are you smarter than a turbo trainer? AKA 20 minutes in the hurt locker

Anyone who lives north of ohh.. dallas! has at one point or another spent some time on an indoor trainer. Those of us in the midwest that actually race full season spend more hours on an indoor trainer than we do actually racing usually.
That being said, there are hundred if not thousands of ways to pass time and trick the mind while pedaling to nowhere. I'm sure i know a lot of them, and i am sure there are MANY that i have never heard of. Things i have done in my day for hours include the obvious: TV, bike movies, intervals, etc.. and then the not so obvious: playing PlayStation football, watching the Superbowl and doing intervals during commercials, and one of the most memorable was setting up a circuit that 3 of us completed doing crunches, lunges, and roller sprints!
All of these things are done in an effort to pass the time. Intervals are by far the most common, and i started in on the hardest intervals i know to do - the dreaded 20 minutes at threshold.
I have done some 10's, some 5's and a heck of a lot of 2's, but last night was the first voyage of the season into the hurt locker. The 20's are tough because you are trying to average a certain wattage, so you start a little light of the target, cruise into the zone, then hurt like a Mutha! to maintain it for the duration. Its catch 22, because if you start too light, you have to work extra hard late in the game, but start out too strong, then you are squealing with like 7 minutes to go.
I did pretty well last night, the first one averaged 238W, not bad; but the second one averaged 252w! i was pretty happy with that, as i had been assuming my LT was around 240w. I think it may be time to do a performance test and see if my off season efforts are going anywhere.

I will wrap up the year tomorrow, and have updates shortly. We have New Years MTB ride on order, so hopefully i will get outside for a ride for the first time in almost 2 months!

mid month check-up

so far December has been a good month on the bike for me, despite ZERO outdoor rides due to the lousy 'Autumn' snow storms we have been hit with so far. Just think, we have had well over a foot of snow and its not even officially winter yet...
I have missed a few days and let a few double sessions slide by, but the current total for the month is 22 hours as of this afternoon, looking to add another hour tonight.
I am also down 2 more pounds from Dec 1 - making it down a total of 8 lbs from halloween.

I hope your December has been as good to you!

red zinger to coors...

for my viewing pleasure this week, I have added a unique dvd to the collection. its a 3 disc set documenting the classic red zinger and following its conversion to the coors classic. it was 1986 when I first saw it on tv, and I bet I can still recite the 1988 coverage. the video features names like jacque boyer, dale stetnia, george mount, bob cook, a very young davis phinney and steve bauer, lemond, and alan mccormick. international names like patro jimenez, bernard hinault, louis herrera.

some great throwback jerseys from gs mengoni, celestial seasonings, elf, denver spoke, bianchi, etc.

its a great disc to watch as a throwback to what really set the scene for american cycling.

its been a fun 60 minutes on the trainer tonight.

A sunday in Hell

No - i wasn't riding the cobbles in France, and no i wasn't even riding outside. By the time i got a chance to actually ride sunday, it was raining / snowing and i was not about to go out in the gook of the trail today, i didn't need anymore character.

Today i spent 2 hours on the trainer. Luckily i has a new copy of ' A Sunday in Hell' to watch and help pass the time. My review is that it was good entertainment, slightly motivational. But compared to other cycling films, there is not much of a soundtrack, and the commentary is a touch monotone for the significance of the race.

It was my own personal sunday in hell as we all know 2 hours on the trainer is certainly no fun, and it was the first ride on the trainer of that length this year.

November by the numbers.....

33hrs

774km

19230kj

down 4 lbs

Indoor trainer - the inner battle

Its that time of the year again, like most of us normal working people, outside rides are reserved for weekends only, and daylight and weather force us inside onto the trainer. Its always a struggle to haul your carcass out of bed or to go get on the bike in the evening. There is no instant gratification, we have to be diligent for weeks if not months before we can truly see the fruits of our indoor efforts.

No i do not have the crew show up for the mass indoor group ride like these guys do..

Nor do i have the motivational Talent that some spin classes have to keep me distracted, -although the wife on the treadmill on occasion is always a welcomed distraction :)

I would say that so far i am winning the battle however -

Most days i get both AM and PM rides in, 1 hr each session, and for all of this month, i have got in at least 1 ride a day - no days off!

For all you other indoor warriors out there - keep up the good work!

Chasing....

Generally in cycling - chasing is a bad thing. It means you missed the break, or even worse you have been popped out of the main group. Chasing is an odd topic for mid November - usually storied of grand chases of all varieties are more for the mid season fury where excuses are as thick as the humidity by the lake.

I am chasing hours now. I have been away from racing for several years now, with a few exceptions here and there to keep my competitive fuel alive. But really - i am behind the ball. Not that I plan a HUGE 2009 campaign, but id like some sort of return to form. More than a stab in the dark, something with some meat to it.

I looked back at my journals of the more successful season i have had, and 30 hours in November seems to be the magic number. Not easy... not hard, but not easy. Most people lack motivation to get that kind of time in at this time of the year, not to mention now is when mother nature just STARTS her hatred of outdoor cyclists in the northern half of the country.

My goal is 35 this month, and its still within reach. Today is Nov 19, and i have banked 17 hours to date, looking to add another one tonight. We have all had our spots of bother on the bike, and been in a spot of difficulty on occasion to put us in a position to chase. We all know that getting halfway across is not 50% of the battle. We know that the last 5 seconds is the tough half. SO for now, i have a good start, but finishing off this month i am looking at the harder half in front of me still.

Fat kid - Pedaling!

its a weekend, must be on the prairie path

I ventured out for some more hours on the prairie path today. A stiff headwind kept things slow on the way out, but the extra effort helped keep me warm. It was a brisk 36 degrees, mostly overcast and west wind blowing around 15 per. I managed a few snaps here just north of the split in Wheaton. I rolled north a bit until I met up with the great western trail for a big ring ride home.



2.5 hrs

62km

1389kj

logging hours...

traditionally most cyclists are wrapping up time off the bike, and getting ready to launch the new year.

I have not had a long hard season to take time off from, and I have a bunch of catching up to do.

my goal is to get 35 hours logged in november. so far I have 10, and logging another hour as I finish writing this. my weekend goal is to get 2 to 4 hours in, and during the week, I am posting double sessions on the trainer, am and pm.



more to follow. cheers!

Character

I'd like to start this post by saying thank you to everyone out there that has served, or is serving our Country.

Its a honor for me to live in the nation you defend. The people that serve our country have a very special character they have developed over time.



Riding out in conditions like today, Enmark would always give me crap and say it builds character. I always responded I had acquired enough character to put on a play! He was right though, it does build character.

I looked at the forecast today, I knew the weather was marginal at best. But I also knew I have been out in worse, and it gave me the motivation to go out and get 3.5 hrs today.

The plan was to recon and complete a new loop, but despite my motivation, the thought of being 30 miles from home on a cross bike in freezing rain led my better judgement to save the recon for another day. I did modify 2 familiar loops to get it done today. I left the house with temps around 38 degrees and the promise of a headwind return trip. I settled into a decent pace and knocked out the first 90 minutes pretty care free. shortly after that point, an occasional section of light sleet dropped, but nothing serious.

It was shortly after the 2 hr mark the sleet picked up but now it was more rain-like. I found a parking garage to dive into for shelter, and put on the rain cape. The last 90 minutes was wet, but I was well dressed and warm enough to not mind it. It was almost enjoyable to have the path to myself and the knowledge that not many others would be out banking the hours I was getting in today.

Now im not sayin i'd do it again tomorrow, but it was ok.

the details to keep warm - sports balm medium on the legs and low back, craft windstopper base and smartwool socks. winter jersey, thermal jacket, and finally a rain cape up top, winter shorts and giordana thermal tights on the bottom. diadora winter shoes and shoe covers kept the toes warm all day ( if you don't have winter shoes, these have been fantastic for me).



3.5 hrs, 82km, 1872kj

ending temp 32 and raining



cheers

RDO cross ride

Nothing beats the ability to work a 5 hr shift on a saturday to get an 8 hr day off during the week, especially when you can string it together for a 4 day weekend! So thats what i did.
Now i did have some honey do stuff to knock out so i started after noon, but it was sunny at least. It didn't get as warm as i had hoped, but the trail was still pretty hard packed despite some rain this weekend, and pretty free of runners or riders.
Ended up with just about 2 hrs today. Tomorrow if the weather cooperates, i have ambitions for the big boy loop to get me north of 100kn tomorrow, i will try to supply a few more pics if it happens.

OUT

I remember why i like the cross bike

Sorry for n pics, but it was cold and that doesn't lend to taking off the gloves for much.
I headed up north to ride with the Alberto's guys today, we met at Daniel Wright woods for a roll up north on the Des Plaines River Trail. Nothing special, and several years back , we would spend SEVERAL hours on every weekend here from November to February. Its a great trail with some slight elevation changes, crushed limestone throughout and minimal road crossings. Plus its just plain pretty.
I remember i like the feeling of a 8 year old BMX kid when I'm riding the cross bike, darting around turns, the rear wheel skipping out occasionally. Hell, you know me, i throw in the occasional bunny hop and wheelie whenever i can! The cross bike is fun, especially when you are not pinned on the rivet. The scenery is nice, the woods are generally quiet and it always seems to sum up why you ride - its FUN!
I haven't been up to the DPR trail in several years now, but it instantly brought back memories of fun. The king of the ring competitions we would hold to work on handling skills, and the crazy cross madison races we would have when i was coaching with VQ. We got in just shy of 2 hours, it was a chilly 38 degrees to start, and we ended with a headwind and mist in our faces, but id have to say it was the most fun i have had on a bike in a while as far as pure riding pleasure.

I think i may send out an email to lobby for weekly cross rides with the crew in the area here, as i don't always have the time to drive up to do a group ride.


ALSO -
STC indoor is open for anyone that wants to log some trainer time. I'm lobbying for outdoor as much as possible, but once its nasty, we will rock out some indoor time.

cheers!

day 4

ok so im a dork... its Rocky week on amc and what better way to pass time on the trainer than humming along to eye of the tiger!

2009 campaign - day one

What better way to start off the next season than a nice roll with temps in the upper 60's.

I got out for about 2 hrs of pedaling, nothing special just enjoying a beautiful day in November.

I do notice the color balance on the camera on my new phone is in question.

Happy trails!

"Its YOUR Hilly ride, not anyone elses"

The above quote was heard Sunday while we were sitting in a side parking lot of a church somewhere out on the course, enjoying a quick pee break and a clif bar.

Hilly was different indeed this year, and there is no doubt new rules will be set into play for next years' ride. When it started looking like the usual suspects would be out for this year, i invited a few of my friends from Chicago area. Eric was a coworker for many years, super lean and fully aggressive on the MTB. His endurance would be the question, but he was up for the challenge. Jason is my neighbor, a recreational rider on occasion, but always up for fun on a boys trip, he was hoping for rain so we could just hit the sportsbar. Cal is Jason's friend from school, and without question the fittest of any of us going. The only thing i had in my pocket was i know the route, and i had him by probably 40lbs! He didn't like the fact that i could roll away from him downhill, i told him that's how i feel when he can roll away from me uphill--lol.
Eric ended up having to bag it due to a family issue at the last minute.

The 3 of us left chi town around noon on friday and actually headed down to Columbus to see Joe at the shop. Jason got his bike tuned up and picked up some new shades.
We got to the hotel - Hampton In this year, and boys, let me tell ya, as long as i can help it, we will never stay anywhere else. For those of you that haven't been there, the usual choices are super 8, days inn, etc which are usually fine if you are only paying 60 bucks a night, but the bloom-town capitalists realize hilly is in town so we usually shell out 140-170 for a rat hole dump built in 1940. For about 20 bucks more and making reservations in January, the Hampton is MILES above the afore mentioned dumps. The chocolate chip cookies alone are worth the extra cash! Ok - Friday night, head out to Scotty's brewhouse ( i still hold a grudge cause they took over Mugleys at Ball State) but probably the best choice for decent grub, and lots of flatscreens.
Dinner was good, a few beers for me and several for the boys, we closed that place down around 11ish, and started walking toward the car. Unfortunately Jason and I were forcefully sidetracked into Bluebird that had a live band, and a truckload of sorority girls fresh from a fundraiser. Jay and I grabbed a beer and enjoyed the entertainment of watching Cal work the room. Weeellllll, we closed that place too, and by 3:15 we were back at the hotel. Ouch.

Saturday - 8:30am - Denny's run for breakfast, needed more than the hot food at the hotel. Cal slept in, Jay and I enjoyed the gland slams. Drove over to the school, geared up and were rolling by 11ish roughly. The boys were feeling rough, but did ok. Cal puked in his mouth over the second hill, and the Sisters wiped out Jay, he needed to hold still for more than a quick minute and i wasn't sure he would get moving at all. He puked a bit too. The rest of the day got better, the boys finished up in good shape all things considered, and we headed back to the hotel. Showers and naps ensued, and then back to Scottys for grub and all the sports you could dream of. Beers flowed much more slowly, and i think most of us were drinking 3 waters per beer and stopped at 2 or 3 beers that day - go figure. We did get to watch Illinois trounce Indiana, and Texas wallop Mizzou. Back to the hotel and back to bed by 11pm, no late night Hilly activities on saturday this year.

Sunday - Denys again around 8ish, everyone was doing much better today. Frost on the card meant we lingered around the room a while longer before heading over and rolling out around 11am again. The boys did great on sunday, paced themselves better on the climbs and kept it rolling well. We rolled out of Elletsville around 2pm, and headed North at a dangerous rate of speed.

We had a blast, some pics to come, and some good rules for next year for sure!!!

Ridin Durty!! ???

Now before i launch into my rant for today, i will be the FIRST to admit, i have rolled my fair share of stop signs, yellow lights, and such. Hell, i rolled an orang-ish to pink-ish light on my way in today.
However, i have NEVER, EVER blatantly rolled into an intersection at full speed, not looking at traffic and busted through an intersection. EVER.
Its dumb. Period.
I have been hit by cars, i have been on rides and have seen riders i am with hit by cars, and seriously injured.
WHY WHY WHY would you intentionally put yourself in danger, and even worse, why would you put fellow cyclists in danger.... what do i mean you ask?
I have had a mantra for a long time that its guys like "that" ( that ride dangerously, run lights, piss off traffic) the get guys like 'me' hit. Because that car that has see cyclists dart out in front of them, block up traffic, or whatever, when they see a guy like me on the road, they can use their 2 ton deadly weapon to take out frustrations.
Now to be clear - i am NOT picking on any particular group of riders, commuters, hipsters on their fixie, messengers, racers, and so on, we all have rebels in our own clicks that will ride dangerously, and those that choose to ride safely. I have never been on a ride of any kind, or even a race of any kind, that the prize was so great, that it was worth risking my life for.
I have dropped myself on group rides that blew through red lights blatantly.
ITS NOT WORTH IT! if you are tougher because you can drop me because you blew a light, then fine, you are a better cyclist than i am, be sure you spike the ball when you get to the end zone.
Now i am certainly not safety patrol - 4 way with no traffic, roll it. Red light that i have stopped at and the is NO traffic, maybe roll it, depends on if i know how fast the light changes or not.
Stale green that's gonna go yellow, stand on it and get thru it before it turns orange, then pink , then red.

Be considerate to fellow cyclists on the road, ride safe, ride smart, and at this time of year, right with lights!

Peace out

Acceptance of Fall - UPDATED

I have accepted that it is fall, mostly because of 2 reasons i am embracing the change.
1 - i have had 3 flats in the last 2 weeks of commuting to work, so i have broke out the 28mmm kevlar tires to help avoid the crap in the roads.
2 - despite having on a longsleeve, a wind vest and knee warmers, i was still cold going home last night.

Today's wake up was 42 degrees with winds from the northwest at 10-15.
Craft baselayer, longsleeve, full legwarmers and even the skullcap were on tap for today.

The good news is Hilly is now only 17 days away

so the good news of the brisk Oct 1 is that i rounded up Tawse and King for a wed night outing. Not only did i commute out from the city but got in another 1:45 with those guys.
Tally for the day??? 4 hrs 115km - what did you do on Oct 1??

rollin the cross rig

i decided to break out the cross rig today. Its a bit early for it by looking at the weather, but we have already had 2 cross races in the chicagoland area. Not that i intend to race much cross, but its always a fun ride. I traded up this year to a new Cannondale TJ cross rig, all aluminum. Now my last cross bike had a great nickname of the pumpkin, and the cross hog. This rig is not hog at all! Its super light, nimble, quick and stable all at the same time. It just plain feel fast. Perhaps my old Kona was wore out or old geometry, but this bike is night and day. I set out for my old standby triangle route, west on the Prairie Path to Wheaton, north through Winfield, catch the Great Western Trail, and head southeast for a while until it hits the Prairie Path again for the return trip home. Great ride, the bike impressed me the whole way.

60km, 2.25 hrs, 1234kj

I guess i need to start working on a new nickname for the cross rig

Hit by a WHAT???

So i am rolling in today, no one to talk to so i have one ear bud dangling for entertainment. No need for tunes, the local villagers are all i need for excitement. Just east of Pulaski this morning, i narrowly avoid colliding and being assaulted by - Yup a dude in a motorized wheelchair!!!
Now maybe it was because he had his head cocked all crazy looking at his buddy over his shoulder, or perhaps he was operating a wheelchair under the influence like the crazy guy above. Now i could be wrong, he could have had coffee in the brown paper bag he was holding, but i'm going to go out on a limb and say it was a fine variety of malt liquor, nothing better at 7:30am, breakfast of champions.

For those of you that don't commute in Chicago that read this, if you ever want to experience some of the most bizarre and amusing riding ever, feel free to hook up with me for the commute ride and experience some of the REAL sights of the city.

Keep your eyes on the handicapped, you never know when they might be gunning for you!

Bike Pool-ing

I mentioned in one of my prior posts this year how enjoyable it is to spend some time on a commuting ride with someone else, chatting. I have ridden slower and faster just to spend a few minutes chatting with someone i have not met before, find out where they are headed, where they are going, what they do, etc, and share in the camaraderie of bike commuting.
Today i saw a rider in front of me as i was heading towards Austin, he was pedalling at a pretty good cadence, and was moving pretty well. I shifted up a notch to see if i could close the gap. Fortunately he got caught at the light at Central, and i realized it was MTB Matt Silvia. Its even nicer to share some commute time with a friend. We talked about the morning, cyclocross, traffic and such. He turned north at Ogden and i continued my roll east into the Loop. It was a solid 15minutes of time that passed quickly both in time and speed, as MTB Matt doesn't ride slow too often.
Per the season, I'm leaving the house with the sun barely breaking the morning sky, arm warmers pulled up and gloves on the hands today. This week has been a certainty for lights. Up till now i could squeek by. With the combination of me working til 6 this week, and the evening getting shorter, i need the big lights for a good 20 -30 minutes at the end of the ride. I can tell it wont be too long before i leave the bank with the lights blaring full.

Ride Fast - Jump Logs

Guilty... and Chequamegon narritive.

Indeed i was almost guilty of the "haven't posted in an month" offense, but just like every good bike racer, i have my excuses ALL LINED UP!
see my posts referring to the dirty chickens held over the first few weeks of september leading up to the Fat Tire Festival.
Fat Tire weekend is always a highlight of the year. It was the 2nd Annual Lenny Parisi Northwoods Open, it was a beautiful day and well attended. Many beers were drank in honor of Lenny, and a good time was had by all.
This year we had 2 Texas Cadillac's in the caravan to the Northwoods. Gatto had the big black Chevy, with Tawse, Bos, Gatto, picked up a Balmer en route.
The SS Valdeez was my big white Ford, with Smooooott, Ritzler, MTB matt, picking up a Dixon en route at Balmers place. Feltz and JP were rocking out the Volvo, and met us up north. The walkie talkie came in handy for some great heckling, and police alerts.
The race was a good one this year for me. It was a warm morning, so there was not much need for extra planning of layers to be removed. I started with armwarmers, and had them rolled down by mile 6. Of course the SRAM crew got rocking early, and i learned from last year to keep my pace on the road roll out, and start picking off people after Rosie's field has settled the nerves and increased the HR. It misted off and on during my ride, the course was wet, but near as muddy as i had thought it would have been. The new wheels i got from Alberto's Sport were handling the conditions excellently, and the suspension tuning from SRAM was spot on for me.
I was eating and drinking on schedule to avoid getting to the last 10 miles with nothing in the tank. I latched onto every wheel i could get on the fire roads, and found one guy with about 6 to go that pulled me along nicely until we got to about 3 to go and i decided i was close enough to gamble on an effort. I finished up the ride in 3:27, taking about 20 minutes off my time from last year. Just as i was finishing, it started to lightly rain, which turned into a downpour after i got out of the shower and cleaned up. Unfortunately we loaded our gear in the rain, and started our journey home back to the Chicago Suburbs. Thanx again to SRAM for hooking me up with a sweet place to crash, not more than 300m from the finish line. I love hanging out with the SRAM crew on Fat Tire Weekend, always good for some laughs!!

Roll in - Roll out, Repeat

Been status quo the last few days. I can tell fall is coming and it wont be long before i'm on the cross bike for the commute.

As much as we all LOVE summer as a cyclist, fall has its own feel.
It feels like off season, it feels like cross season, it feels like time for Hilly, and all that jazz.
I like having to pull on the arm warmers in the AM only to have a super comfy PM ride home.
The sun is much lower in the sky, and if i had to guess, id say that by mid September, i will need the light for the first 20 minutes and last 20 minutes of the ride in and out.

I usually switch to the cross bike around this time, again it FEELS like fall, i run pretty beefy commuter tires in anticipation of spending more time in the gutter as the sun gets lower and more in the drivers eyes. I do enjoy the feel of fall when its checkout time at work, and i can roll home with the sun having just set, the last glimmer of light and the Nite Riders in full glow. Something kinda fun about rolling the rig in the dark.

Hope all of you are enjoying the fleeting days of summer, getting your MTB ready for Chequamegon, and blowing the caked on dirt off the cros rig for some fall fun!

Ciao

That didnt take long

it was what - 12 hrs ago i was posting about how its been kinda bland and boring and appologizing that i didn t have much to say??

well after almost getting hit on the ride in this AM - i do..this post is gonna go Brad Davis style..

Now the city of Chicago is a dangerous place to be on a bike, its high alert at ALL times, helmet snugged down tight and Spidey senses working on HI..
but this incident happened in the suburbs.. not that the burbs are any safer, but this incident - WTF?

I have discovered that Ford has a new money saving tactic to help their profits, they do not equip their cars sold in lower class neighborhoods with turn signals.

I am heading eastbound on washington in River Forest - a pretty quiet street at this time of the morning. Some chick is heading westbound and about to hang a left to go south right in front of me. now i know she sees me cause we make eye contact and she pauses, but then the fucking 'Can starts to go again, and not in a big hurry to get out of my way, but just going along, so i yell something like HEY, YO YO, she looks at me and kinda flips her arm up like she was gonna flip me off or somethin and she pauses again; so now that she almost hit me, i am forced to put a foot down cause she wont clear the freakin intersection!
Now fortunately The Enmark is the Prince of Personal Protection ( yeah i though that one up after the fact) and has showed me how handy and how easy it is to use a collapsing baton.
I always have mine strapped to my bag, so this 'Can was lucky enough to have me plant it square in her back quarterpanel, and i think that finally got her attention properly, and at that point she proceeded to take off.
Now i was a bit nervous about the situation because there were 2 or 3 other cars around and i didn't want to seem like a vigilante, but the guy in the car that was behind this lady yells out - 'You OK? crazy lady! good for you for yelling at her' I think he missed the baton part.

Other than that, todays ride in was good. Nice and almost cool in the AM's, but beautiful on the ride home.

yes.. im still alive

Summer has been lackluster for me..
i have had a great vacation, work is going well, family is good..
but the bike.. well the bike has taken a back seat again.

Its that time of year where all bike racers either forget how to ride their bike, and they pack up the season, or that they toughen up and have a great last month of the season.
Seeing that i have not been much of a bike racer, it was easy for me`to fold up like a house of cards!

After taking several weeks of sporadic rides at best, i am happy to report i am back in the groove, and at least getting the commute to work done on a regular basis. I need to get ready for the last few events of the fall.. Chequamegon is just under a month away, and my loaner MTB has been repo'ed of its wheels, so im having a tough time getting any dirt rides in. Hilly Hundred is just under 2 months away, and despite it being the annual slow race of the year, it still need a small level of fitness to get trough all the hills.

All is well, nothing else to report really. Im sure now that i have good thinking time on the way in and out of work, i will have something good again soon

Peace out

Spiking the Ball on Retards

About 6 weeks ago, i was writing about how i almost felt like a bike racer again, all was well, i think i may have had a glimmer of fitness even. Now - well now i don't think i would even make the cut in the tryouts for 'fat guys with remote controls' Olympics. like how i worked in the Olympic with some form of electronic device there? wauka wauka?)
So everyone that was asking where i have been, i thank you for the concern - but i have been busy with birthday parties, vacations, and post vacation laziness.
Back in the swing again now though, a few good days of commuting, and of course that brings some stories.
Anyone that rides their bike to work, or has done so in the past knows that although the ride is enjoyable, it is usually done solo, and usually pretty monotonous. Anytime you have the chance to ride with someone else for even a small portion of your commute, its a good day. As a whole, cyclists generally waive, now, lift a hand, etc to acknowledge another biker on the road.
I have mentioned in the past that the city brings all sorts of genres of cyclist out on the roads, and each has a hierarchy of waive-ability to another rider. Today, i am less then 5 minutes from my house, out in the suburbs, where commuters are a much less common site. Some dude on a mountain / city hybrid comes rollin past me so of course i take note and say MORNIN!, loud enough that if he was on the other side of the road, he would have heard me. NO RESPONSE. wtf?
so i take note of the rider, bright yellow jacket, gortex / rian pants of some nature, and realize its a goober. Man its like 67 degrees and even myself as the most overdressed man in the peloton is wearing a jersey and shorts. Now the funny part, so he is riding down the middle to left hand side of the road, not just to pass me, but riding there.. kinda strange. The first time he looked over his shoulder at me i thought nothing of it, but the second time he had to look bit more and it was then i realized i could Spike the Ball on a Retard. The dude swerved and almost bashed the curb, he was proud to roll past a fellow biker on the ride in.
The Enmark has long been a great resource for wit, cynicism and generally fun sayings. Some of my Favorites include 'You can't fix Stoooopid', Douche nozzle and one of my recent favorites, that when you beat up on some guys that are lacking in ability - to "dont spike the ball when you beat up on retards", or for short Dont spike the ball on retards.
Back to the commuting story - so after yellow jacket mas has about taken himself out in an effort to get past me, i decide im going to crush his dreams, shift one gear, lift the rpms's to about 100 and roll past him. The overpass for 290 was all i needed to bust out a whopping 250 watts, and ditch rain pants man.
Gotta love spiking the ball on retards - sometimes!

Crit Racer..

an old grumpy guy i know has long been a firm beleiver that in order to be a biker racer, you must, on occasion, RACE your bike. My fitness this year is better than last, but not up to snuff where i was hoping to be. This past weekend was the Cobb Park Classic in Kankakee, IL. In the list of favorite races ever, this one is certainly in the top 10. I have been racing there since 1988, and it was missed for a few years when it vanished from the calendar. I have some great memories of racing there as a junior, then going back with The Enmark and Dennis - we watched in delight as The Enmark single handedly devastated and completely decimated the cat 4 field there, going solo for a good chunk of the race, only to fall victim to a late effort by the only remaining few guys that had some gas, and he got caught with the finish in sight. 2 years ago i made an appearance there after building confidence by winning the Monsters of the Midway race the day before. Cobb park has a great set of sweeping corners and 2 tight 90 degree corners. I bring up this point for 2 reasons - the first one, is that there are a lot of jumps in the race, so after having my confidence pulled out from underneath me because i had no fitness for jumps but i could go full gas for 200m, i went from race winner, to race DNF in a weekend.
The second reason i bring this up is to talk about being a Crit Racer. Its no secret that here in the midwest we really don't have many road races, nor are we known for breeding good road racers. For years the midwest was Crit central, a place to work on your speed, bike handling and CORNERING! The sweepers at kankakee are not the wide open easy to get through even if you are a tri geek kind. The 90 degree turns are even tougher. Its a technical course, and a course that guys like me drool over. Having the skill to blast through corners at speed, jump out of turns and get on the gas hard to stretch out the line, these are the things that i distinctly remember from the days when i truly was a Crit Racer. Do we have no more races where bike handling is essential? have we gone too safety conscious that all turns must be gentle? are races planned Dan Daly style like this coming weekends Eagle Creek 500 where there are NO TURNS? its one big oval folks! No i don't think that everyone needs to be a demon through the corners, but in order to progress as a bike racer, you should have a minimal level of competence at turning your bike without screwing up the line, braking in the corner, etc. There was a dude from a certain chicago based, messinger originated , black and white kitted team in the 1/2/3 race at Kankakee that COULD NOT turn. This dude would over brake going in, screw up the line going through, then flat stand on it to get back in line and if i was behind him of course he would gap me off the wheels. Now its my own damn fault for getting gapped, but for god sake dude, we dont need to go through the turn at 17mph!
I was fortunate enough to have some clean air to run in a few times when i was attacking and got a good look through them and BLASTED it at full till. Curb to curb, tubbies on the edge of skipping, full gas on the exit, like a Crit Racer is supposed to turn. Of course i was smug seeing the carnage behind as the accordion was in full effect from my effort.
Over time, those that ride with me have seen me be able to dig deep. To go inside and find another speed, another degree of suffering. Brown County state park is such a place, another was some long training days in Mallorca. Cobb Park is certainly one of those places and for the first time in a few years, i was feeling the juice. I was a Crit Racer again for 45 min + 3 laps.

Here is how the racing shook out -
masters 30+ - i was working for Haas. Heavy turnout from Mack and Lucas Oil. I covered some stuff, and would launch the occasional attack to help narrow a gap or make a launching pad for Haas to counter off of. I went all in, light the whole match book and throw gas on it about 9 times in the race. I ended up getting dropped and sitting out a lap on 2 occasions, but they were not pulling guys so it was cool. Seems like every time i would come back from almost dropped or dropped, Haas was ready to give it another shot so i lit the candle again. My last efforts was with about 3 to go, so i bowed out of that one to watch the finish. He ended up in the top 10, after the break of 6 which lapped the field.
Cat 1/2/3 - there were only about 4 cat 1/2 riders, so they combined the 2 races - I was a Crit Racer again. I was totally cooked after the masters race and had even changed and packed up to head home. After guilting Haas into doing the 1/2 race and hearing it was combined, i decided i should race with him. I was able to comfortably ride in the front, this race was all about me. Hung out in the wheels, stayed smart, stayed cool. Prime lap - Smott takes it. Indeed i was beside myself, smiling ear to ear. Crit Racer. the pace dulls, what the hell - ATTACK. Blast through some turns, string it out, be the giver instead of the taker. I was even able to get right back in line with ease. All i needed was some Bolle sunglasses and a sweet Mullet and it was the Rich from years ago at Cobb Park on sunday. Very pleased with the day, but also living in reality that it may be a while for that to come together again.

Ride fast, Turn faster

Smoooooooooottt

chickenride

ride report...
i suck.
guys that actually ride bikes went fast

for sale:
50cm cannondale system six
full SRAM Red group
SRAM SRM
mavic kyserium equipe wheels ( low mileage)
$2500 or a few grams of coke so i can go party with Boonen

Empty Spaces

Pink Foyd had a song about empty spaces. BKW has had posts about a space for you rig, a wall or a room, or what-have-you. i am fortunate enoug to have a modest bike room with way too much stuff piled into it as i am a packrat.

there are some classics, such as the 50th anniversary paramount that was my first REAL race bike, that is now the trusty steed for my wife. there is a super nice dual suspension Haro on loan from Tawse. there is my super slick Colian track bike with an old school curve in the top tube. there is my state of the art Cannondale with full SRAM Red and SRM, and so on and so on. i recently sold my old cross bike, the pumpkin has been passed on. for those of you that knew my old cross bike, it was a pile of extra parts, 2 sizes too big for me, but it was orange and it had character (and as a side note it ripped it on the knobstone trail in indiana). she will be missed, but i have a sleeker lighter replacement filling her shoes already. the issue here is an empty hook. a place to park one of my stable-mates. could this be a new project rig? a single speed? or better yet a 29er to romp around at Palos wit the crew?

my friends, i have every cyclists dream problem and every cycle-spouses nightmare... i need a new project rig.

Things i have learned on my commute...

Wednesday the group rode out from the city to the Chickenride, Bos and i were chatting about all the interesting things we have learned on our commute.
I could put a blurb in here about how this is no intended to harm anyone, or intended to be stereotypical, but lets face it - most stereotypes out there were self imposed and self proliferated.
here is the list...

Most car sold in the inner city, especially Pontiacs and Buicks do not come with Turn Signals

Inner city school have a hard time teaching the alphabet - we hear " A A A A A A" quite a bit when riding. We should focus some efforts on teaching the full alphabet, i try to do my share by coaching them and saying " B B B B"

There must be a Chicago share a bike program that we have not heard of, again we hear " hey gimme your bike" quite a bit

The vision of residents is impaired in the early morning, as they tend to wander out into traffic frequently - on accident I'm sure.

Plastic bottling has not yet reached Chicago, as is evident by the multiple piles of glass in the roads - see next reference for another theory...

Alternate glass theory - in effort to reduce littering on the roads, residents smash and grind down glass bottles to get them back onto the earth's soil. ( i have often pondered how hard it would be to collect these glass piles and relocate them onto area basketball courts so athletes of all kinds can share in the experience of dodging glass, i hate keeping it all to myself as a cyclist)

The bike lane is an excellent place to double park your car and lay on the horn when picking up people in the mornings. I'm sure area neighbors enjoy this, and i especially love having to dart into traffic when traffic invades the bike lane.

for those of you reading that may be under the age of 18 - please have your parents skip this next entry - The hookers on Washington Blvd only come out after 7:30am, and the warmer the weather, the more there are. I rarely see any when i go in early, and when i was wearing tights it was only the occasional one solicitor. Now that its shorts and short sleeves, they are out in force. Now by contrast, the ones i see off of Homan and Fulton going home are much more plentiful, and must have taken the advanced sales classes as they will impose conversation unlike those on Washington that just walk back and forth.

Churches makes great spots to change flats if you need to do so on the commute. They provide a slight sense of sanctuary and i feel less likely that the rest of my bike will be removed from my possession compared to when I'm changing flats in front yards.

That's all for now... happy weekend to all!!!

Smoked...

The excuse list is as follows:
1 - didn't eat enough for lunch
2 - still tired from the Bone Ride
3 - went too hard on the way out to the ride
4 - shouldn't have gone for that sprint
5 - must be flat legs today
6 - blah blah blah

Facts - i sucked yesterday
i probably suck even more today

Big wednesday - rode in, rode out, attempted to do the chicken - had a minor seismic implosion on the return trip. By the Numbers - 5 hrs 15 min, 2754kj, 130km, 1 meltdown

I will post some pics and tales on the chickenride web page later. Look for the New Column - Pro of the week interview on the Chicken page

Richy's Bone Ride

For a full ride summary go to http://chickenride.blogspot.com/
to read the full version.
I rolled my Zipp 404 Tubies to help save energy where ever possible.
The ride out was pretty low key, a light to mild west / northwest wind kept things under control.
It was about 4:30 to get into Madison with the wind holding us up. I had polished off 2 bottels, 2 cliff bars, a flask of hammer gel, and 2 packages of sport beans on the way up, i felt like i was ahead of the game again this year. I picked up a footlong from Subway and a big coke to keep the caffeine rolling in me. The ride home wasn't bad, but i had some spots where i was uncomfortable. Our group was caught about 25 miles after we left by a handful of other guys. With the tailwind we were able to roll around 23-24mph pretty easy, but guys constantly wanted to push that up to 26 or more, and with the rollers we encounter close to Madison, i was not as comfy as i had hoped. I think between maybe 170km and 200k i felt the worst, but the BP we stop at for a quick refuel cam up quick which helped moral a TON! that BP is at 200km, and is a huge mental landmark for the ride. It marks about 30 miles to go, and it is also the scene of my complete meltdown in 2006. Personally i like to see the BP, but i only want to stay long enough to recycle fluids and keep moving. We opted for a unique route back into town courtesy of a local guy we know, and that helped mix things up as well. Once we got to about 7 or 8 miles to go, everyone was feeling relief, and the mood was mellow and improving as we neared the finish.
I would say that this year was one of the best rides we have had in the last few years of doing this. It was good to see some old friends for the ride, and i can only say thanx a million to my Ed, and to the guys at SRAM.

Details -
250km - 155 miles
7:57:52 of wheels turning
I did beat last years time with 2:05 of not pedaling!
4483 total KJ burnt ( not bad with 2 hrs not pedaling)
time out was just about 4:30, so that makes 3:30 for the ride home.

Consumed 4 bottles of Gatorade, 3 bottles of water, 2 cokes during the ride, 3 cliff bars, 2 flasks of Hammer Gel, 3 bags of Sport beans, on footlong sandwich, bag of doritos, and a big coke for lunch!


Some of the guys wanted some Starbucks before we rolled out, but Bos was quick to spot the baskin-robbins and i grabbed a chocolate shake for the trip to kenosha area for some fine dinning at Culvers. Noting says recovery like a butter burger.

Now we have just 363 days left till the Bone Ride 2009!!

Final Prep

The original plan was to get out for Monsters of the Midway crit on saturday - plans went south on that and given that the Bone Ride is now Hours away - i opted to get out for some distance.
I ended up with 3.5 solo, and felt pretty good cruising through a new loop out by Lisle, swooping through a section of Naperville, before turning north to get thru Wheaton, and heading due east thru Glen Ellyn (FYI The Bike Shop has a new home north of the RR tracks in Glen Ellyn Now), Lombard, Villa Park, Elmhurst, etc. Good loop, i added some extra time on the zoo path.

Finally i rode in today - will get a casual pedal home tonight, take Tuesday off (gotta taper ya know!) - then a final tune of the rig for the EARLY wed Am departure.

I don't know why I'm nervous about the ride this year but i am. Same game plan as always - HIDE for the ride up, and only pedal when you have to on the way home. I'm going to see if i can break last years numbers of not pedaling for 2 hrs of the event.

From here - its just a matter of rolling the dice!

the 5/14 chicken and 4 days till Bone

it was a light turnout of the usual suspects for this weeks edition of the Chicken. A calm crown rolled out toward the theaters, and good conversation was had by all. On the roll into the Romeoville sprint, it was easy to see the group was in no hurry to get there. I gassed it at about 350m and only Bos and Todd came in tow. Bos made quick work of me and punched it past at around 100m to go for the points there. The 3 of us regrouped and continued to roll, which nullified the usual Tawse attack into extra time. Tawse did take advantage of the tailwind, and attacked the group that was rolling bar to bar to get about a 5 sec advantage at the u turn.
We were very thoughtful and left Scooter out there to marinate in the headwind up until the Natural break at frontage road. We had a nice rotating line from there, it was a bit choppy-er than usual, and seemed to be victim of the 'fast-slows'. The roll up Wolf was pretty Piano, but i fell victim to the skinny kids that gassed it hard core up the hill at Joliet Rd. I was left in the fodder and have no idea who took the V. Lousy Skinny Kids. I will warn you all, dont take the sprinter to the right hander on Plainfield Rd!

Now for the Bigger task - Bone Ride 2008
On wednesday May 21 we will ride (weather permitting) from Milwaukee, Wi, to Madison, Wi, consume an extra large coke and a footlong something rather from Subway, and ride back to Milwaukee. Its 160 Miles. 260km. A LOOOONG day in the saddle.
On paper, i have enough long rides in to make it through, but there are a LOT of variables.
Weather, wind, turnout, etc that can influence it. Im hoping to get my 'you finished' hug from ED again this year.

I will keep you all updated

Fat Kid - Out

Heckelers...

Anyone who rides a bike has been in a situation with Hecklers. It could be people in a car, on the street, etc, etc. For those that commute to work on the bike, it can be an almost daily occurrence. As a young punk i was quick to throw up a finger and blurt out some witty sarcastic garbage. As an old punk, I'm too lazy to lift the finger and i hold my witty tongue or mumble it underbreath. I have certainly learned over the years that ignoring hecklers can be one of the most offensive responses to them as their goal is to get a rise out of me.

Today was unique for me, it was a POSITIVE heckle, i wouldn't even really call it a heckle of the truest sense. Rolling past a neighborhood bus stop not too far out my place, a guy waiting gave me the head nod and asked " saving gas?" i responded - "yep - I'm tryin" .. now here is what really blew my away because i thought that was going to be all the exchange .. he says "cool, way to go" Needless to say, it was a VERY unexpected morning exchange, and it set a pretty positive tone for my ride in today, and gave me some good time to think of this post.

Gone Racin'

so i threw my hat in the ring this weekend for the first time in 2008. It was a crit fairly close by in Vernon Hills that was advertised as flat with 4 corners. All good.
I signed up for the Masters 1/2/3 and the Cat 3 events - might as well REALLY torture myself right???
The layout was righthanders with Turn 1 a sweeper, #2 a semi tightish semi downhill turn into more narrow lanes, which was fine as the wind was crosswind here, so all were gutterballing in the right side, next for Turn 3 was a 90 degree righthander able to take at speed, and 4 was a sweeper that kind of kinked back right, so those on the outside had to pay attention.
The Masters race started out pretty quick, we had 4 representing from Albertos.
On the 3rd or 4th attempt it looked like the break of the day would be established, but it was more of a split than a break. We had Stathy and Zionts up the road, Haas was cooked from a prior effort to get there, so he and I were sitting behind. We saw a good opportunity as a few guys were ramping up some speed, there was a good spot on the homestretch so i tried to launch B across the gap. I gassed it the whole front stretch and swung off to give him a section to get there - he unfortunately didn't make it, and that effort was a beautiful attack off the back for me when the field came by. I sat up and soft peddled, and hopped back in when they came around again. i hung tight for a bit, and again the 2nd group was restless and starting to narrow the gap on a slowing 1st group. It was late in the race, so i think the front group was starting to think about saving it for the finish. The announcer said 4 to go, so i figured if there was any shot of getting Haas up there it better be soon. I got him in tow and launched a full out effort between turn 2 and 3, swung wide and gave him a clean look thru the turn. He has one in tow so i really hoped that was the ticket. (turns out that was over 650w for 30 sec, not shabby) That was all for me as i came by with 3 to go, i wanted to see the finish. No luck again for Haas, stuck out in no mans land for the finish.
On a positive note Stathy was 4th and Zionts was 5th, i believe Zionts won the 40+ division.

Cat 3 race was larger, but way more herky jerky. It was all gas, then all brakes. Not much slower than the masters race, but after about 30 minutes of 2-3 sprints per lap, my day was done. Nothing to write home about here.
All said and done i got about 90 minutes of hard racing in, and i was very happy to be able to help out the team instead of just holding on for dear life.

3 reasons why i ride

what a great day for a bike walk with the fam!
we did 5 km in 26 minutes and i LOVED it

for those youngsters at home THIS is what it means to have a recovery ride