Fatty

I may be the last person in the cycling community to have heard of his blog, but here is a very popular blog to check out for those of you who haven't heard of it yet. He knows Lance, gets free stuff from Garmin, gives away DI2 equipped Orbeas, and has enough readership to get some mondo advertising dollars. So anyways, check out this blog, it's a great read. He has been affected by cancer in a major way as his wife just died from breast cancer in the last couple of weeks, but he has turned that in to a positive by becoming a major LiveStrong fundraiser. Read his stories, you'll appreciate them.

http://www.fatcyclist.com/

Doc Ride and Century...Check

The plan on Saturday was to embark on my ride at 6:15, ride to Dousman, do the Drop the Doc ride, and then ride back to New Berlin. I was up at 5:00, ate a big breakfast, and then took a little snooze again until 6:00. I got dressed and headed out right on time, with the intention of being in Dousman about 7:45ish. It was a little foggy and more than steamy when I started riding, the temps weren't too bad at around 72 according to the Weather Channel, but I could tell right away that I was going to sweat ALOT on the ride. I hit the New Berlin Rec trail and took that in to Waukesha where I joined up with the Glacial-Drumlin trail. There was an unbelievable amount of people on both trail segments, which I didn't expect in the 6:00 hour, but I guess everyone was trying to beat the heat by getting out early. I was a little nervous on the way out to Dousman as thoughts of getting dropped right away on the first hill on the Doc ride crept in to my mind. I was thinking positive though, because although I haven't done a lot of speed work this year, I have done a lot of miles, maybe enough to keep me hooked in to the group. I got to Dousman and there was a pretty good group ready to head out, maybe 40ish, so I figured it was going to be pretty fast. A lot of the top name racers were not there though as the last WCA race of the year was going on up in Neenah, so I figured that would help me out quite a bit. As we got going the pace was pretty lax, around 20mph, so I had no problem staying in for the first mile or so, after that it picked up and my HR definitely kicked up quite a few notches. I was feeling good as the pace skirted the 25-26mph mark, and I thought that about 20 miles in I would take a pull or two at the front. I went to the front on a straight stretch of road and pulled for about 30-45 seconds, but right after my pull I saw that we were going to hit a hill and I figured I might be in trouble at that point. The group hit the hill pretty fast and I started to drift back, the reserves sapped a bit from my pull, and I was definitely in trouble. My HR was 192 and I was fading, luckily I was able to crest the hill only about 20 feet back from the pack and we had a nice downhill where I pedaled like mad to catch back on to the back of the group to get the draft and recover. I suffered for a minute or two but finally got my wind back and from that point on, with about 16-17 miles to go, I felt great. I actually took a few more pulls, and on the next few hills I was actually passing people, that was a mental boost to say the least. I always forget when the finish is coming on the ride because I haven't ridden it enough so I ended up missing out on the final sprint as we rounded a downhill turn and the pace picked and everyone started to fly towards the finishing sign. I just rolled it in and then took a break to eat a Clif bar and a gel for the return trip home. The heat and humidity had picked up quite a bit by the time I started back and the effort on the Doc ride made my legs feel a little gelatinous. I rode back on the Glacial-Drumlin, did a loop on the Fox River Trail, and then made my way back to New Berlin to finish out the day with a century, all before noon. I ended up drinking about 10-12 bottles of water on the ride and was still dehydrated when I got home. I'm a little sore today as my legs aren't used to the efforts I put in on the Doc ride, but I'm really happy that I stuck to my goal of getting up so dang early and doing the ride, it's my first century for August but I still have two more planned this month, well, maybe two, I might do a 200 mile ride next weekend and then I won't do a century the last weekend. Today it's going to be a short recovery ride and some housework, I'll also be starting a sit-up/crunches program today to get rid of some of this belly fat. Well, that's it for now, check out the newest poll in the top left and vote for your choice. Until next time........

Amb(ass)ador

Ambassador - def. - an unofficial representative

It seems lately that more often than not cyclists have to fight the bad rap that some drivers have given the population of cyclists as a whole, as renegades who don't follow the laws of the road. There are some that are trying to get cyclists banned from being on the road altogether such as this group - Bastards. Then there is this county in CO that is trying to do the same - A-Holes. So it is up to us (bicyclists) to be good ambassadors to cycling and follow all the rules of the road and be polite to drivers, pedestrians, runners, dogs...whatever it takes, so that we don't eventually lose the right to use the roads that we enjoy so much. Could you imagine being limited to a stretch of bike trails for your daily riding? Yeah, me neither. When you are out on the road or riding the Oak Leaf Trail, or the Glacial-Drumlin trail, of which both are multi-use trails, please follow the rules and be polite to everyone you encounter. I was on the Oak Leaf trail yesterday and I've made it a habit to say hi to everyone I pass, whether it's a cyclist, a jogger, walker, old lady in a Little Rascal scooter, whatever, I always try to say something nice. I slow down when I come upon someone and go around them with plenty of room and if I know they don't see or hear me coming I always let them know I'm behind them so they don't get startled. Conveying the image that cyclists care just as much about enjoying the roads/trails as they do can go a long way. Unfortunately not everyone is doing that and I saw it last night on the trail myself, there are still jerks out there, hence amb(ass)adors, in the title above. They are the asses, not the ambassadors we need. I probably saw about 5 different cyclists that just couldn't wait to get around someone, so even with walkers passing each other on the two-way trail at the same time, they still were trying to squeeze between them without even saying a word. The trail is only wide enough for 2 people abreast on each side, so to try to squeeze through is just a jerk move and makes us (cyclists) look stupid. What's it going to hurt to wait that extra 3 seconds, I mean c'mon, they were all bike path warriors, nothing more than rec cyclists, so what the hell would it hurt them to slow down? It might hurt their 15mph average speed?? Please. On two of those occasions I was behind the riders so I was able to see the look on the walkers' faces enough to know that they weren't happy. So anyways, that's enough ranting for now, usually I don't get political but after I saw that last night I just had to post something to let it be known that your actions as cyclists can go a long way to keeping us on, or off, the roads and trails we love riding. Please be a good ambassador whenever you can.
Back to regularly scheduled programming.....Tonight I'm going to do a 20-30 mile ride with Mike, who posted on New Berlin Cycling that he was new to the area and looking for someone to show him the roads and trails around New Berlin. I happily obliged so tonight we'll be riding on the New Berlin Rec Trail, the Fox River Trail, and I'll show him the trail-head to the Glacial-Drumlin trail since I doubt he has a State trail pass yet. I'll point out the good roads to ride on as well, but right now I think he's more interested in the trail stuff but we'll see. He's not only new to the area, but new to cycling as well, so maybe I'll make a recurring ride with him to help him out and show him how much he can enjoy the sport. On Friday I'll be doing a normal 2 hour ride after work, just a Tempo ride to get the HR up, and then Saturday I'll be doing what I attempted to do last weekend and that is the GD-Drop the Doc-GD ride. I'll ride from my house to the Glacial-Drumlin trail, from there to the Doc ride in Dousman, do the Doc ride, then ride back on the Glacial-Drumlin trail, and then home. All said and done, should be 100 miles before 11:30ish. Sunday will be a fairly leisurely 3 hour ride at an endurance pace. Looks like the weather will be great this weekend, I can't wait to get out. Well, that's it for now...until next time....

Never Enough

It was a hot one this weekend, for me anyways as I don't take well to the heat. I can never get enough water when I ride on days in the upper 80s and 90s, it seems like I sweat it out as fast as I can take it in, maybe even faster. I did two 3 hour rides each day this weekend, Saturday I had to wait until the rain finally stopped at 3:30 and then I got out for a ride around Waukesha, on what I like to call the 3 Hills Loop. It's 3 of the toughest hills around my area, well, maybe not toughest, but definitely 3 of the longest. It was pretty muggy and I ended up going through 6 large bottles of water in only 3 hours, 2 of the 6 probably ended up on my head but the rest were consumed to keep me hydrated. Sunday I started pretty early but it was still pretty warm and very humid. I started sweating before I got out of my neighborhood. I ended up going through about 8 bottles on the ride, which took me out to Dousman and back. About 3 of those bottles ended up on my head to keep me cool, a la the Floyd Landis effect. I saw a former teammate on the road, John Grisa, at the turnaround point in Dousman, he was out doing about the same distance as me, except he looked really fresh and I'm pretty sure he wasn't even sweating. I must be really out of shape. The rest of the day was spent hanging out inside, keeping cool and doing some house stuff.
Today I'm home helping out my wife who threw out her back yesterday while camping with her aunt and her cousins. I'm playing the role of nurse and helping her in and out of bed and to the bathroom, now I get to see what she gets to go through every day as a real nurse.
Other than that, I'm actually VPNed in to work as well working on some projects and then once I finish up with a conference call shortly I'll head out for a quick jaunt around the neighborhood on my roller blades. I won't have time to get on the bike before I have to drop off Xavier at driver's ed at 5:00. Better to do 15 minutes on the roller blades than nothing at all. The rest of the week will consist of as much riding as the weather and daylight will allow. Hopefully there are no late nights at work and I can get out on time all week. The plan right now is for about 15-16 hours on the bike, shouldn't be too much of a problem if everything falls in to place. That's it for now, until next time......

Derailed???

First, check out the new poll on the left hand side, go ahead and pick your choice, just something new for the blog that will be updated with different polls every week.

Well, my plan for tomorrow might be derailed, the rain is supposed to stick around longer than originally forecast, probably through Saturday afternoon now, and maybe even making a comeback on Sunday. That's a real bummer. Granted we need the rain really bad but I'd prefer not to have it Saturday morning, was looking forward to riding the G-D trail for the Doc Ride. I don't ride in the rain for training, there's no point in it for me, I usually don't even race in the rain so why train in it. Here is the stinkin forecast for 6:00a.m. which is when I'd have to leave, if it's not raining I'll be riding -

6 am
68°FScattered T-Storms
50%
From S12 mph

7 am
69°FScattered T-Storms
40%
From S12 mph

8 am
71°FScattered T-Storms
40%
From S12 mph

The Weekend Ahead

The weekend ahead should be a good one for getting on the bike as it appears that Summer has finally returned to Wisconsin. The temps will be up in to the 80s and 90s again which we haven't seen in a while so I'm looking forward to getting out and getting in some good miles. I have a half-day of vacation tomorrow from work so I'll try to get out in the afternoon but we have a 60% chance of rain and thunderstorms. I'm hoping they'll be scattered and I can get out between storms. Saturday the plan is to ride from New Berlin to Dousman on the G-D trail, do the Doc ride (and probably get dropped), then ride back to New Berlin on the G-D trail again. Total ride distance should be a century, it's 26.50 to Dousman, 40 miles for the Doc Ride, 26.50 back, and I'll throw on another 7 miles somewhere around my house. I'll be all done with a century by 11:00 or so and have the rest of the day to relax and do stuff around the house. I'm definitely worried about getting dropped on the Doc ride, it's probably 60/40 right now that I'll be spit out the back, but I'm looking forward to doing some sort of group ride, it's been a while since I've done one. Either way, it's more for the training than anything, so I don't really care if I get dropped, it's just about having fun. Sunday is going to be the hot day for the weekend, in the 90s as of right now, I'll keep it short and do something in the range of 3 hours, I've got plenty of other things to do around the house so no need to kill myself out in that heat for too long.
On another note, last night I surpassed my mileage for all of last year, which was just a bad bike year for me with other things affecting my motivation to get out and ride. I was pretty happy to see that and now I've still got a lot of time left to finish the year strong. I'm hoping for something in the range of 7500 miles for the year, it's definitely doable, of course the weather would have to cooperate in the cooler months to really help me along with that. I've got 3 centuries planned for this month, all of them as just solo training rides, 2 centuries for next month, and then 1 each in October and November. Who knows, maybe I'll even do one in December. Add the 700 miles worth of centuries to all my regularly planned training rides and that will add up quite quickly. I'm trying not to look that far ahead though, I'd rather not think about riding in November and December quite yet.
One thing I was thinking about this week was joining a fitness center for the first time, I don't have free weights at home and nothing of the sort in the small fitness center at my work either. I really would like the use of a squat rack, and the ability to cross train with basketball, swimming, Pilates, etc. would have been nice. Ultimately it wasn't worth the $100+ a month to join, especially with a yearly commitment. I think I'm going to go the route of finding a used squat rack and weights to put up in my basement and I'll be happy with that. I'll have a squat rack at home, I'll get some yoga and Pilate videos, and with the treadmill and resistance machines here at work I should be good to go. I'll also be doing snowshoeing as well, so that'll help. Well, that's it for now, more updates to come after the big ride on Saturday.

Glacial Drumlin

Had a nice 55 mile ride today from my house to Dousman and back on the Glacial Drumlin trail, it was pretty windy out there. I kind of got screwed, I had a headwind out and then it switched on the way back to a crosswind, so I never got a full-on tailwind today. I was expecting to be doing 25-30 going back in to Waukesha since a lot of it is downhill as well, but with the crosswind I was at 22-25 instead, good enough I guess. I felt great and there were a ton of people out today. It did rain this morning but cleared up quite nicely by 12:30ish or so. The winds were easily up to 20mph and in the videos below you can definitely hear it, although I was riding too so you're hearing the wind from that as well. It was a great day on the bike, the temperature was perfect, there were lots of people out, and the legs are feeling better every day. Tomorrow the plan is to do a solo century but my butt is hurting today, it feels like the start of a saddle sore, hopefully by tomorrow morning I'll know if I can make it for 5 and a half hours on the saddle. If I get a saddle sore then 75 will be in order, either way it'll be a 75+ mile day. Here is some video from today's ride, one is heading out, the other is heading back.

Sorry but it was so windy you can't hear what I said, but I said "it's windy!"

Rock Island

Time For A Getaway

The family and I (dog included) are going away for 3 days to Rock Island off the Door County Peninsula and we'll be doing some primative camping, hopefully without any rain. This is the carry-in, carry-out, no bikes, no cars type of camping. We take a ferry witht he car to Washington Island and then from there we leave the car and take another ferry to Rock Island. We'll unload our gear at the dock and carry it all to our campsite about a quarter mile away. From that point on, we are on our own and free to do what we want on the island. There are 10 miles of trails to explore, a lighthouse, and a great hall/museum from the guy that founded the island. Other than that, it's all about relaxing with books, some cards, hiking, playing with the dog and walking the beach as well. It's going to be fairly cool the first full day with a high of 68 and 40% chance of rain, Sunday and Monday are supposed to be low to mid 70s so it will be very comfortable. Again there is a chance of storms both days as well, but we'll make do. I'll miss the bike, but I'll be back Monday early enough I think to get in a ride and then I'll have a full week of riding when I get back. I'll get in enough hiking to keep the legs active so I won't lose much over 3 days. I'm looking at doing another solo century out by Lake Geneva and Alpine Valley next weekend to build up some hill climbing power, something I'm desperately lacking. I could lose a little weight as well but I'm gradually trimming that down and hope to be around 185 in the next couple of weeks, I'm close right now at 188 so just a little more to go. Once I hit 185 then I'll gradually work on getting down to 180, but I'd like to increase my core and build muscle at the same time as losing fat so I'll be steady for a while since I'll be building muscle, but then eventually I'll cut down on the fat. The goal is to stay less than 185 all winter since I seem to gain 20 pounds every off-season and have to work like crazy to get it all off again. This time I'd like to stay 185 all winter and keep my race weight at 177 to 180. Anyways, no ride tonight, back to riding on Monday evening hopefully. That's it for now, until next time....

Recovering

Well, the last few days have been about recovery, just a couple of short rides, and tonight I'll ramp it back up a bit again with a longer 2.5 to 2.75 hour ride. The legs were sore but today they feel a lot better, of course it's still early and I'm not on my bike so the sensation may change when I'm actually riding. The weather looks great the next few days, cooler weather that will be great for riding, exactly the way I like it. I'll be doing some intervals and hillwork this week, I don't want it to be 90 degrees when I'm doing those types of workouts, it's too easy for me to get dehydrated that way. In addition to doing the intervals and hills this week I'll also be doing the Doc Ride on Saturday morning hopefully, depends on how I feel after Friday's ride, but it's 75% as of right now that I'll do it. Sunday will be a long ride, maybe in the range of 4.5 to 5 hours, that should cap off a great week on the bike. I'm trying to get some yard work done this week as well, I have off work on Friday so that will be spent working outside for the most part and Saturday and Sunday will be spent re-paving my driveway as well as all the biking. It's a busy week, I'm getting plenty of rest though too, it's tough between working 45 hours or so, doing about 10 hours of yard work during the week, and biking about 16-17 hours. Somewhere in there I'll relax and watch a movie or go out to dinner with my wife, probably Friday night. Superweek is going on as well this week but I won't be going to watch any races, I'll be doing my own riding and none of them really interest me anyways. I'd like to go watch Downer Ave, but I'll be camping next weekend, which I'd rather be doing anyways.
Le Tour is fairly exciting but this week is not going to be a barnburner, the stages seem pretty lame, mostly flat, nothing for the big GC guys, they are just waiting for the Alps. I still hope Lance wins but I'm also rooting for Levi and Christian, their time is due, it'd be nice to see one of them win before their careers are over.
Well, that's it for now....

All Hail The King

Well, I'm not the King, but that's what the shirt says, it was quite a challenge but it's now complete. 121 miles, about 13,000 feet of climbing according to the Garmin, and a long 7 hours 57 minutes. The weather was perfect, it wasn't too warm, the wind was cool, and the hills seemed easy until the end when I had to climb up the last two long climbs and my right hamstring kept locking up on me. I never got off the bike or stopped pedaling and made it to the top of the park with my dad clapping and yelling as he had turned off earlier and cut the course short since he wouldn't have made it up the last few hills. There were words of encouragement written on the road leading in to the finish, namely "cold beer at the top" so I was quite motivated. I made it up to the top, rode straight to the pavilion, rode in to the pavilion to the surprise of the other riders sitting at the tables, and rode right to the beer bucket. It was ice cold and filled with cans of beer, I grabbed one and slugged it down. Man, that was the best beer ever. I sat down after that and we heard that someone had been hit on the ride and killed, a 62 year old from Waukesha was riding down a hill and a 16 year old turned left right in front of him and he hit the side of the truck. Oddly enough the kid was from New Berlin, which is where I live, and it's not any where near Blue Mounds so I'm wondering if he was camping with his family or something. It's very tragic either way, that guy's family lost their husband/father, brother, etc., and that kid is young enough that it may affect him for quite a while. It just goes to show you should live every day like it's your last, make sure you tell everyone you love them when you walk out the door, it may mean a lot in the end. Well, that's enough for now, here is a picture of me today, looking a lot less tired than yesterday.

Reward

Reward

My Dad

Finished. He's still alive.

The Last Big Downhill

Almost There

Blue mounds baby!

Heading Down, And Right Back Up

Downhill Relief

.

The Night Before

The Time Is Near

Well, only another day and a half really before I start my death march at Blue Mounds. The weather looks great right now, 79, partly sunny, not too windy as of today's forecast. It's supposed to storm tomorrow but it's only 50-60% as of right now, hopefully nothing too severe since I'll be sleeping in a tent tomorrow night after arriving at Blue Mounds State Park in the afternoon. Once we get there we'll set up camp, or maybe hold off if it's raining since I'd rather not set up the tent in a storm. It's supposed to taper off later in the day so maybe we'll just sit around under our pop up screen tent which folds out in 30 seconds and just eat and read or maybe I'll bring a small board game or something. Either way, it'll be a dinner of spaghetti in the evening and then early to bed as we have to be up at about 4:30 to eat so that we are at least close to having our food digested for the 6:30a.m. start. At least the weather will be cooler for the first 3 hours or so before warming up, we should be about 50 miles in to it by then, only 71 to go at that point, yikes. As hilly as it is, my dad will probably have a rough go of it, so I'm hoping for at least a 16 mph average by the time we are done, yeah, that means it'll take us 7.5 hours of ride time, add another hour at the rest stops and we'll be done about 2:30. The best part is that we get to eat afterwards, then they have a pool at the park so we will be relaxing there and staying cool. The rest of the night will be spent by a campfire and then I'm sure we'll be completely wiped and be sleeping pretty early. Sunday we'll head back home and I'm sure I'll just sleep some more, but I'd also like to get in a recovery ride to clean out the legs as well. It's a lot better for the muscles to keep the blood flowing after an effort like that. As far as training goes this week, I'm just taking it easy, did a few hill repeats last night, will do a few more tonight and then maybe an hour spin tomorrow morning, but that depends upon the rain. I've taken it easy the last week and a half as a taper to this event, but once it's over I'll pick it up again next week. More intervals are on the schedule and lots more hill work to get on par with all the other racers. Well, that's it for now, until next time. I'll post pictures tomorrow and Saturday once I get up there, check back for updates.