No Race for Me Today

I had already mentally bailed on the North Shore road race I'd been training for specifically, so when I awoke this morning to blue skies out our bedroom window I was quite shocked and saddened. However, once I looked out the other side of the house I saw the blue patch was an anomaly. I booted up the internet, and breathed a sigh of relief that the forecast had actually gotten worse. It was too late for me to leave and make it to the start, anyway. I even already had an email from Tim and Blake on my team that included this picture:
They turned around as well. It sounds like a few others braved on and made it to registration, but the race was not to be.

So, after Emy's piano lessons and grocery shopping, I headed out for a training ride that I hoped would be nearly as hard as the race, albeit shorter in length. Unfortunately, after 14 miles of some great high cadence hill climbing, I got a flat (if you're riding on the Eastside, avoid Avondale - the bike lane is paved with broken glass right now). Since the flat used up my spare tube, and somehow ended up requiring a frustrating 10 minutes to repair (don't ask - OK, I was sweating like a pig in the hot sun and could not get the tire on the rim - quite a change from the morning weather), I opted to ride to the Sammamish Trail and do some short duration intervals - it's now time to focus on the track season. I got in a nice series of 2/1/2/1/2/1 minutes each with equal rest intervals, spinning at 120 or higher cadence, and a long 20 minute zone 3 interval at a cadence of 110 on the way back home. I felt super strong the whole ride - it's really a bummer that I didn't get to race today, since it was my only targetted road race of the season before track season begins in May.

Six Year Old's Suit Fails in 9th Circuit Nail-biter

"We are absolutely devastated. We've put all our time and resources into this case for the last 17 months", said Bill Suesalot, father of Clarise Suesalot. Clarise initiated a lawsuit against SuperKidsPartyPlace after she was manhandled and forcefully ejected from the premises on her fifth birthday for violating rule #4 at the self-proclaimed "best birthday place ever". "Her initial case was rightfully denied on technical grounds", felt law Professor Lyman Paperchase of UCLA, "but the appeal looked to have serious merit." Not surpisingly, SuperKidsPartyPlace was well represented by a team of aggressive attourneys. "Come on, rule #4 has been in place for several years", declared Willy Camembert the mid-morning shift manager, who was called as a witness, "we just can't let the kids bring their own food! Pizza and root beer is what we serve. What kid doesn't like pizza and root beer? I mean, a kiwifruit? No kid chooses a kiwifruit over pizza and root beer. How do I feel? Vindicatated, man, totally vindicatated!" Chief Judge Roberta Robertson, who has held the highest post in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals since the Reagan era said, "This was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. But a rule is a rule, and there simply is no legal precedent in place to further the appeal of Ms. Suesalot." Clarise gave a public statement after the decision on the steps of the San Francisco courthouse. "Well, we tried. Last week we settled for $1.4 million in the civil suit, which Daddy says should be enough to pay for law school for me someday. I'm glad we made 'em pay for the hurt shoulder and skinned knee I got from the door monitor. That guy won't be hurting any more kids." Court insiders and Prof. Paperchase had predicted the case might go all the way to the US Supreme Court. A similar case in Omaha may now prove more difficult for Bobby Chikenchit, who, along with three of his friends, is suing Marty McFly's, a popular fast food restaurant based loosely on the character from Back to the Future, for enforcing an age restriction on the "grab a toy on your way out" toy well. The four boys are all several years older than the maximum allowed age at McFly's, but they felt the restriction was unjust. We reached Bobby for comment on Clarise's case and he said, "That's tough for Clarise, but my lawyers and I still think we have a better legal standing. We'll know soon enough. Our case comes up in May."

Interview for The Onion

No, I didn't actually interview the be a part of the pillar of journalism that is The Onion. However, while listening to the episode of This American Life, Tough Room, in which the world inside the editorial room of The Onion is exposed, I was inspired. For the past few days, I have been dreaming up Onion-ish headlines. Here's a few - mind you, these are draft headlines and could probably use some massaging:

• Area Man Seen Dressing to the Left
• Local Watch Repairman Dies at Exactly 11:57 PM
• Area Woman has Proof Elvis Potato is a Fraud
• Police Crackdown on Violence at Camp for Blind
  
• Local Priest Pushes Abstinence at Nursing Homes
• Area Farmer Cries "The Shit Just Grows by Itself!"
• Area Botanist Found Naked with Venus Fly Trap
• Rare Disease Upgraded to Uncommon
• Latest iPod Killer Actually Kills iPods
• McCain: "Global Warming is no Worse than KKK"
• 4-H Hazing Really Getting out of Hand

Go ahead, give me a few of your ideas. I'll post my favorites.

Training for a Hilly Race

So, next weekend's race is a hilly circuit race up in Bellingham, the North Shore CR. Since I haven't really been doing any specific hill training, other than just including some on my regular rides, I got in two hill rides this past week. The first one included repeats of Winery Hill and Hollywood Hill with a backpack loaded with weight - about 10 lbs of random stuff including a big ziploc full of walnuts courtesy of my boss. On my second repeat I got a bit spooked when a car slowed down next to me (I was thinking about slamming on my brakes to dodge the 7-Eleven Big Gulp projectile I imagined was headed my way), but when I looked it was just my pal and teammate Z smiling and yelling "Go Cucina Fresca!"

I did these repeats with easy spinning on the flats, and then brought the heart rate up to 160 bpm on the climbs. Here's the profile (Winery is on the left, Hollywood on the right) - I went back and forth like a marble between the two peaks:

That was Thursday's hill ride, and even with the loaded backpack it wasn't too hard.

So, I needed to step it up for the next hill ride. The North Shore race for cat 3's is 7 laps of an 8 mile course with a total elevation gain of 4080' over the 56 miles. I needed to invent a course that would be similar in distance and elevation, ideally with more elevation gain and less rest in between climbs in order to tax the system greater than expected in the race. I used Bikely, my favorite course plotting mashup, and plotted up what repeats of "Zoo Hill" (SE 54th St. - Cougar Mtn Zoo in Bellevue) with a descent on Lakemont Ave would yield. Lo and behold, it is roughly 7 miles:


with plenty of elevation per lap:

In fact, each lap of my course has roughly double the gain of each lap in the North Shore race.

Saturday, I rode to the course as a warm up, with the intention of 4 repeats, and a goal of sub 15 min ascents of Zoo Hill on each lap. This time is based on the 14:17 I managed in the Cougar Mtn TT race last August, where I was not nearly in as great of shape (I'd only starting riding again in late May), and had no water bottles or extra stuff. Still, I felt it was an attainable goal, since I am definitely in better shape now!

My first climb up took 13:43, assuming I recalled the exact finish line point, and each lap was under 15 minutes without too much difficulty. Also, the descent only provided about 6-8 minutes of rest in between repeats of the climb. The second lap felt even faster, but I didn't check my time. I varied my gearing - the first lap I shifted more, and stood up more, while on the second lap I stayed seated in the 39x25 and spun for all but the short 20% gradient on one switchback. I kept the same heart rate limit of ~160 bpm, although I topped that on a couple of the switchbacks, and was usually in the 150's. After the fourth lap, I was not wasted, but definitely hungry (one Clif bar definitely was not enough), so I stopped at the Starbucks on Lakemont. Fueled up by a double espresso and an apple fritter, I headed through Issaquah and took East Lk Sammamish back home with the most fantastic tailwind.

Stats for the ride:
Distance: 54.2 miles
Time: 3:14:00 (door to door)
Elevation Gain: ~5000 ft, with 4800 ft on the hill repeats, according to Bikely.

I'm pleased overall with the ride. I'll have to include this in my training repertoire, and I am definitely looking forward to this year's Cougar Mtn TT. Maybe I can improve my time by a minute or more over last year!

Market Street Road Race

I had a great time at the road race today. Here's the email report I sent to my team, plus a picture (warning - exposed skin):

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With ominous and brisk weather a select few stalwart cat 3's of Cucina Fresca, many of whom wanted to join the Master's race, headed out for a romp of 6 laps of the famous course. OK, I had never ridden it, but others had, and someone else referred to it as "classic". I apologize for not knowing everyone's name, or last name in some cases. I was joined by Don, Mike (Hart, I had to ask when he said his name was Mike), Brian (?), Rob, and one other rider approximately the same size as Don. The only real "plan" we had in place was - let's hope nothing happens until at least the halfway point, after which if there's a break, at least one of us will try to get in it. We had no designated leader, per se. Heck, this was my first road race in 5.3 years, so I wasn't going to start beating my chest!

After the neutral rollout of a couple of miles, we past the start/finish and rolled around the course for a first lap average of around 27+ mph. Some kids were anxious. I just remember grinning and thinking about how much I missed this action - I yelled, "Now we're racing!" which elicited a few sarcastic laughs. We returned to the hill up to the start/finish, and a small group splintered off. I was too far back to really identify anyone in the break other than a Carter/Subaru - we can pick on them for the red, but you can't miss it, even when it is way up the road. I was wishing we had a bigger tomato on the back...

I ignored this group, since there was a lot of racing left. Thankfully the pace let up a bit, but for some reason people were now starting to freak about the pot holes. Let me tell you - there were a lot of pot holes. Combine that with a lot of "I don't want to ride over a pot hole", and the inevitable happened. The dude in front of me slowed suddenly, and then swerved right into my front wheel. I went down quickly, along with a couple of others right behind me, but jumped up just as quickly, and managed to rejoin the group thanks to a bit of adrenaline. I stayed near the back for the next lap to lick my wounds. I asked the guy behind me if my shorts were ripped, but he said they were just dirty. My left cheek sure hurt, though.

I saw Rob who was missing his bottles - he lost them when he hit a pot hole. I only had one bottle, so there wasn't much I could do, and he soldiered on. I was about to mention that Paolo Bettini goes for 5 hour rides with no water or food as training, but I'm not sure it would have helped.

A couple of laps went by without incident, and we mostly just cruised while 5 or 6 Wines guys were at the front. I was asking around if they were blocking, since we weren't exactly flying, or if they'd missed the break, but no one around me knew. I also asked our guys if they knew if we had anyone in the break, but Mike said he was up near the front when the group went off, and he was pretty sure we weren't in it. It did seem like were pulling them back, and a rider from the break would drop off every so often. We passed the 3 to go lap card, the halfway point, and I started trying to work closer to the front. We caught the break on this lap, and another small break went off, but they got caught too. There was another crash near the back of the field, but none of us were in it. The next time through the start/finish, they rang the bell, which elicted much confusion - everyone knew we were supposed to have another lap. But we didn't argue.

I moved to the front, as I saw Brian Venable (a.k.a. Venny) was getting itchy, and he's one of the few strong 3's I know of (not on Cucina Fresca, of course). He went, with two others, and I bridged. We were joined by a couple more, but despite my urging, we didn't get organized fast enough, and the pack was right there. Another guy went from First Rate, and I was on this wheel, but again, we didn't get anywhere. Some guy with Sega on his shorts went for a solo flyer, which lasted for a long time, and Venny bridged. But, we caught them after about a mile. Then there was another much bigger crash - some guy in front of Don swerved and bumped his wheel, he managed to stay upright, but I hit his rear wheel hard and just barely stayed up. Somewhere behind us the chain reaction sounded pretty big, but we were full on in flight for the finish now. We rounded the hard turn, went up the final hill at a pace brisk enough to shell a lot of riders - Don, Don sized guy, and I moved up the right side right near the edge, and we were in the top 20-30 coming up the false flat to the finish. I got stuck behind a couple of riders who were "going backwards" and lost contact with the top 10. I think all told we had three in the top 20, but none of us cracked the top 10.

I had an average of just over 24 mph including the neutral, so we were somewhere in the vicinity of 25 mph for the actual 45 miles of spontaneously shortened racing, thanks to the missing lap. The initial field size was somewhere around 50-60, I think.

I think some guy from Wines must have won - there were a group of them in front of my car afterward. I asked them if they had a guy in the early break, or if they were chasing. They all laughed and one of them said, "We were chasing our asses off - that's pretty sad that it wasn't fast enough for you to be able to tell the difference!"

It was fun, except for the crashes. I'm sitting on my right cheek only right now, but I'll heal. Dr Emy got me all patched up.

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Here's the aftermath of the crash. There's a bit more higher up, but you never know, someone might be reading this at work...


Update: I was wrong about Cucina Fresca not making the top 10 - "Don sized guy" is Bill Zimmerman, and he was 9th. Don was 13th, and I got 18th. And, the field size was 80 riders! Not bad for my re-entry to the peloton! Results here (Excel spreadsheet)

Emy Totally Gets It

I asked Emy if she wanted to watch a bike race and she enthusiastically said "sure", so I hooked up cycling.tv to the big screen and we watched the finale of Saturday's Paris-Nice stage. The stage of Tirreno-Adriatico was now on, and Emy got so excited that she ran upstairs, and when she came down she said she was "dressed for bike racing", including her "helmet" (which rather than her actual helmet was a floppy sun hat). She asked if she could ride the trainer - "That thing you and Mama ride your bikes on while you're watching." We said yes, she could, but it wouldn't have any resistance.

Here she is, riding the trainer - my super cool daughter:

A Few Millimeters Makes a Difference, and the 40 km TT Test for March

I noticed that after the two time trial races I was inordinately tired in the quadriceps and not so tired in the hamstrings, which runs pretty counter to what most racers report, and to what is ideal. So I decided to make a position change. I first moved my right cleat backward 2mm (foot forward 2mm relative to the pedal) since I'd been feeling a bit too "on my toes" with the right foot - I switched over to Speedplay pedals AND got new shoes last Summer, and have been tweaking the cleat position ever since. And, I moved my saddle back from a setback of 5.4 cm (distance between the front of the saddle and a plumb line running through the center of the bottom bracket) to 6.0 cm, and lowered the saddle by a couple of mm. This should, in theory, emphasize the hamstrings, glutes, and calf muscles more than the previous "high and forward" position. The difference is shocking, in a very good way. I'm not sure I could have used this position last year, but since I have been diligently stretching every day, and can now get my knuckles on the floor doing the classic "touch your toes" stretch, it isn't a problem. And geez - I am so much faster, and I am not nearly as tired in the legs after a hard ride. Mind you, my position before was acceptable, and maybe even "correct" for the velodrome, but the improvment in my speed, power, and comfort is amazing.

Case in point - the 40 km TT test for March
In last month's 40 km TT test, I managed to keep my HR at an average of 150-155 bpm for the 40 km loop around Lake Sammamish from our place, and completed 40 km in 1:13:00. Friday this last week I did a "race simulation" training ride, as I wasn't going to be in a race this weekend (I had planned on one today, but between a sick daughter and a sick cat, it just wasn't in my mind) - after a ride in the morning before work, and a warm up after work, I did two 15 mile loops with two long hills, one gradual, and one steep at a zone 3-4 HR of 150-168 with only some recovery on the downhills. For both loops, I managed to maintain 26-30 mph on the flats, and I climbed the gradual (5-7%) hill between 17-20 mph - these numbers alone indicated my new position was an improvement. In fact, on the flat sections, I was averging better than in either the Icebreaker or the Frostbite TT (oh, if only I had known to change my position sooner!) for over half the length of either TT, with no aero equipment.

Saturday I did an easier ride with one long hill, with a high cadence, and today it was time for the fitness test for March.

I dressed lightly, with arm warmers and leg warmers, knowing I was bound to get warm on the short hills - plus it was in the 50's with only a mild South wind. I did the same easier first 10 minutes as last month's test, and then wound it up to whatever speed was comfortable with a heart rate of 150-155 bpm. Today the speed at 150 bpm was 2-3 mph faster than last month, and even after 20 of the 24.8 miles I knew I was going to blow away my old time.

I completed the 24.8 miles (40 km) in exactly 1:08:00, five minutes faster than last month! So, the training is working, and the position has improved. It's also very nice knowing that if I allowed my HR to rise closer to race levels, I could break an hour for 40 km, solo.

The next race is this coming Sunday - the Market Street Road Race (PDF file). I can't wait!

Overall averages for February
I had planned on getting closer to 12-15 hours per week, but realized the only way this was going to happen was if I cut out running one day a week. I cut out the running for two weeks, but after the advice of a teammate who is wholeheartedly into cyclocross, I have added it back in. This means I will probably only manage 10-12 hours a week on the bike, but that's fine, especially if my primary goals are at the velodrome and in the fall. The numbers are lower than last month, but hey, February only has 29 days this year!

Bicycle
Time: 33:21:00
Distance: 596.9 miles
Longest Ride: 68.9 miles, 3:59:00 (while sick)
Rest days: 7, including illness

Running
Time: 1:01:00
Distance: 7.5 miles
Longest Run: 2.5 miles

Icebreaker or heartbreaker

Sunday was the Icebreaker TT, run by our team. As far as I could tell, the race organization was flawless, and I'm not just saying that because it was my team running the show.

So, I worked desperately to correct my mistakes from the Frostbite TT a week ago:

I pinned number on the night before, by stuffing a pillow in the skinsuit (sort of looks like a decapitated quadriplegic cyclist)

I managed to get in enough warm up - I spun easy for 16 minutes, brought the HR up to 155 for 5 minutes, back to an easy spin for 5 minutes, and then a 2 minute hard effort in the big ring to a HR of 165 before a final 5 minutes of super easy spin. I was sweating, and my heart was quickly responding to the changes in effort, so I knew it was a decent warm up.

The course was fun - I've never been on the Green Valley Rd, even though my team has done training rides that included it in the past.


Here's me suffering in to the finish. A teammate described my helmet cover as though I look like an English butler with a Bowler. I'm not sure that is a compliment.

However, all didn't go as well as it could've. I went out perhaps a bit too hard to the cone at 5 miles, and when I turned around and discovered a slight head wind plus a slight uphill grade, my speed plummeted from 28 to 23 mph. I managed to keep it above 23 mph for the way back to the finish, but never exceeded 24.5 mph except in the last 200 m. Oh well. I wasn't last this time, so that's an improvement! My goal was to finish under 24 minutes for the 10 mile course, but I blew that by 30 seconds.

In the scheme of things, I have to remember that I only started riding the bike again last May after a many year hiatus in which I did little or no riding, and only some running. So, the top-10 finishing Cat 3 rider in me is still working its way to the surface. Hopefully I will be back to my old self, or close, by the end of this season - in time for Cyclocross!

My teammates are all wonderful people. I forgot how nice it is to hang out after a race and just gab, complain, and dream big for the upcoming race season. I sure picked a good group to join.

The night before I was prepping the bike, and thanks to my talented wife Bree and Hot Tea Apparel (which is Bree) I have an awesome apron to wear while getting greasy and dirty with the bikes:


Today I got in 15 miles on the bike and a 20 minute 2.5 mile run. It was wet. But, the rest of the week looks sunny and dry! My next race isn't for two weeks, and it's a road race, so I'll have to adjust the training a bit.

This weekend it is time for another 40 km test TT around Lake Sammamish. I'm betting I will be faster.

The First Race of the Season

On Sunday I did the Frostbite TT up in Everett. There are three things I did wrong that I will need to correct for the Icebreaker TT this coming weekend:

1. I was in a mad rush to get all ready in time for my start time, and ended up with only 10 minutes of spinning on the trainer, plus 2 minutes of zone 3 before I had to head to the start "house"
2. I waited until the last second to pin my number on my skinsuit, which contributed to #1 above
3. I didn't pre-ride the course, which proved to be a major flaw (see below)

Here's why those things were not good:

1. I really need a longer warm up - I didn't really feel good until I was already 10 minutes into the course, which was "only" a 9 mile out-and-back. I knew this was going to happen, but it still sucks. To correct this, I will show up with at least 30 extra minutes compared to last weekend. Since I haven't done any road races in like 4 years, I just don't have my routine down like I used to (plus, back in the day, both Bree and I were racing, so we could help each other get ready)
   
2. It took me like 5-10 minutes to get the number pinned on, and changed into my skinsuit from my jeans and team jersey I wore on the drive. I already have my number for this coming weekend's race, so I can pin it on the night before. I will still probably change at the event.
3. I didn't pre-ride the course, so I didn't know the location of the turnaround. This coming weekend I will definitely try to get in a pre-ride as part of my warm up, unless the weather is bad, and then I will just trust my teammates (who will be setting up the course) to make a clear turnaround.

The main reason #3 was a major flaw had nothing to do with me, really - for the first 40-50 riders, the race organizers failed to put a cone in the road indicating the turnaround! There was also no official standing at the turnaround, so anyone with questionable ethics could have cut the course. Additionally, an oxygen-deprived rider might not think to look back before turning (assuming they knew where to turn), with potentially disastrous consequences, since the course was open to traffic (although traffic was very light). An official and a crew member to stop traffic are really necessary, in my opinion.

Here's the blow-by-blow:

I did my abbreviated warm-up (struggling into the skinsuit in the back seat may count as a couple minutes of warm up too - but I wasn't wearing my heart rate monitor, so I don't know what zone I was in!), threw the trainer in the trunk, and walk-run through the gravel parking lot to the road. Then I rode at a steady but brisk pace to the start house, saw I had three minutes, so I did a sprint and turned back to the line. The holder held my saddle, and the official counted down from 10 seconds. I had a good start, although I should have been in one easier gear. I very quickly passed the rider who had gone before me, and eventually caught the rider 1 minute in front of me. Then I was alone for a while before I passed one more rider. At about 8 minutes in, I was starting to warm up a little bit, and my heart rate was leveling off at 171-173 bpm. Not long after, I was passed by Dustin Van Wyck, the cat 3 who started 30 seconds behind me. He was flying, but I worked hard to hold him at about 50 meters. Since he and I are in the same category, I couldn't afford to let him get too much time on me, and I hoped I might be able to pass him right back after the turnaround. He and I kept going, and at one point I sort of noticed a few orange cones on the right side of the road, but I didn't think much of it. After rounding a bend to the right, I see Dustin coming toward me, waving his arm in a circle indicating it was time to turn around. I thought "what?" and then shortly thereafter I came to an intersection with a stoplight. Oh no! There was definitely not supposed to be an intersection on the course! So, angered and frustrated, I turned around. For the first minute or so, I didn't go very hard, thinking my race was already over, but as I saw more riders coming toward me, I yelled to them, "There's no cone! Turn around now!" With that, I started pedalling in earnest. Dustin must have been feeling similarly, since I noticed the gap was not as large. I shifted a gear and picked up the pace. On the way out I had been averaging around 24.5-25 mph, but I quickly brought it up to 26.5 and occasionally 27 mph ont he way back. At around 15 minutes into the race, I finally felt warmed up and smooth, and saw I was pulling Dustin back somewhat. I was also passing quite a number of riders (OK, like 3) I was hoping Dustin had gone out too hard, but by the finish I was sure he had at least a minute on me. I sprinted the last 200 meters, and felt like my face was covered with snot and drool, but luckily you can't tell in this picture taken by the spouse of a team member:
I have absolutely no memory of this car just to my left.

Unfortunately, the end results put me at dead last (first time I have ever been last in a race - boo hoo), but I did get in a measured (by the race director) extra 0.44 miles. So if I use my overall average, which works out to 25.2 mph, I would have done the 9 mile course in 21:26, which is still near the bottom, but feels a bit better. And, without the disappointment of the missing turnaround, and a better warm up, I'm sure I can do better this coming weekend.

The results have already been posted, so I expect they won't change (I did email the director at the suggestion of a teammate asking for some fuzzy math to adjust my finish time). At least I can't get a worse placing!

Plus, this coming weekend's course is 10 miles, so I've only got another half mile to worry about! I'm hoping I can do a time more like what is posted for last weekend's course (22:29). I should also have a new, mroe aero front wheel I got on eBay by then. I was offered a disc by our generous president, but I declined. Since I can't afford one this season, I certainly don't want to fall in love with the performance of a disc wheel. Maybe next year.

Living Under a Rock?

So, Bree and I got out to a movie tonight thanks to Grandma Jane providing some babysitting. We opted for "There Will Be Blood" since it has gotten good reviews, and Bree said, "Yeah, we should see it." So, we headed over to Redmond Town Center, enjoying some of the wonderful sunshine and 58 F temp. We saw the price of movies has gone up a bit since the last time we hit a theatre. I'm pretty sure I paid around $7.50 for a movie last summer, but somehow while I was living under a rock the price went up to $9.50 (unless you are a senior, and then you only have to pay $7.50). $19 for the two of us seems a bit ridiculous given that we pay just under that for a month of Netflix. I can bet it will be another year before we go to the movie theatre again, so I expect it will be more like $12 a person by then! Sheesh! Anyway, I guess we resigned to hopefully get our money's worth.

The movie is excellent. I can't say I liked any of the characters, but I never once looked at my watch, and was always anxious for what would come next. Daniel Day-Lewis was incredible. I will never be able to imagine anyone else when I picture an oil-tycoon. You should go see it, but be prepared for some shocking scenes. Bree and I particularly enjoyed the dynamic relationship between money and religion, particularly the mild form of religious extremism portrayed in the film (OK, charlatan-style early 20th century evangelical religion in particular).

I guess the experience was worth $19, but we won't make a habit of it.

I had some great training on the weekend, as well as a great birthday celebation for Bree in Tacoma with the Norlanders, my mother, and us. I watched the coverage of the Tour of California on Versus, which sucked (an hour of human-interest crap, and an hour of highly-edited coverage of the prologue - why does Versus think those of us watching the race don't want to see people actually ride their bikes? Instead they show us riders leaving the start house, and then crossing the finish line. Lame!).

All Better - Training Resumes

I've finally beaten the cold out of my system. I did manage to start riding again on Wednesday last week, and did the A-team ride on Saturday. The ride went well, despite a total of 5 flats (five different riders, myself included). I was really "limited" on the ride by my heart rate. Any time I got up to about 160 bpm, the legs would scream and not really allow me to go any harder. I was actually quite fine with my body being self-limiting, as my mind is not as good at this and would have no doubt sent me backward in wellness. So, on the hills I would be slow, and on the flats I would be fine.

On Sunday I went for my first ever ride with my Zune (gift from work - no, I didn't buy one!) and it was awful. The ride was great, but riding with an audio device is annoying to say the least. I'm sure I just need new headphones, since the main problem was them falling out, and me constantly needing to adjust after I twisted my head to check at intersections. I'm going to try it again today for my post-work ride, but with a headband to hold the thingies in the ears.

I did two intervals rides this week targetting different goals. On Tuesday I did five 1 minute intervals on the flats at a high cadence (90-100) at 160 bpm and then five 3 min intervals on a 5% gradient hill, again at ~160 bpm (midpoint of zone 3). Wednesday I had a fun field trip with Emy's class to a children's film festival, and got in a 20 min run in the afternoon. Yesterday I did a 15 min TT simulation interval at a low cadence (40-50 rpm) and ~160 bpm, then a 15 min rest, followed by another 10 min interval of the same, but finishing with the 53x13 and a cadence of 30-40 rpm. Since the first TT of the year is a week from Sunday, yesterday was probably the last chance to get in some power TT training. Today will be an easy spin, and tomorrow will be a long ride. Our team is doing team photos, but it's not at a good time with the busy weekend we have coming up (Grandma Jane is coming to town tomorrow, and Sunday we are heading to Tacoma to visit Bree's parents), so I have to skip the photos in order to get in my long ride.

After some back and forth with BikeTiresDirect, I got my new aerobars for the TT. I'll try to take a picture of the bike decked out. I don't have the $$$ for a disc wheel, or even an aero front wheel, at least for this upcoming TT. However, Bree made me a sweet helmet cover that should reduce drag for my head. I'm scanning eBay daily for any good wheel deals, but the aerobars might be as aero as I get for now.

Superheroes and Giant Tomatoes

I am still recovering from being sick, but since I felt at least 80%, I went in to work today after two days off. Yesterday I was feeling on the mend so I went for a 20 min run. It didn't kill me. Today I rode in to work, and then got in an easy spin after work. It would have been super easy, except for the high winds that wanted me to pedal harder. It was an exercise of will to keep myself in check.

I promised a picture of the new kit:
Hopefully I will have some action shots soon!

Epidemic Presenteeism in the Workplace

My mother in law informed me of the term presenteeism (I may have invented a spelling for it, though) - people who are sick, but go to work since "there's so much work to do and they have to be there!" I have fallen victim to this presenteeism twice in the last two months, and so I implore the workers of the world - do not go to work if you are sick! I'm guessing there's plenty of impetus for a research study here:

What is the cost to the corporation for losing one sick employee for a day vs. the cost of that person working and spreading their illness to other workers?

Actually, I'm pretty confident we don't need a study to indicate that the cost of the single sick employee staying home is far lower than the cost of several sick employees staying home! And, if said employees go to work, infecting others there's no benefit - plus, I don't know about you, but I'm not too productive at work when I am sick. The most I can usually manage is responding to email.

No, putting a sign on your door that you are "sick" doesn't cut it, unless you absolutely, positively promise to never leave your office, and you cover your air vent.

So, I'm home sick today. For all I know I will be sick tomorrow too. Normally, I would still train while a little bit sick, so hopefully that means I only miss today's session (running).

For posterity, here's a recap of January 2008's training:

Bicycle
Time: 40:00:00 (exactly - that's crazy)
Distance: 669.9 miles (1080 km for my one non-US visitor)
Longest Ride: 61.7 miles (99.5 km), 3:58:00 (the hill ride below)
Rest: 4 days of nothing

Running
Time: 90 min.
Distance: 11 miles
Longest Run: 3.5 miles, 30 min.

For February, I plan to get the weekly average closer to 12-15 hours per week, and get that longest ride to at least 80 miles. We got the new uniforms too, but I'm too tired and lazy today to model them...soon, I promise.

Training Actually Works

Friday was a rest day, which meant Saturday needed to be somewhat hard. This last week was my lower volume (fewer miles/time) week in a four week cycle - three weeks of progressively increasing volume and perhaps an increase in intensity, followed by a week of lower volume, but similar intensity. So, yesterday I skipped the team ride to catch my niece's birthday party (she's one), and then headed out around 2 PM. The plan was to execute a "test" I've been considering. The ride from our place, around Lake Sammamish, and back works out to almost exactly 40 km of rolling terrain with no big hills. So, I wanted to see if I could average over 20 mph door to door. A secondary goal was to keep my average HR around 150, assuming this jived with goal #1. I used the first 10 minutes or so as a warm up, ignoring goal #1, but at the 10 min mark, I stomped it up to whatever speed worked out to 150 bpm on the heart rate monitor. Surprisingly, after a short time I reached 154 bpm, and was covering a flat section at 23+ mph. This seemed like a good sign. I rocked the whole loop, keeping my exuberance in check on the hills (didn't let the HR get over 160), and by the 20 mile mark I was still under an hour of riding! The last 5 miles are flat, so it was no trouble at all meeting both goals. I passed the house turnoff at a time of 1:13:00, which actually makes for a reasonably good 40 km time trial over rolling terrain with no aero equipment. I spun easily on the Sammamish Trail for an additional 5 mile cool down, and even with it, when I got to the garage I still had an overall average of 20.04 mph. Needless to say, I was very pleased. This is certainly the fastest I ever ridden this route, and amazingly I finished with plenty in the tank. I think the early season training is working out famously.

Sunday (today) I wanted to invent a ride that I would offer up as an A-team ride that I could lead. It's a standard loop through Redmond and Woodinville I've done many times in just under 3 hours by myself. I didn't go too hard, either, to recover a bit from Saturday's ride, but unfortunately, again due to the effect of training, the ride is too short. Distance-wise it is about 43 miles, and time-wise it took me 2.5 hours at a recovery pace (or, at least, I kept the HR in the 130's). I'll have to figure out how to amp up the distance by another 10 miles or so.

Still, I am very pleased with how well I am riding. First race of the season is in 3 weeks! The Frostbite TT. I used to be a solid time trialist back when we raced regularly in the late 90's - I'm hoping that Ted is still lurking within. The first race I did as a cat 5 was the pancake-flat 40 km Minnesota State TT, which I won in a time of 1:04:00 (I still have the t-shirt), and even beat the cat 4's who had aero equipment (I had none - just me and my bike). Back then, we were in Minnesota, and the following season we did the bi-weekly Blackdog TT series, although I always did them in the "stock bike" category, which essentially meant a standard road bike with at least 16 spokes per wheel and no aero equipment. The one time I did this course with an aero front wheel and clip-on bars, I improved my time over the 10 km course by over 1.5 minutes! I'm kinda scrambling now to get some aero stuff for the Frostbite TT - at least some aerobars. Maybe I can borrow a fast front wheel from a teammate...

I'm moving my rest day to Monday, now that the season is approaching, which means Tuesday will be the running day. Doesn't really matter since the wunderground.com forecast for this week looks like this:

any kind of training is going to suck. But, it beats snow and ice. If we were still in MN, I'd be lucky to be out on the mountain bike at this time of year...

Tomorrow night we get our new team kits. I'll be sure to post up a modeling shot of me in full Team Cucina Fresca regalia!

Blind Consumerism - Or Bike Geek

My rear wheel has been squeaking and plinking on and off, and I had just been ignoring it. The wheels I have been running were the ones that came with my bike, and aside from a spare front wheel, the ones on the bike are the ones I have available. Well, yesterday, in the cold rain and sleet, the wheel decided it had had enough. The squeak became sort of a constant squeak-grind with the occasional feeling of slippage and clunking after coasting for a while (for those not in the know - wheels are supposed to spin quietly and smoothly). It's probably my fault, or, at least, the previous day's training ride was the straw that broke the camel's back. Wednesday, I did some crazy intervals suggested by Travis, our team president, and cat 2 racer, that involve grinding at a slow cadence of 40-50 rpm while maintaining a zone 3 heart rate. So, on the Sammamish River Trail, I did two sets of 12 minute intervals at a HR of 160-165 in the 53x14 with a 10 min rest in between. They were tough! It also didn't help that after I turned around to head back home, the headwind made it a struggle to keep the HR in a recovery zone! But, since the first two races of the year are time trials, these intervals should pay dividends.

Anyway, on yesterday's ride, the wheel got angry, and I resigned myself to probably needing a new wheel. Here's where the "Blind Consumerism" comes into play. I used to be a bike mechanic. I mean, I got paid to fix bikes, and I should know better, but when I brought the wheel in the Sammamish Valley Cycle (one of our team sponsors, and conveniently 3 blocks from our townhouse) I was surprised when Brian (who is on my team, and works there) said, "I think it just needs an overhaul." Grand total for this operation would be a whopping $30, including bearings. But, they said it might take a couple of days (panic - no riding?), and so I felt justified in buying some new wheel, just so I had a spare rear wheel. I shopped around with what they had, and ended up with a fine Mavic wheel with aero bladed spokes, and a reasonable price. The Bike Geek in me just couldn't help it (there were cheaper options). And don't get me wrong - the wheel is sweet and will be great for the aforementioned time trials. But, today, roughly 18 hours after I dropped off the wheel at the shop, I got a call that it was all ready to pick up. So you see, I never missed a ride due to this wheel. I feel just a little bit guilty for having purchased the new wheel - but it is so pretty! And it spins quietly and smoothly! And, thanks to the shop, so too does my old wheel - maybe it will make it another 4700 miles...

Hill = Fun

We had an awesome A-team ride on Saturday. Our team prez organized a wonderful selection of some steep and/or long grade climbs in Bothell, Woodinville and Kirkland. I was pretty stoked, since riding up hills is one of my pastimes. The ride began at the Bothell Park & Ride (OK, actually at the Lyon's Den coffee shop) which is an 8 mile ride North from our place - it works out to a nice warm up. We covered a number of hills, many of which were at least 15% and some must have had sections of 20%+. I split from the group about 8 miles from the planned ending, intending to ride straight home. But, I saw that I was only 7 miles shy of getting to 60 miles and only 30 minutes shy of a four hour ride time, so I persevered to 62 miles and 3:58 before I pulled in to our home. The average speed belies the hills on the ride - on at least a couple of them I looked down and saw 5.5 mph! Just as I pulled in to the house is started to get really wet, so my timing was good (I was soaked, but only having reached that state minutes earlier).

Emy had her first piano lesson while I was riding, and from all signs, she loved it. When we suggested we try to schedule a 10 minute practice time every day, she said, "Maybe, 12 minutes?" On Sunday she must have played for at least an hour total, and with our help, she worked through the next few lessons in her workbook. It certainly brings back memories of my childhood....

Sunday I got in an easy spin to loosen the legs after the hill ride. I started out pretty sore and slow, but the intention was to take it easy, so I played it by feel. After about 20 minutes the legs loosened up and I had a nice spin. I passed through a freak wall of sleet, wind and rain that lasted just long enough to get me covered with ice pellets and quite damp, but I was prepared with the rain gear this time. Amazingly, the sun was out on the other side of the weather wall, and it stayed nice for the rest of my ride. I was actually "HOT" for the last 10 minutes.

Today is the "run day" in my weekly training plan, which is the same 3 mile flat route every Monday (at least until we get closer to cross season in a short 8 months). Good thing today is for running, since the forecasted snow actually happened on schedule. They even closed Emy's school for the day, which, now that it is nearly noon and the snow is melting, seems like a poor choice. They didn't close the school the last time it snowed/rained, and that time it stayed below freezing, which actually made for treacherous driving conditions. Oh well, they just don't know how to handle WINTER here.

Its COLD, but that means I'm a wimp

I'm from Minnesota. It gets cold there in the winter (well, it used to, until Dubya created global warming). Really cold. Yesterday the temp was 23.9 F and I opted to take the bus to work. Mondays are my running day, so I didn't feel too guilty about not riding to work. But, after work there's a big letdown when I walk to the bus. Why a letdown? Because the bus is never there. Yesterday I was attempting to catch the 545 bus from the Overlake Transit Center at 4:08 PM. I left my desk at 3:56 PM, and I know it takes me 7 minutes at my usual brisk walking pace to get to the bus stop. As I waited to cross 156th Ave to get to the transit center, about 50 meters from the bus stop, I see the bus pull up and right on through. It didn't stop, because there was no one waiting, and it was MLK day, so all reasonable employers give you the day off to reflect upon the wonderful civil rights we enjoy in this country (even white males like me). I'm sure this was running through the drivers mind as he rolled through the stop at 4:03 PM and continued on. I watched helplessly, opting not to play frogger with the crazy driving of my fellow micro$ofties. I resigned myself to the 4:23 bus and sauntered slowly to the stop. It was warm (above 40 F) and sunny, and not having my bicycle, simply for the convenience of departing when I wanted, sucked. When I got home, I suited up for a run. The house was lonely, since Bree, Emy and Bree's parents went to the ocean for the day:
Despite my best efforts, I failed to find them a decent place to eat in Aberdeen, WA on the way home (Bree called me at work requesting an immediate Googling).

Today the temperature was 22.8 F out, but that wasn't going to stop me. I suited up, and added a neck warmer as a concession to the cold in addition to the same outfit I would use for riding in 40 F. When I rolled out of the garage, I was shocked at the impact of the cold on my recently shorn head. Usually I head North on the Sammamish R. Trail for at least 10 minutes before turning around and heading to work, but today my toes got cold after the first 3 minutes, so I cut it short. I guess I've adapted to the temperature here, since 20's would be a lovely high temperature in Minnespolis in January.

Of course, on the ride home it was warm and sunny (at least for January in Redmond), and I got in some great tempo riding (20 minutes at just below 160 bpm on the HR monitor), plus four "spinups" with 2 min rest in between. I love spinups. To do a spinup, you put yourself in an easy gear (39x15) and then pedal faster and faster until your cadence is so high you start bouncing. Of course, the smoother you are as a pedaler, the higher the cadence gets. I don't have a cadence measure on my bike computer, but I maxed out the 39x15 at 29 mph and had an imperceptible bounce. I'd estimate my cadence was between 150 and 180. I think that bodes well for the track season, and hopefully suggests I have my bike position close to spot on.

Tomorrow the low is supposed to be again in the 20's. And you thought it didn't get cold here! Oh wait - that's not cold!

Next Time I will Take a Picture

So yesterday on my road home I experienced sleet and wind. It was not pleasant. I rode with my head down, looking at my water bottle, with the occasional glance ahead to avoid certain death. This was almost my fate flying downhill along 520 (the trail! not the freeway) when I happened to glance up and see I was about to ram a slowly moving mountain biker in the middle of the trail. I swerved, said something I wouldn't want Emy to hear, and then promptly put my head back down. When I got home, Bree was amused that I immediately switched into my running shoes and went for a 20 minute jog along the Sammamish River. The sleet switched over to snow on the run, and my wet clothes from the ride just barely kept me above hypothermic levels as I got back. I figure it was good training for cross season in the Fall. Anyone who knows me knows I was loving every minute of it.

Today I awoke to a light dusting of snow everywhere, and a temperature of 32.6F. I wasn't worried, since I had that extra 0.6F to ensure there would be no ice on my ride in. Yeah, right! The ride in was on crusty slush, which held up amazingly well, and offered a reasonable amount of traction. When I got on the trail I saw there were at least three other skinny tire riders who came before me, and so I figured if they could do it, then so could I. There were only a couple of times when I worried I would start going backwards as I made my way up the 6 to 12% gradient along 520, and at one point I was surprised to see I was going 4 mph (fast walking pace)! The ride in would have been uneventful except for the hasty minivan driver that almost took me out in a crosswalk. Unfortunately I had to dab my right foot, which loaded the right cleat with ice, and for the remaining one mile I could only balance that shoe on top of my pedals (which are Speedplays, so it is kinda like balancing your foot on a lollipop).

The ride after work was smooth as butter. Funny - there were not too many people riding today!

Withdrawal

I'm going through a bit of cyclocross withdrawal. There's not as much happening, although I guess the tension is building before Sven Nys wins the world championship in two weeks. Last weekend was the national championships for most of the European countries, and most of the winners were predictable. The USA holds ours in December, but according to this, it looks like we are trying to follow the European lead and hold ours on the same January weekend. I agree with the linked blogger - it seems OK for us to be different, in the interests of allowing our country's finest the best, uninterrupted European campaign leading up to Worlds. But, if we do move it to January, I'm betting it won't be held in cities such as Kansas City, since coming from the midwest, we know that January's weather is typically even less hospitable, and perhaps "too cold for cross". Perhaps that's good for Seattle and Portland - maybe we'll host Nationals more regularly.

My withdrawal is the usual doldrums of not much happening in the professional cycling world, but thankfully, now that I have found cyclocross, the doldrums will be much shorter! It used to be that when the road world championships were over (in the Fall, after the Vuelta), there were just a couple of races left, and then I had to hold out until February of the next year. The minor lull in cross racing activity now means there's really only a two week hiatus from results, live and delayed video coverage and commentary. I guess it is OK - I can catch up on reading books (when I am done reading all the cycling blogs I follow!).

A Call for Help, and Trail Rage?

So, today included a couple of firsts for me. I headed out for a planned 25 miles on the Sammamish Trail, and at around 10 miles out, there were two guys riding and chatting on the trail that I would soon need to pass. One was on a mountain bike with extremely wide handlebars, plus a mirror, and he was riding on the left side of the trail. His buddy was riding in the middle of the trail on a road bike with two empty panniers. They were chatting about which saddle the road bike guy thought was the best, blah, blah blah, and so, to play it safe and not disturb them too much (although in my head I was thinking "Couldn't you guys ride on the right side of the trail instead of the left and middle?"), I announced my pass - "On your right!" Of course, this threw road bike guy for a loop - he swerved right, and I yelled, "No! I'm on your right!" He swerves back to the middle and starts swearing and yelling at me about how you "cannot pass on the right" and "what is wrong with you", etc. I calmy say, "Well, your friend was on the left, and you were occupying the middle" (I might have used the terms "hogging the middle", oops) "so I felt the safest thing to do was pass where it was clear." He yells at me some more as I am now already about 10 meters past them, and I turn back to say, "Please relax sir, we're all fine now." He said something under his breath, but we then had to slow for a stop sign where the trail joins a road for a short stretch and he catches up to me, still yelling about something. I sprinted a bit and said, "I hope you both have a really nice day!" in as friendly a voice as I could muster. He again muttered something like, "we will after you're far away." I got to a stop light, willing it to change quickly, which it did, and turned left up Juanita Dr hill. They did not go this way, thankfully, and I was surprised to have had this incident, since I have never encoutered such vehemence on the trail. I got to the top, turned around, and started down. About 1/4 mile down the hill I hear the dreaded sound of my front wheel going flat (I earned this by bragging on yesterday's ride about how I "never" get flats these days!). I pull off Juanita and start changing the tube. During the install of the new tube (my only spare) I hear the telltale sound of air escaping again - I must have pinched the tube between the tire and rim while installing it - no surprising since it was raining on me and I was hurried. That's it - no more tubes, and tearing off duct tape from my fenders to use as a patch failed miserably. Right about then I started thinking of my own misery as it starts rain/snowing on me while I sit on someone's driveway. I did the unthinkable - I called Bree to come and pick me up. I considered hailing one of the many riders flying down Juanita, but they are all going 30-40 mph, and it's raining and snowing (did I mention that already?). Bree and Emy rescued me about 20 minutes later. I was quite the novelty in the little neighborhood where I waited - I was offered food, shelter, a bathroom, tea, and just plain "help" but I politely refused since this all happened about 5 minutes before I knew Bree would pull up. When we were on the drive home and I finished telling the story, Emy said, "Daddy, why was the man angry?" Bree and I explained to her about how some people react to surprise and embarrassment with anger and frustration, blaming their embarrassment on the others involved. She said, "Like I do sometimes?" We tiptoed here a bit and said that many people do this sometimes, but there are people out there who just can't accept blame or easily blow off incidents like I had - they just don't know how to deal with a mix of fear and shame.

All I can say is that I have no problem with how I dealt with the situation on the trail. I can only hope those guys learned some sort of lesson and at least moved to the right side of the trail. If I have to take the fall for them paying a little more attention on a Sunday afternoon ride on a crowded trail, then so be it. I just wish the next thing to happen to me wasn't a double flat in the freezing rain. Please tell me I erased all my bad Karma today?

Looks like tomorrow's forecast will be more of the same - but I have two spare tubes now!