Root River Ride

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

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

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

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

I Love Rain and Wind!

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

Team Dynamics

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

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

Off To Florida....for work :(

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

Rolling Right Along

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

Riding For 2007

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

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


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

Not Much Going On

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

Relaxing A Bit

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

Crappy Day And Crappy Result

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

Sore, But Ready To Go.....

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

4 Days And Counting

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

Day of Family Fun

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

Winding Down

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

Pictures

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

Disappointing 8th Place

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

Been Pretty Busy

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

Sore and Lovin' It

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

Feeling Rested...Kinda.

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

Sooooo Tired!

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