| 2007 september-november |
| Thursday, November 29, 2007 sweet spot and core strength I started strength training this week and have added some sweet spot intervals to my daily commute. Remember, the sweet spot is that grey area between a hard tempo and a time trial effort. I got the excercise ball and rubber bands up in here. hot hot hot Sunday, November 25, 2007 knackered Sactown Smackdown Thanksgiving ride Thursday, velodrome points race Friday, singlespeed mountain biking Saturday and a road ride with 4000 feet of climbing up around Grass Valley Sunday. Wow, I'm beat! I got to see Jasmine which was great and the party at Hellyer on Friday night was just what the doctor ordered. I am sooooo ready to throw down at the track next season. We are still waiting for the damn schedule to come out but hey, it's only late November so patience is in order. I'm ready for some big miles. Like the man says, "Go big or go home!" Ciao, for now. Monday, November 19, 2007 10,515 10,515 miles for the year so far, and I'm going big in December. Friday, November 16, 2007 D-Train Diesel MTX I finally got my commuter bike ready for the long haul. There are several 80 mile days in my near future. Thursday, November 15, 2007 2008 "All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger, but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer." - Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince Wednesday, November 07, 2007 tin daze So, it's been ten days since the big hurrah and my theory about my recovery pattern has held true again. When I take a big hit, like I do at these major ultra endurance events, it takes me ten days to recover. It's the same now as it was in May as it was in July of 2006. So now I have something to work with. All of my ultra endurance friends say they just go easy until they feel good on the bike again, and for me that is ten days. This gives me plenty to work with when scheduling my training peaks for next season, which of course is my current obsession. I check almost everyday for the 2008 schedules to come out. Ultras, road races, track, mtb, so many roads... Sunday, October 28, 2007 Death Valley 4 We finished in 13:20 (11:30 on the bike). Katie was the first solo woman to finish!!! Now the suffering really begins, 9 hours drive back to reality. A complete report and pics tomorrow... Friday, October 26, 2007 Death Valley Double 3 The smoke is everywhere but not too bad. It was quite odd going from 10,000 feet at the Mammoth Lakes resort this morning to 200 feet below sea level this afternoon. Death Valley is an unbelievable place and I am anxious to get on with the race. We rode this evening for 30 minutes and everything feels great. I had a weird sensation punching it up some little hills, waiting for that high altitude pinch that never came. Drink, drink, drink. Thursday, October 25, 2007 Death Valley Double 2 We left Sactown around 2:30 and took Highway 50 toward 395 and as soon as we went over Echo Summit the Tahoe Basin was full of smoke. Then it's over the mountain to Carson Valley and the smoke was even worse. Apparently the smoke from LA is coming up the San Juaquin and circling down into the Eastern Sierra. Tonight it's the Motel 6 in Mammoth Lakes and a huge plate of past for dinner. Can't see many stars but the almost full moon is spectacular. And it is cold and dry up here at 7000 feet so I'm drink drink drinking lots. Thursday, October 25, 2007 Death Valley Double 1 I started the day at a leisurely pace, no phone, no alarm, just a hungry, playful cat to stir it up around 9AM. How luxurious! Spent the morning doing last minute mechanical maintenance. You know, race wheels and tires, proper gearing, lube, lights and tools, and as much spare shit as my gig bag will hold. I woke up today, for the first time since the Cal Cup, feeling refreshed and pain free and this is my scheduled day off to finish the taper. What a relief. I've taken nothing for granted this time around, left no stone unturned. I will be submitting a detailed report of the comedy of errors that lead up to my shitty performance at Knoxville and the resulting injuries and torment. But, for now, the Eastern Sierra awaits. Hopefully I can update from the road. Ciao for now. October 1, 2007 - Monday ooooooops! I thought that it would be fun to go do the Knoxville Double Century with a relaxed-have-fun-and-socialize-on-the-bike-all-day kinda attitude. When the alarm went off at 3AM I got right up and felt great on the drive to the ride. So even though I rode a little too hard and ate too much pizza on Thursday night I felt prepared to get it on. Friday night I checked the weather forecasts and everywhere on the route looked like a low of 48 degrees or more, uncomfortable but not debilitating. These forecasts don't take into account the drop in temperature in the grape orchards or the accompanying wind chill. Well I'm here to tell that 38 degrees into a north wind with shorts, arm warmers, and a wind vest is debilitating. My knees took the worst of it and were cranky all day and my digestive system never caught up with the calories lost to fighting the cold for the first three hours. I keep hoping that I've made all of the big mistakes and that I can get on with the finer points of racing, but here I sit on Monday morning realizing that I'm still just a beginner with a long way to go. Bike racing is a war against other racers, mother nature, and one's self. It's kill or be killed, and for 16 hours, 31 minutes, and 39 seconds I died a thousand deaths. September 22, 2007 - Saturday house of flying singlespeeds Today was one of those surreal days on the bike where I felt like a ninja floating through one of those Chinese Fifth Generation Zhang Yimou films. Katie, Logan (Katie's brother) and I started up the Pioneer Trail in the clouds in a drizzling rain around 11:00. This trail is perfect for motoring along and working on the dirt skills at a higher speed than I can ride the more technical trails in the ravine. It's all heavily forested and covered from the elements. Supposedly it goes up for 25 miles but we got cold after eight or nine and headed back down. I'll be going again soon to try and ride it all the way to Lake Spaulding at 5000 feet. It's fifty miles round trip. Guess we better get moving before the snow comes. September 19, 2007 - Wednesday restrictor plate So I get on my bike at 5:50AM to meet the moto at 6:30 and head out to the Garden Highway for a little tempo work to prepare for the Knoxville Double next weekend (gotta keep the D-Train a rollin' - try to stand on a rat sucka) when I snap my chainring deraileur. Ooops. Yeah, yeah, I coulda used the set screws on the der mech to stick it on the big ring but I decided it was a sign to keep working on those pretty little circles. The numbers: one hour, 24.5 mph, 103 rpm, 250 watts. I walked around work all day in a total haze in spite of eating two whole lunches. Speaking of which it looks like I'm good for another year at the shop. The boss made the rounds today to let the heads know that it's time to cut back the staff and be ready to fill in where needed. That's his way of renewing the contract I guess. Working in a small family business for an eccentric owner is mostly fun but you never know when or where the ax might fall, or you show up to work one day and get reassigned to a new position. Anyway, it's good to know I'm still one of the boys and I can get on with my evil plans for 2008. September 17, 2007 - Monday holding pattern Ride, recover, repeat. Eat...lots. September 11, 2007 - Tuesday Niterider In preparation for the fall ultra season I got out and rode with lights and my new clear lenses. What a difference proper eyewear makes! It's gonna take some work and maybe a helmet lamp but I think with a little practice I will get comfortable in the dark. The bugs on the biketrail sure are noisy en la noche. September 8, 2007 - Saturday purity of essence The RiverRide was a social affair today. Rex is back from PBP and looking lean and mean. It's only the beginning of September but the ride is already taking on its winter vibe...fine with me. It's a smaller group of experienced riders and much more predictable. Sayers and Jesse Moore were out turning the screws, I spent twenty minutes trading pulls and averaged 325 watts and managed 380 for five minutes...ouch. I am bummed I didn't get to race districts at the track this weekend but I'll be there next year. Tomorrow is 5000 feet of climbing up up up to Carson Pass in the laughing group. Ciao, for now. September 7, 2007 - Friday The Coolest 24 I just starting coaching an ultra mountain biker that wants to rock the 24 hour race at Cool next May. I am really excited to be working with another highly motivated athlete that just needs a push in the right direction. He rode a sub-eight hour Leadville 100 several years back so we already know he has what it takes. I love the view form the hot seat...my kind of challenge. RiverRide plus 50 tomorrow and Sly Park to Carson Pass and back on Sunday. September 3, 2007 - Monday e. coli Well, just when I'm really starting to crank it up, wham! I catch a stomach bug that came with cramps every 45 minutes for three days straight. Yes that's every 45 minutes, 24 hours a day, non-stop for three days. Three days doesn't really mean a lot this time of year, especially with the 100 degree heat, but I like doing the high mileage thing more than ever and am experimenting for my 3000 miles in May. The way to make it doable is to average 20 mph so I only have to ride an average of five hours per day. Anyway three days off the bike equals three days taking it easy to get the legs back and that equals a week of missed overload. Okay I'm rambling, I cut loose on the Monday night Wheelmen ride and am feeling better. So my real reason for sitting down to write tonight is I noticed something strange and wonderful when I was hunting down the win at the city limit sign. After racing on the velodrome everything on the group rides seems to have slowed considerably. On the track holes open and close in the blink of an eye, you must act and react without thinking. If you have to think about what the move should be then it's too late, adios amigos. Anyway, everything on the road tonight was happening in slow motion. I was able to drive my bike sideways through a hole at 28 mph. I used to watch in awe as Russell made that kind of move and disappeared before my eyes. It is the kind of move that cannot and should not be forced by an act of will but rather must occur naturally with ease and finesse. I look forward to The RiverRide on Saturday. Ciao, for now. |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |