Tired And Ready For Rest

Today I did my longest ride since my attempted 24-hour ride (which was only 10 hours), and completed a 3.5 hour ride from New Berlin to Waukesha to Mukwonago back to Waukesha and then back to New Berlin. It was a pretty hilly ride with about 2,700 ft. of climbing along the way but that was before I added about 6 more miles at the end because I was a little short of my goal and was at about 3hrs 15 min. I completed my entire ride and now have to do 2.5 hrs tomorrow but the weather isn't looking too good in the morning so I'll probably sleep in a little bit and then squeeze in the ride during the afternoon. I'm pretty wiped out now and can't wait to get to bed, which I'll be doing in about 5 minutes, so that I can get about 9 hours of sleep. I didn't do too much today, rode right away at 8:00 this morning, toiled around on the tractor in the yard and then did some house work. Oh yeah, I baked a loaf of banana bread as well, and it turned out great, it's almost gone already. I'm feeling good overall, surprisingly I haven't gotten sick from riding outside in the cold the last few weekends and the weather doesn't look too bad for next weekend as of now either. I'm a little less worried about the weather next weekend than I am about all the crazy X-mas shoppers that will be clogging the roads, I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for the weary shoppers and will probably have to dodge a few. Well, not much too say, I'm tired, so it's time to hit the sack. Tomorrow will be a short ride compared to today and then next week is a regeneration week so I'll be cutting back on the bike and getting some much needed rest after putting in some decent time on the road in the last 3 weeks. Until next time.............

Biomechanic Mess!

I think biomechanically I am a mess. I can't seem to get a comfortable position as of late on the bike. Either one leg is shorter than the other, I'm dropping a hip, I have supponation or pronation, I'm pigeon-toed, or something else is just plain messed up because I'm always fiddling with my cleats and pedal wedges. Last week I took out the pedal wedges that I've had in all year to see if they were the cause of some recent knee pain. Well, I have to say that after a week I have no more knee pain but it seems that I'm always trying to shift my weight on the seat to lean to the right. I feel like I'm dropping my left hip so I keep shifting to the right and then because of my left hip drop my right foot is pointing inward and I have to adjust my cleat to allow for my foot to point in. I just don't get it because I've never had these problems previously. It seems that I can't get square on the seat. I tried to put the wedge back on one shoe to see if my left leg is shorter and maybe that is why I'm dropping that hip. I noticed my seat was pointing a bit to the left and I centered that a little better and that may have helped but I can't tell until I ride more. If this keeps up much longer I'm going to drive myself crazy adjusting my shoes all the time.
Anyways, the last few days I've completed my rides as scheduled and have done 2 days of weight work as well. Monday was a rest day on the bike and I did do my 4 sets of weights. Yesterday was 1.5 hours on the bike and I did that with 5 reps of PowerStarts which help build explosive power. Today I just did my 45 minute Recovery Ride and also did my 4 sets of weights. I feel really strong aside from the freakin' hip, knee, foot issue. As I approach the December 1st date of one year from when I started training last year, I am just in so much better shape that I'd have to say I'm starting at a fitness level that I would've had in about May of this year. That puts me about 6 months ahead of last year going in to my one year anniversary of being back on the bike in terms of fitness. I didn't feel good until about August of this year and hopefully that is what I will be feeling in April of next year. I'm anxiously counting off the days until next Spring, only like 4 and a half months to go! God, I hope it goes quick. Well, tomorrow I will be doing 1hr 45 mins on the trainer and then Friday is a rest day and I'll have some long rides again this weekend. I'll update on Friday night with my schedule for the weekend and hopefully the weather holds out so that I can get in some good riding outside. Until next time.........

Pretty Wiped Out

This weekend was not the most conducive weather for riding but definitely good enough to get outside and complete my rides that I had planned. Yesterday was pretty chilly but warmed up enough, to all of about 38 degrees, to get in my 3.25 hour ride which actually ended up about 3hrs 10mins so I was 5 minutes short, oh well right? I did 50 minutes of Race Simulation, basically in the form of Power Intervals but no sprints or anything with a big gear, I took it easy on the muscles and worked the lungs a little more. I won't do too much in the way of Race Simulation or Intervals throughout the winter, most likely only once a week or once every two weeks probably. Today was just a Foundation Mile ride of 2hrs 30 mins which I completed almost exactly to the minute without really planning it that way. It was a nice ride but it had a couple of good size hills along the way and I can tell I have a long way to go to be in hill climbing shape again. I purposely kept it in really easy gears but I could still feel the burn although I'm not really worried about that right now. I'm looking forward to Spring to do some really good hill workouts to improve that area of my riding. Right now I'm just concentrating on getting in the miles and building my aerobic base and some power for the workouts to come in late Winter and early Spring. Tomorrow is a rest day on the bike but I will be doing some weight work with about 4 sets of leg presses, leg curls and leg lifts. This is my last week of Transition lifting and then I go in to the High Volume Phase next week with slightly higher weight and less reps. I'm pretty wiped out tonight from riding as I think riding in the cold definitely takes more out of me and the 5hrs 40mins in the 35-40 degree weather made me pretty tired right now. I'm probably going to get to bed an hour earlier than normal tonight but not before I have a beer I think, after all that riding I deserve one! Time to eat dinner, have a beer and then hit the recliner. Until next time..........

Beautiful Weather And I'm Stuck Inside

Well, today was a beautiful day and I didn't get to enjoy any of it as of course I'm stuck sitting in a cubicle all day. It is supposed to rain Friday, Saturday and possibly Sunday and turn cool with highs only in the upper 30s to low 40s. I have rides of 3.25 and 2.5 planned for Saturday and Sunday and right now it's not looking good for riding outside but I'm hoping there is a little block out of each day where it isn't raining and I can get out. I know it's November and it's supposed to be crappy outside but it's always nice to hope that it will stay warmer longer than it should. Either way I'll be getting my riding done, unfortunately it may just be done inside which will be pretty boring for a 3 hour ride. Let's just say it's going to have to be pouring or snowing heavily for me to get stuck inside.
My training has been going well but I really haven't done much since my last post on Sunday. Monday was a rest day on the bike but I did do my weight work and felt really good doing that, no knee pain or any other issues. Yesterday was a ride on the trainer for 1.25 hours with 5x15sec Stomps. I felt great again last night with no knee pain so I think I shook that issue that aggravated me for a couple of weeks. Tonight I'll be doing weight work shortly and then doing just 45 minutes on the bike to keep the legs loose. Tomorrow will be 1.75 hours with some FastPedals thrown in I think. Friday I'm looking forward to going out to dinner with some friends, I'll just need to make sure I don't eat too much. Well, not much to say for now, I'll update again after Saturday's ride to let you know how that went. Until next time.........

Good Riding This Weekend

I'll start off with some team news before I write about my rides this weekend as we had our official Team Wisconsin/Team Wheaton Franciscan Health Care banquet on Saturday evening. First of all, it was a great evening of food, beer and lots of discussion on where the team is headed in term of budget, number of racers, sponsorship....all that good stuff. We also had a nice long 2 hour discussion (at least is seemed that long) on what our racing outfit would look like. As of right now our outfit is going to have a jersey the color of the gold Vuelta leader's jersey and then of course our sponsors' logos will be on the jersey with the Wheaton logo right in the middle. It appears that we are also going to go with black shorts this year which I don't really care for, but the majority ruled on that choice. So it will be black shorts with a white and gold panel with the Wheaton logo and name down the side. Once I get a copy of the design I'll post something on this site. Right now it appears the team will have somewhere in the range of 35-40 riders with most of them being road riders and some mountain bike riders are on the team as well. Going in to the meeting it appeared there would be about 22-25 riders but there has been a decision, at least tentatively, to merge with another team and take on 10-12 of their riders. It seems certain that the merge will happen and once it does I'll probably post some comments on that as well. Just a quick plug for some of the sponsors that were announced as well...Ben's Cyclery will be our new bike shop sponsor, Vittoria tires is tentatively set as our tire sponsor, Clif is also returning as our food/gel/tasty treat sponsor, and Safway. All in all, it was a good meeting and I'm sure there will be plenty more to talk about in the coming months.
As far as riding goes....Friday evening I did my weight work, basically my normal 4 set Transition workout and it was a rest day on the bike. Saturday I was up and out on the bike at 8:30a.m. and did a 3 hour ride out to Waukesha and the surrounding areas and despite the wind and colder temperatures it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride. Today I did 2 hours 20 minutes, 10 minutes short of my scheduled ride..oh well. The weather was gorgeous compared to the last few weeks and I would have loved to have gone for 3 or 4 hours but I'm sticking to my training plan for one, and secondly today was my wife's grandpa's birthday and we had to go to his party at noon and we didn't leave there until 4:00. I actually took the opportunity to ride down to the party in Waterford and that was a good way to get in my ride and still make it to the party. I really can't complain about this weekend as I had scheduled 5.5 hours outside for Saturday and Sunday and I did almost that amount and obviously could've added the extra 10 minutes but it wasn't worth it. Tomorrow is just a rest day on the bike but I will be doing weights.
Here are some pictures of my new Cannondale, still being built, and my Pinarello cross bike, still being built as well.

Easton Carbon stem and handlebars Campagnolo Eurus wheelset Old school Pinarello - check out the Scott drop-in bars! Ready for mud and snow!

Training

Oh yeah, I wrote about other stuff yesterday but didn't tell you what I was actually doing on the bike. Please read yesterday's post but in addition to that here is what I'm doing on the bike....

Yesterday - did a 1.25 hour ride because I had to cut Tuesday's ride a tad short because of my knee pain. I was scheduled for just a 30 minute spin but added the extra 45 minutes to make up some time.

Today - a 1.75 hour ride with 6 x 12 second Stomps, although I may nix the Stomps if my knee is too sore. Either way it's going to be 1.75 hours but maybe just spinning easy.

Tomorrow - a rest day on the bike but I will be doing weights.

Saturday - 3 hour ride with 5 x 3 min Fast Pedal exercises. The weather is supposed to suck but as long as it's not raining in the morning I'll do my ride, that's why I have all that cold weather gear. If it's raining, then I'll be doing 2 hours 25 minutes inside as that equates to about 3 hours outside. I'll have to find a long movie.

Sunday - 2.5 hour ride at Foundation Mile pace. Right now there is no rain in the forecast so it will be an outside ride.

I Hate The Offseason

Why is it that during the offseason, when you are actually doing less work on the bike, that weird things like knee pain, and back pain seem to pop up? I know a couple of people that are suffering some sort of knee pain since they tapered in September and October. I have been bugged by a left knee pain that seems to have cropped up for no particular reason. The only thing I can think of is that my pedaling dynamics are different on the trainer than they are when I ride on the road. On the road I probably sit a little off keel on the seat and the bike adjusts under me (that's probably why I wear out the left side of my tires...hmmm). On the trainer the bike is locked in to place and doesn't adjust under me so I'm guessing that in some way my pedaling technique or motion is being affected leaving me with the knee pain. Last year I obviously didn't do any road riding before I started on the trainer in December so I didn't have that period of adjustment and therefore had no knee pain. I've been riding the trainer for the most part since the beginning of October and that's about when the pain started, hopefully it goes away soon after my body adjusts. I might switch to the rollers more often for days when I don't have to do specific workouts so that my pedaling motion will be more like the road. I have to do specific workouts on the trainer though because I can't get much resistance on the rollers.

I had hoped to have some pictures up today of my Pinarello build but I had to bring in the rear wheel to Wheel & Sprocket to get trued up so it isn't quite together right now. I still have to get a seatpost as well and I'm just going to get a cheap no-name seatpost when I go to pick up my wheel as this is just my winter "cross" bike. I will still ride my Specialized throughout the winter as much as I can but if there is any snow on the road or I want to test out some trails I will definitely be testing out the knobbies on the Pinarello. Once the winter comes to an end I will finish the build on my new CAAD8 frame by stealing a few parts from the Specialized and I will start riding the CAAD8 in the early Spring. The CAAD8 will still be all Campy Record Carbon but I've upgraded a few components over the Specialized so this bike will be lighter, more responsive and a little less harsh in ride quality. In addition to the Record components I'm going with an Easton carbon stem, Easton carbon flat-top ergo handlebars, Easton carbon seatpost and to top it all off I've got the new, lighter Campy Eurus wheels. The Eurus' are definitely an upgrade over my Bontrager Race Lites, saving about 200 grams or more and they are way more stiff so they'll be more responsive. I got them in black to offset the shiny silver of the frame, they look great and fast too. I'll post some pictures of the CAAD8 along with the Pinarello tomorrow or Saturday. Until next time..........

Root River Ride

The last few days have been pretty uneventful as far as training goes but I've been super busy at work and at home. I had to work at 6:00a.m. on Friday, today and also tomorrow so that is really cutting in to my sleep time and I'm only getting about 5.5 - 6 hours of sleep which isn't enough for me. Friday night I didn't do any riding or lifting as we went out to dinner with friends and we were out pretty late. It was a normal scheduled rest day anyways so I really didn't miss anything. I probably didn't help myself though either with those 5 beers and the fish fry. Saturday we had to be at a wedding in Wausau by 1:30 so I was up early and we were on the road by 10:00 and didn't return until 1:00a.m. Sunday morning. I got to set the clock back though to midnight so I did get an extra hour of sleep which I really needed. Sunday morning I was up really early and did a ride through the Root River Parkway and brought the camera with to take some pics of the nice fall colors....what's left anyways. Here are some shots from Sunday....

Today I did some weight work, 4 sets of 15 reps on the leg press, leg extensions, and leg curls. I'll do that 3 days a week for 4 weeks and then I'll move on to a heavier weight and less reps for another 4 weeks and then finally I'll go to heavy weights and low reps to build strength. Tomorrow the plan is to do a 1.25 hour ride and I believe I have to do 5 sets of 3 minute Fast Pedal exercises. MI3 just came out on DVD so I'll have to go rent that and watch Mr Katie Holmes blow stuff up. Should be a good time. Adios, until next time..................

Riding The Knobbies, Kind Of........

This time of year is pretty boring as far as life goes, so it is even more boring to write about and for anyone who has to read this. There are no bike races here or abroad, unless you like reading about the results of the latest cyclocross or 6-day race. Although I have to mention that I have been getting hooked on checking cyclocross results just to see if Ryan Trebon won again. That guy is like 6'4" tall and just full of raw power. It's been an interesting battle between him and Tim Johnson this year but Tim isn't doing so good right now. That should change once the weather gets worse as Tim is more of a technical rider and should be able to handle Ryan in the snow and on the more technical courses. I'm looking forward to the National Championships, should be interesting to see who pulls that off. I'm also excited to finish my own little cyclocross setup with my old Pinarello that I mentioned the other day. It really isn't a cyclocross setup but more or less a road bike with Hutchinson Cross Pro tires, which I have to say look pretty cool on the bike. I put them on last night and they are 700x30 with knobbies to give that motocross look and surprisingly I have plenty of clearance with my standard road fork and chainstays. I got a new chain the other day for the 8-speed setup and am waiting for my new 8-speed cassette to arrive any day now. Once I get those on I'm just waiting for a little snow so that I can go fly around the yard, all I need now is some barriers so that I can do some dismounting and running. Now I can ride year round and on limestone trails as I don't have a mountain bike and was too nervous to take my skinny 700x23s on limestone before. I did buy some Conti hybrid 700x32s last year but they didn't work so well on some trails that I went on in West Bend. Now with the knobbies I am good to go. I can't wait to do my first tail slide.
Other than that, I've been riding as scheduled but missed my weight day yesterday due to some scheduling conflicts with family activities. I will make that up by lifting tonight in addition to my 1.5 hour ride. Tonight, as mentioned, is a 1.5 hour ride on the trainer and I will be throwing in 5x15 second Stomps to help build power in the saddle. Basically you start at 15-20 mph and then just mash a huge gear (53x12) for 15 seconds, recover 5 minutes, and then repeat. Hopefully there is something good on TV tonight otherwise I'll have to go get another movie at BlockBuster to watch during the ride. Tomorrow is supposed to be another weight day but I'll skip that and just do some stretching instead. I'd rather lift on a ride day because I actually feel better on the bike after lifting so that will help with tonight's ride. My wife and I are also supposed to go out tomorrow night for dinner with some friends so I have to be home right away after work and won't really have time to lift. Saturday we are heading to Wausau at 10:00a.m for my cousin's wedding and I'm not sure if I'll squeeze in a ride before then, although I will try to get up and get at least a 2 hour ride in before we leave. If I have too many beers Friday night then that could be troublesome. Sunday's weather is looking decent so I should get in my 2 hour ride with no issues. Well, that's it for now, until next time..................

I Love Rain and Wind!

Yeah right, I hate rain and wind, but it seems there is a lot of both lately and according to the forecast I have some more of the same to look forward to in the next 10 days. My work schedule prevents me from getting home and riding outside as it's dark about 20 minutes after I get home so I've been stuck riding the trainer and rollers during the week. I though that this weekend would be good enough for me to get in a ride outside but when I woke up this past Saturday at 6:30 a.m. to go ride I guess I didn't realize that it's still dark out at that time. I had some coffee and a bagel and waited until about 7:45 to make sure that it was light out and then I threw on all my cold weather clothes and headed out for what was supposed to be a 3 hour ride. I got about 10 minutes down the road and it started to rain, being the wuss that I am I decided to turn around because there was no way I was going to ride in upper 30 degree temps and rain for the next 3 hours. I'm a bit of a wuss now as in my old riding days I used to ride for 3 or 4 hours in a constant downpour and didn't mind a bit. Now if it even looks like rain I stay inside and ride the trainer, it's part of getting older I guess. I'm not getting paid to ride and it's supposed to be fun, so I can pick and choose my riding days now, not like before when I had to ride no matter what the conditions. Anyways, I got back and rode for 2 hours on the trainer with about 60 minutes of Race Simulation thrown in to break up the monotony. I was supposed to ride for 2 hours yesterday as well but my mom had already bought tickets for the whole family to Fright Fest at Six Flags so we headed down there at 9:00a.m. and didn't get back until 7:30p.m.. I was so tired and nauseous from flying sideways, upside down, and well, every other direction on the roller coasters that I didn't get my 2 hours in before bed. I had scheduled today as a weight lifting day and as a rest day on the bike so now it will be weights and then 2 hours on the rollers instead. Tomorrow I'll do my normal 1.5 hour ride on the trainer with a few Stomps thrown in as well.
Here is a random thought....I was reading an article today from Ron Kiefel on Pezcyclingnews.com and for those of you who don't know who he is, he is a former 7-11 racer from the 80s and also rode for a host of other teams in the early 90s as well. Well anyways, it wasn't the article that caught my eye but the pictures of the bikes that made me think about the good old days of steel frames and 32-spoke wheels. I have a Pinarello Treviso Columbus SL frame with Campy Omega 32 spoke rims (maybe 36?) and I love riding that bike because it is so comfortable. It is equipped with Campy Chorus 8-speed (15 years old) but right now it's having a little trouble shifting due to some worn out cogs on the cassette. I just ordered a new (old stock) cassette for it and a new chain so that I can ride it over winter so I don't mess up my good bike. I also ordered some 700x30 Hutchinson Cyclocross tires for it as well so that I get some good traction in the snow if needed. Soooo, here's my thought, there should be at least 2 or 3 road races or crits during the year that are "vintage" races in which everyone brings their crappiest pre-1990 bike if they have one and they can't be fixed up, you have to ride them as is, no greasing them up or anything, and we go race them for like 20 miles. Mine only shifts in to two gears right now, 39x12 or 53x12 so that is how I would have to leave it. I want to hear all the squeaks and crunches as we all ride them. Dry chains, tire rot, frozen rusted cables, it's all good. The best part is, if the steel stem and seatpost are rusted and now bonded onto the frame, you can't adjust them, all the better for everyone else. I know some of you may not have a "nice" crappy bike like my Pinarello so Sears Free Spirits and the like are more than welcome. So get out your old Motobecane, Eddy Merckx, Fuji, Bianchi, Masi, Raleigh, or Pinarello and let's go ride some time. No lubrication or non-steel parts allowed, cause that's how I roll. Until next time.........

Team Dynamics

Well, I got back from Florida and rode on Sunday, Monday, and yesterday evening to make up for my lost time when I was down enjoying the warm weather in Tampa. I actually didn't get to enjoy the weather that much as we had to work from about 8 until 6-6:30 every day including Saturday. I gained lots of weight as well, eating all that great seafood and desserts. I certainly can't turn down free dinners, so I made the most of them, eating all that I could. Anyways, my rides have been fairly short, 1-2 hours, and are basically maintenance rides to keep up the fitness through October. I still throw in the Fast Pedal sets, and some Race Simulation on Saturdays just to keep it interesting but for the most part it is easy pedaling. I am also playing with my foot/cleat position to alleviate some leg length discrepancy and supponation. I have some Lemond Pedal Wedges that I use between the cleat and shoe to either add height or straighten out my leg motion, and so far it is working well. I also think I have a hip alignment issue in that my back muscles are pulling my right hip forward a bit and I have read some things on that and can probably alleviate that by tilting my seat a bit to the right but I should probably go to a chiropractor as well to straighten myself out. I didn't have these issues in the past but I'm sure it's just part of getting older and sitting in a chair for about 7 hours a day. Soooo, that aside, the plan for today is to do some weight work, 3 sets of 12-15 reps, all leg work as I get plenty of arm work doing stuff around the house and I don't really want arm muscle anyways. I won't ride today but will be riding tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. Tomorrow I believe is a 1.75 hour ride with some Fast Pedal sets and then Saturday is 2.75 or 3 hours with 45 minutes of Race Simulation and Sunday is 2.25 or 2.5 hours, can't remember exactly as I don't have my program here at work. I'm feeling great, I'm plenty motivated and lovin' riding right now.

In other news, there are some changes on my current team, Team Wisconsin, that have impacted some decisions I have to make for next year. I don't really want to say too much about it now but basically some of the team has split to form their own team which I don't think will impact the core group too much as it appears most of them are mountain bikers. If most of the core group stays which it appears they will, then the decision is a no-brainer, I'll definitely stay with the team. If some of them leave that helped to get me on the team in the first place, then I'll have some decisions to make. I really like the direction we are heading for 2007 with the new sponsor Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare so if all stays kosher, it should be a good year. I only did two races with the team as I signed up late in the year but the team seems really well organized and has some riders with great potential. I know for one that I will be training lights-out this off-season in order to be competitive in the Master's 1/2/3 category by May or June. I'll be waiting to see how things play out in the next couple of weeks and then we have our team banquet on November 4th so we'll get to learn a little bit more about what's planned for '07. The next few weeks will be pretty interesting on the bike and off the bike...........Until next time.

Off To Florida....for work :(

It was a busy weekend and I got in a couple of rides and also did about 15 hours worth of house work, mostly on Sunday, which of course was a beautiful day. Saturday I had to do some work on the driveway, coach my son's soccer game, which we won 6-5 after being down 5-2, and then I finally rode about 2.5 hours. It was a sunny day, temps were probably upper 60s and the wind wasn't too bad. It was an EM day with about 30 minutes of Race Simulation which basically consisted of a couple of 2 minute intervals simulating a breakaway, about 10 telephone pole sprints and about 3 or 4 hill sprints, well, almost sprints as one of the hills I do is about 3 minutes long. I felt pretty good overall as being the "offseason" I didn't really try to push it too much and I kept the cadence high and tried not to wear out the legs too much, mainly working the lungs. Sunday was another sunny day, definitely a bit windier, but that didn't take any of the fun out of what may be the last nice day of the month. I rode for about 2 hours, and just kept it at an easy Foundation Mile pace, no big hills and no sprints or anything like that. It was a very enjoyable ride and I just checked the 10-day forecast and it looks like it may have been the last nice weather ride as the temps are going to dip and they are even calling for snow showers on Thursday with lows of 28 degrees. Fortunately for me I will be in Florida, leaving here at 7:00a.m. and arriving in Tampa around 11:30 or so. It is going to be in the upper 80s and low 90s the whole time I'm there until I leave on Sunday. The unfortunate part is that I'm going on business and won't have my bike nor will I have a chance to work out as the suite complex that we are staying at doesn't have a fitness center. My company is paying for a nice suite with kitchen, couch, big bathroom, king bed, etc., but the dang place has nowhere to work out, which is just crazy to me in a place like Florida where everybody has to be skinny to lay on the beach. Oh well, can't do much about it, but I'm pretty disappointed that I will miss 3 riding days and 2 weight days. Maybe I can put the coffee table or something over my shoulders and do squats for a weight workout, and even though I hate to run I can bring my running shoes and jog around the parking lot. The only thing they do have is a basketball court and in that heat 30 minutes of hoops is a pretty good workout, so that could be good cross-training. I'll figure something out I guess.....in the meantime, I hope you all enjoy the Wisconsin weather, I can't wait to come back to it on Sunday...yeah right. Until next time.........

Rolling Right Along

Well, I am rolling right along this week, on the bike, and well, on my fatty stomach as well. I've biked 3 times this week so I'm sticking to my schedule but I've also eaten way too much this week. I think I've gained 5-7 lbs. but my scale is broke so I don't have the luxury of checking, oh darn hey? Training on the bike will be easy over the winter, but I think some natural hibernation instinct is kicking in and I'm starting to store fat for the winter, honestly!! I'll really have to try to cut back on the food, otherwise my training is doing me no good at all. One of my weaknesses this year was hills as I did lose about 27lbs after I started training, going from 210lbs to 183lbs, but that still was a little too heavy. I want to be at 173lbs to start next year, and if you add the increased power that I'll attain over the winter my power-to-weight ratio will be waaaaaaaayy better than this year. I was 183lbs and in all honesty, 5-6 months of training doesn't really build a lot of power, not enough to race any higher than Cat 4, that's for sure. With this year's base of 5,500+ miles and counting and all the weight training and riding that I'm starting now, I'll be at a much higher level next year, definitely capable of competing as a Cat. 3 or higher. By 2008 I fully expect to be back to where I was when I quit cycling in 1996, although I'll be 12 years older so that is a negative, but hey, there are lots of 30+ guys kicking butt out there. Cripes, Lance is my age and he could probably win another Tour or two if he wanted. I'm looking to win a WI Cup race, so that's comparable right, well o.k., a little bit less difficult I guess....but not by much. Anyways, it's getting late and I'm pretty tired already and have to get up at 7:00a.m. on a Saturday to work around the house, I have lots to do before I have to go coach my son's soccer game, and it's team picture day so I have to actually shower before going. After the game I'll be doing my scheduled ride of 2.5 hours, it looks like it will be a beautiful day for a ride, can't wait. Until next time..............

Riding For 2007

Well, it's been a pretty uneventful week, and I don't have a lot to say since my last post since I haven't really done much in the last week other than gain some weight. I am finally starting to feel better as I had been feeling pretty fatigued and just plain under the weather the last 3 weeks. I attribute a lot of it to the below normal weather conditions we've been having and I think I was a bit rejuvenated by yesterday's beautiful, sunny day. I actually got out and rode for about 2.5 hours which is more than I've ridden in the last 2 weeks combined. It felt great to be out in the sun again and the warmer temps but it doesn't appear that it will last long as it was already storming overnight and it looks like quite a bit of rain and some cooler temps later in the week. Next weekend looks o.k. though with temps in the mid to upper 60s as of right now, so I should get out for a couple of longer rides Saturday and Sunday.
As for my training for 2007, I've officially started it today and will spend the next 16 weeks in the Foundation Period basically building up a good aerobic base for the harder training that will follow. Today I will do some light weight work, basically just maintenance work, as unfortunately my first day of the program starts with a rest day on the bike. Tomorrow will be my first on-the-bike day and then Wednesday will be weights again. I will be doing light weights for 3 days and riding for 4 days for the month of October, then I will switch to riding 5 days in November and then 6 days starting in December for the remainder of the Foundation Period. My weight work will gradually increase throughout the period as well going to higher weights and less reps as I progress. I'm really looking forward to see how I progress for 2007 versus this year as I now have a good base whereas I had exactly 0 miles to build on last year. I'd really like to do well in the first few races of 2007 so that I can upgrade right away to help out the team, as the majority of our team will be in the Master's 1/2/3 category. We'll see how that goes I guess.

Well, I did celebrate the last day of my "off-season" yesterday by consuming 3 bratwurst loaded with onions, ketchup, mustard, and lots of kraut. I also had almost a whole bag of Doritos, 4 beers, 2 shots of whiskey and some other miscellaneous chips and dips. I figured I was going to start my healthy eating today so I had to splurge yesterday so I wouldn't binge during training. Other than gaining about 4lbs. and feeling a little hung over this morning, I think it was a good year-end feast. From now on it will be good wholesome food...and a little bit of beer as that has carbs in it right? Until next time...........


I do love the bratwurst...mmmmmm...

Not Much Going On

Well, there has been a whole lot of nothing going on around here lately. I've been feeling under the weather for the last two weeks and have ridden only 3 or 4 times since the last race. I've had an underlying cold/fever thing going on.... sore throat, aching muscles, fatigue and I can't seem to shake it. The lack of riding has made me a little crabby but I know that if I go out and ride a lot I won't allow my body to get over whatever is ailing it right now. In the meantime, I'm trying to rush and get all the last minute yardwork done before the weather turns bad, so I'm not really resting my body anyways, might as well be out riding. So anyway, I'm going to probably rest one more day and then try to hit the bike tomorrow, when hopefully I'll be feeling better.
Overall, I've been slowly charting out my training program from what is in my brain to something on paper (computer actually) that I can work off of starting on October 1st. I'm going to use October as my transition month and November, December, January and February will be my Foundation months. After that, depending how I am feeling I will plan out the remaining periods of the program. It's going to be a long fall and winter as I already wish that I could get back to racing and of course I'm dreading the indoor miles on the trainer/rollers. Well, not much to say now, this part of the year pretty much just sucks. Oh yeah, I'm building up my new CAAD8 frame with some pretty nifty parts....upgraded my alloy stem to an Easton carbon and also bought an Easton carbon seatpost, I upgraded my Chorus BB to a Record carbon BB, and will also be getting carbon handlebars. I've got my eye on a new wheelset as well but we'll see about that, can't spend all my money.

Relaxing A Bit

Well, it's been a while since my last post so I figured I better give a little update on what I've been doing. Truthfully, not that much. Since the update about the race last Sunday I've ridden only 3 times and have worked a bit on the house. I rode last Wednesday for a little bit on the trainer, rode for 40 miles on Saturday morning and rode for 30 miles with my wife on Sunday. It was a little busy around the house during the week and this weekend we had a wedding celebration to go to Saturday afternoon. This week I'm going to try to get back to my normal riding schedule and will ride today, tomorrow, Thursday, and Saturday. Now that racing is over I'm going back to 5 days a week instead of 6. I'll continue that until October and then I'll ride 3 or 4 days a week and start weight training at that time as well. I'll do lots of weight work in October and then in November I'll decrease the weights a bit and go back to 5 days a week on the bike. What I mean by decreasing the weight work is that my reps will go down but will be heavier weight, 6 reps versus 10-12. I'll do weight work probably through December and then I'll just do some maintenance lifting every now and then through the Spring as I switch my power work to on the bike exercises. I guess there isn't much going on right now, no races to report on or train for, just riding for fun for the time being. I did get my new Cannondale frame and also received my new Easton EC70 stem. I'm still waiting on my new Bontrager Race X Lite Aero rear wheel, my Record carbon bottom bracket, and my new carbon handlebars before I can build up the bike. I might just wait until November or December to build it up as I'd like to continue riding the Specialized through the Fall and beginning of winter as I'd like to keep the new frame as clean as possible. I have my Pinarello to ride through the winter outside and of course I'll ride the new bike on the rollers/trainer. Basically right now I'm on eBay all the time looking for good deals on parts for all 3 bikes. Well, that's it for now, until next time...........

Crappy Day And Crappy Result

I just hate racing in cold, wet weather and today just happened to be one of those days. It was about 55 - 57 degrees in Madison and raining lightly for the 10:30 start of the Endeavour Criterium. We basically had 40 minutes plus 4 laps around the Research Park loop which is about .9 miles long with one small climb and a nice long flat before the turn in to the uphill finish. It was pretty much just a cold, wet windy day and the legs didn't want to respond no matter how hard I tried. I was soaked through every article of clothing, my feet were soaked and cold and I had tire spray constantly hitting me in the face. I felt good coming in to the race and I knew I had to support Tony in an effort to get the overall title for WI Cup points but I couldn't do anything today. I tried to take a little flyer to get the legs warmed up but as soon as I went I knew I had nothing, my legs were fried pretty much right away. My breathing felt good and I wasn't breathing too hard so I know that it had to be the cold that just was taking everything out of my muscles. I couldn't do anything to help Tony and he was really on today, basically staying at the front the whole race and looking super strong. Near the end there was a small split on the last lap and Tony took off but Ryan (overall Cup leader) was on his wheel and in the sprint Ryan ended up nipping Tony by maybe a tire width, it was really close. Either way Tony needed to finish two spots ahead of Ryan so the title was was Ryan's to keep and that pretty much closed out our racing season. I got 11th in the sprint, which really wasn't much of a sprint as everyone was scattered from the pressure put on during the last lap.
During the next couple of weeks I don't race mountain bike so I'll just do a couple of tour rides with my wife and keep doing some relaxed training rides through September. I'll cut back in October to about 2 to 3 days of riding per week and then I'll start to amp things up again in November. I guess now that the season is over I can look back and say I did decent for my first year back but I really wish I would've done better or got at least one win. For the year my results were as follows: 20th, 26th, 34th, 3rd, 18th, 8th, 11th, 21st, 24th, 25th, 8th and 11th. Not bad, but not exactly great either. I got 3 top-10 and 5 top-15 placings which was good enough for 11th overall in the WI Cup series, only 3 points away from 10th place. Well, that's about it for the racing year. I'll keep you all up to date on my training progress for next year as I start winding down and preparing for the 2007 season. Here are some pictures from the crappy race today:

Sore, But Ready To Go.....

I'm actually feeling pretty sore today and I can only imagine that it's from the Speed Intervals I did last night as I didn't do anything else really strenuous. I had to assist with my son's soccer team last night from 5:30 until 6:30 so by the time I got home it was too late to ride outside so I had to head down to the basement and ride the trainer. I had originally scheduled a 1.5 hour ride outside with sets of 7x30sec Speed Intervals so in trainer time that translates to 1.25 hours as you are constantly pedaling on the trainer vs. the road so you don't have to ride as long. Anyways, I turned the fan on high, put the towel around my neck and started sweating as I watched the Pittsburgh/Miami game for my warm up. Once I was warmed up I switched over to a stage of the Tour that I had DVR'd and started my Speed Intervals. I felt pretty good during the intervals but got pretty tired at the end of the last set and was struggling to maintain max speed. Melissa came downstairs at the end of my last rep and looked at all the sweat pouring off me, said "gross", and turned around and went right back upstairs. Thanks for the support honey! All in all, it was a good workout and my HR was right where I wanted it to be, and my HR recovery was very quick during my 30 second breaks so I know my body is ready to race. Tonight will just be a quick 1 hour ride at 65% max HR, in other words a Recovery Ride. Tomorrow morning, barring rain, I will only do 1.5 hours and do 3 x 2minute Power Intervals to open up the legs for Sunday. I have a wedding to go to at 1:00 followed by the reception at 5:00 so the rest of the day is pretty much shot. I'll be avoiding alcohol unfortunately and I'll be trying to find all the carbs in the buffet line to make sure I'm fully stocked.
In other news, I bought a new frame yesterday and should be getting it on Tuesday of next week. The Specialized S-Works I got last November was bought on eBay and I knew it was slightly used as it was a bike shop display/test bike but the thing is creaking and knocking like crazy right now. The noise is coming from the bottom bracket and I've completely gone through each bolt and tightened everything and also pulled out the bottom bracket, regreased it and put everything back together. I tightened all the brake bolts, derailleur bolts, seatpost, headset, handlebars, etc. and the noise still persists, especially when I stand up. When I put the bike on the trainer with the chainstays/seatstays tightened securely then it doesn't make noise. Basically I think either something happened when I had my crash in May or the frame is just completely flexed out. The fact that it doesn't make noise when the rear is stabilized in the trainer makes me think it's flexing. So anyway, I bought a new 2006 Cannondale CAAD8 frame and will just transfer all my Campy Record components over to that. I'll take the Specialized and make it a TT bike as I don't care if it creaks during time trialing. I won't ride it enough to annoy me so I'll keep it around for the time being. I know that the CannonDale is another aluminum frame and will also get flimsy in 2 or 3 years but I'll be ready for a new bike by then anyways! :) Well, back to work, until next time..........

4 Days And Counting

4 more days until the last race of the year for me and it can't come quick enough. My teammate Tony is 9 points out of the overall WI Cup lead and we need to get him the win and the current leader needs to finish 2 spots behind him. I'm pretty amped up to do some work for Tony and lead him out in the sprint. I think we'll have a good strategy worked out to shred most of the field and then we should have at least 4 of us right near the front to power around the last lap or two. I believe that our team is superior to Chiropractic Partners and we should be able to cover any of their attacks and get a good train going for the sprint. I have no doubt that I can cover any attacks and have the legs left for the leadout, this is going to be a great final race. I've been feeling a lot more powerful lately as I'm obviously progressing as I get miles in to my legs. In the beginning of the year the power just wasn't there, no miles means no leg strength and that equals jack squat when it comes to sustained power. Unfortunately the year is coming to an end and I'm just starting to find form now that I'm a lot stronger than I was 3 or 4 months ago. Oh well, the 5000+ miles that I did this year, so far, will be a good base for me for next year.
Well, for this week I've done a bit of riding but not too much. If you read my previous posts you'll know that I didn't ride on Saturday because I was up at Devil's Lake with the family, but we did do a lot of hiking that day. Sunday I rode for 2.5 hours with some good hills and pushed it fairly hard but I didn't do any intervals or get my HR up near max. Monday I was pretty busy with Labor Day and it was a normally scheduled rest day on the bike so I didn't ride. Last night I did a 1.5 hour ride (cut short due to sunset) with 3 sets of 8min/3min OverUnder Intervals. As I've explained in previous posts it's 8 minutes at 89% then immediately in to 3 minutes at 92% then back down to 89%, etc. for 3 sets. It's basically 32 minutes straight at 178-184 bpm and it's great for building power and increasing lactate threshold. Tonight will be another 1.5-1.75 hour ride at Endurance Pace, nothing too easy but not hard either. It's basically a day to recover between interval days as tomorrow I'll be doing Speed Intervals, basically 3 sets of 7x30sec intervals. Friday will be a rest day and Saturday will be a ride with a couple of Power Intervals thrown in to open up the legs. Sunday they are calling for a 40% chance of showers but it doesn't matter either way, the Madison course is pretty safe and if it rains, oh well, we still have to race. Until next time........

Day of Family Fun

Today I didn't do any riding as the family and I went up to Devil's Lake for a day trip leaving at 8:00 and returning at 8:00 this evening. I would've loved to have ridden today as it was a beautiful day, but there was just no time obviously and I had to spend time with the family as that's more important than cycling right now. I've dragged my family around all year to races and sacrificed a lot of time with them this year to train so I figured it was best to spend the day with them especially since it was a holiday weekend. I did get in quite a workout though as we walked around Devil's Lake and up and over the 500ft. bluffs on the wonderful trails in the State Park. According to Melissa's pedometer we walked for a total of 8.5 miles and it definitely was hard on the quads going up those hills. My legs are more sore now than after an average bike ride, although I obviously used some muscles that aren't normally used for cycling so I expected some soreness. We ate a good lunch at the Park and then cooked out for dinner on the charcoal grill before packing up and heading out. We took our dog with as well and we completely wore him out, he's slept since we got back and was actually sleeping in the car on the way home. If you knew our dog, you would know that he's not much for sleeping, he's a 1.5 year old Shepard/Lab mix and he's a bundle of energy.
As far as training goes, I did manage to get in a good outside ride on Thursday, it was only 1.5 hours long but I did 3 sets of 8 minute Steady States which are basically 8 minutes at 89% of max HR and then equal rest. Friday I did an easy ride on the trainer for an hour since we spent most of the night packing up stuff to bring with today and doing the cleaning that we would normally do today. Tomorrow I'll be getting up early, hopefully 7:00 (early for me) and I'll head out on a route that's just a little over 50 miles. It will just be a normal endurance ride with a couple of good hills, no intervals or anything though. Monday will be just an easy hour on the trainer since it's a normal scheduled rest day, but I'll make up a little bit for missing today's ride. Tuesday will be some Descending intervals, Wednesday will be a normal endurance ride, Thursday will be some Speed Intervals, Friday a Recovery Ride, and Saturday will be an Endurance Ride with 3 reps of 2 min Power Intervals to prepare for Sundays Race. I'll update my training progress hopefully every day this week to let you know how it's going. This year's racing season is almost over and things are winding down, but I'm definitely thinking of next year already and can't wait to start prepping for that. Until next. time.............

Winding Down

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, I did a really long post on Monday or Tuesday and when I submitted it I got some freakin' IE error and it didn't get saved. I was frustrated so I didn't bother re-typing it. Anyways, this week has been a really calm week for me, not much riding as I'm in a recovery week. I didn't ride on Monday as it is a usual rest day for me, and I had a busy weekend anyways with the State Crit and the Cream City Century. Tuesday I rode for a nice medium paced ride through Whitnall Park for 1.5 hours and had to actually put the smack down on some euro-trash wannabe riders. I believe in wearing helmets, I've crashed enough times during races and been hit by a couple of cars so I know their importance. Everyone is entitled to go sans helmet if they feel like it, it's their choice and there is no law against it. Tuesday though I was irked a little bit by a couple of guys who were riding through Whitnall and they were obviously not racers as evidenced by their hairy legs and their poser euro outfits, without helmets of course. I could see them coming behind me for a ways and I could tell they were trying to push it as they both had their heads down and were spinning pretty profusely. I slowed down as we were nearing a stop sign and there was a car stopped to the right of me, so he was getting ready to go and then I was going to go. Well, these posers come flying past me as this car takes off, they don't stop, almost get hit by the car and they just keep going, turning around once to laugh nervously at the car that narrowly missed them. I didn't have any respect for them first off because of the helmet thing, but that pushed me over the edge. They kept flying and I decided I was going to catch them and give 'em a little piece of my mind. I'm guessing they were going about 23-24 mph but I caught them pretty quickly which I think shocked them because I know they thought they were the fastest thing this side of France. I pulled along side them, said " nice move assholes, by the way, get yourselves some helmets" and their only response was a sheepish " yeah, whatever". I shifted down a few gears, took off, and at the next intersection they turned right when I went straight. I was hoping for a little more of a confrontation cause I think I could've taken them both with no problem, but at the least I hope they go get some helmets now. So on to Wednesday, it was a less adventurous ride as I rode with my wife and son just for the fun of it. We did 1 hour and it was a pretty good ride. My wife is doing a little training for the Pedal The Kettle on the 17th so it was good for her to get out. It was suuuuper slow but I didn't really care as there is only one race left this year and I'll be in form for that race regardless of what I do this week. Today I have to help coach my son's soccer practice at 5:30 until 6:30 and then I'll end up riding on the trainer tonight as there will only be 45 minutes of daylight left by the time we get home and I get changed. I'll be doing about 1.5 hours on the trainer with some intervals thrown in, about 3 reps of 8-9 minute Steady States. Tomorrow I'll ride for 1 hour easy, Saturday I leave at 8:00 to go to Devil's Lake for a day trip with the family but I'll ride before we leave, I'm hoping for about 1.5 hours if I can get up at 5:30. Otherwise I'll ride on the trainer at night when we get back. I haven't figured out Sunday and Monday yet as it might rain, I'll let ya'll know later. Until next time......

Pictures

Went to dinner and a movie...too late to do a full re-cap but here are some pictures.....Scott is in the first picture and he did an awesome job for the win..........

Disappointing 8th Place

Brief results.....I got 8th today in the State Crit Championships. A little disappointing considering I felt great. Full race re-cap and pictures will be posted tonight.

Been Pretty Busy

It's been a few days obviously since my last post so I'll try to re-cap as best as I can what I've been doing the last 6 days. The training has been going according to plan and I haven't missed any rides or strayed from the program so I'm feeling pretty good heading in to this weekend's State Crit Championship. I did a few easy rides on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and then Saturday's ride was a little more difficult but only 2 hours in length and it didn't include any intervals. Sunday I did a great family ride with Melissa and Xavier and it basically served its purpose as a recovery pace ride. We did an hour long ride in New Berlin on the freshly paved New Berlin Recreation Trail and it was a fun, easy ride that everyone certainly enjoyed. I'm trying to get my wife in to cycling and with time constraints it's been difficult for her to ride but we have now ridden together the last two Sundays for a total of 30 miles. Last week we did 20 miles on Sunday, which was by far her furthest ride ever, and then we did 10 miles with our son this week and she said that it seemed easy. Maybe by the end of the year I'll get her out for a 40-50 mile ride, we'll see though. Around the house I've just been doing the normal stuff, working on the yard, remodeling the kitchen, cleaning up, basically all the fun stuff. Sunday night after the ride we went to Zoo a la Carte at the Milwaukee County Zoo and fed ourselves until we couldn't walk anymore, I weigh about 3lbs more now but it was well worth it. Yesterday was a rest day and I was supposed to go to the target range with my friend to shoot some guns but we got there too late and it was already closed. We ended up just relaxing at his house and enjoyed a couple of good beers, probably not ideal training fluids, but I'm sure it won't affect my performance on Saturday. Tonight I have to do a 2 hour ride with 3 sets of Descending Intervals which basically start at 75 seconds and count down to 30 seconds with equal recovery in between each rep. After each set I'll rest for 5 minutes and then start again, it's great training for crit races so hopefully I'm feeling good and can get in an optimal workout. After tonight I have a couple of easy rides tomorrow and Thursday and then Friday I'll do a couple of Power Intervals to open the legs for Saturday. Right now the forecast for Saturday is calling for a 40% chance of Thunderstorms, I'm praying that it holds out as that could really wreck the race strategy!
As an aside, anyone who wants an inspirational story and some motivation to get off their lazy butt should check out the progress of Saul Raisin on his website at www.saulraisin.com. I'm sure most of you know what happened to Saul and have kept up on his subsequent recovery, but if not, you probably wouldn't believe his story. To keep it short, Saul crashed in a European bike race and was in a coma after developing an intracerebral hemorrhage and was basically told he might never develop full function again as a result of his brain damage. After 4 months Saul was riding again on the rollers and trainer, as much as 21 hours per week!! According to his website he is now doing 3 hour rides on the road as well. Check it out and make sure to look at all of his past blog entries and his picture gallery, it's pretty moving stuff. Until next time, happy riding...........

Sore and Lovin' It

Today my legs are hurting, kind of like the hurt of a 300lb person sitting on my lap, or maybe like getting kicked in the quads by a horse, either way let's just say they are sore. Last night I did one of my most difficult training rides in quite a while, completing 3 sets of Over/Under intervals and then following that up with 7 hill repeats. For those not familiar with OU intervals it goes something like this...smash your legs with a hammer for 8 minutes and then go directly in to 3 minutes of stabbing them with a large serrated knife. It's quite fun! Actually that is what it feels like but in reality it goes like this....8 minutes at 89% of max HR, directly in to 3 minutes at 92% of max HR, 8 minutes at 89%, 3 minutes at 92%, etc...... so it is all continuous for 3 repeats of 8/3. In real time it looks like this.....8/3/8/3/8/3...non-stop, that is one set. I did 3 sets of those with a 5 minute break between sets. On the way back home I did 7 repeats up 2 hills, 3 up a really steep hill and then 4 up a really long (for WI) hill. The two hills are like a half-pipe so I went up one, then down it, right up the other and so on 7 times then I finally went home. My legs are killing me today but the next 3 days are rest days on the bike so I will get to just take it easy with rides of 1 hour tonight, 1.5 tomorrow and then 1 hour again on Friday. Say what??!?! Only one hour?! Yup, only one hour, pretty easy hey? It does seem easy but it's all part of the plan of building up the body by trashing it for just over 2 weeks and then allowing it to build up for a week and a half. So for the last 2 weeks and 3 days I've been doing intervals or race simulation 3 days a week and now is the time to let the body rest and rejuvenate and if all works well that means a peak for the 26th. Most novice bikers will ask, "how can you get better by riding for only one hour?". It's not the riding that you do...it's the riding that you don't do that makes you better. Most novice riders (yes, I'm only a Cat. 4 now, but far from a novice if you know my background) don't rest enough to allow their body to compensate for their hard efforts. Most racers just think "go, go, go" on every ride and try to hammer all the time to prove that they have the biggest, um, helmet, bike helmet, yeah. They never allow for recovery time on the bike and then they end up overtraining or just getting stale from riding one speed, fast, all the time. Anyways, it helps mentally as well to just be able to go out and actually look around and enjoy the ride for what it is. So, after the ride tonight I'm hoping to go shoot some guns as my friend Jason and I are hopefully going to a target range to shoot a snub-nosed .38 and a "Baby" Desert Eagle 9mm. It'll help get out some frustration from work and it's always fun to shoot some of the "terrorist" targets. Until next time..........

Feeling Rested...Kinda.

I'm definitely feeling less fatigued than I had mentioned in my last post on Friday as I did get some rest yesterday. I didn't get much rest on Saturday as I was up at 6:00a.m. so that I could eat some breakfast before the Drop the Doc ride. I drove up to Dousman and did the ride, 37 miles at 24.5 mph, so it was a pretty good ride. I stayed at the front for a while in the beginning and took a few pulls, then sat on for a while in the middle of the ride. Near the end two guys took off up a little rise as I happen to come through for my pull so I pushed it hard on the hill and caught up to them near the top. One guy was blown so he dropped but I kept going with the other guy and then we were joined by my teammate Tony and we were pushing it at about 28-29 mph. The pack was about 30-40 yards behind us so we just kept pushing it. I didn't really know that we were near the end as I've only done this ride once before so I thought we were just having a go and that the pack would just catch us again. Well, after about 2 minutes we hit a flat section and the pack came sprinting by us at 35+ mph as we were actually at the finish line of the ride, which is basically a wooden sign on the side of the road. At first I was wondering why everyone was sprinting like crazy and then I realized we were at the end, which is good because at that point I was starting to get a little fried on our little breakaway. If the pack didn't catch us I probably could've gone for a little bit longer but not too much without blowing up. I have improved quite a bit this year but still not enough to hold that pace for a long distance, so I guess I still have a ways to go. It was a fun ride and I definitely got in my requisite amount of Race Simulation training. After the ride I went home, mowed the entire lawn, stained the outside of my fence, painted my back door, painted and cut some base molding for the house and then at about 8:00 I finally was able to relax and eat dinner before the Packer game. Sunday I did some more work around the house, basically cleaning the garage, pulling weeds and some other miscellaneous stuff. I was scheduled to do a 2 hour Endurance Pace ride but instead I suggested to my wife that she ride with me so we went out and did 20 miles together, which at the pace she can go took us 1.5 hours. She was pretty tired at the end of the ride as it was the longest ride she's ever done so I'm pretty proud of her for that. I was really fresh of course and could've ridden another 2 hours but it was 6:30 by the time we got back and it was time to cook dinner and relax. I ended up in bed at about 9:30, which is really early for me, but I needed the sleep. I feel rested up and ready to go today, so even though I'm scheduled for a rest day I'll probably take a little stroll on the bike just for fun, maybe an hour or so, just to keep the blood flowing. Tomorrow I've got some Over/Under Intervals scheduled so hopefully the legs feel good so that I can push those hard. The weather looks great the rest of the week so it should be a good week of riding. Until next time...happy riding!

Sooooo Tired!

Since I've come back to work last week Wednesday I've been working like a madman, 11 hours a day, up at 5:00a.m. or earlier and in to work by 6:00a.m. until 5:00p.m.. Today was the first day that I got to sleep late, until 6:30, so that felt great but I'm still completely wiped out as I've typically been getting about 5 hours of sleep a night. Some people can handle 5 hours of sleep and it's no big deal, but when you are working all day then coming home to bike for another 2 hours or more, it can really wear on your body and eventually major fatigue or sickness sets in. Luckily I don't feel sick but fatigue is a big issue right now, I can tell my body is getting tired and I have a general feeling of malaise that I normally didn't have before this week. I do have to be to work early Monday through Thursday next week but I finally get a respite as I have another vacation day on Friday. After that my big project at work will be complete and I'll go back to my normal schedule and I'll finally get some much needed sleep. Anyways, the last couple of days have been good on the bike, Wednesday I did intervals and yesterday I did a nice short 1.25 hour Endurance Pace ride. The intervals on Wednesday were pretty tough as I did 2 sets of (8) 30 second Speed Intervals during my 2.25 hour ride. The last set wasn't as easy as I had previously bragged about on Tuesday's ride. The second day of SI was pretty tough and by the end I was really gasping for air and my HR was up around 189 bpm. This result is obviously not only the expected result but the desired result as I really trashed my body during this 2nd day of hard workouts. Last night my easy 1.25 hour ride, in addition to tonight's 1 hour Recovery Ride, will help to start the regeneration process in my body to rebuild from the two hard efforts. I will tear down my body again, hopefully, on tomorrow's Drop the Doc ride as I'm hoping everyone will make it a super fast ride. I'm counting on the ride being like a race simulation, with the expectation that there will be about 70 people there who are going to try to really push it. After the ride I'll take a little bit of a nap as I'll have to get up again early at about 6:00 to eat and drive out to the ride, so I'm going to need just a bit of a rest afterwards. Basically the rest of the day will just be doing a lot of yard work and some cabinet work on my house. I'll probably relax at night with a movie in the recliner until I fall asleep. Should be great weather tomorrow and a great day of riding and working around the house. Until next time, happy riding...........

Is It Time To Race Yet?

It has been about 3 or 4 weeks since I've last raced and I'm starting to get a little antsy to get out there and mix it up a little bit. I obviously did the MS150 which was a great charity ride but it wasn't a competitive event so it was more relaxing than anything, basically just cruising for 150 miles. I started my speed training again last week as well and I'm feeling pretty strong right now and I think that is part of the reason I want to get out, I'd like to gauge my fitness against everyone else. I have just over two weeks until the State Crit Championship and if everything stays on track for that I think my form will be good enough to at least be more than pack fodder during the race. I did Speed Intervals on last night's ride and was able to sit and push at 35-36 mph on the flats for each of the (7) 30 second intervals. Basically the Speed Intervals are 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off....and so on, 7 times with a 5 minute rest between sets, of which I did two. As each interval progressed I actually felt stronger as they went on and by the end of the two sets I wanted to do another set but didn't want to make the mistake of overtraining, which a lot of people do when they feel strong. Tonight I will be doing 2 sets of (8) reps of Speed Intervals during my 2 hour ride, which is almost my max now as by the time I get home and get out it's dark about 2 hours later at 8:10ish. Anyways, normally you wouldn't do Speed Intervals 2 days in a row as the usual recovery time between these workouts is 48 hours because they stress the body so much. Tonight I'm doing them for the 2nd day in a row because by overstressing the body so much this week I will be allowed 2 weeks to recover creating a greater compensation effect than if I were to do intervals right up to the race without recovering. 2 weeks is usually when you want to start tapering after a really stressful week of training, so my last hard ride this week will be the Drop the Doc ride on Saturday. Next week and the week after will only include one day each of Intervals and lots of Endurance pace and Recovery pace rides. Hopefully this all pays off with a good result. Well, besides that, my new teammate Tony won the Sheboygan WI Cup race and is now only 9 points behind going in to the final WI Cup race so we'll definitely have to make sure he wins that race to take the series overall...that's if he doesn't upgrade before the race to a 3. Either way, it's been a great year for him and I can't wait to see how he progresses next year in the 1/2/3s. Well, almost time to head home and head out for a ride. Until next time.

MS150 Recap

This past weekend was the MS150, which is a charity ride from Waukesha to Madison over 2 days, and other than being rained on all day yesterday, it was a wonderful event. We started out Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. with a leisurely stroll out of Waukesha with a group of almost 1500 riders heading towards our destination of Whitewater where we would stay the night. The first 3 or 4 miles were pretty slow as everyone made their way out of Waukesha and thankfully the groups started to thin out as the miles went on which allowed me ride in a straight line instead of weaving around all of the slower riders. The weather was perfect on Saturday with overcast skies to block out a lot of the sun and keep the temps manageable in the mid 80s, and the wind was pretty much non-existent. Dave and I rode the 100 mile route and it was a great ride with plenty of opportunities to eat lots of food at the rest stops along the way. I may have actually gained a pound or two during the weekend. After the ride we had a large dinner at the dining hall of the UW-Whitewater campus, basically all you could eat spaghetti, chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, and I also ate a corn dog....yum, yum. We awoke on Sunday morning to cloudy skies at 5:30a.m., but with hope that the rain would hold off we went to breakfast for our fill of waffles, juice and a couple biscuits with gravy. We changed right after breakfast and walked out of the dorms with our SS jerseys on only to find that it was now raining. I quickly threw on my jacket and unfortunately that was not an option for Dave as he didn't bring one with, so we headed out knowing that we were in for a long day of riding in the rain. Immediately we both were pretty wet and chilled and knew that cutting it short and doing the 62 mile route would probably be the order of the day. I have a lot to race for yet this year with the State Crit Championship coming up so I was not ready to catch pneumonia by riding in the rain for 6 hours on the 100 mile route. After about 26 miles we hit the 2nd rest stop and the ride organization was making everyone stay at that stop as the local law enforcement were not allowing anyone back on the road as there was way too much lightning and supposedly hail heading our way. We all huddled under a carport and tried our best to squeeze out whatever water we could to help dry out a little sooner than later. After approximately 45 minutes of standing around they finally allowed everyone to continue on and the rain and wind combined to chill us to the bone, reaffirming our decision to cut our route short and do 62 miles. We finished the ride in Madison filthy with mud, manure, worms, and whatever other road grime we accumulated along the way. Luckily for us one of the buses was getting ready to leave to take people back to Waukesha so we quickly threw on some dry shirts and shorts (or wet shorts in Dave's case) and jumped on the bus. It took about all of 10 minutes before I was almost drooling on my shirt as I slept like a little baby on the ride back. After we got our bikes and gear we packed up and I headed for home with nothing on my mind but a warm shower and a plate of leftover lasagna from Friday night. I showered, ate, and then went to Starbucks with my wife for a nice big coffee and then relaxed the night away watching a DVD in the recliner. All in all, it was a great ride and in spite of the rain, a great weekend. I was proud to raise some money for MS and hopefully I can make it back next year to do it again.

Getting Serious Again

The last few weeks have been pretty relaxed on the bike as I haven't really had a structured riding program and have just basically been riding at casual speeds for 2 to 2.5 hours with the exception of my long ride last Sunday. I am now 4 weekends away from the State Crit Championship so Monday I started ramping up my ride intensity again and have gone back to a structured program until the race on the 26th. I did a 42 mile ride on Monday at Endurance pace and pushed it on any hills just to get my legs used to the intensity again. Last night I did a 36 mile ride and did 2 sets of 7 x 30 second Speed Intervals. Speed Intervals are perfect training for criteriums as they simulate the burst coming out of corners and the high cadence that I use during crits. I'll be doing the Speed Intervals again tomorrow so that means tonight will just be a short recovery ride between the two days of intervals. Friday I'll just be doing a short recovery ride as well ahead of the 100 miles I'll be doing on Saturday for the MS150. Sunday will be 75 miles, again for the MS ride and then Monday will be a rest day. I'll do a couple of heavy interval days next week followed by a gradual taper heading in to the race. I'll obviously update my training as the weeks progress towards the race and let you all know how it's going.
Anyways, I'm also back to work today after 5 weeks off for my sabbatical and it's been rough going so far. I was up at 4:50a.m. and in to work by 6:00 and I have a feeling I'm going to sleep pretty good tonight. After long periods of vacation like this companies should allow people to come back gradually, like 2 hours the first day, then 4 hours, 6, and then finally the full 8-9 hours until the employee is fully acclimated again. I'm definitely for this idea but instead I'll be working 11 hours today, tomorrow, and Friday. Good times, good times. Only 16 more days until my next vacation day though, so I've got that to look forward to........until next time.

It's Really August Tomorrow?

Well, July ends today and year seems to be winding down pretty quickly. There is still a lot of cycling left to do though and I'll be riding quite a bit in the next few months. Just to re-cap the last few days I've missed......I rode about 35 miles last Thursday because I didn't want to push it too much with the saddle sores I had. Friday I rode for about 16 miles fairly easy just as a fun ride around Whitnall Park. Saturday morning my saddle sores were completely gone so I did the Drop the Doc ride in Dousman and felt really good, no issues in spite of the humidity and rising temps. It is one of the faster, if not the fastest training rides in the area and supposedly it was a slower day for the group as we averaged 23.5 mph for the 37 mile ride. From what I've heard from a few people it is normally faster than that, and the pace did seem quite comfortable so I have no doubt that they go quite a bit faster on occasions. Normally I would do a longer ride on Sunday as well but I didn't get a chance to bike yesterday as it rained throughout the morning and then we had to go out to my father's house in Burlington for most of the afternoon. We got home in the afternoon and it was my first wedding anniversary yesterday so I spent some time with my wife and we had a great dinner and relaxed with a movie in our recliners, just like an old couple right? I'll make up for yesterday's ride by riding today for about 45-50 miles even though it is supposed to be about 97 degrees with a heat index of about 110. The winds are 20-25 mph so it should make for a fun ride. I like the heat though and I'll take a route with a few County Parks along the way so that I can re-fill my bottles occasionally. Most likely I'll get a lot of things done around the house first and then ride in the late afternoon or evening when it cools down a bit, like to 92 or something. :)
The big ride for me this week will be the MS150 on Saturday and Sunday, in which I'll be riding 100 miles on Saturday and 75 on Sunday. I won't change my training program this week for the ride, I'll just keep riding as usual and will probably go for a short ride the night before even as my friend and co-worker Dave will be staying at my house as we have to be in Waukesha fairly early and he lives in West Bend. We'll take a nice leisurely ride of about 15-20 miles just for the fun of it and then we'll take in a nice pasta dinner and relax before getting some sleep. The MS150 should be a great casual ride and I'm looking forward to it and best of all it is for a good cause and I'm proud to be raising some money to help out. Well, off to do some molding work and door trim in the kitchen, until next time.........

I Hate The French

Surprise, surprise...the French have found a way to try and make another U.S. rider look bad and now we are hearing that Floyd is a doper as well. There was only one positive test this whole Tour and of course it was Floyd's. I'm just stunned right now. I really hope it isn't true and I can't wait to see the results of the B sample and hear what Floyd has to say. This is just crazy.
Anyways, I have been riding the last couple of days, in which I did a 35 mile ride fairly easy on Tuesday and felt a little sluggish but not too bad. Yesterday I did 46 miles at a little higher pace and felt pretty good although I think that I have a saddle sore issue now as during yesterday's ride I had a little discomfort and sitting was a bit troublesome but not to the point where I couldn't ride. Today it is raining right at the moment but I hope to get out yet for a short ride as I can tell I'm on the edge of a full blown saddle sore if I'm not careful and I ride for too long. I really have to be careful now as I have the MS150 next weekend and I'll be doing the 100 and 75 mile rides and there is no way I can afford to have a saddle sore going in to the ride. 175 miles with a saddle sore would probably make me cry like a little baby. Tomorrow I'll be off the bike for a rest day and then I'm still looking at doing the Drop the Doc ride on Saturday morning and a ride with my MS150 teammates on Sunday. Overall, I'm feeling pretty good, I can't wait to get back to some speedwork training after the MS150 as right now I'm just doing rides with no intervals or anything and I need to spice it up a little bit to make it feel like I'm getting a good workout. The Drop the Doc ride should be good for a lung burner and then I'll start my SpeedIntervals after the MS150 on the 6th. Well, that's all for now, I'm sure I'll put out an update on the whole Floyd thing tomorrow once I hear more. Hopefully he releases a statement soon.

I've Come A Long Way

I have to say first of all that although I didn't finish my 24-hour ride the other day I am proud of doing 175 miles in under 10 hours after only being able to ride for 15 minutes at a time when I started training in December. I thought when I started riding again this year that I'd be mediocre at best and would use this year as a base for serious racing next year. So far I think that I'm following that schedule as I've been decent enough in races this year, nothing spectacular yet, but I've also finished every race and have improved all year long. I've decided also to join a team for the rest of this year and next year and will be riding for Team Wisconsin (www.team-wisconsin.com) for the next 2 or 3 races and for 2007. They have a new sponsor coming on for 2007 and have a Masters team that I think can be pretty dominant and I'm looking forward to being a part of the team. I looked at a few different teams and Team Wisconsin seemed to have more of a presence at some of the races, they have an attacking style that I like, they have multiple riders that will be upgrading to the Masters 1/2/3 category within the next year so there wouldn't just be one or two of us toiling away in the races. Team tactics aren't so important and not really necessary in the 4/5 races and even in the Senior 3's races, but since the Masters 1/2/3 races are run together we will be going against some well organized teams, some great riders, and will really need to utilize the gamut of tactics in order to do well and win some races. I feel we can line up with 4-6 really good guys and could be a team that dictates a race. I'm really looking forward to a full 2007 season, should be really fun!
Anyways, as far as riding goes, I didn't ride yesterday although I should have, but I just needed to get some rest as the long ride left my immune system a little compromised and I now have a bit of a cold. My throat hurts, my nose is plugged and I have a constant sinus headache. I pretty much figured this would happen, as the body shuts itself down to repair from the riding it really leaves itself open to sickness. I wanted to ride with the Velocity guys today but feeling the way I do there is no way I'd be able to go fast at all and really don't feel like getting dropped on a training ride today. I need to recover so basically I'll be going out to do about 30 miles at a really easy pace so that I don't tax my body anymore than I need to in order to recover. I'll see how I feel tomorrow but I should be doing about 40-50 miles tomorrow and about the same Thursday. Friday will be a rest day and Saturday if I'm feeling better I will possibly try to hit up the Drop the Doc ride. That's about it for now, time to run errands and do some housework. Until next time.........

Some Pics......

After 145 miles, my dog knows I'm weak so he's trying to schmooze for my PB&J sandwich....

It's the reward not the journey right?????????

Can't Sit....That's It. Sorry.

Well, it's come to the point I've been dreading, I can't sit down anymore and rode my last 15 miles standing up off the seat, which beats the alternative of sitting down. I don't think I can do anymore unless I figure out how to form some sort of device that lets me rest each cheek on something seperately and leaves my boys free of contact. :) I guess for now the final tally is 175 miles in 9 hours and 45 minutes for an average speed of 17.9 which was at 18.4 until the aforementioned last 15 miles when I had to stand and go quite a bit slower. It isn't easy when you aren't riding with a pack or have a rabbit in front of you, so faster would've been better, but after only 8 months of riding that's not too shabby. I'm still happy with that I guess, I sure would've liked to hit 200 miles in less than 12 hours but oh well.......
I have a lot of respect for people that do the 24-hour races, it sure is tough to stay on the seat that long, I think I'll stick to the shorter races for now. Well, I need to go eat now at some place that serves a lot of fat and meats and cheeses and ice cream and chicken tenders, sounds like Dairy Queen to me!!!!!! I grabbed a handful of brown sugar right out of the bag and shoved it in my mouth when I just got back so I know I need big time spread right now. My wife took a few pictures throughout the day, I'll post them later once I get some food in me........happy riding to you all!

Still Going...In A Spot Of Bother Though

As Phil would say, "I am in a spot of bother right now" after 145 miles and 7.5 hours. My stomach is starting to get a little funky so I've cut out solid foods for the time being. I just changed clothes and am having some water and Ensure Plus which is basically a 350 calorie shake with 50 grams of carbs, 11 grams of fat and 13 grams of protein plus lots of vitamins and minerals. I need the calories for sure and the fat will help provide fuel to burn. The carbs will only really be replacing what I've already burned and will not provide much in the way of fuel at the fat-burning pace that I am going at. I'm averaging 18.4 mph after 145 miles, not too shabby with no one to draft off of. I'm getting a little giddy as I think the endorphins are kicking in, little things like the LED numbers on my computer and the sweat stains on my gloves are becoming the most amazing things to me right now. I tried to figure out little animal shapes out of the sweat stains for like 20 minutes. Riding this long really makes you introspective, or crazy. If I'm crazy, then at least I'm one of the happy kinds. Well, off to ride again, there are some cool looking clouds out right now, I think I'll try to find one that looks like a chinchilla.

5 hours down

Well, I'm 5 hours in to my 24-hour ride that may only last 12 hours, we'll see. I've got 4.5 hours of riding in and 30 minutes of rest and I'm at 85 miles. The list of sore body parts....arse, neck, quads, other than that I'm good. I'm just about to go back out for my 30 miles loops of which I'll do 2 laps and then I'll probably take a break. That will put me at about 8.5 - 9 hours total and 8 hours on the bike. I'll have 145 miles at that point and then I'll see how I'm feeling. Right now I just had a quick shower, changed clothes and ate a little bit.......Here is how I look after 85 miles.... How many monkeys can dance on my head? I'll let you know after 60 more miles.

Like the cornrows????

Enjoying My Time Off

Life has been good the last few weeks on my sabbatical, I'm really enjoying my time off of work, and I really don't want to go back!!! I've done a lot of work on the house and there is more to do everyday, I could work all year and still not get it all done. I'm sure my wife would agree with that! I've been riding some this week but not too much, I rode Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday all about 40-45 mile rides. I won't ride today although I might just hop on the bike for an informal stroll around the neighborhood because it's nice and cool out. Tomorrow I'll ride for about 50-55 miles at just a leisurely Endurance Mile pace and then Sunday at 7:00a.m. I start my own little race. I'm going to try to see how many miles I can get in from 7:00a.m Sunday until 7:00a.m. Monday morning with quite a few breaks of course as I've never done a 24-hour ride before. I'm going to start at my house and do my 45 mile loop twice for starters and then I'll take a break for lunch and a little nap. I'll change clothes and then I'll reverse the course and do it again backwards two times. I'll come back for dinner, a longer nap, a change of clothes and then I'll do my small 18 mile loop until it gets dark. After it gets dark I'll go down to a small 3 mile loop within my neighborhood and I'll take a break at about 10:00 or so and change clothes, nap again, eat, and then continue on until about midnight. At this point I'm sure I'll be thoroughly wasted and will decide whether to rest or keep going, I'll try not to sleep though as I'll probably not get up if I lay down. If I keep going I'll try to rest every two hours until 7:00a.m. and then I'm sure I'll sleep most of Monday to recover. I'm just doing this for fun and as a personal challenge and I don't know that I'll even be able to ride past 5:00 in the evening but I'm definitely going to give it a go. If anything the miles I put in will be good training for the 100/75 double I have coming up for the MS150 in 2 weeks. After that I'll be cutting back miles again to do speedwork for the State Criterium Championships at the end of August. Well, back to doing some yardwork, gotta mow the lawn and spread some more mulch in the flower beds. Until next time.......

Taking It Easy...Sort Of.

Well, sorry for the lack of posts lately but just been really busy with housework, landscaping, etc. on my sabbatical. After my last race at Whitnall Park on Wednesday, the 12th, I just kind of took it easy to recover from the 3 days of racing. Obviously feeling disappointed with my results I just decided to stay off the bike for 2 days and didn't ride on Thursday or Friday. Saturday I rode for about an hour at a pretty easy pace to Whitnall Park and back, about 16 miles, so yeah, I averaged 16 mph, it was that easy. Sunday I did a more difficult ride and went to Muskego and back via Tans Rd. which was fun since there is a nice 1 mile long climb that gets steep near the top and really burns the legs. I did this route in anticipation of the race that I was supposed to do on Monday, the Holy Hill Road Race, in order to get the legs primed and ready to go. Ultimately Monday morning when I woke up at 6:00 a.m. to get ready to race I decided my head wasn't in it and I figured it was better to stay home. I didn't ride at all and did about 10 straight hours of work around the house and worked on my landscaping which I have to say was probably harder than the race as after about 3 hours of digging holes I lost about 1-2 lbs. of fluid in the 96 degree heat. Later in the day I checked the results of the race and saw the announcement that a rider had been killed during my race as a result of a collision with a truck. My heart sunk and I was just stunned by the news. I didn't recognize the name but when someone.... anyone.... even those that you do not know, lose their life so young, it's really disheartening and very hard to imagine what their family is going through. My prayers go out to the family of Aaron Bieberitz and I hope they know that the cycling community is very close and we all carry a heavy heart today. I've been struck twice by cars while riding and was able to get up and ride or walk home. I know what it is to be "lucky", as either of those days could've been the end of my life, I wish the tragedy that happened yesterday could've been....would've been Aaron's "lucky" day.....God bless Aaron and his family.

Peaking? Um, No.......

Well, I was supposed to be peaking this week for SuperWeek but my schedule got a little messed up the last couple of weeks and I didn't taper as well as I had planned. It sounds like it would be easy to just ride less and take it easy right? Well, as it turns out I probably worked a little harder on the bike than I should've and I'm just worn out right now I think. Yesterday at Alpine Valley I had some major quadriceps cramping and couldn't push on the flats at all, the hills were fine though because I could stand and stretch. Unfortunately I lost the pack after they hit the gas on a hill because I couldn't sit and push a big gear without my quads screaming, so ultimately I ended up in 23rd place. Decent enough I guess but that was out of the 33 that finished the race from 50-something starters, so I was only 10 from the end. Oh well. Today at Lyons MGA I felt really good but they had a really strict yellow line rule in effect and I couldn't get position until the last lap so I basically sat in the pack and just hung out the whole race. On the last lap I managed to move in to the top 10-15 going up the hill before we turned in to the MGA Proving grounds but as we were going through the grounds I almost hit a matressed-wrapped pole because the pack didn't expect a sharp S-turn at the bottom of the hill and everyone slammed the brakes. 10 guys went around me as I had to slow down to avoid the pole and then I pretty much kept my position to the finish and I ended up somewhere between 20 and 25 in the results. I just checked the results on the web site and they don't have anything posted yet but I should know by tomorrow morning although it doesn't really matter in terms of points or money. Tomorrow is the Whitnall Park circuit race, a 2.3 mile loop that we do about 15 times, and it should be a fun race as it's essentially a closed course with some rolling hills and wide enough for the safety of the pack and to make some attacks. Since it's my last race this week I probably should try to do something instead of just sucking ass but we'll see how the legs feel. Right now they are a little sore but I think they'll be good for tomorrow. A top 10 finish would be nice after having 2 disappointing showings thus far, but I've done nothing to prove yet that I'm in any shape to be a top 10 finisher. Maybe it'll be my day, who knows........

All in all I'd have to say that this year has been a little below my expectations so far but I guess I should be disappointed. The level of competition is higher now than when I initially raced, the Cat 4/5s race like the 3s used to and from what I've seen the 3s and Pro 1/2s look faster now as well. Obviously when I move up to Master 1/2/3s I'll be able to better judge the speed but from the looks of it they are flying. I've been there and done that before, no reason I can't do it again, I just need to build up for next year, it hasn't been so easy this time around, that's for sure. In the next few weeks I'll be doing some long training rides for the MS150 and I've only planned 2 more races for the rest of the year, the 3rd Ward Criterium and the State Criterium Championships. Other than that, I'll just keep riding for next year and do some nice relaxed touring rides and just enjoy being on the bike. Until next time.........

Busy, Busy, Busy

Sorry for the lack of posts, been extremely busy around the house. Just been relaxing pretty much and doing some yard work and today I installed a new back door on the house. The riding has been fairly short and I'm just basically resting up for SuperWeek which starts for me on Monday at Alpine Valley. I'm feeling o.k. but not great, we'll see how I do Monday but I'm really looking forward to the race on Tuesday in my hometown of Burlington. The roads we are racing on were the roads I trained on for a good 8 to 10 years, the course starts about 2 miles from my dad's house. Well, I gotta keep it short today, I'm still not quite packed for our trip to Governor Dodge State Park from tomorrow morning until Sunday. Well, I'll update ya'll Sunday when I get back.

Bad result, Not Quite There Yet

Well, today was my last tune-up race before SuperWeek starts for me on the 10th and I should've been feeling really good and been near top form but I wasn't near where I wanted to be today. I ended up in 11th place in today's Elm Grove Criterium in a bunch sprint and would've been even further back had I not passed 3 or 4 guys with my suddenly improving sprint finish. The last 3 or 4 races my sprint has improved quite a bit and I am now passing guys in the finish instead of getting passed by just about everybody. Unfortunately my plan didn't work out today to attack the race and go for the win because my legs just weren't on top form, no other excuse than that. I went to the front and led the pack a few times but when I tried to push the pace to test myself I could tell my legs weren't really responding well. Part of the problem was that my schedule got messed up this week with the rain on Wednesday not allowing me to ride. I was supposed to do intervals Tuesday and Wednesday and then have an easy day Thursday. Instead I did intervals on Tuesday, rode for an hour on the rollers Wednesday at Endurance Pace and then did intervals on Thursday instead. Friday I only did a short 20 minute Recovery Ride because I worked late and spent time with the family. Training this week just wasn't optimal for my race today, and hopefully the weather will cooperate the next week or two so that I'll be good to go for SuperWeek. Anyways, my plan today was to attack on the last lap up a hill before the final bend but unfortunately a Wheel & Sprocket guy went with 2 laps to go and the pack caught him on the last lap right before the hill, so of course everyone pushed it right away and we were just going way to fast to make a go of it. I had good position though and was still able to pass a few people for 11th. After having 3 horrible placings to start the year....20th, 26th, 32nd I've turned it around the last 4 races with placings of 3rd, 18th, 8th, and 11th. The 18th place was an anomaly because in that race I attacked on the last lap and the pack caught me and I was too blown for the sprint. I've moved up from 21st to 12th as of last week in the Wisconsin Cup standings and with my 5th place today in the 30+ age group I should now be in the top 10. Not too shabby for a guy who hasn't ridden a bike in 3 or 4 years. Well, here's a couple pics from today's race, we had a pretty decent size field....