed the line at 28:04 good for 4th place. Dybo and Kroske whooped us pretty good for 3rd. I came at Scott like a "spider monkey" but he fought me off this time! Dybo isn't afraid of monkeys apparently.

Ada Criterium

2008-08-04T22:52:00.002-04:00

Not a great day out for me for a couple of reasons. First, when my legs were working my head wasn't and when my legs quite working, well, you can guess the rest.

I took sixth in the master's 45+ after burning match after match either trying to chase or form my own break. Neither happened. The flyer stayed away and I was left to my own devices on the last lap. I was all goofed up and shot to the front instead of doing what I have learned to do in crit practice. Stay five riders back, within striking range and follow the wheels to the sprint. The first rider will be toast and I could allow the others to lead me out. Instead, I went for a gap on the last lap resulting in a splendid lead-out for the rest of the field. Like I said, not a great day out. In retrospect, I should have shelved the whole thing and saved my matches for the cat 3 race which was more like a cat 1-2 field. It was very, very fast. It could have been perception on my part due to tired legs and one hard race already under my belt but it seemed like the pace just wouldn't slacken. It finally let up a little, (my heart rate dipped to 165 bpm), then away we went again. When I realized the pace was never going to slow and allow me the sort of natural push to the front I dialed it up to make my way to the front. As soon as I did this my legs cramped so badly I couldn't turn the pedals over. There wasn't a choice to be made. I was completely toasted. My legs no longer worked as a means to pedal a bike. I rolled though the judge's stand and retired.

The 1-2 race was a thrill to watch as usual. The Bell's beer tent made for a nice area to socialize. Overall, I have to say, I love this venue. I only wish more people would come out and give this beautiful sport a look. Men and women are absolutely giving their all to compete. I love being there as a spectator every bit as much as a bike racer.

We are looking forward to next year.

Troy Classic

2008-07-20T04:45:00.003-04:00

Because of the dearth of Michigan racing this month, we made the decision to venture into Ohio to see how it is done in the land of the nut. Troy is one of Dayton's bedroom communities located about ten miles north. The race course is situated right in center of town featuring multiple turns. The last turn before the finish is on a traffic circle that orbits the city's water fountain. It was a very cool setting with amazingly smooth pavement. No potholes but there was some hot tar that had to be negotiated.

James and Abby rode the junior race at noon. Abby won and James took third. It was already smokin' hot by the time they hit the course. James crashed on the tar his last time by the fountain on his way to the sprint. He looked very, very good against two very fast racers his own age. It's a shame he went down because he was seriously in the hunt for a win.

The cat 3's & 4's went off around 2pm. By then it was even hotter. We lined up myself, Giff, Steve and Craig in a 50-60 rider field. From the whistle I hammered for the first lap shooting to the front by the first turn. I get some kind of primal thrill out of this. There have been so many races when I go out easy and some dude throws down the hammer and I am sort of taken aback by it. Nerves are frayed at the beginning of the race and you don't know what to expect and that initial attack leaves me feeling out of control. Jumping out there and doing it to everyone else gives me some kind of psychological boost. It must look crazy but I think it helps clear my head.

The race is sort of blur to me now. I stayed at the front trying like heck to get away. It was tough though. There were a few opportunities but nothing would stick. Not knowing most of those OH racers didn't help either. I was in a good position to take an opportunistic prime at about the midpoint. I was sitting about five riders back and no one was jumping. It wasn't my first choice but I decided I should take a shot and just keep going. I missed the prime by a wheel but got a gap. One rider followed but again, nothing.

One of the riders who always seemed to be at the front was this rider from "Mortgage Cycle". At least that was what was written on his rear. He had the physique of a bike racer but he lacked the all important ability to not run into stuff. On one occasion, he came out of the traffic circle and very nearly clipped the curb with me on his wheel. Close one. Later, he did something very similar at another corner, again, with me on his wheel. This time he apologized. These close calls didn't impact my race they only reminded me how close I was to a really spectacular crash with stretchers and ambulances, etc.. His third gaff cost me the race. I was in the groove feeling great and heading into the last half of the last one mile lap three wheels back. When I have a great chance at a win I can feel it. I don't know what it is but I can just feel it. Maybe it is fifty minutes of evaluating the field,my legs, reserves, position, etc., and just knowing I have a great chance. Well, Mortgage Cycle was right in front of me, again, and he had a problem making a right hander just before the traffic circle and the finishing straight. This ended up forcing me toward the barricade on the outside of the turn. It looked like I was going to crash. Brakes, swerve, riders go by and my great chance has just turned to dust. I don't know how many went by but there had to be at least ten riders in front of me now and I had just lost five to ten mph. The only thing I could do was to jump as hard as I could and try and take back as much as possible. I risked it going through the traffic circle by keeping the speed up then hit the sprint. I recorded 1214 watts max power and crossed the line in fourth place. At the time, I had no idea how I did. I was so gassed it took half a lap to catch my breath. When the results came out I was fairly pleased.

Giff was right behind me in seventh (?). For much of the race Giff was up front trying to do the same thing as me so we were sort of tag-teaming. He would go for the break and I would block then we would switch up. Craig took a crack at it also. The average speed was around 26mph for the entire race making an escape difficult with so few team mates in the field.

We stayed for the 1/2/3 race which was awesome. It was 50 laps or around 55 miles in 90F heat. Chris and Tony signed up for the race. Tony finished with the pack and Chris cracked the top 15!

Not Feeling it...again

2008-07-17T20:42:00.002-04:00

We came home Sunday night after the MS150 and attempted to turn the water back on in the house. When we did, the valve froze. Sunday night and the first valve after water enters the house from the city freezes up. Not good. Call the plumber, call the city, pray a little and by 1100pm we had water again and a $230 bill.

I was up by 0400am to fly a full day. The flight attendant asked how I was doing around 2pm and I told her I was wide awake but it was artificial. That night I got to bed at midnight then up early to get BB to his annual physical by 850 am. Basically, I was cooked. In spite of this I went to crit practice and got shredded. It was just plain ugly. So, I rested yesterday and went out to Willow for some work with one of my athletes today in the heat. Geez it was hot. My watch said 92F but it didn't feel a degree over 95F.

I rode 3 x 15's and felt pretty good in spite of the heat. My power file looked pretty good so I think I am back. Tomorrow it is back to work so I am off to bed now.

2008 Mid-Michigan MS-150

2008-07-16T10:13:00.002-04:00

Sixteen years ago Jean was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and for the last seven years we have been involved with the MS-150 fund raiser. For the first few years Jean did the fund raising and I did the riding. She stayed home and I went off for a weekend of bikes and dorm rooms. A few years back we decided to do this mid-Michigan ride together, in a sense. She does volunteer work and I do the riding. We stay in air conditioned hotel rooms and enjoy some time away just the two of us, well, the two of us alone in a crowd of 600-800 bike riders.

So, again this year, we began our trip in Fenton at the gala Holiday Inn Express. We once again dined next door at Lucky's. From here we ventured into uncharted territory and went to see "Hancock" at the local theater. Pretty funny movie if you haven't seen it. We both gave it two thumbs up. From there, over to Cold Stone then back to the room to prepare the equipment for the next day.

I left the hotel at 630am for the ride out location about five miles from the hotel. First thing after waking up I called up the radar on my Blackberry and to my horror saw a huge area of rain that was moving towards the route. This highly motivated me to get it in gear and head for East Lansing.

I was one of the first riders out at 650am. After passing a few riders I was out in front and all alone. This is nice since you don't have to endure as much from drivers frustrated by the delays the riders cause. I had to recycle coffee at the second rest stop and ran into Kevin there. (Kevin is the rider who is paralyzed on one side of his body.) The stop was min time and I was back on the road in five minutes.

After a couple of turns I looked back and saw a rider gaining on me. "No way", I said to myself. I had been riding a steady 250 watts which isn't hammer, hammer effort but a steady zone 3. How could this dude catch me? He must have been killing it to close me down.

Getting caught by a strong rider is all good since there is the possibility that we could share the riding effort and get to the dorm all that much quicker. I asked him if he wanted to ride together and he said, "Sure." We hit it and rode through off and on rain the rest of the way to East Lansing making it in before all other riders. Yes, I can honestly say we "won" the MS150! Well, stage 1 at least.

This guy was so darn strong I lobbied for two days to get him on our race team. I nick-named him "The Rocket" and believe me it is a fitting one.

Jean worked the rider check in at the dorm while I cleaned the bike and got us set up at the hotel. After Jean got off work, we melted into this incredible bed at the Marriott. I stay at Marriott hotels all the time but this bed was crazy, insane comfortable. I fell into a deep sleep that left me drowsy for about an hour after I stumbled back into consciousness.

Next up, we went back to the dorm and enjoyed mediocre food and a wonderful presentation by folks who have had to deal with an diagnosis of MS. While the program was great, I found the conduct of some of my fellow riders disturbing. MS is serious business but it isn't important enough for many to even lower their voices in conversation. There was an air of callousness and insensitivity that made me wonder if the only thing these people were here for was a bike ride. I suppose many were but come on, at least pretend you care about the cause.

Next day, I met up with the Rocket and we smoked the course for 100 miles. We averaged 21.6 mph. It was incredible, crazy and windy. On the face of it, it looked like we would have lots of tailwind but the straight distance from E. Lansing to Fenton is only about 50 miles. We milked 100 out of it so that means a whole lot of zigging and zagging. We rode against a direct 25 mph crosswind for what seemed like half the day. You just couldn't find a wind break no matter what you did. When it seemed like you were there the wind would gust and power output would spike to over 300 watts. Going downwind was just a riot though as we would average over 30 mph.

Overall, the trip was awesome and I look forward to next year. If you don't do these rides consider joining me next year. I promise a challenge and a cause to celebrate.

Best Training Ride of the Year

2008-07-07T16:53:00.003-04:00

Yes it's true, I am going to write about a training ride. Not just any training ride but the best of the year. I rolled out last night to get in 3 x 15 LT's. I spent the day rolling paint in the basement and really didn't feel much like riding. That is, until I actually got myself out on the road.

I spun to a subdivision around here that is a perfect 2.5 mile circle with two stop signs that I can almost always blow without any cars in view. After a few warm up intervals I hit the first 15 minute interval. My target power of 285 seemed incredibly easy. I said to myself, "Don't get excited Darrell...it always starts like this. Be patient, you'll feel terrible within five minutes guaranteed." Well five minutes came and I felt very fresh like I was in zone 2. Hmmm. Heart rate is at 166 bpm, speed is around 25 mph, that means I must be doing something here, right? I decided that legs that felt this good had to be put to better use than 3 x 15's so I decided I would do 4 x 15's. But isn't that selling good legs short? No, let there be 3 x 20's because I can shorten the ride by 5 minutes and get home before dark. Yes, 3 x 20's it is.

As I cranked along, doubt kept creeping into my mind, "Easy so far but your power will probably fall off by the last interval and you'll be hurting like a dog." Not so. My power held rock steady at 285 watts and I rode home a content bike racer.

I lost a lot of form when I went on those two trips early in the season. My power certainly faded but I do believe things are coming back now. Old legs, sleepless nights and global travel form a toxic mix for the bike racer.
For those of you in the EKH fan club, look who took her down at the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia! Way to go Kacey!! Must have been a hot one.

Important Safety Tip!!!

2008-07-01T09:52:00.001-04:00

Hey all, make sure you check out Josh Tarrant's blog and the loss of his pinky finger. Be careful out there!!

Wolverine TT Report

2008-06-30T15:33:00.004-04:00

We received word Saturday that the course would be changed racing to Middlebelt and back three times. Long story short, the water drained off the road and the original course was back on.

The course was wet and a little muddy. Everyone coming in looked like they had been in a cyclocross race.

My race went well. I felt no wind riding to Nankin but after the turn around it seemed like I was getting a good push. (Big Ray told me that it is actually slightly downhill on this section.) About four miles into the effort, my fancy new aero water bottle departed my bike. I felt something hit my leg then the bottle was jettisoned. My first thought was, "Can keep my time down with no water?" To make matters worse, I hadn't had a sip out of that bottle. After the second turn around I noticed some headwind. I struggled a little on this leg against the wind. I knew I just had to hang in there and keep my speed up because I was going to fly on the way back to the finish. After the last turn around I picked up the tailwind and proceeded downhill to Helms. My bike computer said 27.2 mph average by the time I was going under Telegraph Rd on the final stretch. I switched my computer back to elapsed time and I realized this number couldn't be correct. That speed would have me finishing around 55 minutes, I think and I was definitely going beyond that. Anyway, I hammered up to 400 watts to the finish and ended up with a 56:51 good for first in the cat 3's and sixth overall.

My normative power was 285 watts up 5 watts from the previous weeks effort. That small amount of added power doesn't account for the almost one minute off the earlier effort. The difference maker was the aero wheel I borrowed from Mike Sackett. He loaned me his Bontrager Aeolus. Thanks Mike!!

James "Bike Boy" Anderson had a rough go of it in his bid for a State title. He believes he was told to go "1 lap" but he understood that to mean one lap on the new course. When he got to the turn around there was no water and no turn around so he kept going. Eventually he became concerned that he missed and he turned before the official turn around. When he came in around :29 I knew something was messed up. We asked for and were granted another try so James went out a second time an hour and a half after his first effort. That effort yielded a 32:48. At the end of the day he was DQF'd. We learned a few more lessons through all of this.

My gentle sweet little girl, Abby, rode her first TT in wet muddy conditions and won! She is the champion!

Hines Report

2008-06-28T13:26:00.002-04:00

I rode Hines Drive with the AAVC juniors today and can report massive flooding at Middlebelt that is completely covering the road. The river that runs adjacent to the road is overflowing its banks onto Hines. April Yerge rode through and the water was up to her bottom bracket. She also reported a rather large silver fish that was keeping pace just in front of her!

April spoke with the race director who informed her that the race will go on. The course and distance may be adjusted but the race will proceed nonetheless.

40K Effort

2008-06-21T22:45:00.005-04:00

After Jr. practice today I put in a 40K at Willow on the Black Widow. She was feeling frisky even though I dressed her in her SL's instead of aero wheels. We turned in a and 30:15 for the Willow TT distance of six laps on our way to a 57:46 for 40K . With some rest this week, the aero wheels and the adrenalin rush, I hope to see something better at the Wolverine. Fingers crossed!

Calling all Michigan racers!!

So it is looking like the month of July will see no racing in Michigan. There are several races in OH, IN and IL so let's take our show on the road. James and I are going to go down to Troy, OH to race the Troy Criterium on July 19. We are looking at the Chicago Criterium on July 27. If you have any other suggestions post them up in the comments section.

The week in progress...

2008-06-20T07:36:00.003-04:00

Tuesday night - crit practice was crash free! Our team continues to work on lead-outs with varied success. Who knew this tactic took so much work? It all looks good on paper and when you work on it in non-race situations but through in a little oxygen deprivation and race confusion and it gets difficult. Looking over the power file, I chased for 10 minutes at 350 watts. That's a first for me. 350 has been a 4-5 minute power in the past.

Wednesday - Kensington was my training ground this day. Poor form to go hard again after the effort at Runway the night before but it was my only opportunity to train on that course this week. Force is my weakness. It is my weakness not because I cannot produce significant force on the hills but because repeated efforts almost always leads to the dreaded muscle cramps. I put in 70 miles again over 13 laps and normalized 242 watts. This is down from my power the last time out but I think the previous night's workout beat me up pretty badly. My heart rate would not elevate much over 160 bpm.

Thursday - BB really wanted to do the AAVC group ride. I didn't. Soooooo tired. We spent the afternoon in the Wayne State University area touring the Detroit Historical Museum while Jean did up the DIA. I am on vacation this week so we thought it would be nice to do some vacation type stuff locally. We met up with the group at Forsythe Middle School in AA. Thankfully, Rich wanted to lead the boys on some pace-lining work which meant no hammer-hammer. We took it easy riding to Chelsea. My heart rate was steady at 100-110 bpm which was good. Coming back down Dexter-Chelsea, Blaire cranked it up and we all followed. That was fun after the long ride at such low effort. Alexey and James dove up the pace on Joy Rd. along with Steven Christy then again on Zeeb. Once we hit HRD again, our pace line went a little anaerobic until we hit Foster hitting speeds close to 30 mph steady. This is always fun. There is nothing like flying along at those speeds in a group that can sustain.

I know what you're thinking...riveting! What do you want for nothing?

On the news front, I will be passing on Rockford. It was a hard decision but the 330pm start forced the issue. I had to choose which race was more important. If the TT were first that would have allowed me to do the crit. As it is, racing hard at 330pm then driving home, reloading and heading out to Hines early on Sunday would have certainly taken away from my season goal to ride :57. As it is, I have no idea what I am capable of at this point. BB and I will be at Willow tomorrow and I will attempt a 40K then. It will be without the aid of my brand new Ritchey Carbon wheels. I broke the front wheel at Allen Park last Saturday. This was the 4th time the wheel had been ridden. The tire didn't lose pressure and the wheel is hardly out of true. With all this, Ritchey wants $350 + shipping for the repair! Just a word to all of you out there, Ritchey wheels are cheap but they are obviously fragile and it seems Ritchey is not ready to acknowledge this. Buyer beware. I will probably have them do the repair but the wheels will be restricted to TT use...what a shame. I am going to apply for a Zipp sponsorship in the Fall. If that goes through perhaps I can get some 404's for next season and sell the Ritchey's.

Video

2008-06-18T07:21:00.001-04:00

James and I hope to get some video up of Allen Park today. Bear with us as we fight for some time to get that done.

Weekend Summary

2008-06-15T21:53:00.002-04:00

My blog has become an addendum to BikeBoy's. He covers all our happenings, includes pictures and does it all with superior quality.

Allen Park Crit
We spent most of the day with the crew at the race. Our whole family came with James, Abby and myself racing. Maria is on crutches and Jean was selling baked goods to raise funds for MS.

James and Alexey dazzled us with an entertaining junior race. They had a plan, executed it and lapped the 15-18 field. It really boiled down to two breaks. James sprung Alexey who formed up with Rudy Peterson. Later, James got away with a Maple Leaf rider. The problem for James was his breakaway partner had no interest in working with him. He sat on his wheel the whole time. James slowed then attacked but he just couldn't shake him. It was a good learning experience for him. He'll see this kid again and I think the the wheel sucking will make a re-appearance. I hope Aldo hears about this so he can straighten him out. If he makes that move too much, he can forget about anyone working with him in the future. He'll either reform or sit in the pack.

James got pipped at the line for 4th place. Alexey out sprinted Rudy for first. Overall, I thought they worked well together and got results.

I raced the 45+ and cat 3. I managed to get in a four man break in the 45+ that stayed away. We lapped most of the field except for a break that included two of my team mates. They entered their bell lap just as we hit the finishing straight. Our alliance held until the last lap when Terry Bandstra attacked. I jumped onto his wheel but he let up. From that point on I was on the front and I just let up. No one wanted to go so I was content to slow the pace and wait. It seemed that things were really lining up because I felt fresh and I would take the inside line on the last turn. The turn came and went and I jumped into the sprint and won! It is always a gas to win a race, even a practice race so this was nice.

The 35+ race came next so I laid down and drank fluids until I had to go to the "Honey Bucket". (No small feat by the way. It took considerable effort to get enough fluids down to make that happen.) The cat 3 race was fast and furious as every race has been this year. There were a few breaks but nothing has stuck this year with regard to criteriums. I was off for a lap or two with Chris Aten, a Maple Leaf and one other dude. We got reeled in pretty quickly. I wasn't very confident that I would be able to finish well. I have sort of a bad track record when doing two crits especially when the first one was a cooker. The second race usually ends up in some fabulous muscle cramps. I was cramping at the end but only when I stood up, so, I didn't jump or sprint. My goal was to help with the lead out. We couldn't get together so I grabbed Eric Hinderager and led him to the finish. It was a very long lead out for my tired legs but I gave him every last bit in the tank. It was good enough to get him around the last turn to the finish in 2nd place. It was at this point that an adjacent rider had his foot come out of his pedal and swerve disrupting Eric's sprint. He ended up taking 5th but after looking at the video, things might have looked different if the pedal thing didn't happen. Oh well, that's bike racing. Our team fared well with Giff finishing 7th and Chris in 10th. That means we had two riders in the money!

Bikes

2008-06-05T19:17:00.004-04:00

I have always loved riding my bike. When I was a kid my parents bought me a Western Flyer with a big banana seat and one speed. That bike was sweet! On one occasion, we had every kid in the neighborhood take part in a mass start race from one end of our street to the other. It was my good fortune to make an early move that worked and Brian Oddy and I were off to the 1-2 finish. When we were clear we looked back and the entire field went down in a massive pile-up. Just as we were sneaking a peak, my brother, I kid you not, rode over the pile of boys and bikes!! It is true! He didn't go down but simply rode over the pile like it was a hill. At the bottom of the pile lay Brian Owens whose family had moved to our city from Kentucky. He didn't believe in wearing shirts, shoes or socks. Helmets weren't even invented yet. Brian Oddy and I rode back after our sprint to witness Brian Owens' older brother tearing bikes away from the pile and pulled out his bloody little brother from the choicest spot. It was a sorry sight but he was okay. Some road rash here and there along with a bruise or two.

My family moved to Grosse Ile when I was entering 5th grade. We moved to a street that was a short dead end and unpaved. In our old neighborhood, we had kids everywhere but not so in the new digs. Instead of big mass start races, I turned to touring and bike jumping. I jumped everything I could. We had ditches so that was a natural choice. It was tough because you had to use a driveway to get enough speed up to make it. Directly across the street from us was a house with a concrete wall on the house side of the ditch. Eventually, I summoned up the courage to make an attempt. Grosse Ile was nice for riding around. I remember loading up an army backpack with a bag of potato chips and riding from my house to the airport at the end of the island.

As I became a teenager, the Western Flyer was replaced by an oversized Schwinn 10 speed. It was way too big for me but I loved it all the same. I rode it everywhere. It was my car. My friends and I would venture off the island and ride to Dearborn or Metro airport. Crazy. My parents didn't have a clue where I was.

Once I got my drivers license bikes moved to the back burner. It wasn't until I went to work for Ford that I had opportunity to rent bikes in cool cities and tear around checking things out. I rented a bike in Seattle and rode everywhere. I took a ferry to Bainbridge Island and rode all over. On another trip, I rode from Washington National Airport to Mt. Vernon and back.

My wife bought me a comfort bike when I as in my late 30's. I had about 1800 miles on that bike when she bought me my first road bike a Trek 2200. That bike served me well until I broke the chain, ripped the rear deraillure off and cracked the drop-out. I'll never forget how bad it felt to not have a bike. It was a month or so when I was trying to get some love from Trek and trying to convince my wife that I should get a new bike. She gave me her blessing eventually and I bought a Litespeed Solano which became my first race bike.

These are thoughts that were going through my head today as I put in 70 miles at Kensington. The first 50 miles were so much fun. Temperature was right where I like it. Warm to hot and humid. I felt terrific and the miles were just melting away. My goal was to ride hard to prepare for Maillot Juane road race. Last year I cramped on that course so I wanted to do some training on similar terrain. From mile 50 to mile 70 the fun evaporated and it became a suffer-fest. On the last climb of the last lap I cramped! Talk about great timing. It was a good one too. My right hammy and quad went simultaneously. My normalized power was 262 watts over three hours and twenty five minutes giving me an average of 20.3 mph. The park road that goes by the neutral zone is all blocked off so I rode the course to the round-about, turned around and re-joined the course. It took 13 laps to get to 69 miles so it was 13 times up Snot Hill. I hate that thing. It is by far the worst that course has to offer. If anyone wants to join me week after next let me know. Except for rest weeks, I plan on doing this mileage or more every week between now and MJ.

What's Happening

2008-06-04T12:57:00.002-04:00

I rode the MS150 over the weekend with Giff, Zach & Bikeboy. With extra miles due to a wrong turn, we ended Saturday's ride after 110 miles. BB worked his tail off riding in zone 3 for most of the day. We had the powertap on him set to average with our goal of keeping him under 120 watts. We finished the day with him at 123 watts average but this ended up being 144 watts normative meaning he really did a zone 3 century. No wonder he didn't want to get out of bed the next day! The second day we chose to do the 75 mile course to which BB gave his enthusiastic approval.

Last Friday I rolled the Black Widow out for 3 x 20's and man was it nasty. I felt like I was wrestling the bike the whole time. My power output was not good and my shoulders hurt. Yesterday I took the sled out again to do 4 x 15's and was very pleased to see my power more stable and my heart rate significantly lower at my assigned power. It was actually kind of fun as I felt much more like a part of the bike instead of an opponent. My plan is to continue to ride the Widow at least 2-3 times per week to get it all dialed in. One season goal I have is to ride the Wolverine 40K in 57 minutes or lower. It will be very hard to do this but I am more confident today than I was after Friday's workout that it could happen. Heck, after Friday I was beginning to doubt I could slip under 60 minutes.