Old Skool
Downers Grove - 1990
Sunday, April 29, 2007
King's Kourse
Saturday, April 28, 2007
chasing chase..
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
the money maker..
I need to give a huge shout out to the T - Rent for truly showing his sack at Ceraland sunday. Notice all the different pics of T - Rent either AT the front or OFF the front. Now my boy Enmark gets to replace the Pic of Stuey with his own early season V, silly pack for dragging a sprinter to the finish again. But Enmark himself said that without the efforts of the T - Rent. the race would have been for second place as T - Rent single handedly brought back a huge gap of a solo effort for the finish. Kudos player - keep Pimpin!
Two for Tuesday
The sunshine gods were smiling on me this AM with another beautiful morning for the commute in to work. A slight east wind kept me breathing heavy, but the return trip saw an even stronger NE wind, so once i got out of the stoplights, i put the screws to it. I saw several sustained sections near 300W, rolling at about 45kph. another good day with the double ride to help drop the Frank Rizzo POUNDS BABY!
Flying Tomato - Out
Flying Tomato - Out
Sunday, April 22, 2007
epic - the finish
Friday, April 20, 2007
another week in pocket
So this week was another decent week to pile in some more time and keep my focus to get skinny.
Tuesday was rather mild in the morning, so that was a good commute day. Wednesday the wife was feeling pretty crappy and requested i bag it for the Chicken - so no go there. Thursday was actually raining at ride time, and despite the weather channel showing no rain, i did not want to chance it getting soaked for the ride in. Of course it turned out beautiful, but no worries, friday was a Perfect day to pedal into work. It was almost 45 when i left to head in, i whacked a seam in the road crossing a bridge and pinch flatted, so after a quick change it was double time the rest of the way into the city. It was dead solid perfect on the roll home. right about 70 degrees, it was sweet. I actually lolly gagged and enjoyed the ride home. Another good week, and next week looks to possibly a 4 ride week for commuting, I may just have a chance of surviving the Bone ride yet.
20 hrs for the month and its the 20th today! Lenny and i are looking at 4- hrs sunday, and i may get some time puling the trailer saturday.
Out
Tuesday was rather mild in the morning, so that was a good commute day. Wednesday the wife was feeling pretty crappy and requested i bag it for the Chicken - so no go there. Thursday was actually raining at ride time, and despite the weather channel showing no rain, i did not want to chance it getting soaked for the ride in. Of course it turned out beautiful, but no worries, friday was a Perfect day to pedal into work. It was almost 45 when i left to head in, i whacked a seam in the road crossing a bridge and pinch flatted, so after a quick change it was double time the rest of the way into the city. It was dead solid perfect on the roll home. right about 70 degrees, it was sweet. I actually lolly gagged and enjoyed the ride home. Another good week, and next week looks to possibly a 4 ride week for commuting, I may just have a chance of surviving the Bone ride yet.
20 hrs for the month and its the 20th today! Lenny and i are looking at 4- hrs sunday, and i may get some time puling the trailer saturday.
Out
Sunday, April 15, 2007
sunny and spinning
Saturday, April 14, 2007
No Easy Day - making deposits for the Bone
Cloudy
chilly
42 degrees felt more like 32 degrees
Perfect.
King called for 3.5 to 4 hours.
Oh yeah - East wind and we headed west. WAY west
The route was fantastic, the king dragged us over every incline he could find and this guy pulled all but maybe 10 minutes of the day. Lenny, Tawse, King, The Bammer and I rolled all the way southwest to basically Weber and Boughton road in Bolingbrook, via an undulating course through woodridge and naperville. The return course we looped around and roiled a lap of Bluff Road for good measure. I got real quiet and tried to tough it out. I even threw my nose in the wind to help finish myself off and get completely torched. Oh yeah, we weren't doen yet. Finally we caught some shelter through Hinsdale and ended up with a much needed treat from da 'Bucks. Thanks to King for buying - i think i would have fallen over without it and thanx to Lenny for (I'm ashamed to say) drove me home.
4 hours
2023kj
The bank was open on Saturday
chilly
42 degrees felt more like 32 degrees
Perfect.
King called for 3.5 to 4 hours.
Oh yeah - East wind and we headed west. WAY west
The route was fantastic, the king dragged us over every incline he could find and this guy pulled all but maybe 10 minutes of the day. Lenny, Tawse, King, The Bammer and I rolled all the way southwest to basically Weber and Boughton road in Bolingbrook, via an undulating course through woodridge and naperville. The return course we looped around and roiled a lap of Bluff Road for good measure. I got real quiet and tried to tough it out. I even threw my nose in the wind to help finish myself off and get completely torched. Oh yeah, we weren't doen yet. Finally we caught some shelter through Hinsdale and ended up with a much needed treat from da 'Bucks. Thanks to King for buying - i think i would have fallen over without it and thanx to Lenny for (I'm ashamed to say) drove me home.
4 hours
2023kj
The bank was open on Saturday
Morning Special
So both tuesday and friday were warm enough to pull on the gear and pedal myself to work this week. Its just about dead on an hour each way, so that was 4 hours of pedal time just to get to work and home. Not Shabby. I am dialing in the bag to know exactly what i need to pack and getting my routine down at the McDonalds commuter facility (does anyone else thinks its ironic that Mc Donalds sponsors something that's good for you??) either way the facility is awesome, and it will only get easier as the weather gets warmer. 4 hrs of commuting - 2400 kj that i would not have had sitting on the El.
Make up your mind and get it done
Now we all know that i have known the Enmark for a while now, he helped kick my ass through many days on the bike in college, and we have been more than happy to return ass kickin favors over the years. He has always had his funny wisdom, but a lot of times it just makes sense.
I would loath the spring days of back to back to back to back 4 hour days trouncing everyone in the group day after day after day. Boss of the Burghs was a common sufferfest that i endured, mostly because i was smart enough to stay behind him and not challenge him over the top. If all i did was follow, one chump after another would try to roll the top with Davey and chump after chump would get popped off. I recall one day quite fondly that i was not feeling too spunky and simply declared "just follow him and it will get easier.. there are a thousand of these rollers out here and he will beat you on EVERY one of them". Now that you see the groundwork of life at Ball State, you will understand that at this time i was rocking out a very sweet mullet and did not have a very strong work ethic. I would constantly cry for "Dave can we go easy today???" The response was a stern east German sounding answer of "no easy day - go hard every day.. Next interval 2 hours on 2 minutes off" Now, funny as it may have been, the truth was we didn't have too many recovery days at BSU, but the workload we put in there certainly prepared me to make some major jumps in my cycling post college. I found a solid balance of good recovery days going SLOW, and some great intensity days going VERY FAST. This gets back to the wisdom that few cyclists grasp of going easy enough on their easy days, and hard enough on their hard days - most fall into the dumb dumb sped mentality of going too hard on easy days and not giving it 100% on hard days. They could never make up their mind to get it done.
Now given the hundreds for hours i have spent either next to or behind the Enmark - we have often tried to figure out what it takes to be the guys that can get to the finish in good position to unleash what god has given us - fast twitch baby!! Amongst some of the wisdom we have shared, the one thing that has always resounded in my head is that "you just have to make up your mind and put yourself there... just turn your brain off and ride". Now as straightforward as this sounds - its brilliant. How many of us have "saved something" because it was a training ride we had to look good on and refused to lay it all out their to better ourselves. How many of you can willingly turn yourselves inside-out on a regular basis for the sake of getting better???
A few that know me say i do it often - i say i do it occasionally and not often enough because i never made my mind up to do it.
A new page has turned with a family, new job, less time, blah blah blah. The bottom line is i have made a conscious decision to start riding my bike to work - to start eating less - to start getting up even earlier when necessary to get myself some fitness that i might be proud enough to be able to race some this year - and maybe, just maybe have a return to form for 2008. Its a long term plan, and we all know its easy to loose sight of those things out there. But i have made up my mind, and i have a group that every Wednesday is more than happy to facilitate me turning myself inside out to get to the finish. They are all smart enough not to drag my fat ass to the finish - because fast twitch beats out fat gut over 200m any day of the week.
So my goal is to loose some gut, turn myself inside out enough times to get to the finish, and to once again make up my mind to be the guy in the last kilometer of a race that knows all it takes is a bit of luck from here and i can post a V and prove to myself that the last 2 years has all been worth it for the sake of family, and that my crazy hobby can be back on track.
I would loath the spring days of back to back to back to back 4 hour days trouncing everyone in the group day after day after day. Boss of the Burghs was a common sufferfest that i endured, mostly because i was smart enough to stay behind him and not challenge him over the top. If all i did was follow, one chump after another would try to roll the top with Davey and chump after chump would get popped off. I recall one day quite fondly that i was not feeling too spunky and simply declared "just follow him and it will get easier.. there are a thousand of these rollers out here and he will beat you on EVERY one of them". Now that you see the groundwork of life at Ball State, you will understand that at this time i was rocking out a very sweet mullet and did not have a very strong work ethic. I would constantly cry for "Dave can we go easy today???" The response was a stern east German sounding answer of "no easy day - go hard every day.. Next interval 2 hours on 2 minutes off" Now, funny as it may have been, the truth was we didn't have too many recovery days at BSU, but the workload we put in there certainly prepared me to make some major jumps in my cycling post college. I found a solid balance of good recovery days going SLOW, and some great intensity days going VERY FAST. This gets back to the wisdom that few cyclists grasp of going easy enough on their easy days, and hard enough on their hard days - most fall into the dumb dumb sped mentality of going too hard on easy days and not giving it 100% on hard days. They could never make up their mind to get it done.
Now given the hundreds for hours i have spent either next to or behind the Enmark - we have often tried to figure out what it takes to be the guys that can get to the finish in good position to unleash what god has given us - fast twitch baby!! Amongst some of the wisdom we have shared, the one thing that has always resounded in my head is that "you just have to make up your mind and put yourself there... just turn your brain off and ride". Now as straightforward as this sounds - its brilliant. How many of us have "saved something" because it was a training ride we had to look good on and refused to lay it all out their to better ourselves. How many of you can willingly turn yourselves inside-out on a regular basis for the sake of getting better???
A few that know me say i do it often - i say i do it occasionally and not often enough because i never made my mind up to do it.
A new page has turned with a family, new job, less time, blah blah blah. The bottom line is i have made a conscious decision to start riding my bike to work - to start eating less - to start getting up even earlier when necessary to get myself some fitness that i might be proud enough to be able to race some this year - and maybe, just maybe have a return to form for 2008. Its a long term plan, and we all know its easy to loose sight of those things out there. But i have made up my mind, and i have a group that every Wednesday is more than happy to facilitate me turning myself inside out to get to the finish. They are all smart enough not to drag my fat ass to the finish - because fast twitch beats out fat gut over 200m any day of the week.
So my goal is to loose some gut, turn myself inside out enough times to get to the finish, and to once again make up my mind to be the guy in the last kilometer of a race that knows all it takes is a bit of luck from here and i can post a V and prove to myself that the last 2 years has all been worth it for the sake of family, and that my crazy hobby can be back on track.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
What the %$@*
Ok - perhaps i'm goofy - but what the hell is my lawn doing covered with snow after Easter????
I knew it was supposed to raid, making bike practice iffy, but snow??
Then walkin into work from the train - notice i didnt say riding!
it started HAILING!
then more rain, hail, snow, etc
The best part is that thursday is supposed to be more of the same
Im just hoping that friday clears up and does what it says it may do and be a possible day to try out the commute by bike again
out
I knew it was supposed to raid, making bike practice iffy, but snow??
Then walkin into work from the train - notice i didnt say riding!
it started HAILING!
then more rain, hail, snow, etc
The best part is that thursday is supposed to be more of the same
Im just hoping that friday clears up and does what it says it may do and be a possible day to try out the commute by bike again
out
general et al-
so i got a nice thursday Am spin in to recover from the chicken. the legs were a bit worn after the chilly outing, so it was nice to spin easy on the trainer.
the weekend was full with work and Easter binge eating with the in-laws, which was a great trip and nice to see them, but it led to no riding. alas - warm weather is on the horizon and i have devised a master plan over a month in the planning and perfecting to start commuting in to work.
Monday work day - commute?? nope.. The wife's first day back to work and i can understand her stress and anxiety, so i do the husbandly thing and help her out get out the door in the AM
Tuesday - commute?? YEP!
I packed a bag big enough to outfit 3 guys in anticipation of anything and everything that could hit me with a curve ball. The ride in was smooth, the facilities at Millennium park are FANTASTIC, and super clean. If you were unaware, there is a sweet facility dedicated to bikers with secure parking and shower facilities at the north end of the park. For less than the cost of a new carbon cage, you get a monthly membership that i know will come in handy all year. I am able to park my rig in an electrical closet at the bank, so i figure my ride is pretty safe locked up in a bank. another added benefit is this electrical closet is pretty warm with all the juice running in it, so it did a great job of drying out my jacket and making by HRM strap toasty to put on. This will certainly eliminate the need for new base layers and such on the cold days. The ride home was breezy, but good. Pretty un eventful and again i am feeling more at home on the 'Dale. I ended up being right around 70 minutes there, and just over 60 on the way home, so as soon as mother nature cooperates, i will be perfecting the nuances of commuting again and getting some quality hours in on the rig.
the weekend was full with work and Easter binge eating with the in-laws, which was a great trip and nice to see them, but it led to no riding. alas - warm weather is on the horizon and i have devised a master plan over a month in the planning and perfecting to start commuting in to work.
Monday work day - commute?? nope.. The wife's first day back to work and i can understand her stress and anxiety, so i do the husbandly thing and help her out get out the door in the AM
Tuesday - commute?? YEP!
I packed a bag big enough to outfit 3 guys in anticipation of anything and everything that could hit me with a curve ball. The ride in was smooth, the facilities at Millennium park are FANTASTIC, and super clean. If you were unaware, there is a sweet facility dedicated to bikers with secure parking and shower facilities at the north end of the park. For less than the cost of a new carbon cage, you get a monthly membership that i know will come in handy all year. I am able to park my rig in an electrical closet at the bank, so i figure my ride is pretty safe locked up in a bank. another added benefit is this electrical closet is pretty warm with all the juice running in it, so it did a great job of drying out my jacket and making by HRM strap toasty to put on. This will certainly eliminate the need for new base layers and such on the cold days. The ride home was breezy, but good. Pretty un eventful and again i am feeling more at home on the 'Dale. I ended up being right around 70 minutes there, and just over 60 on the way home, so as soon as mother nature cooperates, i will be perfecting the nuances of commuting again and getting some quality hours in on the rig.
catching up - chicken edition
wow - its been a whole week since i have posted anything
Well - we ended up with a strong man group for the chicken -
dedicated chickenride followers have clicked on the link many times to read the tales there.
needles to say, it was a good turnout on a bad day and the new bike was setteling undrneath me well.
Well - we ended up with a strong man group for the chicken -
dedicated chickenride followers have clicked on the link many times to read the tales there.
needles to say, it was a good turnout on a bad day and the new bike was setteling undrneath me well.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
New Bike Power - the review
So i headed down to the Island of Evansville this past weekend to visit the Enmark. They have never seen my kids and i have not seen their youngest, so the wife and i rented the family funster, loaded up the minivan and headed south, WAY south. The kids tolerated the trip and i was looking forward to a pimp stomping from the man. Fortunately it was 80 degrees! unfortunately there were 30mph winds that blew that warm weather in. I needed a shakedown ride for the new 'Dale, to fine tune the seat height and such, and my tread was wearing thin, so we pimped my ride with some swanky new red rubber. The bike rode well, but i knew it would take some getting used to.
Saturday we headed out for the local group ride, that was pretty tame to start, but as always when the winds came and the Echelons began, the smack came down. Now i can hide like a madman, so i made the selection an enjoyed watching the Enmark put a hurting on guys one at a time. I just sat there and waited for them to pop. Then he decided to go all boss of the bergs on them and thats when i had enough and popped myself. He tortured them for a while more, and then came back to get me and we stopped for a coke, which is a mandate that those guys have not heard about i guess. The 2 hour coke break is a staple that has been working for me for years, so i'm not about to change that now. Besides, i made the selection!.
We rolled in with a smaller group and that was nice cause it was FREAKIN windy. Enmark drag me the rest of the way home. The bike was good, i figured out the saddle was nose up a hair, so we fixed that issue. the SRAM Force group rocked and i dialed in some cable stretch.
So far i can't say its the best bike i have ever owned, but i am on my way.
Saturday we headed out for the local group ride, that was pretty tame to start, but as always when the winds came and the Echelons began, the smack came down. Now i can hide like a madman, so i made the selection an enjoyed watching the Enmark put a hurting on guys one at a time. I just sat there and waited for them to pop. Then he decided to go all boss of the bergs on them and thats when i had enough and popped myself. He tortured them for a while more, and then came back to get me and we stopped for a coke, which is a mandate that those guys have not heard about i guess. The 2 hour coke break is a staple that has been working for me for years, so i'm not about to change that now. Besides, i made the selection!.
We rolled in with a smaller group and that was nice cause it was FREAKIN windy. Enmark drag me the rest of the way home. The bike was good, i figured out the saddle was nose up a hair, so we fixed that issue. the SRAM Force group rocked and i dialed in some cable stretch.
So far i can't say its the best bike i have ever owned, but i am on my way.
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