Great Sunday, long Monday

Sunday was great. I rode home from work (I commute year-round) and immediately got on the trainer. My commute home is about 15 minutes in winter and is just enough to get me warmed up for riding the trainer. I watched a bunch of the Yeti Team World Cup DH videos and had a blast.

Time: 60 minutes
Avg HR: 140 BPM
Stretched and felt great and then hit the wall. So I went with John and Cindy to Chipotle. Halfway into my burrito I felt better so I took the other half for lunch Monday.

And what a good call that was: Monday was a long day at work: 7am to 7:30pm. I got a lot done and it was worth the long day, but I was pretty fried by the end of it.

ride time: 45 minutes
Avg HR: 105 BPM.
100 sit-ups (1x40 and 2x30) and stretching.

I touched the floor!

Today I could touch the floor with my fingertips while keeping my legs straight. This is a big accomplishment for the guy who could hardly reach beyond his knees four months ago. It's the sort of visible result that makes it all feel worthwhile.

For those who don't know, flexibility is very important in producing power. Tight hamstrings prevent one from achieving an aerodynamic riding position while maintaining high power output. My new-found flexibility means I can remove the 17 degree rise stem from my road bike and replace it with a 7 degree rise one. Perhaps in another few months I'll be able to invert the 7 degree.

Today my training movie was Snatch, which is one of my favorite movies ever. Not a minute goes by in which the language slows down. And Brad Pitt is just hilarious in it.

ride time: 1:24, mostly at 120 bpm, and then about 20 minutes at 140.
I stretched, did 100 sit-up (in two sets of 30 and one of 20, no less), and felt pretty good.


Friday I did not ride. Friday was not a day to ride bikes.

today was a 7 out of ten

Ride today: 70 minutes at 125 bpm avg.
Food: grilled veggie sandwich, coffee, latte, cornbread, breadsticks, V8. penne Rosa from noodles and Co.

I felt focused today. My legs felt okay, and I could keep riding at high cadence, low resistance, but I felt focused. Today I had the kind of focus where nothing else pops into your head and you only see the trail ahead. Even my bike was out of the picture on this ride.

Watching just the race portions of Off-Road to Athens made the movie WAY better. I'm not saying I don't care about the plot, just that the plot didn't offer as much as I would have liked.

In the tight hamstring dept. things are looking better.

Today I am grateful for my parents generosity in allowing me to live with them and train in their basement and eat everything in their kitchen.

playing catch-up

Sunday 01-18-09: rode 74 minutes and watched 24 Solo. Good movie, legs felt fine while riding but tight while stretching afterward. Hamstrings were rough. 100 situps.

Monday 01-19-09: rode 51 minutes and watched Offroad to Athens. Not nearly as good as 24 Solo. Stretched, and the legs still felt tight.

Tuesday: OBAMA FTW! No riding, just chili, an Inter-Milan cake, and watching some inauguratin'.

Wednesday 01-21-09: Gehling and I were searching for a good cycling movie to watch, when we happened upon the BEST MOVIE EVER. 90 minutes and thousands of dead brain cells later, we'd gotten in a good spin and suddenly believed in hollow patriotism and deeply-rooted materialist values. 100 sit-ups, chili, apple, banana, oatmeal squares, a big yam, carrots, and a small chocolate shake with the ladyfriend.

oh, you said body AND mind?

Today I had a headache from the minute I woke up. I didn't have any coffee this morning so perhaps it was because of the lack of caffeine. After a night of sleeping on my side my back had a big knot in it which was not remedied until nearly nine at night. Fortunately, the ladyfriend sorted ti out. Mentally, I'm glad it wasn't race day. I had no focus for anything other than put it in gear and ride. I even spaced out during the big Zabel pile-up on stage two of the tour DVD I was watching. The legs were fine, but my head wasn't in it.

Riding:
1 hour at 140 bpm
15 minutes of stretching
Food:
Chicken salad with walnuts, corn, fetta, spinach, lettuce, and some light dressing. Apple juice.
Fetalicious pizza (2 slices), PBJ sammich, a Coke.

The trainer was down in the basement today and I think I might leave it there for the rest of my riding. My laptop plugs in and rests atop the freezer at just the right height and distance for watching DVDs. I've burned through most of the shop DVDs and now I'm going to order Off-road to Athens and 24/Solo to keep me entertained. Now is probably also a good time to order my 2ti Egg Beaters.


After some more thinking, It might be more realistic for me to get a Fisher Procaliber instead of the Top Fuel 9.8. In terms of availability there are more Procalibers in stock, and it's light enough at 22 lbs that I can't really complain. Seeing as how the Superfly weighed in at just under 20 with no suspension and tons of carbon parts, the Procaliber must be a pretty sweet ride for a full-sus.

Wednesday through Friday

Wednesday night was the first indoor group ride with Gehling. Dave joined us for some 2000 Giro viewing and some easy spinning:

Wed 1-14-09: 1.5 hr at an easy pace

Thur. 1-15-09: off

Friday 1-16-09: 1 hour at 150BPM. 100 sit-ups.
Food: Two slices sourdough french toast w/2 tbsp peanut butter. coffee, water, chocolate soy milk. Ricotta cheese in pasta shells, Whole wheat bread, chocolate.

I'm looking for a full-sus XC race bike with Xt/XTR or XO/X-9.

training today

Time on bike: 1.5 hours
time stretching: .5 hours

Goal: touch my hands flat on the ground with my legs straight.

legs felt tight at work today. Going to wear better shoes to stand around all day and try stretching on arrival and at lunch.

okayokayokay, maybe not year of the Superfly?

Another Brazen Dropouts swap is in the books and I cleaned up nicely. Moved some LX and XT parts I've been sitting on for a few years and even sold a few things for the Burnz. Gehling and Geo had a successful swap, as well.

Coach Whale told me to do do 100 sit-ups every other day. Once I quit laughing about it I realized he was serious, so I'm going to start tonight, before bed. I've been spinning easily two hours a day to establish some base miles. The new HRM works super well.

On another note, I've been doing some research on what was causing my hands and wrists to hurt so much after long rides and races. Turns out riding a rigid MTB is pretty brutal on your joints and is what led to Billy's joint-fusing surgery. Considering the joint strength problems that run in my family and the problems I've already had when I try to get into running, I'm rethinking the full-rigid setup.

Scoping out race bikes for the year: Top Fuels look pretty nice right now. The 9.8 is just over 22 lbs, and I think I could get it down to 20 with a new bar, post, saddle, and tires. Egg-beaters are going to be my pedal of choice.

Time to get started on those sit-ups.

2009: Year of the Superfly.

Welcome to 2009. Blogging is still narcissistic, but I need a way to keep track of my training and keep in touch with old friends. I have a new coach, new MTB, and a racing license that reads Cat. 2. Goals for the year: Upgrade to cat 1 and win at least one cat 2 XC race before doing so. Last season involved a lot of XC riding and only one race after Wausau: Fall Color Fest. I'm proud to say I got 3rd in the 21-mile event behind Gehling.

Industry news:

Trek/VW is dead. Apparently zee Germans just didn't have the cash to front for the team so Trek cut all domestic racing programs. While I understand that a lack of funds is a completely justifiable reason to end a program, they could have sorted it out in time to let the riders get other sponsors for this year. I thought this would be a good time to share my favorite XC racing picture ever:

In shop news: Tall Kid is back in full effect, along with Rabbit. Geo fell through the ice and isn't dead, and Ant Man is taking care of a post-surgery Termite Girl.

The Brazen Dropouts Swap is tomorrow. Stop on by my table for some killer deals on everything that I own that isn't Trek, Bontrager, or Fisher.

Maria and the Burnz got hitched and moved the party to Hawaii. the wedding party at 1on1 was very cool and I got to see the whole gang. We met Mrs. Billy (who is absolutely the best person in the world to be Billy's wife).

Maria said I can crash on their Hawaiian couch any time I'm running late getting home from a weekend 'cross race. I think I'll take them up on that.

Training starts now: Tink out.