Problem Solved?

I went to see the doctor (also licensed chiro) today about my knee and turns out I had a completely twisted hip that was pulling my left leg up and back causing an on-the-bike leg length discrepancy of 1/2 inch. I got adjusted and that took care of the leg length issue and straighted out my hips. What was happening was that my left hip was being pulled back and up so the top of my left leg was being pointed outward from the hip to the knee. In my pedaling motion I was trying to keep my foot straight so the bottom of my leg from knee to foot was pointing in. Obviously when part of your leg is going one way and the other part is going the other way there is going to be an issue. Basically my leg was being twisted by my asymmetrical hips. So with that supposedly being solved as I walked out of the doctor's office this afternoon I couldn't wait to get on the bike tonight. I took out the wedges that I had built up under the left cleat to compensate for my short left leg and started to ride away. I rode for 2hrs 45 minutes and was virtually pain free, it was really great to finally be able to ride the bike again without constantly thinking about the knee pain. Now I have to see how long this will last, the doctor said the adjustment should be permanent but I may have to go back eventually. He said it may have been caused by any sort of trauma or just the way I've been sitting in a cubicle for the last 10 years. I did have a good crash last year on the bike, slipped on some ice this winter, but that's about it for trauma so not sure quite what did it. I'm happy either way for right now. Well, I'm keeping it short, gotta get some sleep. Until next time.......

Still Feeling Good

So after Saturday night's ride I put some FlexAll cream on the knee and took a couple of ibuprofen and everything felt great when I woke up on Sunday morning and I was ready to ride again. I did some errands and cleaned up a bit around the house and then got on the bike in the evening after dinner. I stretched quite a bit and then jumped on the trainer for 3 hours, a little less than I wanted to do but it was already pretty late by the time I finished so I wasn't disappointed to skip the last 30 minutes. I put some more FlexAll on the knee and again took some more ibuprofen and all was good. I kept a fairly high cadence again and kept the gearing pretty easy so I didn't really stress the knees too much at all. I feel really good this morning and can't wait to test out the knees again tomorrow as today is a rest day on the bike. I will still be doing some stretching and light weight work tonight in the fitness center concentrating mainly on stretching out the hamstrings and doing some weight work with the hips and I'll also be doing some ab work. The rest of the week will be spent on the trainer as we got dumped on this weekend with about 10 inches of snow so the trainer schedule looks like this: Tues. - 2.5hrs, Wed. - 2hrs, Thurs. - 2.5hrs, Frid. - 1hr, and then I'll decide what the weekend holds after I get a better idea of what the weather is going to do. I'll also be doing weights on Wednesday and Friday in addition to tonight's workout.
Other than that the racing season is coming up pretty quickly, only a month from Thursday will be the first race and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm not really worried too much about how the first race is going to play out, everybody will probably be in about the same form and I'm sure most of us will just use it to see where we are at compared to everyone else. Considering that the first race is only a month away I'm disappointed that I still haven't been able to get on my new bike yet but I still have a couple things left to buy before I can put it together. I'm going to need a new rear derailleur and also brakes for the new rig so I have to start looking on eBay to find them otherwise I'll have to go to Ben's Cycle to order some if nothing pops up. I can't wait to get the new bike on the road, it would be nice to ride it at least a couple of times before the first race! Well, that's it for now, until next time......

Getting It Done

Well, I've been away for a couple of days but it was a good break to actually get things done around the house and to re-assess some of my program. The last few days have been pretty busy and yesterday was actually a really good day for me as I accomplished a lot on the house and also managed to get in a long ride. Since Wednesday evening I've managed to clear up some of the nagging things around the house and still stick to my program for the most part. There are still quite a few things to do around the house but those will get done over time and I'm willing to put some of the things off for a while just so I have a good balance of house time and biking. Just to give a history, we bought our house in New Berlin two years ago this month and although it's a very nice house at a bit over $200,000 we still needed to put a lot of work in to it because the previous owners neglected quite a few things and did a half-ass job on the few things that they did upgrade. So I've been re-doing the kitchen for a while now and will basically re-do the family room, living room, bedrooms and the garage. Obviously I'm not going to re-build all those rooms but basically upgrade the carpeting with slate or better carpeting, re-paint the walls, add more insulation, re-do the baseboard molding....those kinds of things. We've already put in all new windows in every room, and new exterior doors and storm doors. So as you can see, it's a lot of work and that's the reason I've been stressing out a bit. We'll be here a while though so I've decided not too worry too much about it any more.
Anyways, in spite of all that I've managed to get some weight work done and get in some bike practice. Thursday evening I went to the fitness center after work and did a lot of stretching for my knees and hamstrings and did high rep/low weight sets on the weight machines. After I got home I rode on the trainer in an easy gear for 1 hour 45 minutes at an easy pace just to take it easy on the knees. Friday evening I did the same stretching and weight work routine and then went out to dinner with some friends. Yesterday wasn't really a good day to ride outside so I hit the trainer in the evening for a 3 hour 30 minute ride. Yeah I know, so much for taking it easy right? Well I actually rode an easy gear again just to keep the knees feeling good and really had no problems at all. The point of the ride was just to get some good hours in the saddle and I did just that so I'm happy. Today I'm planning the same thing, 3.5 hours on the trainer this evening after a trip to Home Depot to get some supplies. I'll take it easy again and hopefully have another relatively pain-free ride. Tomorrow is a rest day on the bike but I will do my stretching and weights again and then will hit the bike again Tuesday. Well, in spite of the weather, my motivation is still right up there, I just have to maybe take it easy with the big gears for a week or two and then I'll get back in to the heavier workouts. I'm going to the doc on Tuesday to have some structural stuff checked like leg-length discrepancy and pelvis asymmetry so maybe he'll find something.
I've got to get going here pretty quickly though, my other teamates are putting me to shame with a nice 80mile + ride this past week out by Alpine Valley and Lake Geneva. Look out for Team Wheaton this year! Well, time to brave this snow and get to Home Depot, until next time........

Is It Worth It?

Sometimes I don't think that all the money, pain, and time I invest in cycling is worth it, not when it seems like it creates strains in other areas of my life. Right now I'm at a point where I'd almost just rather quit than to try and juggle all the time and needs of cycling around my family life. I also have really bad knees, especially the left one, that give me constant pain that is becoming more difficult to deal with and I'm not sure I want to deal with that anymore. I have been really motivated to ride this year and really want to race but a lot of other things aren't getting done because of the time I have to, or want to spend riding. My wife is in nursing school right now and between working part time, classes, studying, and clinicals which start in two weeks, she is really not available to help out as much as she used to. I have to take up a lot of the slack at home and taking our son to his activities and making dinner and all that good stuff. It's difficult to take care of that stuff and then have to ride at 8:00 at night until 10:00 or 10:30 and then get to bed at a reasonable time.
Basically it's just a matter of not enough hours in the day and the fact that I've made cycling a priority and neglected other things. I'm sure I can fix the knee issue eventually so I'm not too worried about that, although last night was difficult to ride. I did manage 2 hours on the trainer but my left knee was hurting pretty bad, I rode just to spite the pain, and was pretty much pissed off the whole time I rode because I can't get rid of it. It's all starting to wear on me a bit and I've got some decisions to make. I'm not sure I'm going to bike the rest of the week, I just need to catch up on a few things around the house, maybe I'll re-evaluate things next week and see where to go from there. Until next time.............

The Blah's of Winter

It's February in Wisconsin and that means the weather can be crappy or it could be good enough to ride, and in most cases it is both in a single day. Well, this week it appears that it will be nice through Thursday with temps of 38 and 39 degrees for Wednesday and Thursday and sun both days. That doesn't help me at all as I'm confined to a cubicle those days and of course when the weekend comes it is going to be crappy....at least that's what they are saying now. It appears the weather is going to take a turn for the worst on Friday and be a snow/rain mix from Friday until next Wednesday. I really wanted to get to Devil's Lake this weekend but I think now I'm going to tentatively plan to stick around here instead and hope that the weather breaks at some point on Saturday long enough to ride for 4 or 5 hours. I'm not willing to drive 3 hours round trip just to get in some big hills when it could be raining the whole time. If need be, I'll just have to hit the trainer Saturday and then do some work around the house. We'll see what happens though, the weather here changes every other day, I might get lucky, but I think either way I'm sticking around here now.
Anyways, yesterday was a good day of training and it was the last day of my regeneration week and I'm feeling good and ready to rock for the next 3 weeks with some heavy riding. Yesterday I went to CrankDaddy's Bike Shop to ride the Computrainers with my friend Dave and once I stopped being pissed about all the freeway construction we actually had a pretty good ride. Rode for about 90 minutes there and then I came home and rode for about another 40 minutes on the trainer at night just to clean out the legs. We picked a course on the Computrainer with a good size hill and I tried to go up it at a fairly quick pace and the cooldown after that wasn't the greatest. I figured I'd ride a little extra at night just to get the blood flowing and clean out the junk in the legs. They feel great today so it was probably a good idea. Tonight is weights and I'll be upping my weight I think another 10lbs and will still stick to my 4 sets at 7-9 reps. Tomorrow is 2.5 hours on the trainer, Wed. is 2 hours, Thurs. is 2.25 hours, and Friday is a 1 hour recovery ride. Like I said earlier, I'm hoping to do 4.5 to 5 hours on Saturday and 3.5 to 3.75 hours on Sunday.
So on another note, how about that Tour of California prologue yesterday? Pretty cool how Jason Donald almost stuck it to the big boys, it looks like Levi is in great shape though and will be tough to beat. I think the deciding stage will be the TT, maybe one of the true TT guys like Zabriskie or Cancellara will come to the front, should be fun to see.
Basically the next week will be watching the ToC, riding the bike and working on the house. The last few weekends I haven't done as much as I should be in getting my kitchen complete. All the big stuff is done, it's the little stuff that I've been neglecting like finishing the molding, the backsplash, and finishing up some electrical stuff. I've either been busy or just too tired after work, but I really need to get it done before Spring as once the weather gets better I'll be outside biking all the time!
Until next time..........

Not Much Going On......

It's been a pretty slow week for the most part as it's been a regeneration week and my riding has been on schedule but of course the volume has been pretty low. I'm feeling pretty good overall but have had some fit issues again on the bike, not sure what is going on again but I'm having a bit of pain in my left knee and don't really feel balanced on the bike. I'm going to see a structural specialist next week to get my back cracked and have my symmetry checked and all that good stuff. I know I have a leg length discrepancy and I have some hip drop so I hope to get those remedied.
As far as riding goes I did 2.5 hours on the trainer today while watching The Departed, which was a really good movie so it was easy to ride and it made the time go by quickly. Tomorrow I'll be doing 2 hours on the Computrainer at CrankDaddys and then Monday is a rest day. I'm starting 3 weeks of a good training block on Tuesday and then I'll get a break when I go to Florida for work the week of the 7th I believe. Well, it's time to go to bed, not much going on now, it's a pretty slow time of year as I'm just riding and waiting for racing to start. Until next time.............

Not Much Going On......

It's been a pretty slow week for the most part as it's been a regeneration week and my riding has been on schedule but of course the volume has been pretty low. I'm feeling pretty good overall but have had some fit issues again on the bike, not sure what is going on again but I'm having a bit of pain in my left knee and don't really feel balanced on the bike. I'm going to see a structural specialist next week to get my back cracked and have my symmetry checked and all that good stuff. I know I have a leg length discrepancy and I have some hip drop so I hope to get those remedied.
As far as riding goes I did 2.5 hours on the trainer today while watching The Departed, which was a really good movie so it was easy to ride and it made the time go by quickly. Tomorrow I'll be doing 2 hours on the Computrainer at CrankDaddys and then Monday is a rest day. I'm starting 3 weeks of a good training block on Tuesday and then I'll get a break when I go to Florida for work the week of the 7th I believe. Well, it's time to go to bed, not much going on now, it's a pretty slow time of year as I'm just riding and waiting for racing to start. Until next time.............

Slippin' and Slidin' and Hurtin'

I'm in a bit of pain today as I slipped yesterday in my company parking lot and wrenched by back when I was trying to catch myself from falling. I did manage to stay upright but when I stiffened every muscle in an attempt to keep from landing on my ass I caused a bit of pain in my lower back. It hurts most when I'm standing so it's a good thing I sit all day at work and I get to sit to ride a bike. I was able to ride bike yesterday as scheduled and luckily I didn't have to do any secondary exercise like fast pedaling or intervals. I've had a heating pad on it all day at work today and I'm going to try to lift weights tonight but we'll see how that goes, I might quit in pretty quick order if my back starts to spasm again. I'll be riding the bike tonight as well, and shouldn't have any problem with that but I'm a bit worried about the Muscle Tension intervals I'm supposed to be doing as I use my back muscles quite a bit for those. Again, I'll ride but the MT intervals may have to wait until tomorrow night. Tomorrow I have 30 minutes of Tempo scheduled so I'll probably move that to Friday and do my intervals tomorrow, we'll see how I feel I guess.
I've been keeping an eye on the weather and Saturday is supposed to be 28 with a chance of snow, so I'm keeping an eye on that and might be able to get outside on Saturday. Sunday I'm going to be inside no matter what as I'm going with my friend Dave to CrankDaddy's to ride the Computrainers, I'm really looking forward to that as I've never done the simulator before, should be fun. Next week the weather really takes a turn for the better with temps in the mid to upper 30s so I'll be looking forward to riding outside again if I don't get out Saturday. I'm hoping to do 4-5 hours on the 24th at Devil's Lake assuming that we don't get anymore snow to mess up the roads. I've got a nice route around Devil's Lake that has 4200ft. of climbing for 65 miles with two 600ft. climbs and two 300ft. climbs which is better than anything we'll find out here. I've got to start small before I start repeats up Blue Mounds next month so Devil's Lake is a good place to start in a week or so. Well, I've got to stretch to see if I can manage lifting weights otherwise I'm heading home to eat and ride the bike. Until next time.............

Under The Weather...Riding Anyways

So I rode Saturday outside for a couple of hours and then inside for 1.5 hours on the trainer immediately afterwards and I think riding outside got to me a little bit, because I'm a little under the weather. I started feeling a little crappy Saturday night and woke up Sunday morning with a very achy body, headache, and sore throat so I decided that as much as I wanted to hit Lake Geneva it was in my best interest to medicate and go back to bed. There is no sense in riding a day in February when it's freezing outside and then missing a week because I got even more sick. I ended up sleeping most of the afternoon and was feeling a bit better Sunday night but still went to bed early because I was still pretty wiped out. I had a scheduled vacation day today from work so I slept in a bit, got up and ate some breakfast, and then went back to bed until lunchtime. I started feeling better by then for the most part as the aches went away but the sore throat remained a little bit. I decided that since I didn't have anything in my sinuses or chest I should probably make up some of yesterday's ride by hitting the trainer. I was going to just start slow and then decide how far to go based on how I felt and as I was riding I started to feel pretty good so I rode for 3 hours this afternoon. I'm still an hour short of what I was scheduled for yesterday, but at this point I don't care, it's better to just recover from whatever little ailment I had yesterday and move on. This is another regeneration week for me so it's going to be any easy week anyways which will help me get back to 100%. Tomorrow is going to be 1.5 hours on the trainer, Wednesday is only an hour, Thursday is 1.75 hours, Friday is an hour, Saturday is 2.5 and Sunday is 2. That's the general program for the week, I'll update each day's specifics as the week goes by. After this week's rest week I've got a couple of big weeks scheduled and then the week of March 5th I have an involuntary rest as I have to go to Florida for 4 and a half days for work. Well, time to go sit in the recliner and rest up a bit, until next time.............

Cold Is Not Fun....

Well, maybe it's a little fun especially when you get to use a cyclocross bike and cruise through the snow on the Root River Parkway. Today I rode outside and it was pretty cold, but not uncomfortably cold as I bundled up quite well and managed to ride for 2 hours outside before heading home to ride another 1.5 hours on the trainer. Really the only reason that I came home was that my waterbottles froze after 20 minutes and I had no water, which is obviously important in spite of the fact that I wasn't sweating too much. I went from my house down to the Root River Parkway to find a snowed over trail so luckily I had my cyclocross bike and I just kept on going. I was not sliding too much as I kept my ass planted on the seat and the knobbies did the rest biting in to the snow quite well but I have to say my upper body got beat up a bit from all the ruts made by pedestrians. I rode on the Root River Parkway over to the Botanical Gardens and did a loop around that part of Whitnall Park and then made my way through some neighborhoods and back on to the trail eventually to head home. I got back to my house after 2 hours and my bottles were frozen solid, so I grabbed a new bottle, changed clothes and jumped on the trainer for another 1.5 hours just to warm up and get in a longer ride. So today's total was 3.5 hours which was 15 minutes short of my scheduled ride time but I'm just happy to be warm. Tomorrow it is supposed to be fairly cold in the morning and warm up to like 20 by noon and then a high of 27 by 3:00. There is a chance of flurries in the morning but that shouldn't stop me from heading out to Lake Geneva where hopefully I'll do 3 laps around the lake, for about a 4 hour ride. The cold affects my knees quite a bit and the hills are the bone-grinding steep kind so if my knees hurt after 2 laps I'll do some flat miles away from the lake to save whatever I have left so that I'm not limping like a baby by the end of the ride. I'm bringing my Camelback tomorrow to avoid the whole frozen waterbottle thing, so I'll have no problem in that regards, and I'll keep a couple of bottles wrapped up in the car as well for my last lap as the CB will probably be empty after the first couple of laps. Well, that's about it, time for some sleep, hopefully to rest up for a nice ride tomorrow. Until next time..........

Blogger

So I switched to the new Blogger version, I noticed that it had this morning's post showing as Thursday, but it is from Friday. When I refer to tomorrow in the previous post it means Saturday.......just an FYI

Ride Outside?........Just Maybe

So the weather guys are saying that Sunday could possibly hit 24 degrees and that means I'm riding outside for sure. I think I'm going to have to head out to Lake Geneva and if the weather holds I'll be doing 4 hours, 3 loops around the lake, about 75 miles. At least I have that to look forward to this weekend as it appears that Saturday is only going to be about 15-17 degrees, just not warm enough to ride outside for me, but we'll see, maybe I'll drink a bottle of JD and go out anyways. I can see that by the end of next week it appears that the temps are going to go up again to the upper 20s and low 30s so I'm excited about that. So anyways, last night was not quite the night I expected for training as it was my friend Jason's birthday and he is going to be gone this weekend so last night was the only night we could celebrate. I hate to say it but I skipped training last night and went out for dinner with him and his wife and my family. I missed riding the bike but friends take priority and it's nice to take a little break every now and then to spend time with them. I had a couple good size beers last night as well with dinner so that didn't help in the weight loss area, but I'll work that off this weekend as I will be riding a lot and have a lot of work to do around the house that will help burn some calories as well.
Now that I skipped last night's training, let's move on to the stuff that I won't be skipping out on, as far as I know anyways. Tonight is weight work with my friend Dave, and then I'll be doing a fairly easy one hour spin on the rollers. Tomorrow I'll be doing 3.75 hours most likely inside but if I can manage getting out at all tomorrow I'll certainly try, like I said it's going to be cold. I might be able to suck it up for and hour and a half or two hours outside and then move inside for the remainder but we'll see. Sunday it's going to be a little better and I will most certainly be riding outside, hopefully for about 4 hours barring any change in temps. So that's about it, can't wait for the opportunity to ride outside again after a couple of weeks indoors, and if I don't get outside you might see me get a little crazy by next week. I'll update again tomorrow with a post that hopefully says I got outside for at least a little bit otherwise I'll be posting some rant about the trainer again. Until next time......

Dare I Say It?

I rode the trainer today for 2.5 hours and felt great, I actually didn't mind riding it for some reason, what the hell is happening to me?! I think it's just because we got the practically 100%, set in stone WCA calendar today, and that got me a bit motivated to know that the first race is less than 60 days away. I got home, ate, and then after about 20 minutes jumped right on the trainer, ready to ride with not even a second thought of what I was going to watch on TV. Normally I pick out a movie but tonight I just winged it and watch some different shows and actually put on some music-on-demand channels to listen to some tunes. I did a decent warmup and then rode Tempo for 40 minutes, and then did a little more riding at normal pace before cooling down. The time went really quick and I felt really good. Tomorrow was supposed to be a ride of 1.75 hours with some weights but instead a couple of us have decided to go over to a teammate's house to do some LT testing and maximum absolute power testing on a CycleOps, I'm really looking forward to that. My numbers probably won't be that great but it's just going to be good to get some solid stats to relate to what I've been doing since I don't have anything at home or on my bike to measure power (watts). We can then use those measurements to track our progress as we do some more training in the next couple of months which is obviously a little more scientific versus just saying I "think" I'm stronger or not. Depending on how long it takes I'll probably come home and ride a bit more just to clean out the legs as our efforts will be pretty difficult and I'd hate to be sore and have dead legs the next day. Thursday is 2.25 hours on the trainer at Endurance Pace, no secondary workouts. So, it's late, have to get to bed, until next time.........

My Pal Erik Bruekink

So yesterday as I sat on my trainer for the 3rd hour I thought back to a question that Adrian Karsten or John Eustice asked Erik Bruekink during the 1990 Tour De Trump, "how do you deal with the boredom of riding for so long day after day?"....Erik's response was, "what das dat meeeean, bordum?" Well, I'll tell you Erik, it means riding on a trainer in your basement for 3+ hours in front of a TV screen but you aren't moving and you sweat like crazy and there is nothing to watch on a Sunday afternoon except old DVDs that you've already seen 20-30 times. That, my friend, is boredom.
I did manage to ride 3.25 hours on the trainer yesterday and unbelievably I did not die from boredom as I though was possible in my post on Friday. So my weekend total was 6.25 hours, not quite the 7 hours I had hoped but oh well, it was all I could do to stay sane. I hear the trick to putting up with the sanity of riding inside is to get a cool CompuTrainer. Well, they cost $1500, so minus the cash I have set aside for bike stuff this year, I only need another, um, $1500. Maybe next year I could put that in the family budget.
So anyways, tonight is weight work and a rest day on the bike. I'll go home, eat a good dinner after weights and then relax for the remainder of the night. I'm looking forward to going to bed tonight for the light show that my dog puts on in the dark. He usually sleeps on the bed at our feet and when the lights are out and he moves, the static electricity creates a really cool light show and of course freaks him out a little bit. He also gets up in the morning with his hair sticking straight up, threatening to shock anything that gets near him, it's pretty fun to run away from him as he unknowingly zaps me every time he gets next to me. Yeah, it's not that exciting but when it's this dry and cold, there isn't much else to get excited about right? Until next time.......

Sweating Buckets....Inside

So it's been about as cold as they said it was going to be, right now it's -3 with a wind chill of -26 so needless to say I did not ride outside yesterday and will not be riding outside today. I had a pretty enjoyable day yesterday, I got quite a bit done around the house and rode on the trainer for 3 hours in the afternoon. It was a long 3 hours and that was about my limit for boredom as I hit 3 hours exactly and jumped right off, more than happy to be done for the day. I did a bit of Tempo work, about 40 minutes worth and the rest was basically at Endurance Pace. The rest of the evening was spent by the fireplace with a good book and a bottle of vino, I actually stayed up pretty late, until about 1:30 which is the longest I've stayed up in about 2 months. I got up a little later this morning, about 9:30, and had a nice breakfast of blueberry pancakes and a peppermint latte. I've got some logs going now in the fireplace and will start some housework shortly and then will probably ride later in the day, starting right before the Super Bowl. I'll ride during the game and will do another 3 hours today, hopefully it will be a close game and I won't think too much about the trainer. Today will be another short Tempo workout, 40 minutes again, and the rest will all be Endurance Pace.
In the next few weeks I'll be concentrating mainly on getting in some miles and doing some Tempo work and will also be increasing the weight on my lifting days starting tomorrow. The 10-day forecast looks pretty crappy with no temperatures even close to 20 degrees until at least next week Sunday, hopefully that will change as the week progresses otherwise it will be another weekend of riding inside.
On the team front, we should be getting our new team kits hopefully within the next month, which would be great especially if the weather doesn't change much. I've got a winter riding jacket and some winter bib shorts coming and they would definitely come in handy sooner than later. We are also having a team get-together on Friday, the 16th so if anyone from the team is reading this and thinking about skipping out, please go and catch up with some of the old guys and meet the new guys. This team is somewhat rare in that we haven't met as a team in any capacity since November of last year, on all my previous teams there was at least a bi-monthly meeting, if not monthly. I know it's a bit different with a team of mostly Masters racers because they all have jobs and families to attend to, but I don't think it's asking too much to meet once every, what, 3 months. When you join a team you make a commitment, and it's not like this team asks for a lot so hopefully everyone who doesn't have a previous commitment that night will show up....that's my two-cents. Well, time to get some stuff done around the house so I'm ready to ride later....until next time..............

Time To Hibernate

So the cold air mass is here that we've been hearing about all week and temps are going to dip to single digits for highs this weekend and -5 to -10 for lows overnight. Obviously for me that means that I won't be riding outside but will be staying inside all weekend. I'm trying to think if there is any reason at all to venture out of the house this weekend and I can't think of a single thing. Other than cycling I'm going to sit around in front of the TV and fireplace and just relax this weekend. I've got a book I've been wanting to read for the last few weeks and I think I'll just prop myself on the couch with the fire going and some beer and read for a few hours at a time. My wife won't mind because I'm sure she'll be right next to me studying for one of her nursing classes, and of course our needy dog will be between us as well.
Well, on to the biking stuff.....my riding has gone exactly as scheduled this week and I'm feeling great! Tuesday I did 2.25 hours on the trainer, Wednesday was weights and 1.75 hours on the trainer with 6x5min Muscle Tension intervals, Thursday was 2.25 hours on the trainer with 40 minutes of Tempo, and tonight will be weights and a 1 hour recovery ride. I feel great overall right now, no pains in my knees, no muscle soreness, and surprisingly I haven't been sick in a long time.....no colds, no flu, no sore throat, so I must be doing something right. Tomorrow I'll be doing 3.75 hours on the trainer (hopefully I can do that without dying of boredom) and then Sunday will be 3.25 hours on the trainer with 50 minutes of Tempo (if I'm not dead). I'm not looking forward to riding for 7 hours on the trainer this weekend but I've got plenty of movies and lots of bike races that are on the DVR, I should be good to go. Well, hope you all stay warm, until next time.....


Frodo can't wait to sit by the fireplace!!

I Love The Trainer

I'm kidding.....I hate the trainer but it appears I will be on it for at least the next two weeks straight due to work and the weather so I'm convincing myself that I love it. During the week I work until 5:00 so obviously riding outdoors won't work and this weekend the temps are only supposed to hit single digits and maybe the teens for highs. That means that I'll be riding indoors this week, this weekend, next week, and then the first chance I get to ride outdoors would be next weekend, the 10th and 11th. Hopefully the weather will be nice that weekend as I'm sure I'll have major cabin fever and will have to ride no matter what the conditions are outside. So anyways, this week will be trainer rides consisting of 2.25 hrs tonight, 1.75 hrs tomorrow with Muscle Tension intervals, 2.25 hrs on Thursday with 40 minutes of Tempo and then a 1 hr recovery ride on Friday. Saturday is supposed to be 3.75 hrs outdoors but if I have to move it indoors I'll probably lower it to 3 or 3.25 just to save some of my sanity as I'll have to do it again on Sunday, which will probably only be 3-3.25 hrs as well. I did my weight work yesterday and felt great doing that and so far today my legs are ready to go for tonight's ride. Starting tonight I'm going to try to incorporate some more stretching on a daily basis before and after my rides and also will try to do some ab work on a daily basis which I normally avoid. I'm pretty flexible but I've been doing some reading and found some cycling-specific stretches that I'd like to try out so that's why I'm going to add more stretching to my normal routine. I still have knee issues occassionally and will try out these new stretches to see if they help alleviate some of the pain. Other than that, I'm happy to report that I have not yet gotten sick from my venture out in to the snow on Saturday, I was holding out hope that I didn't kill myself too much and weaken the immune system and it seems that I'm still 100% healthy. I've been taking Zinc and drinking lots of Green Tea since then so maybe that helped. Let's see, what else..... my weight is staying steady, still at 183 as of this morning but I can tell I've defined my muscles a bit more so I'm guessing I've lost some fat but replaced the weight with a bit more muscle. I think I can still lose about 8-9 more pounds to be at racing weight for this year which I hope will be 174-175, but we'll see, I'd be happy with 177. Well, that's it for now, until next time.......

Snow Be Damned....I Rode Anyways!

So I had a choice to make today to either test my mental toughness with 3.5 hours on the trainer or test my physical toughness by heading out on a 20 degree morning that called for snow and winds of 10 to 20 mph. So what do you think I chose? Riding outside of course!! I hate the trainer, I consider it a necessary evil and today I just thought that I'd rather fight the snow and wind than the boredom of the trainer. So I got up at 6:30, ate some pancakes with Blueberries and after letting that digest for a little bit I got all my gear together. Layer by layer I put it all on until I was sweating buckets inside the house, which meant I'd be perfect outside. I put on 3 tops plus a jacket, arm warmers, tights, leg warmers, shorts, two pairs of socks with TT booties over the shoes and neoprene winter booties over those. I also took my Camelback to keep the water warm, I hate it when my water bottles turn to slush. I headed out from New Berlin towards Mukwonago and then over to Waukesha and Big Bend before finally heading home. The first and really the only body parts to freeze during the ride were my toes in spite of the 2 pairs of socks and 2 pairs of booties. My face got a bit wind-burned but it really didn't feel all that cold. I didn't see any other bikers during the ride but saw quite a few runners, hmmmm, maybe they are hardier than bikers, at least I was out there representing us. Sooo, anyways, the grand total for today's ride was 4 hours and 1 minute, yes I was crazy enough to ride for 4 hours today in this crap!! I'm really glad now that I'm home to think that I completed my 2nd 4 hour ride already this year, like I said previously my first one didn't come until July I think last year. That's why I said 4 hours and 1 minute previously, I had to make sure I went over that 4 hour mark. All in all, I have to say that the cold definitely made the ride more difficult, I could tell that it sapped my muscle strength quite a bit as my body was trying to keep itself warm. I'm happy I did it though and now I have the rest of the day to do what I want, no worries about having to ride the trainer later. Suckers! Just kidding...seriously. Anyways, I got some great pictures when I got back of my bike because of course when snow hits metal and starts to melt in these temps it freezes pretty quickly. I also sweated right through to my jacket and by the time I got back it was frozen solid in the front, I had to pull it over my head and it actually stood on it's own. Well, tomorrow might be too cold and snowy, 16 for a high and I'm sure I'll have to test my mental toughness tomorrow instead. Until next time....

Still frozen after a couple of minutes in the house

Sweat + cold = frozen jacket standing on it's own.

Want some of this?!....riding ninja style...nice windburn!

I Like Scotch...yum, yum, yum

So I've decided I'm going to start drinking heavily, starting today, like right now...at work. If Tuesday was the day from hell, well, yesterday was the day from f***ing hell! I got stuck at work yesterday until 8:00 and by the time I got home, then ate dinner it was way to late to bike and still get to bed at a reasonable time. I was supposed to do 2 hours yesterday and 1 hour today but I'll do 2.5 hours tonight on the trainer instead to make up for missing yesterday. I'm not even going to speculate now on what I'm doing tomorrow as it's supposed to be about 25 degrees and snow is supposed to start at about 2:00. I could get up early and ride before the snow starts but it will be about 15-20 degrees in the morning so that might be too cold. Most likely I'll be stuck riding the trainer for 3 hours+ but we'll see. Sunday is out for sure as the high temp is going to be 16 degrees and some snow. We got so spoiled in December that this weather is just disappointing even though it's the norm for out winters. Can you all start driving around a little more so this global warming thing speeds up a bit! Well, that's about all I have to say for now, back to work, hopefully today is a short day and I get out of here at 5:00. Until next time.........

Arctic Air Mass??

So I look at the WeatherChannel.com tonight and it says that we have a big Arctic Air Mass hovering over us, that can't be good right? It's definitely going to be cold though but nothing unusual for Wisconsin in January, 17 for a high tomorrow and 9 for low overnight, I guess that is a little cold but it's not like it's below zero or anything. Saturday is calling for a high of 24 and some sun, so I might actually get in a ride outside but I'll definitely have to pick a sheltered route, which might mean trying Lake Geneva again. As I've mentioned previously it is sheltered with lots of trees for a good windblock, so it makes for a good route on bad days. Anyways, it's only Wednesday and still a couple of days until then so I'll just wait and see.
Sooooo, after working late yesterday and riding until late last night I didn't get much rest before I was up for work again this morning and I was pretty wiped out for most of the day. I did make it through the workday though and then did my weight workout with my friend Dave and then came home for a big plate of spaghetti. After eating dinner I got a nice second wind and was raring to go on the trainer, which you'll probably never hear me say again as I hate the trainer. Anyways, I did my scheduled ride of 1.75 hours and did 6x5minute Muscle Tension Intervals and that felt really good, no pains and I felt pretty strong. Tomorrow I'll be doing 2 hours on the trainer and I'll be doing 30 minutes of Tempo work during that time as my secondary workout. Friday I'll be doing weights and just a short 1 hour recovery paced ride on the rollers. I prefer doing the recovery rides on the rollers because I'm just going at a nice easy pace and I get to actually move around a little bit and without the need to do any secondary workout I have no need for the trainer resistance. It's great for the handling skills as well, I like to do my no-hands riding and standing up on the rollers and doing things like taking my shirt off while riding or something to build the bike skills. Not that I'd have to do that during a race, but you never know......
Well, it's obviously late and unfortunately riding late and staying up too long is becoming a habit I need to break pretty quickly....hopefully starting tomorrow, until next time..............

Lonnnnngggg Day

Today was a day from hell. Up at 4:50 a.m and off to work a bit before 6:00 and then I had to work until 7:00p.m.. Yeah, that sucks. That's what happens when the boss is off and I get to do all the work. Tomorrow morning it's back to work at 6:30, hopefully I'll be out by 5:00. Anyways, I'm keeping it short tonight and will update more tomorrow, it's bed time. Monday my knee was feeling better for the most part, it didn't hurt to much to bend it, only when it was completely straight and when I put weight on it initially to get out of a chair or something. I didn't have much pain during my weight workout Monday evening and to keep the knee loose I actually came home after lifting weights and rode for an hour just to see how it would feel. It was a scheduled rest day but I'm glad I rode anyways, just for peace of mind with the knee basically. Knowing that it was pretty much o.k. to ride on, I stuck to my scheduled workout tonight and came home after work and just ate a sandwich so that I could squeeze in 2.25 hours on the trainer. I felt great the whole time and watched Saw III that came out today, if you love gore, it's a good movie to watch. If not, then for the love of God don't watch it! Well tomorrow is weights and 1.75 hours on the trainer with Muscle Tension Intervals, more on that for tomorrow's post. I'm getting sleepy as I'm typing.....until next time.......

Disappointing Weekend

This weekend was pretty disappointing, actually probably more frustrating than disappointing but I wasn't happy either way. I was supposed to do weights on Friday after work but my boss was on vacation and I had to pick up a lot of the slack and just got hammered with requests at the end of the day and ended working late until 6:00. I was supposed to be home by 6:00 to pick up my son from his school activity but obviously that wasn't going to happen as I was still at work and hadn't even done weights yet. My wife ended up picking up my son, but she asked if I could just come home because no one had eaten dinner yet and if I did weights I wouldn't be home until 7:00 at the earliest. So anyways, I skipped weights and went home.
Saturday morning I was going to get out and do a 2.5 hour ride before my wife's grandparents 50th anniversary celebration but when I was outside cleaning up snow off the driveway I slipped on some ice and really tweaked my left knee. It bent under me and twisted in when I tried to catch my balance and hurt so much that I couldn't ride at all. I tried to test it after taking some ibuprofen and warming it up on the trainer but it just hurt too bad to pedal. I iced it, stretched quite a bit, and took ibuprofen throughout the rest of the afternoon and by the evening it was actually feeling pretty good. After the anniversary celebration we went out for a late dinner at about 8:00 with some friends and after a couple of beers with dinner there wasn't much pain at all. Today I used a hot pad on it in the morning to warm it up before jumping on the trainer in the afternoon and didn't have much problem pedaling at an easy pace but I didn't really try to push it at all. I rode on the trainer for 2.5 hours and by the time I got off the knee actually felt really good. I'll be doing weights tomorrow but I'm going to have to probably lighten the pounds a bit and maybe drop the reps if there is still any tenderness in the knee. Hopefully all will be good. Well, other than that, this is the last day of my Foundation Period in which I completed 16 weeks of just getting in some miles and doing some secondary exercises to prepare me for the Preparation Period which starts tomorrow. I am considerably stronger this year than I was last year at this time as I was only 1.5 months in to my comeback. My longest ride to this point last year was 1.5 hours and this year it is 4.25 hours so there is no question that my 2nd year back in to this should show better results in the first few races as I will be much better prepared. Well, it's late, time for bed, sorry for the lack of post for the last 3 days but it was a hectic weekend, until next time.............

OCD or Desire? A Little Of Both....

So as the clock ticks down, albeit very slowly, to my first race in April I can't help but feel that I'm not doing enough to be better than everyone else. I think part of the angst is that it's hard to come to work everyday and then only be limited to a couple of hours at the most on the trainer every night. Bike racers by nature I think have some underlying OCD, not in a manic way, but in a way that requires them to have a concrete training program, to watch what they eat, to get enough rest, to pay attention to their bike, etc.. Having never been a professional athlete in any other sport I can't say that we are worse than other athletes but from what I've seen we are pretty obsessive. I haven't been a part of any other sport where someone will buy a widget and then a week later they will buy a different widget because the new one is a whole 14 grams lighter than the other one. I know you are all smiling as you read this because you know it's true, it's what we do, we obsess over things more than is normal. I know I can't train like I used to, I have a job and family now but that underlying obsession has not changed over 10 years and I still WANT to train like I did back then. I tinker with my training program and my personal schedule almost every day, trying to make sure that I'm doing enough riding to be competitive and also enough with my family to accommodate their needs. Desire is the other part of being a racer....desire is what makes us ride in the first place, aside from the OCD that we develop once we START riding. I think desire is what makes me feel like I could be training more or that I'm falling behind even though I have no good reason to think that. I started riding again last year for those don't know and I did have some decent results; 4 top tens, a Silver in the State Crit, but I want to WIN this year and win a lot! Last year I knew I wasn't going to be good but this year with 16 months of riding under my belt I do expect to be good. I think part of my anxiety is that I just feel like I should be riding 3 hours a day now and 4-6 hours on the weekends and I can't do that. Almost everybody in my Master's category has the same issue as we all have jobs but I can't help but think that somehow they all are secretly training all day long and just telling me that they are working. That's my OCD talking...... :) So anyways, I have the desire to ride to win this year, it's just a matter of finding the time to train and to have faith that the training I'm doing is good enough, I guess I can't worry about what everyone else is doing. Although if anyone knows of a secret way to train, let me know......
Now to what I have been doing. This week is a regeneration week for me as next week I start my Preparation Period when I will be increasing my time on the bike and also I will be starting my Tempo workouts during this period. So the last few rides have been pretty easy, Tuesday I did my ride on the trainer for 1.5 hours and it was basically at endurance pace. Last night I did weights and then rode for 1 hour and did 4x5 minute Muscle Tension intervals. I love rest weeks, 1 hour seemed sooooo easy. Tonight I will be doing 1.75 hours on the trainer with a secondary exercise of Fast Pedals and tomorrow will be weights but a rest day on the bike. Saturday and Sunday will be rides of 2.5 and 2 hours respectively and that will end my Foundation Period. Well, that's it for now, until next time...........

3 Months To Go

3 months from today is the first race of the season in Madison and I'm itching to race now but will definitely benefit from the next 3 months of training before then. Yesterday I didn't quite get in the time I wanted on the trainer, as I wanted to do 4 hours but only finished 3 hours just due to time constraints around the house. Sometimes you just have to make sacrifices for the good of the family and forego the cycling, yesterday was one of those days and I'm sure it won't be the last one this year. So anyways, like I said, it was 3 hours of just Endurance Miles, no secondary workouts and all in all it felt really good but I was a little tired at the end because I think I'm just worn out in general. It didn't help that I had a wedding on Saturday night and consumed quite a bit of Jameson Irish Whiskey and was probably a bit dehydrated so some of it was my own fault that I was sluggish. Today I did weights after work and felt really strong doing that and actually contemplated cycling tonight just because I have quite a bit of energy right now. Unfortunately I still have some work to do around the house, namely some shoveling of the driveway and also cleaning the basement so that I have a nice work area for my bike stand. It's just stuff I have to get done so that I'm not worrying about it later. Tomorrow is going to be 1.75 hours on the trainer as I'm kind of dialing back my hours this week for a Regeneration week as I can tell I'm getting a little worn down. So basically I've cut 15 minutes to an hour off of all my rides this week, with the big cut being on Saturday when I'll only do 2.5 hours instead of what has been 3.5 to 4 hours. Next week starts my Preparation Period after resting a bit this week so my hours will go up over what I've done the last few weeks. Basically I'll keep doing Endurance rides but will introduce Tempo workouts as my secondary work during the rides and will increase the reps for the Muscle Tension workouts that I'm already doing. After a few weeks I'll then throw in Steady State Intervals as well as Power Intervals. So, basically just 5 days of shorter rides this week, but I will still be doing my secondary exercises such as Fast Pedals and Muscle Tension but will just do less of them. Well, that's enough of that boring stuff for today, until next time..........

Winter Is Back

Well, the weather here has returned to the normal Wisconsin winter that we've come to know and hate, er, I mean love. The forecast is calling for 2-4 inches of the white stuff overnight and another couple of inches tomorrow but right now there is only a trace of it on the ground and the roads are a bit wet so it's not too bad. I don't think I'll be hitting the road today though, as it's still pretty cold and probably wet enough to deter me from trying to slide around on the road bike. I'll set up the trainer today and watch some movies and football and down about 8 waterbottles as I need to recover some fluid that I lost from the wedding I was at last night. I'm scheduled for 3.5 hours today but I'm hoping that I can squeeze out 4 on the trainer as tomorrow starts a regeneration week and I'd like today to be a hard day. The last few days have been pretty good and yesterday I did manage to squeeze in a 3 hour ride before the wedding and felt really good. I'd like to get at least 7 hours in again this weekend to match last weekend's total but not sure if I'll feel good enough to get in 4 hours, especially after the drinks I had last night. I can tell I'm a bit dehydrated and probably need to drink quite a bit of water before I ride so I'll definitely be doing that this morning before hitting the trainer this afternoon. Other than that, tomorrow is a rest day on the bike and it also starts my regeneration week and the last week of my Foundation Period before I move on to the Preparation Period in 2 weeks. Well, have to keep it short today, gotta get some fluids in me and take care of some housework before I start riding. I'll update tomorrow, until next time.......

Now THIS Is January!

Well, the cold weather has finally returned to Wisconsin and winter is starting to feel like, well, WINTER! My training the last two days has been pretty good, nothing exciting to report though, pretty standard training right now. Monday was a rest day on the bike although I did go on the trainer for 15 minutes just to loosen up the legs as they felt a little tight after the weekend, it felt really good to get the blood flowing and just get them warmed up. Last night I rode the trainer for 2 hours, 15 minutes shorter than scheduled but I'm fine with that because I had a busy night at home and had to get things done. Tonight is weights after work and then a ride of 1.5 hours with Muscle Tension intervals thrown in as well. Tomorrow will just be a 2 hour Foundation Mile ride on the trainer and Friday will be a rest day on the bike. The weather is looking like crap this weekend so it appears that I'll be riding the trainer but not sure for how long. I have a 3.5 hour ride scheduled but if I'm going to have to ride the trainer then it will probably be only about 2.75 hours. If I can get on the road somehow then I'd like to go out to Lake Geneva in the morning and ride a pretty sheltered route around the lake a couple of times. I have to go to a co-workers wedding at 2:00 so I have to ride early no matter what, whether it's on the trainer or outside. Sunday is looking just as bad for weather so could be a trainer ride as well. Well, I'll update more this week, until next time..........

Long Day In The Saddle....For January

After yesterday's ride of just short of 3.5 hours I rested up last night and woke up re-charged this morning for another ride on a beautiful January day......did I really say that? Well, considering our average temperature for January is 28 and it hit about 42 today with lots of sunshine in the morning and early afternoon, I would consider it a beautiful day. So anyway, I woke up, ate about 5 pancakes and let that digest for a little bit and then started the task of layering the clothes for what I hoped would be a ride of at least 4 hours based on my route. I took off from New Berlin and headed north towards Delafield and although the wind was a little on the gusty side it really didn't seem all that bad. I made it to Delafield and started to head East for a while before I was to turn South. Well, somewhere along the way I got to a road that I thought I was supposed to turn down but it wasn't marked with the same road name that I had on my map. Thinking that my map was incorrect, duh, I decided to keep going and figured maybe I'd run in to my turn down the road a little further. Well after about 3 or 4 more miles and no intersecting roads at all I just decided to keep going until I hit the next intersection and then I would head South. Well, I did that and was heading South and didn't recognize any of the roads I was on but I knew I was heading towards home so I kept on going until I finally hit a road I recognized. Eventually I met back up with my route about 30 miles later in Waukesha and made my way home. I brought plenty of food and water with me so I wasn't feeling too bad with the cumulative effect of yesterday's ride and the time I spent on the road today but I could tell I was pretty wiped out. The end result of today's ride was 4 hours, 15 minutes, which I'm really happy with as I don't think I did over 4 hours until July last year. My two day total of 7 hours, 35 minutes is pretty good for January as well, I'm glad I got the hours in this weekend as it looks like the weather is going to take a turn for the worse. Tomorrow is a rest day on the bike but I will be doing weights after work and I also have to do some housework before my wife kills me. With all the riding I did this weekend it took away from my housework because of course I can't just jump right in to working, I have to come home and recover after the rides, I don't want to stress myself too much! :) So a lot of time was spent on the recliner in addition to all the riding. Well, I'm pretty spent and one of the most important things to do after a couple of long days of riding is to get some rest, so I'm going to have some Sleepytime tea and hit the bed. Until next time..........

A Little Chilly

Today I did a group ride with 3 other guys starting at Transition Bike Shop in Pewaukee and we did a nice, easy ride of 3 hours 20 minutes and the wind sure made for a nice workout. It was definitely better riding with the group than trying to fight the wind by myself, thanks Aaron, Russ, and John!! We took a pretty flat route from Pewaukee out to Neosho and then back, and kept it at a pretty easy pace for the most part. I felt great when I got back and my dad called shortly after I walked in the door and offered to take the family out to dinner so that was the topper to a nice day. I had a great T-Bone steak, a double-baked potato, salad and some soup, everything that I think is essential to recovering from a long ride, um yeah, probably not, but oh well. Tomorrow I'll be riding from New Berlin to Delafield and back, should be close to 4 hours on the route that I'm taking. The temps will be about 40-45 and it's supposed to be mostly sunny and the winds will be about 10-20mph. I'm going to take it easy for the most part and just do it as Foundation Miles, no intervals or anything like that. By the end of tomorrow I should have just under 7.5 hours for the two weekend days, not too shabby in January! Well, I'm going to keep it short today, it's late, I'm tired and the wife wants to watch a movie yet. I'm sure I'll be snoozing on the recliner in no time. Until next time........

Need Some Sleep

I've been moving right along lately and feeling great with my training but today I'm a little tired because I didn't get a lot of sleep last night so I'm dreading my ride tonight just a little bit. It's not that I couldn't sleep last night, I just had a lot going on and chose not to go to bed early, but I definitely will tonight. I did weights yesterday after work and felt really good, it seems that the weight is too easy for the leg press and leg extensions so tomorrow I'm going to kick up the weight another 10lbs. to see if that makes a difference. I'd like to only be able to max out at 8 reps for each set but I feel like I can keep going for 10 or 11 at least so I definitely need to up the weight. After finishing weights I went home and ate some dinner and then jumped on the trainer for 1.5 hours and did 5 x 5 min Muscle Tension intervals. After doing weights my legs were warmed up and pumped for the intervals, so they seemed easy too, even in the 53x13. Tonight I have to do 2 hours on the trainer, just at Endurance Pace, and although I'm feeling sluggish and have a nasty headache I'm going to try to complete the whole 2 hours. I'll see how I feel after the first hour, I might just need to stop early and catch up on some of the sleep I missed yesterday. I hate to cut rides short when I'm not really sick or overtrained, being tired was my own doing last night, so I really should finish my whole workout. We'll see how it goes I guess, not sure......
Tomorrow is a weight day but a rest day on the bike. Saturday's forecast went from really good yesterday with almost no chance of rain to an 80% chance of rain now so my long ride most likely will not be outside now, which is disappointing. I've been spoiled lately I guess. It depends on how fast it moves through as they are forecasting most of the rain/snow mix for the morning I believe so hopefully I can still get out before noon. If it's a little wet still or just drizzling very lightly I will probably go to Lake Geneva and do the lakeshore route for 3 hours which is my scheduled workout for Sunday, but it's a very sheltered route so it might be better suited for Saturday's weather with the rain and wind. Sunday is still looking good so I'll probably move my ride to Delafield that I had scheduled for Saturday over to Sunday since that is a pretty open route and it appears it won't rain on Sunday. Soooo, as it looks I'll be doing hopefully 3 hours outside around Lake Geneva on Saturday and then 3.75 hours on Sunday to Delafield and back. Otherwise it's 3 hours on the trainer on Saturday and Sunday won't change either way. Not much else going on, my weight is still stable but I've started a plan to cut calories on light riding days, 2 hours or less, so that I can get rid of that extra 10lbs. Well, that's it....until next time......

Recovered Nicely

So after my long ride on Saturday I've recovered quite nicely and can't wait to do it again this weekend. After the ride I managed to eat a lot of food in order to replenish myself for Sunday's ride on the trainer. Sunday of course was really crappy and it rained for most of the day with a little break later on after it got dark of course. I popped in a movie and watched some TV during my ride of not quite 2.75 hours, about 2hrs 35 minutes. I just kind of spontaneously ended the ride at that point because I hit a commercial during the show I was watching and had to go to the bathroom so I figured I wasn't going to miss out on 10 minutes, especially after going 23 minutes more than scheduled on Saturday. I felt really good and had no problems, basically it was just an endurance ride, no specialty workouts or anything, all in all it was pretty boring! Oh well.....Sunday night I headed to my friend Jason's house for a New Year's Eve party and we had a great time grilling out some steaks and having a few beers. I stayed over of course, which is the safe and legal thing to do, and drove home the following morning with a little bit of a headache. Monday was a rest day on the bike and it was really nice outside and if I didn't have my last family X-mas party to go to I would have been tempted to ride. Family took priority though and I was at my step-brothers from about noon until 4:30ish so there was no time to ride outside. Today was a 2 hour ride on the trainer and I did 10 Stomps after about a 45 minute warmup and that felt really good as well. I can definitely tell I have more strength than last year due to my weight training regimen this offseason. Last year there was no way I could have ridden 2 hours yet after the 1 month of training I had completed much less do 10 Stomps. Tomorrow I am scheduled to do 1.5 hours on the trainer with Muscle Tension intervals and I will also be doing weights as well after work. Thursday will be another 2 hours on the trainer at endurance pace and then Friday is a rest day on the bike but I will be doing weights. Saturday and Sunday are looking great right now, sunny and 38 on Saturday and sunny and 41 on Sunday. I'll be doing about 3.5 hours on Saturday and 3 hours on Sunday, and I'm doing 2 new routes again, so I can't wait to get lost! Until next time.............

Who Needs To See Anyways??

So I woke up this morning at 7:15 for my scheduled 3.5 hour ride and I look outside to see some really dense fog, not exactly the best conditions to be riding a bike when the cars can't see me. But I figured what the heck, I'll ride anyways, I gotta die sometime. I ate my big bowl of oatmeal, got dressed, which took about 20 minutes to throw on all my clothes, filled my bottles and headed out the door to enjoy the misty, 38 degree weather. I headed out towards Pewaukee and ended up getting lost after taking a wrong turn. I was supposed to take a right on a road and ended up taking a left and going completely the wrong way. Only after about 5 miles when I was supposed to take another turn did I realize my mistake and by then I figured I'd just wing it and ride around. I figure there are two benefits to getting lost, one is that you get to ride on roads that you've never ridden before, and secondly you get to enjoy the aerobic benefits of riding for a lot longer than you expected since you can't find your way home. Good times, good times. So after I found a road I recognized I made my way home and ended up riding for 3 hours 53 minutes, not bad at all for a December day in Wisconsin. I definitely ate a lot when I got home, I was starving and probably had a little too much as my stomach was a little sick after everything that I crammed down my throat. Anyways, tomorrow is supposed to be a crappy day as it's going to start raining tonight and all day tomorrow so it doesn't appear I'll be riding outside. I'm going to get up early and clean my bike up as it got a little wet and muddy today and then I'll be riding for 2.75 hours on the trainer and probably watch a couple of movies. After that I'll do some housework and then take a nap to rest up for the nighttime festivities. I'm looking forward to some steak and just a couple of beers tomorrow night at my friend Jason's house and of course I'm looking forward to watching the Packers beat the Bears. Well, until next time.....Happy New Year!!

December or March?!

The weather lately has been great for December in Wisconsin, with temps ranging between 40 and 45 degrees during the day and we have absolutely no snow on the ground . Today it is supposed to be 40 degrees but I'll be stuck inside at work and tomorrow has a forecasted high of 41 degrees and I'll definitely be outside riding. The last few days of training have been pretty good with a roller ride of 1.5 hours on Wednesday along with the first weight workout in my Strength phase. The ride was just a casual ride on the rollers and I worked a bit on smoothing out my pedal stroke a bit more. The first day of heavier weights felt really good and was almost too easy but I'll see how I progress at this weight level, I may add 10 more pounds to each exercise after tonight's workout if it seems too easy again. The only thing that might keep me from adding more weight is a little pain in my left knee, I'll see how that feels after tonight and go from there. Anyways, last night was a trainer ride of 2 hours and I was going to do Muscle Tension intervals but decided to just do Foundation Miles due to the aforementioned left knee pain. It's better just to take it easy now so that I don't wreck the knee even more. It feels good this morning so I'm not too worried about it. As for today's plan, it's a scheduled rest day on the bike but I'll be doing weights right after work. Tomorrow like I said is looking good as far as the weather so I'll be doing a 3.5 hour ride from New Berlin to Pewaukee, down south to Muskego and Big Bend and then back to New Berlin. Should be about 65 miles or so, not too bad for the end of December!! Sunday there is an 80% chance of rain and possibly snow showers so I'm almost certain that there will be no outside ride. At this point it looks like I'll be doing 2.75 hours inside on the trainer at Foundation Mile pace.
Sunday night the Packers play for a possible playoff berth and of course it's New Year's Eve so there will be plenty of eating and some alcohol consumption as well. I'm going to do my best not to overeat but who knows how good my willpower will be after a few beers as well. Monday the Badgers play in the Capital One Bowl so that will be another occasion to eat and drink, but again hopefully not too much. I think I got over my weight plateau, at least the last couple of days, as I've lost about 3lbs over a week and I'm down to a stable 182 this week. I still have about 10lbs to lose but once I get in to the longer miles and get outside in March and April I'm sure it will just melt off. Well, I'll give an update after tomorrow's ride and hopefully Sunday, until next time........Happy New Year!

Staying Dry

If you read my last post from Saturday then you'll know that I fell in to a flooded river while trying to traverse a trail under a bridge. Well, Saturday night after I had warmed up a bit I was starting to feel a little under the weather and then I woke up Sunday morning with a nasty sore throat and head cold. I'm sure it wasn't related to falling in to the water as it wouldn't have come on that quick and BEING cold doesn't give you a cold. I'm sure it was something that had been waiting to hit me for a few days and I think all the shivering and trying to stay warm after falling in the water weakened my immune system enough to let the cold take hold. I tried to ride Sunday and managed about an hour before I was feeling too sick to continue so I decided to rest before we headed off to our X-mas festivities. Monday morning I woke up feeling a bit better after medicating myself Sunday night and it was a normally scheduled rest day so I didn't have to ride and basically rested most of the day. By Tuesday I felt really good again and of course had to come back to work and felt great by the end of the day. I had a ride scheduled for 2 hours and did almost all of that, 1hour 50 minutes, on the trainer with 10 Power Stomps thrown in as my secondary exercise. I cut it 10 minutes short because I didn't jump on the trainer until 8:15 and then by the time I was closing in on 2 hours my dog was bugging the heck out of me to be let outside to go to the bathroom. I jumped off the trainer at 1'50'' to let him out and by the time I got back in I just decided to forego the final 10 minutes as I was already cooled down and there was really no point in finishing 10 more minutes. So, anyways, I felt great overall and felt especially strong during my Power Stomps of which I was only supposed to do 6 but felt so good that I decided to do 10. Tonight I have a ride of 1.75 hours scheduled and also I'll be doing weight work. I kick up my weights tonight and jump in to the Strength phase of weight training where I decrease the reps and obviously increase the weight. I'll do this phase for the next 4 weeks and then go back down to the High Volume phase to allow my body to recover. After 2 weeks of the High Volume Phase I will do one more phase of Strength and then quit weights as most of my riding moves outside and all of my muscular work will be done on the bike. Tomorrow I have another ride of 2 hours (hopefully all of it) and then Friday is a rest day. The weather is looking iffy for outdoor riding this weekend but hopefully that will change before Saturday. Well, until next time.............

Flooding And Hypothermia

Today was not the best day to go riding outside, not because of the 40 degree temperature or the 20-30mph winds, but because all of the rain we've had in the last few days created some nice big puddles and overflowing rivers. Well, if I would have ridden on the road today that wouldn't have been a problem but I decided to try to keep out of the wind and take my ride off the road on to the Root River Parkway which is shielded by lots of trees. To keep a long story short, I ended up falling over in about 2.5ft of water trying to cross a flooded section of the river as the trail went under a bridge. I was about 50 minutes in to my scheduled 2.5 hour ride so with my feet, left leg, and left arm completely soaked I made a beeline home as fast as I could and made it to my front door in about 40 minutes. Both of my feet were frozen, my left leg was numb and my left hand was frozen around the handlebars. I quickly threw off all my clothes and filled up the bottom of the tub with lukewarm water and stuck my feet in the tub. It actually hurt a little bit as my toes started to thaw out, mainly because I think I could actually feel pain now as they weren't numb anymore. After about 10 minutes of doing that I was a little disappointed that my ride got cut short so I decided to quick jump in to some dry clothes and run downstairs to finish my last hour on the trainer. I went harder than normal without actually thinking about it because I think I was subconsciously trying to get as warm as possible and forget about the shivering. Soooo, it was a good day of training despite getting really wet in 40 degree temperatures and heavy winds and I got in my 2.5 hours (1.5 on the road, 1 inside). Obviously it could've been better if I didn't fall over in a river but then I wouldn't have had this good story to tell. Well, tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, about 45 degrees and winds of only 5-10mph so I'm looking forward to a long, dry, ride on the road. Our X-mas Eve festivities start at 3:00 so I'm going to hit the road at about 9:00 and do 3-3.5 hours, which is over my scheduled 2 hours, but how many 45 degree days do you get in December? I'm hoping for 3.5 hours but we'll see how much time I have after eating breakfast, I'd like to hit 6 hours over 2 days for the second weekend in a row. Gotta get those aerobic hours in while I can......Until next time......stay dry!

Change of Plans

Well, the weather for tomorrow doesn't look like it's going to be all that good so I'm probably going to change my plans again. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and for a bit Saturday morning I think so most likely I'll stick with my normal rest day tomorrow and then ride for 2.5 - 3 hours on Saturday afternoon and then 2.5 on Sunday morning. I found out we don't have to be anywhere for X-mas Eve festivities until 3:00 so that gives me plenty of time to ride. Saturday is going to be a busy day as we have to finish up some shopping and get the house cleaned but I'll definitely make time for a ride. The weather looks good for Saturday afternoon and definitely for Sunday so should be no problem getting in my rides outside.
Well, the last few days have been pretty good rides on the trainer, as good as they can be inside I guess. I swapped my Tuesday and Wednesday rides around and did my 1 hour recovery ride on Tuesday just due to time constraints and then did 1.75 hours on the trainer last night after lifting weights. I felt great doing weights yesterday and will be moving in to the strength phase of lifting next week starting with my Wednesday workout as obviously X-mas is Monday and I won't be at work to use the weightroom. The bike workout felt great last night as well as I did 5x5 minute Muscle Tension intervals to build power. Basically it's just 5 minutes of riding with the front wheel propped up to simulate a hill and then staying in the seat I push a 53x13 or 53x14 gear for 5 minutes, rest for 5 minutes and repeat. It's a great way to build power and muscular endurance. Tonight I will be doing the opposite with a 1.75 hour ride on the trainer with 6x3minute Fast Pedals which help build a fast, smooth pedal stroke.
Overall, I'm just absolutely filled with motivation to ride, no winter blues here. I know I have a lot of work to do before race season so I don't mind that we are still at least 3 months away from getting outside on a regular basis, I could use the time before the first race. My weight is still staying the same and I weighed in this morning at 183 so I haven't really lost anything but didn't gain anymore either, just staying steady. Well, that's it....until next time.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Nice Weather....Too Bad.

So the weather has been great for December and it's been 40-45 degrees the last few days and is supposed to stay that way all week with the low temp of the week being Sunday with a forecasted high of 36. Too bad I'll be inside at work all week so I can't even get out and ride but there is hope for Friday as I have a vacation day scheduled. I'm on a scheduled rest week so I'm only supposed to do 2.5 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday. With Sunday being X-mas Eve I'm thinking I'm going to move my rides up a day and do 2.5 to 3 hours on Friday when the temp is supposed to be 45 and then do 2 to 2.5 hours on Saturday when it's supposed to be 38 degrees. Normally Friday is a rest day so it works out perfectly that I'll be on vacation and I can ride during the day and still do my normal Friday night dinner and beers (only 1 or 2 of course). I had a great two days of riding this past weekend with a little over 6 hours between Saturday and Sunday and it's going to be hard not to ride just as much this weekend but I'm sure my wife will have me busy preparing for X-mas so I might not have a choice. Anyways, yesterday was a rest day on the bike but I did do weights and today I'll be doing 1.75 hours on the trainer when I get home with some Stomps thrown in. Tomorrow is weights and a 1 hour spin on the trainer, Thursday is 1.75 hours again with Fast Pedal excercises. Friday and Saturday I'll do my plan above and then Sunday and Monday will probably be rest days because I'll be busy doing the family stuff for X-mas. I'll try to squeeze in a ride on Sunday though if I can, maybe an hour or hour and a half after all the festivities just to burn off some of the food that I know I'll consume in mass quantities. Overall I'm feeling o.k., I've had a toothache the last week or so and I went to the dentist today and all he did is take x-rays and re-schedule me for another appointment on Jan. 2nd. That means my tooth will hurt for another two weeks and hopefully it doesn't get any worse. It hasn't affected my biking but I've stopped eating Powerbars in favor of gels for the last week so it looks like I've got another two weeks at least of eating more of those gooey treats. As a side note, I think that gels must contain mass quantities of fat because I've gained 4 lbs. since last week and I'm sure it has nothing to do with the 2 days of family X-mas cookie baking that we did. I only ate like 50 cookies, that's what, like 5 grams of fat? It's gotta be the gels, I'll research it and let you all know, might need to eat a few more cookies as my placebo group. Until next time......

Windy And Weary

Today was a fairly long day on the bike, about 3 hours and 45 minutes from New Berlin to Burlington to Alpine Valley and then back to Burlington to my final destination of my mom's holiday cookie day. Unfortunately I had a headwind almost the whole way heading south so that made the temps seem a little more frigid than the 50 degree temperature. Add that to the lack of any sun and it made for a ride that was just difficult given all the hills I did around Alpine Valley and my 2 trips up Johnson Rd. used in the State RR. Don't get me wrong though, it was great to get out in the middle of December for a ride of almost 4 hours. My legs are definitely sore but overall I feel o.k.. I took my camera with and took pics of some of the hills I had to climb, most of them not too long but all of them very steep. Tomorrow is supposed to clear up with a little sunshine I think starting around 9:00 so I'm going to ride at about 10:00 for 2 hours 45 minutes tomorrow, and I'll make sure it's an easier route than today to give the legs a little rest. I'll probably head out to the Waukesha area and do a loop around there and then one of my New Berlin to Muskego loops. Well, I'm keeping it short today, pretty tired so I'm going to take a shower (yes, I'm still stinky from this morning's ride) and then go to bed at about 10:00 or 10:30. Here are the pics I took

Johnson Rd. from the State RR course.......

A nice double dipper on Hargraves road between Johnson Rd. and Alpine.....

Hwy. 120 heading towards Alpine Valley, to get an idea of how long and steep it is, check out the cars at the bottom and then look at the speck of a car at the top.......



Kniep Rd, super steep, check out the sign at the bottom in relation to the top of the hill, it goes up really quick....

Who Needs To Train.....

......not me! It certainly seems like that this week as it has been an extremely busy week for me, although most of the busy work is my own doing. I haven't trained this week as much as my schedule called for and it's leaving me a little miffed, but I have lifted a lot of weight off my shoulders by getting things done around the house that have weighed heavily on me the last few months....or basically since the summer when I stopped working on the house altogether to do all my races. That should all end tonight as I closed out a few things last night that should free up a lot of time. As an example I bought my wife a laptop for X-mas (an early gift) and of course I had to set it up for wireless access, add her preferred software (all licensed copies of course.. ;), move over her Itunes library, set up file and print sharing with our desktop PC, delete all the free-trial garbage that always comes on those things, and then finally test it all out. That took quite a while last night but now she is all set up and I won't have to do anything until she screws it up somehow in the next two weeks by downloading some game with spyware or something. Needless to say I didn't have much time to ride after that so I did a short 1 hour ride and called it a night. I also did my weight work yesterday as well so at least I got that completed. Well, today will be 2 hours on the trainer while I watch Talladega Nights with Will Ferrell, tomorrow will be weights again and a 1.5 hour ride that I'm doing to make up for missed time earlier in the week as I normally don't ride on Friday. Saturday is still holding out for temps around 50 and mostly cloudy so I'm going to do 3.5 to 4 hours and save gas in the process. I have a holiday get- together in Burlington so I'm going to ride down there from New Berlin and go out to East Troy and do some roads around Alpine Valley and the Johnson Rd. climb used in the State RR, and then head in to Burlington. Should be about 65-70 miles total, not too bad for December 16th! Sunday is supposed to be in the lower 40s I believe so I'll be doing my normally scheduled 2.75 hour ride but not sure where I'm going yet, hopefully I can get some other guys together for a group ride but we'll see. Overall I'm feeling good, it's still early in the year, the training year that is, as it's obviously not '07, so I'm not too worried about a couple of missed training hours earlier this week. My weight-loss is not happening as quickly as I had hoped as I haven't lost any weight since October and have stayed steady at about 182-185 but I think that part of it is the weight-lifting. I'm probably losing some fat but that is being offset by the weight gain of the muscle I'm building from lifting. Once I can really get out and do the long rides in the late winter/early spring then I should burn the fat without any issues. I'd like to get down to at least 173-175 by April and that should be good enough for me this year. I'm just a tad over 6ft so I don't want to get too much lower than that or I'll look sickly and probably would lose power as well. Well, that's all for now, until next time.........

A Little Overwhelmed......

It was an extremely difficult weekend for me to try to juggle my training and the housework that I needed to complete. Needless to say I didn't accomplish 100% of either task but I worked my butt off this weekend so I don't really have any regrets, it's not like I was just lazy and didn't feel like doing anything. I basically just didn't have enough time to do everything that I wanted to do, although I'm sure I could've done it all if I would've just skipped sleeping.....that's kind of necessary though. Anyways, here is what I did this weekend on the house....stripped, sanded, primed, painted and re-faced two whole cabinet bases along with installing all new hinges and knobs.....tore out my old kitchen supply lines (plumbing) and installed new lines, shutoff valves, and replaced some old copper and under-sink steel pipe with all new PVC pipes.....ripped off my existing countertops and installed new countertops.....my old sink and faucet went out with the old countertops so I also put in a new sink and faucet and along with that a new garbage disposal.....tore down all my old tile backsplash, spackled any rough spots and prepped it for my new backsplash.......and finally, I installed a new dishwasher. That was just the work on my house, I also had to do a lot of running around and had other things to take care of as well that cut in to the biking time. Needless to say, it was just a nutty weekend.....
So, on to the training info.....Saturday was a cold, windy day and not exactly riding weather but I managed to fight the weather right away in the morning and got out for a 3 hour, 20 minute ride and came back feeling pretty sore, as I think all my joints were frozen. I don't mind cold weather as obviously I can dress for it with all the clothes I have, but the wind is something different. Not only does it go right through you, but mentally it's pretty difficult to deal with when it is cold in the first place. I don't mind it in the summer, but in the winter it just makes me think that I should just turn around, go in to my basement, and sweat my ass off on the trainer. Well, sometimes I do just that when I'm having a weak moment, but this year I'm really trying to stick to my guns so that I can kick some butt next year. Having said that, Sunday pretty much sucked for riding even though it was the better of the two days only because I was so busy that I didn't have any time to ride as long as I wanted. I had to do some running around in the mid-morning and along with having no choice but to finish my kitchen if I actually wanted running water, I had to cut my riding short on Sunday and was only able to ride for 1.5 hours of my scheduled 2.75 for the day. Oh well, I got my kitchen done for the most part so I was really happy about that, and at least I have running water again. Today is normally a rest day on the bike but I will make up for some missed time yesterday by riding for an hour on the trainer and it is also a normally scheduled weight-work day so I'll be doing that as well. This week looks great as far as temps go, but it doesn't matter anyways as I'll be at work obviously every day. So, it's another week of trainer workouts and I'm really looking forward to Saturday now as the forecasted high is going to be 47 degrees!!! I'm scheduled for 3.5 hours so I am really looking forward to that ride, should be a good one. Sunday is supposed to be 34 degrees which is plenty warm enough to ride, and I have a lot of time now, so I'll have no problem getting in my 2.75 hours scheduled for that day. Well, until next time...........

Dang, It's Cold!!

So this morning it was 5 degrees with a wind chill of -13. It sure is hard to get out of bed on days like today, it makes taking a sick day sound like a good idea so that I can stay under the covers. Unfortunately I did come to work though, no such luck on staying warm in bed, oh well. I did check the Weather Channel and it appears that this cold spell will be short-lived though and tomorrow it will be up to 29 and Saturday and Sunday will be in the mid-30s, probably windy on Saturday though, but I can fight through that. There is no way I'm spending 3.5 hours on the trainer even if it is a little windy. Soooo, last night was a pretty relaxed night of training, I did my weight work and am feeling really good with that, although my knee felt a little loose last night and today, but hopefully it's nothing. After I got home I had a good dinner and then jumped on the bike for a quick 1 hour recovery ride. It seemed like I was only on for 15 minutes, piece of cake. Tonight I will be doing a 1.75 hour ride on the trainer with 7x12 second Stomps thrown in, and then tomorrow is a rest day but I won't be doing my regular weight work because I have a vacation day so I won't be at work to utilize the facilities. Saturday is a 3.5 hour ride with 6 x 3min FastPedal exercises thrown in and then Sunday is 2.75 hours of just Foundation Miles. Hopefully the weather cooperates and I can get both rides in with no issues, and by that I mean without freezing any limbs or appendages. I'm sure it will be a struggle Saturday with the wind chill and if it's too bad I can always do a shorter route outside and then finish inside if I get too cold. I don't predict any problems though. I also have a boatload of things to do this weekend around the house so it is going to be interesting to see how I fit this all in but hopefully I'll manage without stressing myself out. I'm still working on the plumbing for my kitchen re-model and my dad will be coming over Saturday to help with some electrical work for the new garbage disposal. I've got to make a trip to Home Depot as well today or tomorrow to get more valves for the supply lines and also to return some extra stuff that I don't need. It'll be a super busy weekend, can't wait. Yeah right! Until next time..........

Is It Spring Yet?

Needless to say it was impossible to bike outside for me this weekend as we got anywhere from 10.5 to 13 inches of snow on Friday depending upon what web site you look at. Normally the snow wouldn't stop me from riding but the problem this weekend was that most streets were unsafe to ride on because of the packed, ruddy, ice that was not completely cleared up yet. If there was no traffic on the road then sure it's no problem, but I don't trust drivers when they have to drive on that stuff and manuever around it, I'd like to live to see 2007. So, having said that, I had to do my riding on the trainer this weekend and as I've said before it makes for a lot of movie watching and some mind-numbing hours. Saturday I had to cut my ride short because we got our new countertops and dishwasher and I had to go get those and do some house stuff to get those projects started. I was scheduled for 3.5 hours but only managed to get in about 2 hours 50 minutes just because we had to do alot of running around like I said and there just wasn't enough time in the day. I felt good and it actually went pretty fast as I nearly made it through 2 90 minute movies during the ride. I did have to get off for about 2 minutes to make a pit stop because I consumed at least 3 or 4 bottles because I sweat so dang much when I ride inside, even with 2 fans. My knees felt pretty good after I fiddled with my seat height and cleats per my post on Friday, I had a little pain that went away after about 20 minutes and it did feel a little awkward but after a week or two my body will get used to it. Sunday I was scheduled for 2.75 hours and I completed the entire ride and my knees and overall position felt even better than Saturday, but mentally the last few minutes were pretty tough. I was closing in on a total of about 5.5 hours on the trainer over 2 days and although it doesn't sound like too much, it's still difficult to ride inside after having ridden outside the last few weeks. I obviously have to get used to it though because it's only December 4th and there are about 16-18 weeks left of this weather to deal with, but I know it will get easier as winter rolls along. This week will be 3 rides indoors on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and then as of right now it appears that Saturday and Sunday will be outdoor rides. Saturday is supposed to be 35 and sunny and Sunday is supposed to be 34 and sunny. Hopefully the crews get out and get that ice cleared off the roads. I have a rest day on the bike today but it is a weight-workout day so I'll be doing that right after work today.
I also wanted to give an update on some team news.....we got our final look at the team kit that we will be going with next year and I have to say that it looks great! It's a nice combo of a muted gold (not shiny), red, and black. Our sponsor logos are well placed on the jersey and shorts and the overall design flows quite nicely. I have a pic of the design but I won't post it now, sorry, as I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do that yet. I'll definitely take some pics when I get the whole kit in a couple of months and post them at that time. If you want to get an idea of the gold color and the logo, visit our sponsor's web site (Wheaton) under my Links section. In addition to getting our team kit I got some info on some other riders that are joining our team and I'm definitely happy to know that we are getting some guys that are not only quality racers but also nice, respectable guys that I know I'll have no problem meshing with on and off the road. I'm definitely looking forward to a great season with the team in '07. Until next time.......

Uncomfortable....Not Any More!

I've been having problems lately getting comfortable on the bike, if you've read previous posts then you know that it's been driving me crazy. I've been experiencing left leg drop, right hip tilting forward and some left knee pain. I tried switching back to my old Sidis last night but the screws that I had weren't long enough to accommodate the cleats and some pedal wedges so I decided to make do with my Adidas. I finally figured that the best way to figure out what is causing my issue was to set up a video camera and tape myself from the back, front, and side to see what is happening when I pedal under load and when I spin easy. Maybe I was doing something differently or favoring a stronger leg or something when I used big gears, so I finally set that up last night. I watched the video and couldn't believe what I saw, and more importantly I couldn't believe I didn't really notice what was happening previous to seeing myself do it. Basically in my present seat position I was dropping my right heel big time on the downstroke and pedaling toes down with the left foot. It was so obvious that my right leg was longer than my left that I don't know how I haven't noticed that prior to yesterday. My seat height was basically set up in the middle of accommodating both legs..... too short for my right leg so I had to drop my heel to get the correct knee angle, and too tall for my left leg so I had to pedal toes down and drop my hip to reach the bottom of the pedal stroke. The hip drop on the left caused me to bring my right hip forward, also causing me to point my right foot in towards the bike, and my left foot away from the bike. My wife watched it with me and she was also thinking I was an idiot because she noticed it immediately as well and wondered how I didn't figure this out before. Soooo, after doing some measuring I had to go with 4 pedal wedges under the left cleat to lengthen it enough to measure up with the right leg. Once I had it set up so that each leg was even I raised the seat to alleviate the heel drop and sure enough, my left hip didn't drop, my right hip didn't go forward, me feet were straight ahead and I felt really comfortable for the first time in a long while. It was a good feeling to finally, well hopefully, figure out what was going on so that I can go in to next year feeling like I'm not unbalanced on the bike.
Anyways, last night I did ride for 1.75 hours on the trainer and did 7x12sec Stomps as well. Tonight is a rest day on the bike and because of our major snowstorm I'll be skipping the weight work so that I can get home and shovel. Tomorrow is going to be an iffy day as there still might be too much snow to ride safely but I'll do my best to get out on the cyclocross bike and I'll ride for as long as I can or until I deem it too unsafe to hit the road. I might have to do all or part of tomorrow's scheduled 3.5 hours of riding on the trainer, fun, fun. If I can even get away with doing half on the road and half on the trainer I'd be happy. Sunday is probably 2.5 hours on the trainer as it appears that it will be snowing again but we'll see if the forecasters are correct. Here is a pic of the wonderful snowfall (yeah, right!). Until next time..........