4.15.2010
another one of those weird moments
People I remember from high school are doctors now. None of my memories are compatable with them being doctors.
4.14.2010
wow am I ever tired
Not sure why I'm still up, but it's probably because I bought a new bike today and I was super excited to get started toward building it up the way I wanted...
More to come on that soon.
Took 3 hrs off of work in the middle of the day today such that I could ride in the local race at Eastwood. Extremely glad that I did. What an awesome turnout and great time! Thanks to everyone. Wish I could have gone a little faster and made more of a race of the SS class, but I was tired and my gear was hard. Next time.
More to come on that soon.
Took 3 hrs off of work in the middle of the day today such that I could ride in the local race at Eastwood. Extremely glad that I did. What an awesome turnout and great time! Thanks to everyone. Wish I could have gone a little faster and made more of a race of the SS class, but I was tired and my gear was hard. Next time.
4.12.2010
LBS vs. Taiwan
The Marin was sorely in need of some new handlebars and a new rear wheel.
I ordered some bars from Taiwan ebay 3 weeks ago and they showed up today. They look great!
I got tired of looking for deals on the internet so far as cheap wheels go and dropped into Bicycle Sports today. I left with a Deore disc hub laced to a Sun Rhyno Lite rim... just about what the bike needed and instant gratification is always nice.
Both ways work, no sense being fanatical about only supporting the local places in my experience- they've all given me great deals once or twice and burned me on some other things. However, in the end I do think it's important to make sure they keep on keeping on.
Had a long conversation last night with a friend and was really reminded of why I ride and why I write this blog....
It's all about the escape it provides and I race because the faster I go the further away I get. Too bad Rochester sucks so much, but maybe it will help me get faster too, eh? All I know is that it's amazing how far away from Rochester you get with only an hr or two of riding- it's a different world out there.
I ordered some bars from Taiwan ebay 3 weeks ago and they showed up today. They look great!
I got tired of looking for deals on the internet so far as cheap wheels go and dropped into Bicycle Sports today. I left with a Deore disc hub laced to a Sun Rhyno Lite rim... just about what the bike needed and instant gratification is always nice.
Both ways work, no sense being fanatical about only supporting the local places in my experience- they've all given me great deals once or twice and burned me on some other things. However, in the end I do think it's important to make sure they keep on keeping on.
Had a long conversation last night with a friend and was really reminded of why I ride and why I write this blog....
It's all about the escape it provides and I race because the faster I go the further away I get. Too bad Rochester sucks so much, but maybe it will help me get faster too, eh? All I know is that it's amazing how far away from Rochester you get with only an hr or two of riding- it's a different world out there.
4.11.2010
Ragnarok
Wish I had done this race last year! Incredible course and organization etc.. Things were run very smoothly and the course was superb. I WILL make a point to go and ride some of it again and again (glad I brought my new gps and "mapped" it as I rode too btw). It was also cool to see so many great people out for this. The top end of the field was STACKED compared to any of the endurance races I've been in yet- which was pretty cool to see. I wish I'd been able to keep up a little better just to see the moves that would serve to separate that group out...
So far as my performance- mostly frustrating with some embarassing mixed in and not much more to say, but I'll do my best to make it sound interesting.
I got sick ten days ago and kept pushing too hard down in Decorah and over last weekend. I wound up taking the entire week off from work and seeing doctors twice- more or less desperate to get enough rest/medecine/whatever to at least be able to finish ok in this race.
Luckily, by the end of the week and race day I was feeling well enough that I thought I could give it an excellent "go" (I've still got some congestion, but that's about it. The actual lingering effects on my power/endurance are anyone's guess). The race started ok, but I quickly saw that I wouldn't be able to make the real selection that took place around mile 25. A group of 10-12 were "gone". I fell back and into my own pace. I almost caught a (the?) large group around mile 35 or so? but bent a couple chain links at the top of one of the "king of the mountain" climbs and had to stop for a moment to fix it. Jim Palmer came by and was very nice about asking if I needed any help, thanks man! Soon found a rhythm again and got back into things- the race wasn't going as planned (obviously I'd wanted to be with the lead) but it was still going well and within my expectations and reasonable goals. I passed a couple people and then passed Mr. Palmer tinkering with something on his bike (he didn't need help).
At this point I began riding with Heath Weisbrod which was really excellent. I was working too hard most of the time to talk much, but I enjoyed the company and riding with someone I have a lot of respect for.
I badly wanted to keep my pace "up" and to see if I (we) could possibly catch a legitimate chase group and I pushed too hard through a corner and went down. I was immediately up and after banging my handlebars and bar ends back into place I was continuing. At the time I knew I had hit pretty hard and slid on my hip, but the adrenaline was going and all I knew was that my hip was a bit sore.
Heath and I rode on and pretty hard until about mile 51 where we saw a group in front and he put the hammer down hard to catch them. I knew I didn't intend to stop at the 55 mile checkpoint (other than to get maps) and decided to let him go figuring that I'd latch on regardless. This was true- I latched on with him leaving the checkpoint, but the other riders were still there when we left town.
I was feeling good at that point and probably put down the most effort of the entire race for the next 12-15 miles. I passed the 62 mile mark just under 3:40 elapsed time- an excellent mark for me riding hilly gravel roads mostly without the benefit of a draft. Heath and I never really worked together consistently for most of the 30ish miles we rode together, but he certainly did help me some when we got up on top and had to battle the winds (I hope I helped him too). Around mile 70 another fellow caught up to us and we caught up to another guy as well.
We now had a group of 4 and I figured it was time to rest and plan some sort of an attack. I probably should have been thinking how nice it was to have a group to share the task of battling the wind with and how we still had a lot of miles left... I was was also finding myself struggling from time to time with my positioning on the bike and the growing tightness in my hip.
I rested for a while and only took short turns at the front, then I took the lead up one short climb around mile 75 and accidentally broke the group apart. It was me and the guy who had caught us from behind (Jason Stukel I think) and when I glanced back we had opened up a surprisingly large gap. I got excited and worked with him for 3-4 minutes and we were able to get "out of site" after going down a very long downhill. Of course this was the RAGNAROK so we immediately had to climb all that vertical right back. The climb went fine energy/power wise (I let him take the lead and kept my energy level down as much as possible), but I knew by the time I got over the top and "cooled down" a little that I was in trouble. I simply couldn't make a comfortable smooth pedal stroke due to my left hip and the right side of my back and neck all getting tight.
I pedaled on quite a bit further, but the discomfort didn't go away and neither did the nagging thoughts that I should quit so that I didn't make it harder to get back to riding after the day was over. I remembered the nagging back pain that I'd had for 4 or 5 weeks after that day back in January when my seat had slide backwards on the post.
I gave in at mile 89.xx
I feel like an idiot for not finishing
I feel like an idiot for attacking Heath and the other rider and then quitting so soon thereafter
I feel like an idiot for not assessing the situation better and just quitting back at mile 40 when I fell (if I was gonna quit)
I feel like an idiot for having so many damn excuses
I'm looking forward to getting back to training and the upcoming races on my schedule.
So far as my injuries go- I was surprised to find that I'd bled all over my bibs and also from my right forearm and elbow. My clothing hadn't torn much so I had assumed I wasn't cut up. My hip is pretty gouged, but more importantly is very swollen. It is still flexible and I think I will be able to at least commute to work tomorrow. I've been icing it a lot and taking advil etc.. My back and neck are a bigger question mark. I had some trouble getting out of bed this morning and all day with flexibility. Regardless, I will be fine sooner rather than later and other than the lingering effects of my cold I'm feeling pretty motivated to get out and ride.
thanks for reading or what not
So far as my performance- mostly frustrating with some embarassing mixed in and not much more to say, but I'll do my best to make it sound interesting.
I got sick ten days ago and kept pushing too hard down in Decorah and over last weekend. I wound up taking the entire week off from work and seeing doctors twice- more or less desperate to get enough rest/medecine/whatever to at least be able to finish ok in this race.
Luckily, by the end of the week and race day I was feeling well enough that I thought I could give it an excellent "go" (I've still got some congestion, but that's about it. The actual lingering effects on my power/endurance are anyone's guess). The race started ok, but I quickly saw that I wouldn't be able to make the real selection that took place around mile 25. A group of 10-12 were "gone". I fell back and into my own pace. I almost caught a (the?) large group around mile 35 or so? but bent a couple chain links at the top of one of the "king of the mountain" climbs and had to stop for a moment to fix it. Jim Palmer came by and was very nice about asking if I needed any help, thanks man! Soon found a rhythm again and got back into things- the race wasn't going as planned (obviously I'd wanted to be with the lead) but it was still going well and within my expectations and reasonable goals. I passed a couple people and then passed Mr. Palmer tinkering with something on his bike (he didn't need help).
At this point I began riding with Heath Weisbrod which was really excellent. I was working too hard most of the time to talk much, but I enjoyed the company and riding with someone I have a lot of respect for.
I badly wanted to keep my pace "up" and to see if I (we) could possibly catch a legitimate chase group and I pushed too hard through a corner and went down. I was immediately up and after banging my handlebars and bar ends back into place I was continuing. At the time I knew I had hit pretty hard and slid on my hip, but the adrenaline was going and all I knew was that my hip was a bit sore.
Heath and I rode on and pretty hard until about mile 51 where we saw a group in front and he put the hammer down hard to catch them. I knew I didn't intend to stop at the 55 mile checkpoint (other than to get maps) and decided to let him go figuring that I'd latch on regardless. This was true- I latched on with him leaving the checkpoint, but the other riders were still there when we left town.
I was feeling good at that point and probably put down the most effort of the entire race for the next 12-15 miles. I passed the 62 mile mark just under 3:40 elapsed time- an excellent mark for me riding hilly gravel roads mostly without the benefit of a draft. Heath and I never really worked together consistently for most of the 30ish miles we rode together, but he certainly did help me some when we got up on top and had to battle the winds (I hope I helped him too). Around mile 70 another fellow caught up to us and we caught up to another guy as well.
We now had a group of 4 and I figured it was time to rest and plan some sort of an attack. I probably should have been thinking how nice it was to have a group to share the task of battling the wind with and how we still had a lot of miles left... I was was also finding myself struggling from time to time with my positioning on the bike and the growing tightness in my hip.
I rested for a while and only took short turns at the front, then I took the lead up one short climb around mile 75 and accidentally broke the group apart. It was me and the guy who had caught us from behind (Jason Stukel I think) and when I glanced back we had opened up a surprisingly large gap. I got excited and worked with him for 3-4 minutes and we were able to get "out of site" after going down a very long downhill. Of course this was the RAGNAROK so we immediately had to climb all that vertical right back. The climb went fine energy/power wise (I let him take the lead and kept my energy level down as much as possible), but I knew by the time I got over the top and "cooled down" a little that I was in trouble. I simply couldn't make a comfortable smooth pedal stroke due to my left hip and the right side of my back and neck all getting tight.
I pedaled on quite a bit further, but the discomfort didn't go away and neither did the nagging thoughts that I should quit so that I didn't make it harder to get back to riding after the day was over. I remembered the nagging back pain that I'd had for 4 or 5 weeks after that day back in January when my seat had slide backwards on the post.
I gave in at mile 89.xx
I feel like an idiot for not finishing
I feel like an idiot for attacking Heath and the other rider and then quitting so soon thereafter
I feel like an idiot for not assessing the situation better and just quitting back at mile 40 when I fell (if I was gonna quit)
I feel like an idiot for having so many damn excuses
I'm looking forward to getting back to training and the upcoming races on my schedule.
So far as my injuries go- I was surprised to find that I'd bled all over my bibs and also from my right forearm and elbow. My clothing hadn't torn much so I had assumed I wasn't cut up. My hip is pretty gouged, but more importantly is very swollen. It is still flexible and I think I will be able to at least commute to work tomorrow. I've been icing it a lot and taking advil etc.. My back and neck are a bigger question mark. I had some trouble getting out of bed this morning and all day with flexibility. Regardless, I will be fine sooner rather than later and other than the lingering effects of my cold I'm feeling pretty motivated to get out and ride.
thanks for reading or what not
4.05.2010
mountain bike season!
Taking it easy right now because I feel a little sick so I figured I'd post up about a couple of my recent rides.
Rode Eastwood a couple times early in the week and came away very impressed with the trail condition. I cleaned up a few things and double-checked some of the 'stunts' that Mike and I built last year, but a large crew had obviously done a great job last weekend. Eastwood was also surprisingly fun, but that might just be the allure of riding bikes in the woods.
Rode 4 hrs or so at Decorah on Thursday. Crazy (82 and sunny) conditions for this early in the year. It was the first week of being able to ride dirt trail ride of the year and it felt like mid-summer. The only thing missing was my fitness. I averaged over 155 bpm for the entire 4 hrs of riding and I know I was well over 200 a few times on climbs. I made 3 "laps" on the Mamasita and the last on the Marin 69er. It was pretty clear that 42x20 is a serious gear for such a hilly trail... pretty sure I got the heart rate well over 200 a couple times.
I took it easy playing golf and working on my cars on Saturday. The plan is to get out on the golf course 1-2x per week this year as relaxation/recovery between rides. Laura is excited about golf too, and I want to help her learn.
Sunday I rode out to Stagecoach on the Marin to ride and hang out with Neil. Couldn't have been better! Beautiful conditions and the trails are just amazing! There is no substitute anywhere for this kind of riding. As much as I like racing and the riding the major "developed" trails, riding these "barely there" trails through the woods like this with absolutely no one else around etc. etc. just seems so pure... I'll try to let the pictures speak for me because I don't know how to describe it properly.
The bike is working great too! Love the simplicity of the rigid singlespeed now that I can ride it more or less successfully. I'm awaiting the arrival of some even wider bars for it, but am loving it otherwise. The 42x20 magic gear seems as though it will work out pretty well for Stagecoach, I only had to walk a couple sections. I ended up at almost 40 miles at 9.6 mph average.
Rode Eastwood a couple times early in the week and came away very impressed with the trail condition. I cleaned up a few things and double-checked some of the 'stunts' that Mike and I built last year, but a large crew had obviously done a great job last weekend. Eastwood was also surprisingly fun, but that might just be the allure of riding bikes in the woods.
Rode 4 hrs or so at Decorah on Thursday. Crazy (82 and sunny) conditions for this early in the year. It was the first week of being able to ride dirt trail ride of the year and it felt like mid-summer. The only thing missing was my fitness. I averaged over 155 bpm for the entire 4 hrs of riding and I know I was well over 200 a few times on climbs. I made 3 "laps" on the Mamasita and the last on the Marin 69er. It was pretty clear that 42x20 is a serious gear for such a hilly trail... pretty sure I got the heart rate well over 200 a couple times.
I took it easy playing golf and working on my cars on Saturday. The plan is to get out on the golf course 1-2x per week this year as relaxation/recovery between rides. Laura is excited about golf too, and I want to help her learn.
Sunday I rode out to Stagecoach on the Marin to ride and hang out with Neil. Couldn't have been better! Beautiful conditions and the trails are just amazing! There is no substitute anywhere for this kind of riding. As much as I like racing and the riding the major "developed" trails, riding these "barely there" trails through the woods like this with absolutely no one else around etc. etc. just seems so pure... I'll try to let the pictures speak for me because I don't know how to describe it properly.
The bike is working great too! Love the simplicity of the rigid singlespeed now that I can ride it more or less successfully. I'm awaiting the arrival of some even wider bars for it, but am loving it otherwise. The 42x20 magic gear seems as though it will work out pretty well for Stagecoach, I only had to walk a couple sections. I ended up at almost 40 miles at 9.6 mph average.
3.30.2010
3.28.2010
magicshine 2300- thanks Laura!
The girlfriend got me this-
http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_41&products_id=166&zenid=9g4jp5v231n4im5pq2kf3hb3i5
Couldn't be happier with each of 'em thus far.
Strapped the 900 to my helmet and the 1400 to my bars and decided to go for a 5 or 6 mile loop around my house in order to get out away from streetlights.
I love the ease of installation and use, the output is incredible and everything seems great thus far. Once out of the city lights I tested the dimmer settings and realized that the 900 puts out a TON of light on it's lowest setting- more than enough for a headlamp in any non-technical singletrack situation (where in my opinion the more light the better, no matter what). The 1400 puts out enough light for gravel at about "half" (it's infinitely dimmable) output of just the two smaller LEDs. The main light of the 1400 is straight up ridiculous on full power- with that fired up and the 900 on high it's almost like daylight. You have to be careful not to blind yourself with the reflections you get back from street signs.
Time will tell how long the batteries last at different settings- I'm guessing I will have a ton of battery life at gravel road level outputs between the two batteries. Looking forward to not ever having to really find out.
http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_41&products_id=166&zenid=9g4jp5v231n4im5pq2kf3hb3i5
Couldn't be happier with each of 'em thus far.
Strapped the 900 to my helmet and the 1400 to my bars and decided to go for a 5 or 6 mile loop around my house in order to get out away from streetlights.
I love the ease of installation and use, the output is incredible and everything seems great thus far. Once out of the city lights I tested the dimmer settings and realized that the 900 puts out a TON of light on it's lowest setting- more than enough for a headlamp in any non-technical singletrack situation (where in my opinion the more light the better, no matter what). The 1400 puts out enough light for gravel at about "half" (it's infinitely dimmable) output of just the two smaller LEDs. The main light of the 1400 is straight up ridiculous on full power- with that fired up and the 900 on high it's almost like daylight. You have to be careful not to blind yourself with the reflections you get back from street signs.
Time will tell how long the batteries last at different settings- I'm guessing I will have a ton of battery life at gravel road level outputs between the two batteries. Looking forward to not ever having to really find out.
motorpacing and the rest of my week
Felt a bit tired early in the week and my only rides were commuting. Early alarms Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but all three days were ignored, back to sleep... pretty lame. I did stretch my commutes out to around 20 miles for 3 of the days. Most of that was spent just cruising around at night admiring the sites and the calm of the city while everyone else is sleeping. Friday morning I was sitting at about 70 miles and 5.5 hrs.
Friday morning I woke up naturally around 10 and felt great- decided it was time to get back into the swing of the long rides. The wind coerced me into starting in a southerly direction. Decided to get onto the gravel and try to pick my way down to Chatfield. Found an absolutely beautiful section of road down in a deep valley that I will definitely ride again in the future. Rolled into Chatfield, grabbed a horrible sandwich and some g2 then hit the road. Obviously magnum road was going to be the ticket out of town. Hit that hilliest section of the '09 Almanzo and then cut north and northwest up to Stewartville. Coasted home from there with the wind at about 70 miles.
Recently I've been eating a lot of tortelloni- super easy way to get some dense calories and easy to make. My favorite recipe right now is to mix them with campbell's healthy choice "Italian Wedding" soup, or the "chicken tortilla" and a can of low salt black beans. With either option I also season liberally with sriracha. Anyways, I threw together a quick tortelloni soup dinner, showered and got out the door. Rode the 13 miles or so down to "catch 22" and met up with Mike Rust for a beer.
Halfway through the 2nd blue mooon I checked Facebook and saw that some guys from QBP were going to be riding 140-150 miles Saturday morning up in the cities. Not sure how I made up my mind that I should do that... I had ridden too much already to be "my best" Saturday morning and I was relatively sure that they'd be going pretty fast. Still, I had plans to try to ride that far and get a feel for it sometime very soon (very likely today, Sunday) and knew it would be incredibly helpful to do it with a group. I decided to make it happen. We were to leave at 6:30am from the colossal cafe up in Minneapolis near where I grew up. I rode back home on the bike paths through downtown etc. (the shortest route was now quite dark/dangerous with car traffic) By the time I got organized this left me with about 5 hrs of sleep, but I was feeling well as I unpacked the MCS in the dark and loaded my pockets with food.
The group seemed quite surprised that someone "else" was there to ride with them, and perhaps even more so that I was on a mountain bike. Everyone was friendly, there wasn't a lot of time to waste and we got started. The decision was made that we would do the "cannonball run" ride which would take us out to the Afton area, through Hastings, to Red Wing for brunch, past Cannon Falls, Vermillion etc. and then back to Minneapolis.
Things started out fast and stayed that way. I was more tired than I wanted to be from the beginning, but I hoped that as time went on the group might tire a bit and that I might stay more or less the same. I fell off a bit during an "early" climb around mile 45 and knew that I was likely to struggle some. Was smart? enough to admit that right away though and started spending a lot of time at the back of the group. I also told myself that I would climb at a pace which was comfortable for me and that I would watch my heart rate. Basically, I would put a hr "ceiling" on myself around 180 bpm in order to try to maintain any strength or high end power I did have left. If you've ridden with me you know how much I like to climb, so this was probably good for my ego to get my ass kicked up a few of them eh? Anyways, I held on more or less all the way into Red Wing with around 77 miles on the odometer.
The absolute highlight of that half of the ride was the "closed" bridges that we had to cross, the ones that happened to be covered in paintball paint and required climbing skills to conquer (well, for those who have such skills and who weren't wearing carbon road shoes- I had to crawl underneath like a wimp).
I was feeling pretty "broken" already and I was in my home town where I knew I had a couch, some NCAA basketball and a beer or two just waiting for me. I was able to convince myself to start back to the cities, but only just barely.
The rest of the ride was a blur and it was where the motorpacing really came in (or at least what passes for "motorpacing" for me on gravel). The pace never significantly dropped off- we kept an average up in the mid 16s and didn't waver much other than when they had to wait for me after every sustained climb. Luckily I was able to continue to spin the pace on the flats and hopefully I didn't slow them down too much. I almost quit the group and rode back to Red Wing around mile 110 (which I convinced myself was an option because I'd still get my miles in, albeit at my own pace), but Joe talked me out of it. Things got rough, the group helped me or the group dropped me, I felt bad, I kept pedaling. There were sections of road completely covered with beach sand. Things were rough. I was pleasantly surprised that nothing really weird happened. My legs were weak, but my aerobic system was still functioning fine and my food/drink situation was fine. I was weaker than the group, but other than on steep grades I felt the same as ever. They continued to help me. The route got longer and longer- seriously, it went from about 140 to being well over 150... I tried not to hold them up. We crossed into Minneapolis, the pace was still high.
In the end we rode about 155-160 miles (depending on which rider's computer you trust) in about 9:45 of riding time. My average heartrate was 145... disturbing.
I know that we went through a lot of beautiful terrain and interesting sites etc., but this ride wasn't about that for me... I was just too close to the edge the whole time to pay attention.
I can't thank the other riders enough for pulling me and just for letting me come along. The next time I will be more prepared (better rested and hopefully on a cross bike), I hope I'm invited!
Met my parents for dinner at Outback, slept about 11 hrs,did some yardwork etc.. Then got to work on my bike. Put on my new truvativ noir crankset (thanks charly tri) and realized the outgoing BB was absolutely, completely destroyed... couldn't even spin the driveside bearing by hand. Grateful it didn't fail to the point of ending my ride yesterday.
Now we are off to play some golf.
Friday morning I woke up naturally around 10 and felt great- decided it was time to get back into the swing of the long rides. The wind coerced me into starting in a southerly direction. Decided to get onto the gravel and try to pick my way down to Chatfield. Found an absolutely beautiful section of road down in a deep valley that I will definitely ride again in the future. Rolled into Chatfield, grabbed a horrible sandwich and some g2 then hit the road. Obviously magnum road was going to be the ticket out of town. Hit that hilliest section of the '09 Almanzo and then cut north and northwest up to Stewartville. Coasted home from there with the wind at about 70 miles.
Recently I've been eating a lot of tortelloni- super easy way to get some dense calories and easy to make. My favorite recipe right now is to mix them with campbell's healthy choice "Italian Wedding" soup, or the "chicken tortilla" and a can of low salt black beans. With either option I also season liberally with sriracha. Anyways, I threw together a quick tortelloni soup dinner, showered and got out the door. Rode the 13 miles or so down to "catch 22" and met up with Mike Rust for a beer.
Halfway through the 2nd blue mooon I checked Facebook and saw that some guys from QBP were going to be riding 140-150 miles Saturday morning up in the cities. Not sure how I made up my mind that I should do that... I had ridden too much already to be "my best" Saturday morning and I was relatively sure that they'd be going pretty fast. Still, I had plans to try to ride that far and get a feel for it sometime very soon (very likely today, Sunday) and knew it would be incredibly helpful to do it with a group. I decided to make it happen. We were to leave at 6:30am from the colossal cafe up in Minneapolis near where I grew up. I rode back home on the bike paths through downtown etc. (the shortest route was now quite dark/dangerous with car traffic) By the time I got organized this left me with about 5 hrs of sleep, but I was feeling well as I unpacked the MCS in the dark and loaded my pockets with food.
The group seemed quite surprised that someone "else" was there to ride with them, and perhaps even more so that I was on a mountain bike. Everyone was friendly, there wasn't a lot of time to waste and we got started. The decision was made that we would do the "cannonball run" ride which would take us out to the Afton area, through Hastings, to Red Wing for brunch, past Cannon Falls, Vermillion etc. and then back to Minneapolis.
Things started out fast and stayed that way. I was more tired than I wanted to be from the beginning, but I hoped that as time went on the group might tire a bit and that I might stay more or less the same. I fell off a bit during an "early" climb around mile 45 and knew that I was likely to struggle some. Was smart? enough to admit that right away though and started spending a lot of time at the back of the group. I also told myself that I would climb at a pace which was comfortable for me and that I would watch my heart rate. Basically, I would put a hr "ceiling" on myself around 180 bpm in order to try to maintain any strength or high end power I did have left. If you've ridden with me you know how much I like to climb, so this was probably good for my ego to get my ass kicked up a few of them eh? Anyways, I held on more or less all the way into Red Wing with around 77 miles on the odometer.
The absolute highlight of that half of the ride was the "closed" bridges that we had to cross, the ones that happened to be covered in paintball paint and required climbing skills to conquer (well, for those who have such skills and who weren't wearing carbon road shoes- I had to crawl underneath like a wimp).
I was feeling pretty "broken" already and I was in my home town where I knew I had a couch, some NCAA basketball and a beer or two just waiting for me. I was able to convince myself to start back to the cities, but only just barely.
The rest of the ride was a blur and it was where the motorpacing really came in (or at least what passes for "motorpacing" for me on gravel). The pace never significantly dropped off- we kept an average up in the mid 16s and didn't waver much other than when they had to wait for me after every sustained climb. Luckily I was able to continue to spin the pace on the flats and hopefully I didn't slow them down too much. I almost quit the group and rode back to Red Wing around mile 110 (which I convinced myself was an option because I'd still get my miles in, albeit at my own pace), but Joe talked me out of it. Things got rough, the group helped me or the group dropped me, I felt bad, I kept pedaling. There were sections of road completely covered with beach sand. Things were rough. I was pleasantly surprised that nothing really weird happened. My legs were weak, but my aerobic system was still functioning fine and my food/drink situation was fine. I was weaker than the group, but other than on steep grades I felt the same as ever. They continued to help me. The route got longer and longer- seriously, it went from about 140 to being well over 150... I tried not to hold them up. We crossed into Minneapolis, the pace was still high.
In the end we rode about 155-160 miles (depending on which rider's computer you trust) in about 9:45 of riding time. My average heartrate was 145... disturbing.
I know that we went through a lot of beautiful terrain and interesting sites etc., but this ride wasn't about that for me... I was just too close to the edge the whole time to pay attention.
I can't thank the other riders enough for pulling me and just for letting me come along. The next time I will be more prepared (better rested and hopefully on a cross bike), I hope I'm invited!
Met my parents for dinner at Outback, slept about 11 hrs,did some yardwork etc.. Then got to work on my bike. Put on my new truvativ noir crankset (thanks charly tri) and realized the outgoing BB was absolutely, completely destroyed... couldn't even spin the driveside bearing by hand. Grateful it didn't fail to the point of ending my ride yesterday.
Now we are off to play some golf.
3.23.2010
waiting
waiting on the gravel bike to get done
waiting on other junk
ordered light setup and picked up a new crankset for the mamasita- will move raceface down to the monocog?
waiting on other junk
ordered light setup and picked up a new crankset for the mamasita- will move raceface down to the monocog?
3.17.2010
STD
Ben's write-up-
http://springtrainingdecorah.blogspot.com/
If you are interested that gives a good sense of what we did, the conditions and also there are some good pictures. There aren't nearly enough pictures though- but that's for good reason... How do you capture riding in muddy hills in the rain for hrs on end while only being able to see 30' in front of you straight ahead? Or the feeling that no matter what breaks or goes wrong WE knew we were going to finish? This was an experience not easily captured with a camera.
What really sticks out in my mind:
Everyone was incredible- Nice people everywhere we went, awesome hospitality from the Shockey's and comraderie within the riding group. Basically, Decorah is pretty great and Ben made sure we saw the best of everything. He even got us timely service at t-bocks!
The daily routes were well planned out- the roads were beautiful, the right number of hills were epic and the right ones were rolling, the convenience stores were well placed (for our suffering).
All of our discussion about "nutrition" for endurance riding- as if you could call anything most of us were consuming nutritious. It was fun to argue about and seeing what others do/think will definitely help me into the future. Who is going to be the first to try to make organic aerosol pancakes IN THEIR MOUTH? Perhaps washed down with bacon and sour patch kids?
All our ranting and raving about the amount of climbing we were doing- there was just enough doubt as to the sanity of Kent's GPS to sustain this for the entire weekend. We never got anywhere, did we? I'll say it again... the metric seemed roughly comparable to the CIRREM, the century felt roughtly 2x as hilly as the Almanzo... since we can't accurately quantify the actual climbing or the effects of the road surface conditions and the wind vectors vs. the number of PBRs consumed vs. fake bacon and real freaking good sausage we will never really know.
All the Eagles- We must have seen 8 different pairs of eagles along the route. One even flew out o a tree and down the road no more than 80' from us- I think it was mad because Ben was threatening to steal the raccoon carcass it was having for lunch.
The Sattre store- The store was cool (full of the same stuff my great grandma's basement was full of), what was even more rememberable was how hard it was to get there. I was feeling pretty whipped at that point after a short break we were about to turn into the wind/rain and ride 50 more miles to the next stop.
Walking hills- Glad we did it! There were definitely times when it was the right way to go. I think deep into the century that Ben and Kent thought I was still feeling strong and could drop them on the hills... the truth was more that if I didn't stay on top of my gear I didn't have the strength to grind up those hills. I guess I'm a crappy SSer in that regard- I've sort of got to run a gear that I can sit and spin or at least turn over pretty well or I just run out of juice. Maybe that grinding strength will come with more time riding SS, I did start with it in November. Around mile 50 I would have been walking them all (they were all HUGE btw at that point) if it wasn't for the group. It got ridiculous out there!
Ben being tough- Ben had a mini-bonk about 8 miles away from the 85 mile stop. He didn't say much for about a mile, recovered, took the lead and hammered the pavement section into town. I was impressed.
Kent's post cramp sprint through town- Not sure who had the idea to do stoplight sprints, but I'm pretty sure Kent won them all? He may have cheated on the 2nd one, but at least on the first one he got off the line a whole lot faster than I did. Also, Kent's ability to finish strong on the last few climbs and windy sections despite those cramps. I'm sure he was feeling pretty crappy, but he was still more than keeping up.
pre-cooked bacon- the favorite use I heard for it was as a lip balm. least favorite was as food... it tastes fine, but I'd need something other than salty water to wash it down. I bet it would be awesome on the type of group ride that stops at a few bars.
The bumpy as hell snice (snow/ice) covered bike trail into town- what other way to end a 105 mile ride than to ride down a slippery, dangerous path as fast as you can? Well, unless you consider the "end" of the ride that last little rise where Ben attacked the group.
inspiration- This ride made me want to ride more. What's better than that? It got me thinking about new and better routes that I can take!
hanging out- Was pretty cool to talk and think about bikes and riding experiences for 3 days.
again- see the link above or a few pictures
http://springtrainingdecorah.blogspot.com/
If you are interested that gives a good sense of what we did, the conditions and also there are some good pictures. There aren't nearly enough pictures though- but that's for good reason... How do you capture riding in muddy hills in the rain for hrs on end while only being able to see 30' in front of you straight ahead? Or the feeling that no matter what breaks or goes wrong WE knew we were going to finish? This was an experience not easily captured with a camera.
What really sticks out in my mind:
Everyone was incredible- Nice people everywhere we went, awesome hospitality from the Shockey's and comraderie within the riding group. Basically, Decorah is pretty great and Ben made sure we saw the best of everything. He even got us timely service at t-bocks!
The daily routes were well planned out- the roads were beautiful, the right number of hills were epic and the right ones were rolling, the convenience stores were well placed (for our suffering).
All of our discussion about "nutrition" for endurance riding- as if you could call anything most of us were consuming nutritious. It was fun to argue about and seeing what others do/think will definitely help me into the future. Who is going to be the first to try to make organic aerosol pancakes IN THEIR MOUTH? Perhaps washed down with bacon and sour patch kids?
All our ranting and raving about the amount of climbing we were doing- there was just enough doubt as to the sanity of Kent's GPS to sustain this for the entire weekend. We never got anywhere, did we? I'll say it again... the metric seemed roughly comparable to the CIRREM, the century felt roughtly 2x as hilly as the Almanzo... since we can't accurately quantify the actual climbing or the effects of the road surface conditions and the wind vectors vs. the number of PBRs consumed vs. fake bacon and real freaking good sausage we will never really know.
All the Eagles- We must have seen 8 different pairs of eagles along the route. One even flew out o a tree and down the road no more than 80' from us- I think it was mad because Ben was threatening to steal the raccoon carcass it was having for lunch.
The Sattre store- The store was cool (full of the same stuff my great grandma's basement was full of), what was even more rememberable was how hard it was to get there. I was feeling pretty whipped at that point after a short break we were about to turn into the wind/rain and ride 50 more miles to the next stop.
Walking hills- Glad we did it! There were definitely times when it was the right way to go. I think deep into the century that Ben and Kent thought I was still feeling strong and could drop them on the hills... the truth was more that if I didn't stay on top of my gear I didn't have the strength to grind up those hills. I guess I'm a crappy SSer in that regard- I've sort of got to run a gear that I can sit and spin or at least turn over pretty well or I just run out of juice. Maybe that grinding strength will come with more time riding SS, I did start with it in November. Around mile 50 I would have been walking them all (they were all HUGE btw at that point) if it wasn't for the group. It got ridiculous out there!
Ben being tough- Ben had a mini-bonk about 8 miles away from the 85 mile stop. He didn't say much for about a mile, recovered, took the lead and hammered the pavement section into town. I was impressed.
Kent's post cramp sprint through town- Not sure who had the idea to do stoplight sprints, but I'm pretty sure Kent won them all? He may have cheated on the 2nd one, but at least on the first one he got off the line a whole lot faster than I did. Also, Kent's ability to finish strong on the last few climbs and windy sections despite those cramps. I'm sure he was feeling pretty crappy, but he was still more than keeping up.
pre-cooked bacon- the favorite use I heard for it was as a lip balm. least favorite was as food... it tastes fine, but I'd need something other than salty water to wash it down. I bet it would be awesome on the type of group ride that stops at a few bars.
The bumpy as hell snice (snow/ice) covered bike trail into town- what other way to end a 105 mile ride than to ride down a slippery, dangerous path as fast as you can? Well, unless you consider the "end" of the ride that last little rise where Ben attacked the group.
inspiration- This ride made me want to ride more. What's better than that? It got me thinking about new and better routes that I can take!
hanging out- Was pretty cool to talk and think about bikes and riding experiences for 3 days.
again- see the link above or a few pictures
3.15.2010
3.14.2010
STD
Way too lazy to do a write-up just yet. The horrible weather turned it into everything I'd hoped it would be, and now I've spent the entire afternoon cleaning the garage, car and bikes... and I'm prety much spent.
Plan to rest a while then install some goodies in the MCS with Eric.
Maybe will be ready to talk more about the 205 or so miles we rode in slop by Monday or Tuesday, I think I need more perspective to do it justice. I will say that I've put 390 miles on the Monocog since CIRREM (with most of them on wet, soft gravels) and 106 on the Mamasita and that I plan to try to hit it just as hard again this week.
Plan to rest a while then install some goodies in the MCS with Eric.
Maybe will be ready to talk more about the 205 or so miles we rode in slop by Monday or Tuesday, I think I need more perspective to do it justice. I will say that I've put 390 miles on the Monocog since CIRREM (with most of them on wet, soft gravels) and 106 on the Mamasita and that I plan to try to hit it just as hard again this week.
3.10.2010
follow the rabbit
Co-workers invited me to the bar tonight after work 'cuz we were getting out early at 12:30. Who am I to say no to hitting the bar with 5 or 6 girls (I don't really have any male co-workers these days... as they seem to go to day shift, or go bonkers and quit which is another story). Of course they were planning to hit up Boomers, which for some idiotic reason is the bar of choice for after work gatherings despite being about as far from work as possible in our city.
The trip there was uneventful. It took about 35 minutes of hard riding. The rain wasn't so bad and the temperature was liveable. We had a couple beers and talked etc., before I knew it 2:10!
The trip home was going to be at least an hr of riding in the pouring rain alone. I felt like the prince of Rochester, as if I owned the surreal roads I cruised. I rode the hills that were the last section of Sunday's group ride, the parking lot where Laura and I meet for Lunch when she is at the NW clinic, the road I take to get to the Douglas Trail, the cut to the mall, the path to the ball field and finally under 52 along the short section of freeway and up the hill to home. Every second hammering, absurdly pushing despite the rain. I felt like I had something to chase...
When I reached my driveway there was a rabbit. He was dead centered and staring right at me. In my light he looked white. I considered following, but realized I'd been following him all along.
The trip there was uneventful. It took about 35 minutes of hard riding. The rain wasn't so bad and the temperature was liveable. We had a couple beers and talked etc., before I knew it 2:10!
The trip home was going to be at least an hr of riding in the pouring rain alone. I felt like the prince of Rochester, as if I owned the surreal roads I cruised. I rode the hills that were the last section of Sunday's group ride, the parking lot where Laura and I meet for Lunch when she is at the NW clinic, the road I take to get to the Douglas Trail, the cut to the mall, the path to the ball field and finally under 52 along the short section of freeway and up the hill to home. Every second hammering, absurdly pushing despite the rain. I felt like I had something to chase...
When I reached my driveway there was a rabbit. He was dead centered and staring right at me. In my light he looked white. I considered following, but realized I'd been following him all along.
3.07.2010
warm weekend
Got out both days with groups of 6-8 on the now almost completely dry, but very sandy roads.
Saturday was a 30 minute "warmup" followed by about a 2 hr ride with the group at 17.5 or so with pretty high winds on the outward leg. I rode the Mamasita with the 34mm Pirhanas on the new Stan's wheelset. The 28/38 front double means that I get spun out at times on downhills, but otherwise the bike works surprisingly well. It was nice to see a group out so early in the year and also fun to "check up" a bit with the improvements I've made since last year (when I was almost dropped on a similar ride). After the ride I decided I would go grab some lunch and continue riding- sadly Chipotle was too busy to even think about waiting at... I wound up going to Panera where there were no extra tables either. I ended up having to ask a couple of college girls if I could join them at their table. Made me think about how old I'm getting, but at least they didn't say no right? They were sort of confused about why I had a bike helmet and pockets full of slimfasts, but otherwise nice enough. After lunch I rode another 90 minutes or so to bring the total to just over 60 miles.
Today was more of the same with the group ride, but the pace was a bit hotter and the group was more varied. By the end the group got whittled down pretty small. I rode the Mamasita again, but this time with the Tubular wheelset. I was feeling a bit crappy this AM and at the beginning of the ride as we celebrated Eric's birthday last night, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to give these a good test yet today. However, they were just FAST virtually every second of the ride. I felt like I could fly anytime I wanted to. Thanks Steve for talking me into 'em. Today wound up at 47 miles in 2.:45 or so including warmup/cooldowns. I think we averaged over 18 for the 2 hrs of group riding.
Other news is that I added some really dorky looking reflective tape all over the Redline. Not sure anything can make it look more utilitarian anyways, but it sure looks something now.
I guess I'm bringing the Redline to STD with the Pirhanas on it and the fixed/free setup and the mamasita with the tubular wheelset on it. I will also bring almost all of my other cycling possessions including the stan's wheelset and all my spare parts/tools. It sounds like it might get ugly weather wise- if it's anything less than dry I'll be trying to ride the Redline for the entire weekend so as to avoid undue wear on the Salsa. I will likely stretch my commute out a little bit tomorrow (2 hrs?) and then just do the strict commute Tuesday and Wednesday as I rest up for STD.
A few parts should be here Wednesday for the MCS- hoping to install early next week. I'm anticipating 205-210 crank hp after these changes.
Hope you got out and rode this weekend, it probably won't be this nice all the time here yet for another 5 or 6 weeks.
Saturday was a 30 minute "warmup" followed by about a 2 hr ride with the group at 17.5 or so with pretty high winds on the outward leg. I rode the Mamasita with the 34mm Pirhanas on the new Stan's wheelset. The 28/38 front double means that I get spun out at times on downhills, but otherwise the bike works surprisingly well. It was nice to see a group out so early in the year and also fun to "check up" a bit with the improvements I've made since last year (when I was almost dropped on a similar ride). After the ride I decided I would go grab some lunch and continue riding- sadly Chipotle was too busy to even think about waiting at... I wound up going to Panera where there were no extra tables either. I ended up having to ask a couple of college girls if I could join them at their table. Made me think about how old I'm getting, but at least they didn't say no right? They were sort of confused about why I had a bike helmet and pockets full of slimfasts, but otherwise nice enough. After lunch I rode another 90 minutes or so to bring the total to just over 60 miles.
Today was more of the same with the group ride, but the pace was a bit hotter and the group was more varied. By the end the group got whittled down pretty small. I rode the Mamasita again, but this time with the Tubular wheelset. I was feeling a bit crappy this AM and at the beginning of the ride as we celebrated Eric's birthday last night, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to give these a good test yet today. However, they were just FAST virtually every second of the ride. I felt like I could fly anytime I wanted to. Thanks Steve for talking me into 'em. Today wound up at 47 miles in 2.:45 or so including warmup/cooldowns. I think we averaged over 18 for the 2 hrs of group riding.
Other news is that I added some really dorky looking reflective tape all over the Redline. Not sure anything can make it look more utilitarian anyways, but it sure looks something now.
I guess I'm bringing the Redline to STD with the Pirhanas on it and the fixed/free setup and the mamasita with the tubular wheelset on it. I will also bring almost all of my other cycling possessions including the stan's wheelset and all my spare parts/tools. It sounds like it might get ugly weather wise- if it's anything less than dry I'll be trying to ride the Redline for the entire weekend so as to avoid undue wear on the Salsa. I will likely stretch my commute out a little bit tomorrow (2 hrs?) and then just do the strict commute Tuesday and Wednesday as I rest up for STD.
A few parts should be here Wednesday for the MCS- hoping to install early next week. I'm anticipating 205-210 crank hp after these changes.
Hope you got out and rode this weekend, it probably won't be this nice all the time here yet for another 5 or 6 weeks.
3.05.2010
a week of commuting
Well, it's March! To me that means it is time to shave the beard, suck it up and start commuting every day by bike.
So far so good, as I made the trip all 5 days this week on the monocog (fixocog?) with no issues. I was quite tempted Wednesday evening to drive the Mini Cooper S in to work because I didn't have to go in until Laura had already come home... but I decided that 30+ mpg is not justification to drive. $ isn't my motivation anyways. It has been inconvenient to have to change clothes at work, but I'm actually sort of kicking myself for not starting earlier. The temperatures have been such that just my fox dh pants over boxers and a rain jacket over a t-shirt has been plenty... probably could have easily been comfortable weeks ago.
I stretched my commute out a little extra every day but Thursday. Total was 130 miles thus far this week... vs. the 13 miles by 5 days that was really necessary. Total as 2.25 hrs monday, 1.5 Tuesday, 4 Wednesday, 1 Thursday and 2 Friday. If you were to bother to do the math the average pace wasn't all that fast.
People in town have started talking about the start of the "bike season" and it sounds like there may be a couple of good group ride options (on road) tomorrow. I will likely try to get out at about 10:30 or 11 and ride until close to dark. Not sure which bike yet.
Some crazy stuff has been happening with the Almanzo (and gravel races in general)! Can't believe all the interest. Some think it will die off, but I think it's a real niche that no one had realized or filled.
So far so good, as I made the trip all 5 days this week on the monocog (fixocog?) with no issues. I was quite tempted Wednesday evening to drive the Mini Cooper S in to work because I didn't have to go in until Laura had already come home... but I decided that 30+ mpg is not justification to drive. $ isn't my motivation anyways. It has been inconvenient to have to change clothes at work, but I'm actually sort of kicking myself for not starting earlier. The temperatures have been such that just my fox dh pants over boxers and a rain jacket over a t-shirt has been plenty... probably could have easily been comfortable weeks ago.
I stretched my commute out a little extra every day but Thursday. Total was 130 miles thus far this week... vs. the 13 miles by 5 days that was really necessary. Total as 2.25 hrs monday, 1.5 Tuesday, 4 Wednesday, 1 Thursday and 2 Friday. If you were to bother to do the math the average pace wasn't all that fast.
People in town have started talking about the start of the "bike season" and it sounds like there may be a couple of good group ride options (on road) tomorrow. I will likely try to get out at about 10:30 or 11 and ride until close to dark. Not sure which bike yet.
Some crazy stuff has been happening with the Almanzo (and gravel races in general)! Can't believe all the interest. Some think it will die off, but I think it's a real niche that no one had realized or filled.
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