Cycling Clocks
Monday, April 2, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Athlete
"a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill. "
Cyclist.
Racer.
Cross Country.
Mountain Bike.
Me.
Cyclist.
Racer.
Cross Country.
Mountain Bike.
Me.
Monday, January 16, 2012
The "ON" Season
Tossed a leg on he mag trainer, a Cycle Ops Fluid 2 trainer. The old stand-by Cannondale CAAD 3 with Spinergy Rev X wheels. A good session. Details will not be too detailed, adhearing to racer-secrecy. I can see a difference bewteen the mag trainer and my Spin-bike.
I bought the spin bike in reaction to having 3 flat tires on the mag trainer in a 4 week period. A mag trainer?! Just how the hell do you get flats on a mag trainer?
There's a part of me that wants the new and shiny training tools. But then the other part is, I have most of the 'stuff' already: heart rate monitor with 3 settings, GPS on my phone, bike computer relatively useless on the mag trainer. Was seriously looking at the Timex Global Trainer but most of it is on my phone already so...I need to buy it why? Exactly.
Train Hard. Rest Easy.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ProvidenceVeloClub
I bought the spin bike in reaction to having 3 flat tires on the mag trainer in a 4 week period. A mag trainer?! Just how the hell do you get flats on a mag trainer?
There's a part of me that wants the new and shiny training tools. But then the other part is, I have most of the 'stuff' already: heart rate monitor with 3 settings, GPS on my phone, bike computer relatively useless on the mag trainer. Was seriously looking at the Timex Global Trainer but most of it is on my phone already so...I need to buy it why? Exactly.
Train Hard. Rest Easy.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ProvidenceVeloClub
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Sunday Post Ride-- MTB XC RACE Farmington Classic
With a little time to reflect, I've completed the 2010 Farmington Classic, Race 2 of the Root 66 Series. I'll preface it with, I've been off the bike for over 20 days. No training. No riding. Nothing. After the King of Burlingame, Rhode Island received some of the heaviest rains beyond any living memory.
My memory tells me I got over 6 inches of water in my basement, lost heat & hot water for over 10 days and suffered thru sporadic power outages. Have you ever taken a cold shower? No, I mean a real cold shower,no once of heat anywhere? In March? The water was so cold when it splashed onto my nuts it felt like I someone kicked them straight into my abdomen. How's that for a goof morning? BAM! Here's a swift kick in the nuts in the morning! It wouldn't have been so bad if our pellet stove didn't get knocked out from the power outages. We actually had to use our fire place for warmth on several nights.
Needless to say I didn't fair too well at this years Farmington Classic. I knew well before the race I was going to start from the back. I had to. I haven't ridden over 20 days nor trained. My road bike is shot--rusted chain, cranks and who knows what else. It fell into the water in my basement. I had just purchased a spin bike a day or two before water world entered my world. Luckily I didn't assemble it in my training room before the water came in. Unfortunately I can't set it up now, no room. All the salvageable stuff from the basement is now taking up space where I would've set up the spin bike temporarily.
I got the spin bike because I could no longer deal with keeping another bike ridable-ready on the mag trainer. Over the winter I suffered 4 flat tires over 10 days. On the mag trainer. ON THE MAG TRAINER!!! Yes I checked each time I changed the flat, I checked the tire-inside & out, the rim(no rim strip as it is a Spinergy Rev X). Nothing. No culprit. No metal splinter, No same location puncture. No foreign object. Nothing.
I lin up hearing the last minute information from the pre-riders, "Don't go right, stay left, the sand is deep on the right." "Course is good-tacky, greasy in some spots", "One mud section"
We take off. Of course I'm on the right side of the start. Deep sand. Hard to steer. BAP! Right handle bar taps a tree. I nearly lose control, get thrown of course for a few yards. Pedal on. Even this early in the race. I am aware...aware of the suffering that is to come, and sooner than I had anticipated.
Already I know I'm trouble, I didn't need my heart rate monitor to remind me. 183 BPM barely a third of way into the 1st lap. My early hopes of NOT coming in last was melting away like icicles on Satan's gutters. By this point, I'm reassessing to a more realistic goal: Finish the Race.
The Specialized Epic Comp was flawless. Tapped off gears on the X7 shifters and BAM there they were on the derailleur. It took a little getting used to the Thumb-Thumb action of SRAM's trigger shifters versus the Shimano Rapid Fire Thumb-Index shifting...I kept wishing for Twist Shifters, its just a preference, one I find myself in a shrinking minority.
The oddest thing kept occurring in my mind's radio...all during the race Queensryche's "Silent Lucidity" kept playing over and over in my head, kept me think how it was written as a sequel to Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" I enjoyed it. But the song kept playing over and over.
The course was remarkably fast. How I wished I was in better shape to really rip on it. It flowed. It was big ring only. The climbs were awsome...nothing long and enduring but challenging that required a good effort to climb at speed. Sure you could sit and spin out the gears but you wouldn't climb faster. I kept flashing back how the course had changed over the years when it was part of the Pedro's MTB race serious. I thought of how I've changed as a racer over the last decade & a half of racing. I thought of the irony of 15 years later I am suffering now as I did as a beginner (Cat 3) racer, the double cramps in both legs, the headache from lack of hydration, the grit of wanting just to finish.
Whoever said racing is healthy was a shit head. Exercising is healthy. Working out to stay fit or look good is healthy. Training and Racing, that's out right sadism. What fitness model male or female does intervals to the point of vomiting or nausea? All for the sake of 'this-much' faster? hardly any I'd imagine. But that is what many of us do. We train so hard on a personal level that it can make some of us believe in religion.
I crossed the line, wishing my bike hade better racer on top of it, saddened at my finish: LAST. Hit the Title of posting for the link to confirm my results. Yet as I crossed the line dejected I bright spot emerged: "Welcome Back Mike." Jill, the race organizer saide to me as rolled in, head hung low, legs full of pain. "Thank you" I replied "thanks" I smiled, just a little.
My memory tells me I got over 6 inches of water in my basement, lost heat & hot water for over 10 days and suffered thru sporadic power outages. Have you ever taken a cold shower? No, I mean a real cold shower,no once of heat anywhere? In March? The water was so cold when it splashed onto my nuts it felt like I someone kicked them straight into my abdomen. How's that for a goof morning? BAM! Here's a swift kick in the nuts in the morning! It wouldn't have been so bad if our pellet stove didn't get knocked out from the power outages. We actually had to use our fire place for warmth on several nights.
Needless to say I didn't fair too well at this years Farmington Classic. I knew well before the race I was going to start from the back. I had to. I haven't ridden over 20 days nor trained. My road bike is shot--rusted chain, cranks and who knows what else. It fell into the water in my basement. I had just purchased a spin bike a day or two before water world entered my world. Luckily I didn't assemble it in my training room before the water came in. Unfortunately I can't set it up now, no room. All the salvageable stuff from the basement is now taking up space where I would've set up the spin bike temporarily.
I got the spin bike because I could no longer deal with keeping another bike ridable-ready on the mag trainer. Over the winter I suffered 4 flat tires over 10 days. On the mag trainer. ON THE MAG TRAINER!!! Yes I checked each time I changed the flat, I checked the tire-inside & out, the rim(no rim strip as it is a Spinergy Rev X). Nothing. No culprit. No metal splinter, No same location puncture. No foreign object. Nothing.
I lin up hearing the last minute information from the pre-riders, "Don't go right, stay left, the sand is deep on the right." "Course is good-tacky, greasy in some spots", "One mud section"
We take off. Of course I'm on the right side of the start. Deep sand. Hard to steer. BAP! Right handle bar taps a tree. I nearly lose control, get thrown of course for a few yards. Pedal on. Even this early in the race. I am aware...aware of the suffering that is to come, and sooner than I had anticipated.
Already I know I'm trouble, I didn't need my heart rate monitor to remind me. 183 BPM barely a third of way into the 1st lap. My early hopes of NOT coming in last was melting away like icicles on Satan's gutters. By this point, I'm reassessing to a more realistic goal: Finish the Race.
The Specialized Epic Comp was flawless. Tapped off gears on the X7 shifters and BAM there they were on the derailleur. It took a little getting used to the Thumb-Thumb action of SRAM's trigger shifters versus the Shimano Rapid Fire Thumb-Index shifting...I kept wishing for Twist Shifters, its just a preference, one I find myself in a shrinking minority.
The oddest thing kept occurring in my mind's radio...all during the race Queensryche's "Silent Lucidity" kept playing over and over in my head, kept me think how it was written as a sequel to Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" I enjoyed it. But the song kept playing over and over.
The course was remarkably fast. How I wished I was in better shape to really rip on it. It flowed. It was big ring only. The climbs were awsome...nothing long and enduring but challenging that required a good effort to climb at speed. Sure you could sit and spin out the gears but you wouldn't climb faster. I kept flashing back how the course had changed over the years when it was part of the Pedro's MTB race serious. I thought of how I've changed as a racer over the last decade & a half of racing. I thought of the irony of 15 years later I am suffering now as I did as a beginner (Cat 3) racer, the double cramps in both legs, the headache from lack of hydration, the grit of wanting just to finish.
Whoever said racing is healthy was a shit head. Exercising is healthy. Working out to stay fit or look good is healthy. Training and Racing, that's out right sadism. What fitness model male or female does intervals to the point of vomiting or nausea? All for the sake of 'this-much' faster? hardly any I'd imagine. But that is what many of us do. We train so hard on a personal level that it can make some of us believe in religion.
I crossed the line, wishing my bike hade better racer on top of it, saddened at my finish: LAST. Hit the Title of posting for the link to confirm my results. Yet as I crossed the line dejected I bright spot emerged: "Welcome Back Mike." Jill, the race organizer saide to me as rolled in, head hung low, legs full of pain. "Thank you" I replied "thanks" I smiled, just a little.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Sunday Post Ride
Flood. No Ride.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36085345
Got over 6 inches of water in the basement. Knocked out the furnace. No heat, no hot water. Sporadic power outages. Riding & training hasn't been a priority.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36085345
Got over 6 inches of water in the basement. Knocked out the furnace. No heat, no hot water. Sporadic power outages. Riding & training hasn't been a priority.
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