A year of change

I've gotten pretty good about blogging in spring and then dropping off the face of the blogosphere for a year. Last season started with some good form for racing, and then I ran through a few major changes. First, things hit a roadblock with the team and racing. It simply wasn't an option for me to go to the first four races of the year, so I pulled the plug on the mountain bike season.

Next, I got an amazing opportunity for a new job, doing social media and PR work in the industry. It also meant shelving racing entirely, but it was a dream job, and I wasn't going to pass it up.

One year later, I've been to Whistler twice, followed a major stage race in California, seen Austin, Philly, San Francisco, and had a beer with a Tour de France podium finisher. I'd say it was worth taking a break from racing.

On the flip side, I experienced athletic burnout big time. Once the athlete mentality was gone, I didn't ride my bike or do any physical activity whatsoever for about 5 months. I lost all my form, put on about 25 lbs, drank a ton of beer, and hated the bike.

When I was young, and had just discovered the joy of cycling, I told my dad I hoped I would always love riding as much as I did. He suggested I hope to always have something to love as much as I love cycling, whether it was riding or some other thing. That sounded reasonable to me, and we agreed to just aim for me to never "dislike" riding. Unfortunately, I did end up hating it, but that was because I was riding for the wrong reasons.

Next post: Finding cycling again.

Training Camp day 2

Today I got my ass kicked on a road climb called Wayah. It was my first group road ride in a while and I made some good mistakes. Here's a map with elevation.

We rolled out of the NOC with a group of 17. After a two-hour spin to the backside of Wayah, I found myself in the faster of two groups as we headed toward the base of the climb. Little did I know I was pulling on a false flat, working my heartrate into a zone I didn't want to see until I was actually on the climb.

1. I pulled too hard, for too long, when I should have sat in.

2. I shouldn't have even been in the lead group. I should have gone my own pace into the start of the climb.

At mile 35 it really started to kick up and we entered a few switchbacks that blew me off the back of my group. I tried way too hard to stay with the lead group (the pain train portion of the ride) and probably should have just sat in with the second group.

My legs were still feeling pretty crappy from the 14 hours of driving the day before, so I was one of the last people to make the summit. Instead of doing the second portion of the ride with the lead group, I descended the front of Wayah, giggling with delight at the hairpin turns and high speeds. I reached 45 MPH on the way down and repeatedly dropped the other rider who headed back with me to the NOC.

We stopped a few times on the way back to stretch (we were both cramping a bit), and then Patrick (I think that was his name) dropped the hammer and we hauled ass into the NOC, averaging 25 MPH for the last 10 miles. It was mostly downhill, but damn were we cooking.

The first real ride was in the bag and my legs were shot from the nasty steep climb.

Monday we're riding Tsali: an old famous mountain bike trail system. Who's stoked? This guy.

Training Camp day 1

Friday March 11th Kathleen and I packed up my mom's mini van with two road bikes and 4 mountain bikes and headed south to The Nantahala Outdoor Center near Bryson City, North Carolina. After an overnight stop in Indiana, we arrived mid-afternoon and joined the UW Cycling Team for their annual week-long Spring training trip.

After unpacking, K and I took a quick spin around the NOC's Flint Ridge MTB trail. It begins with 6 switchbacks up a steep climb that will pull your lungs into your mouth. The reward is a sweeping, fast descent with a few swoopy corners. The climb is worth it. The trail is fast and fun.

Pro tip: knobby tires will help you dig through the overbrush and grab onto the trail.

Sunday we're climbing a road called Wayah. I'm told it's a beast.

Where have I been?

Thanks to a new acquaintance I've been reminded that I have a blog. And people attempt to read it. So here's why I didn't post after Rhinelander last year (and haven't posted since):

I did some serious training for the Wausau race in early June. I'll do a report on that later and then link to it here. Training was going well, but I needed some better base mileage to keep the pace high throughout the entire race.

The solution: a road trip with Kathleen to Colorado to visit friends and train at elevation. Big miles in the car to get some big miles on the bike. We rode in Breck, in Aspen, and then in Boulder.

Riding back to where we were staying in Gunbarrel, just outside Boulder, we rounded a bend in the road. My coach Aaron led, I was in the middle, and Kathleen was on my wheel. A four-inch piece of metal blew out my front tire while we were doing about 30mph and I hit the dirty blacktop on my left side.

Kathleen flew over me and landed on her head. Aaron turned around to stop traffic (fortunately there was a break in the flow of cars), and Kathleen pulled me out of the road. I quickly regained my senses (though I was never unconscious), but Kathleen's condition deteriorated. The EMTs arrived in 3 minutes (no joke), and by the time they had Kathleen strapped to a backboard, I was able to stand.

Once at the hospital, Kathleen was diagnosed with a pneumomediastinum (and a separated shoulder, but that was to be expected). Basically, she had a pocket of air in the tissue of her neck and mediastinum caused by the rapid expulsion of air from her full lungs when she impacted the ground.

All I had was some serious road rash (the left side of my left leg, hip to ankle) and eventual swelling. Some of the most astounding pain I've ever been in was experienced while scrubbing out my road rash in a hotel in Boulder.

So we packed it up, packed it in, and drove back to Wisconsin. I didn't ride a bike for two months.

Race Report WORS #2: Rhinelander

Here's the quick and dirty:
Tires: Bontrager XR2s front and rear. The course was partly dirt roads and partly super rough technical singletrack. Lots of pumping and body-english. A five-mile stretch of singletrack with little to no passing room. Tons-o-fun!

Things that went better than they did in Iola: I nailed the leadout and stuck with the group. I didn't crash, my nutrition was spot-on (1 Hammer Gel per 45 minutes), I felt good on the power climbs, and I paced myself pretty well for a 2-hour (25 mile) race.

Things that didn't go so well: This was a 2.5-hour (33 mile) haul. Ouch. After 27 miles I felt a little low in the gas-tank, and when my group started attacking at 4 miles to go, I wasn't able to keep up. Losing 5 spots in the last 15 minutes was frustrating.

However, I did manage 30th ,which felt pretty good. I'm starting to wrap my head around the way these kids race, and I know what I need to do for next time: Long mountain bike rides.

Race Report: Iola: WORS #1

May 2nd was my first cat 1/Pro XC race. I didn't get the result I was hoping for, however, I learned a lot.

When Don called "Go" we hauled out of the start chute faster than I'd imagined we would. I hung in mid-pack for the first lap and even managed to get into a group I could comfortably ride with.

I definitely didn't have the climbing legs these guys did, but I stuck with them through the first few burner hills, and into the sweet singletrack. We rode together for one lap. I was sliding corners and 3-pointing turns to make passes where I could. I was probably in the 40s in terms of positioning.

Then I crashed on lap 2. I don't know how I did it, but I planted my front wheel into a stump or something, and went over the bars. My back landed on something hard, which I soon learned was a tree stump. My group soon left me dazed and out of breath. My back hurt.

Although it took a moment, I got back on the bike and caught onto the second group that was passing. It took about a lap to get back into my groove, and then another lap to feel like I could race.

I bridged up to my previous group, back still hurting a bit, and latched on. Unfortunately, that was when the attacks started. A few guys started going off the front and I was dumb enough to attempt to go with right after I had bridged up to them.

Pop.

Soon I was at the back of the group, and losing a few spots here and there. It was the last lap and we were catching lapped traffic. I missed a few opportunities to pass. I got stuck behind some lapped traffic. I didn't go aggressively when I should have.

When I rolled across the line I thought I'd be DFL. I hadn't seen any other elite riders in a while and I knew I was off the back.

65th of 90 riders. My goal was top 30, which I did not get.

This race did, however, teach me a few valuable things:

1. Do more core work. Lots more.

2. Lose some weight. The fast guys are VERY lean, and you gotta get lean if you wanna be fast. That little extra on the core isn't doing anything for me.

3. Do more climbing. Hard climbing.

4. Eat less during the race. The 3 Hammer Gels were very filling. Time to try something with faster energy. Maybe Gu.

Tonight: a practice crit.

Calm after a storm

Woah, hey, it's been busy!

Work has been super busy, which is good. It's also been really fun lately, which, combined with being busy, is really good.

Training has gone well, and I've been hitting the mountain bike trails since Spring has arrived early in Wisconsin. My first time out at Jim's trails I set a new personal record lap time. Ba-Zinga!

I'll have a new tumblr posting soon from the team blog.

We're at the dress-rehearsal point of the season. A few of us have done a race or two, and it's almost time to start the big show.

I might race a criterium if time permits. Otherwise, Iola will be my first race.

Either way, Trek Store Racing is kicking into full effect this year.

No time to blog; gotta ride.

almost time to ride outside

This weekend it's supposed to get above 40. That means I'm going outside. Time to put the road tires on the road wheels and ride the...cross bike for a while. Maybe I'll put the CX tires on and ride some rail trails.

Noteworthy News:

-Geof says he's riding the Hater. I hope he can turn off his survival instinct.

-JHK and Irmiger have a company I would patronize were I to own my own home.

-Those kids my shop sponsors are having a pretty big deal race in a few months. I hope those other kids I used to hang out with will come make a good showing.

-My racing season schedule is coming together nicely. What I once thought was a restriction imposed by my job has proven to create a nice two-peak structure. I won't be racing between the end of June and the middle of August. I will, however, be training.

Current training:

Weight steady at 156.

Flexibility noticeably improving.

Power going up while RPE going down.

Diet maintaining. Volume control has been good. (Volume of food, not volume of my voice. It's like my caps lock button has been stuck on for the last week.)

Sleep has been okay. I've been going to bed at 11 and getting up at 7 for a year or so, and changing that has been a bit difficult. I'm trying to go to bed at ten and get up at 6. We'll see how that goes. Early morning training sounds like a lot of fun.

New challenge at the shop: The employee who commutes to work by bike the highest percentage of shifts worked between March 1st and September 1st wins a big fat prize. It's a good one, too. Right now I'm at 50%, but I'm only two days in. Today I'm going to bump that 50 up to 66.6.

fortunate timing of a recovery week

I had a low training load week, which was good. I had a high-workload week at my job. I was tired and busy. Although my sleep pattern has been steady, I've felt tired. Perhaps the quality of sleep I've been getting is low. The last few days I've tried stretching and relaxing for at least half an hour before bed. So far it's been helping.

I can't wait to get outside and ride. New music has helped on the trainer, but I think I need to bundle up and do some riding once the temp gets over 30.

the squirrels have gotten into my head

This update will be brief, and focused on clear evidence of how my fitness has been coming along.

Cardiac drift over a time of 1.5 hours has decreased drastically in the last few weeks. This means my base is where it should be.

Top-end, short-duration wattage has dropped, and mid-line, middle-time wattage has gone up. I'm a time trialist, not a sprinter, so this is also good news.

Flexibility has increased. I can, for the first time in my life, see abdominal muscles. This is hilarious, in some ways. Mostly because I'm not trying to get a six-pack, but a strong core. This is all due to greater time spent stretching and training my core.

Weight has been steady at 156, which is where I was at the low-point of last Summer. If I can, I'm going for 150, but that is a pretty low-priority goal.

I've added some more protein to my diet. Dr. Maria Stewart noticed my diet was lacking, which I missed.

I ordered my road bike last week, though it won't be here for a while, and I'm planning on doing my first spring rides on my CX bike. I also have a singlespeed 29er I'm excited to train on. I think it will help with braking efficiency and building some core strength.

my knees, a freeze, and poppin' wheelies

I put some Ultegra pedals on my CX bike for trainer use. Immediately my lateral right knee started freaking out. Brought the seat up 5mm and my knee really started tweaking. Dropped it back down and continued my workout. Saturday my knee felt sore, so I took the day off the bike. I'm going to take a look at the cleats today (Sunday) and perhaps reconsider the saddle fore-aft. Dang.

Riding outside when the temperature is below 30 degrees isn't an option for me; While living in the Mpls/StP. I developed some nice frostbite damage in my hands. I miss riding outside. Even just the commute to work would be nice, but numb hands and shooting pain after 15 minutes in the cold is a poor choice.

There's a nice new challenge at the shop: whoever commutes by bike the highest percentage of days worked between March 1st and September 30th gets $500 in store credit. I know Geo is the master of that, but I think I could give him a run for his money, as it were. I think it's time to pop a wheelie.

Oh, did I mention I now own a GF Rig?

Friday 2-11-10

Thursday, Feb. 11th

Breakfast: Wheaties, OJ, Americano

Lunch: Spaghetti, carrot, apple, plum

Dinner: Salad with feta, calamata olives, tomatoes, cucumber

Workout: 1 hour at tempo

Feelin good on the bike. Been doing more stretching and more core. Also, the diet is on track to drop some weight. Lighter dinners, no snacks after dinner.

Friday, Feb. 12th

Breakfast: cinnamon scone and black coffee. Water.

Lunch: spaghetti, pica de gallo, chips.

dinner: pretzels, spinach, Capital Island Wheat.

Workout: 1.5 hours zone 2. 2x 20-minute at zone 3.

I had a long, difficult day at work and pretty much buried myself in this workout. My legs are tired, and I went a little harder than I should have at some points. The legs were shot with about ten to go, so I cut it short and spun it out.

My focus wasn't there, but the ride really helped quiet my brain. I foresee a good nights sleep.

Tuesday 02/09

Breakfast: Oatmeal, coffee, OJ, apple.

Lunch: PBJ, carrots, broccoli, water.

Ride: 1 hr at tempo with 30 second accelerations every ten minutes.

stretching, crunches, some yoga thing that works my back and abs.

Weight: 160.

Sleep: Good. 8 to 9 hours, nightly.

Nutrition has been really good lately. Just gotta dial back the volume a bit and start losing the weight the right way. Previous weight loss was just water weight.

I really need to go ride somewhere warm.

Dietary habits of a fat fat fatty

I used to eat like shit.

Now I don't.

While I wasn't a literal fatty, I definitely wasn't fueling my body with the best gas to get me to the finish line. It took about two months of serious discipline to break the habit. Now I can safely say that I'm not a fat fat fatty. The test? Friday I had a cheeseburger from Culvers and felt slow and sick and gross for the rest of the evening. Saturday I had a huge salad with cottage cheese, spinach, carrots, broccoli, etc. It felt good. It felt normal. I believe this the establishment of a habit.

A normal day of food looks something like this:

On a medium-volume training day: For breakfast: oatmeal or wheaties AND apple, banana, or plum. If it's a long training day I'll have some scrambled eggs with cheese and toast.

For lunch: plain pasta of some sort and yogurt, and at least one entire fruit (oranges, lately) and two kinds of veggie, usually raw.

Dinner: a large salad with just a bit of protein. Maybe cottage cheese or legumes.

This is all still very strange to me.

More product plugs

Today I'd like to talk about why I use the products I use. My only sponsor (and an unofficial one at that) is my employer, Trek Bicycle Corporation.

Regardless, they do make amazingly well thought-out saddles: The Bontrager inForm. I ride a medium RXL on the road,and a large RL offroad. The lighter foam density on the RL is better for bumpy dirt rides. Now, this is a road-rated saddle, and has some fangs on the back, so it's not ideally suited for off-road use. However, there is a mountain bike version on the way that I've been testing for a few months, and it is the most comfortable MTB saddle I've ever ridden. Hands down.

For pedals, I ride Shimano XTR. They're not the lightest, but I can bash them on rocks all I want and they don't break. I actually chipped a football-sized rock while knocking it out of the ground and the pedal remained intact. I spent some time in the air, and then some in the brush, but the pedals were just fine. If the pedals were the unstoppable force, I would say the rock reconsidered its role as the immovable object.

My drivetrain consists of a Shimano XTR crank, cassette, and front derailleur, SRAM X.O shifters and rear derailleur, and SRAM PC-991 chain. Coincidentally, the Fisher Procaliber had my ideal drivetrain setup when I was shopping. This was before XX came out, and before Top Fuel 9.9s came stock with the compact 20-speed option.

I use Fox suspension because it's smooth, stiff, and light enough. I also like the tuning and Propedal features. My Procal has a 32 RLC up front, with an RP23 in back. Depending on the course I'll use the different propedal settings. Learn your suspension: it makes a difference.

I'm mentioned two contact points, but the remaining two are the two about which I am the most particular: the grips, and where the bike contacts the ground.

For grips: I love ESI chunkies. They're light, comfy, and fairly durable. And they have a lot of grip, which is good when the name of a product is a quality it is supposed to have.

And tires: tires are a talk for another day.

My Training Tools

I've been asked by many customers what I use for training. Here's a basic list:

2009 Gary Fisher Procaliber. Shimano XTR pedals.

2009 Trek XO-2 with SRAM Rival and Bontrager Classics Wheels. Shimano XTR pedals.

CycleOps Powertap SL+ on a Mavic Open Pro rim.

Trainingpeaks.com and WKO+ software for power analysis.

CycleOps Supermagneto Pro trainer.

I don't currently have a road bike, though I will by May.

Power test graph

How to take a power/threshold/LT/zone test

Ingredients:

1. Water.

2. Required music: Punkrocker by Teddybears featuring Iggy Pop.

3. Optional music: The Fire And Flames by DragonForce, Dance Dream (Lady Gaga vs. Eurythmics) by Divide and Kreate, I'm not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You by Black Kids, or anything by Silversun Pickups.

4. An empty 2-gallon or larger bucket.

5. Cheerleaders, hecklers, supporters and mourners.

6. A stationary trainer, bicycle, and some form of measuring effort (HRM, SRM, or Powertap)

7. Cytomax, Endurox, Recoverite, Bell's Oberon Ale, or Nesquick (chocolate).

Instructions:

1. Warm up on the bicycle approximately 10-15 minutes at a moderate pace. Be sure to hydrate. Place ingredient 4 on the ground behind the vertical plane of the handlebars, but in front of the range of the cranks.

2. Complete 1-2 warm-up sprints to get cardiovascular system ready for the effort.

3. Spin 5 minutes. Cue ingredient 3.

4. Turn inside-out. Do not pop, bonk, puke, stop, or black out, but come as close as possible without doing so.

5. Spin for 15 minutes at recovery pace. Drink some water.

6. Turn inside-out. Do not pop, bonk, puke, stop, or black out, but come as close as possible without doing so. Closer than in first effort in step 4. With 10% of time remaining, cue ingredient 5.

7. Cue ingredient 3. Spin until symptoms listed in 4 and 6 have subsided.

8. Consume your choice of ingredient 7.

Of training: momentum, weight, and power.

Training indoors, for me, is a thing of momentum. I have a hell of a time getting going on trainer rides, and making a habit of riding the trainer each winter. Once I get into a ride, say, 15 minutes, it gets easier. After the first few brutal 45-minute spin sessions, it gets easier, and I can bring on the pain. Other things that help:

-Group trainer rides. Peer pressure or social fun, it gets me riding. My training buddies are awesome!
-Downhill racing movies by Clay Porter.
-Awesome music. Not good music, but super wicked-sick rad awesome bubblegum-poppy rock. I'll post more playlists soon.
-ABC's Lost on DVD. If I'm just spinning at tempo for a while, I can put down two episodes, which come out to between 1 hr 20 to 1 hr 30. Perfect for base.

Oh, and I've been eating pretty well lately; and not in the sense of eating large volumes of Cindy-cooked food. I've actually lost two lbs. since New Years, and have managed to effectively cut the quick dinners from restaurants. Though maybe I should try Taco Bell's new training regimen.


The Powertap arrived, but I haven't had time to learn where to put the squirrel food, where to sacrifice the goat, or how to extract the black magic it employs that will make me what Phil Ligget call "a hardman of the peloton."

In other news, I'm contemplating my next road bike. Major factors include price and timliness of delivery. P1 6-series Madone with Force is all I have so far.

Training smarter

I've been keeping my training resolutions and my diet has changed drastically as a result. Also, I've been riding more, about 5-6 hours at tempo weekly as opposed to the 3 at endurance I was doing for a while. It feels great to ride more and harder. My motivation level has been really high in all aspects of my life, which helps in this midwinter lull.

My Powertap is on the way, which should help with a few of my specific goals for the year. The biggest is my ability to maintain a consistent speed on climbs. I have great initial acceleration, but can't maintain it very long. It's good for sneaky crit breakaways and drag racing kids around the neighborhood, but not much use on longer rides.

I'm also getting a new road bike in a few weeks. It's going to have a custom paint job, so I'm geeking out a bit.

Spring break? Yeah, that coin is still spinning mid-air, but I'm not worried about the outcome. If I have to, I'll just make it a brutal week on the trainer. If I can go, I plan on at least two days of 5 hours on the mountain bike.


On the iPod:
by Jay-Z: 99 Problems, Run This Town, Empire State of Mind
by The Killers: Sam's town (the album)
by Dot Dot Dot: Edge of the World
by Phoenix: 1901