I'm a little late again.. Next time I'll be quicker.
As far as gloves, well to say the least, I don't ride too much during the winter time so they have never been a real factor. When I do winter riding, I used my ski stuff. So, the ability to use ski stuff for cycling went well. Unfortunately, that meant using a ski jacket (puffy and blocked lots of wind) and cross country ski gloves or spring gloves, and a stretchy fleece tights.
Over the years, I've finally been given or have won winter/fall stuff. A few years back I was given some Novara winter gloves.. They actually work pretty well when the temperature above freezing. For those times when it is 20 and below your fingers are going to be really cold. They are not wind proof, however the good thing is that you don't sweat much in them. The first 15 minutes in them may be cold till your body warms up, after that they are fine. I remember using them for Jeff Cup last year... remember the cold, snow and ice and rain which fell? Yep, starting the race, I was warm, 10 minutes into the race, they were getting wet and cold. After I warmed up they were okay, however because I was wet... it was definitely not helping keep my hands too warm.
So if you want a nice warm pair of winter gloves, these are not them. They work well for fall riding and spring riding or if you warm up quickly. They are now pretty worn (pretty good for 3 years of riding). They have holds at some of the seams, at the thumbs, however the do decently for a short ride when I get my effort up and start sweating. I need a new pair of winter gloves... Not sure what to get though. I'll be checking out the other reviews and check the LBS for their choices.
By the way, my x-country/spring ski gloves were leather and did a nice job, again for warmer weather. If they got wet, they were horrible as they soaked up the water and had little ability to keep the warmth.
The fleece tights, well they worked nicely, I got a few chuckles on the rides, but they kept me warm (though wind would go through the fleece). I broke down 3 years ago and got a pair of Pearl Izumi thermafleece tights and they work well, as my legs don't tend to get cold. I don't sweat much in them and they do a decent job of cutting the wind. My knees do get cold, the other major problem is blocking the wind in your crotch... Ouch.. Ever get frostbite on your weiner?? So, I've learned, Ride with another pair of shorts over the tights, it will block more wind and provide an extra layer. Maybe, stuffing newspaper might work as well, though I've never tried that.
For the top, I wear my skiing Thermax turtleneck (that is some really good stuff) Keeps you warm and dry. Over that I wear a Cannondale stretchy wind jacket which works very well in cutting the wind. It also has lycra under the arms to allow you to vent the perspiration. This stretchy wind blocking fabric is wonderful. I've seen the light weight North Face stuff and want to get one of those jacket for casual wear. So as you can see, I still use some of my ski stuff and knowledge on how to try to stay warm.. Bottom line, if you're not working hard enough, you'll be cold. So the long 70+ mile rides at a low heartrate, you'd better bundle up more.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Gamjam reviews: Bontrager Gel Cork Tape.
I've used many different tapes for my handlebars. I really don't think it matters much which ones you choose, however over the past couple of years I've stuck with Bontrager tape as it was what my local bike shop carried. I've used Deda tape, Cinelli cork tape, and others.. one in paticular, which I can't remember the name was pretty stretchy and had a good grip. I don't think they are even in business anymore, however it was one of the first non cork tape and had some nice print designs on it.
Well... now about Bontrager tape. http://bontrager.com/model/00075/en. Once you have it wrapped on your bars it feels like a baby's bottom. Nice and soft. It has gel in it to suck up alot of the road vibrations. Because of the gel it tends to be a bit thicker and soft. One drawback on the tape I find is that it tends to slip as the adhesive on the back doesn't work very well. This deficiency, however allows you to remove it easily (especially if you screw up on wrapping it).
The best thing about the Bontrager bar tape is not actually the tape, it's the bar ends plugs. These things just stay in and don't fall out like all of the other handle bar plugs.
As far as wear, I've had my tape on for about a year, even through a crash, it survived with a few holes and of course electrical tape works well on it. I use a bit of the tubular glue on the end of the tape so that I don't have to worry about it slipping and unwinding as the bontrager plastic tape it comes with tends to unravel after a while.
As far as colors, it comes in many which should be able to match your bike colors well. I know how many of you love to make your bikes match :).
The tape is typically less than $16 bucks at your local bike shop.
BTW.. For those who don't know how to wrap the tape: You start at the bar ends and work your way towards the stem.
Well... now about Bontrager tape. http://bontrager.com/model/00075/en. Once you have it wrapped on your bars it feels like a baby's bottom. Nice and soft. It has gel in it to suck up alot of the road vibrations. Because of the gel it tends to be a bit thicker and soft. One drawback on the tape I find is that it tends to slip as the adhesive on the back doesn't work very well. This deficiency, however allows you to remove it easily (especially if you screw up on wrapping it).
The best thing about the Bontrager bar tape is not actually the tape, it's the bar ends plugs. These things just stay in and don't fall out like all of the other handle bar plugs.
As far as wear, I've had my tape on for about a year, even through a crash, it survived with a few holes and of course electrical tape works well on it. I use a bit of the tubular glue on the end of the tape so that I don't have to worry about it slipping and unwinding as the bontrager plastic tape it comes with tends to unravel after a while.
As far as colors, it comes in many which should be able to match your bike colors well. I know how many of you love to make your bikes match :).
The tape is typically less than $16 bucks at your local bike shop.
BTW.. For those who don't know how to wrap the tape: You start at the bar ends and work your way towards the stem.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Happy New Year 2009.
Happy New Year!
Plenty of people have asked me for my goals this year.
As many of you know, I don't typically have preset goals, as I don't have a regimented training schedule as I would like.
So here are my goals:
Enter at least 10 races this year.
Place top 10 in at least 5 of the races.
Help my teammates win or place top 3 in every race.
Train at least 3 times a week (minimum 1 hour rides)
Have fun racing and training. Make new friends or continue to build up friendships with other riders.
Caveats:
Training/Racing should not negatively affect my work performance or family life.
Sounds pretty easy??
I would hope so.. though this year is going to be much more challenging as I will be away on vacation in the spring for 2 weeks, my children are going to be in swimming competitions all summer and training in the spring. I will be dedicating alot of my time in officiating in the mmeets. So, this doesn't leave too much extra time. Of course...I will have to spend quality alone time with my wife. Work will be much more challenging in this New Year with the economy in the doldrums, so more time at work to be as productive as last year.
You get the gist. It will be a challenging year, however, I will have more teammates to work with this year and it should be fun as we all are in the same situation with family and work.
Oh, by the way. I've been off the bike for 3 weeks now. Time to get back on this Tuesday.
Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2009!
Plenty of people have asked me for my goals this year.
As many of you know, I don't typically have preset goals, as I don't have a regimented training schedule as I would like.
So here are my goals:
Enter at least 10 races this year.
Place top 10 in at least 5 of the races.
Help my teammates win or place top 3 in every race.
Train at least 3 times a week (minimum 1 hour rides)
Have fun racing and training. Make new friends or continue to build up friendships with other riders.
Caveats:
Training/Racing should not negatively affect my work performance or family life.
Sounds pretty easy??
I would hope so.. though this year is going to be much more challenging as I will be away on vacation in the spring for 2 weeks, my children are going to be in swimming competitions all summer and training in the spring. I will be dedicating alot of my time in officiating in the mmeets. So, this doesn't leave too much extra time. Of course...I will have to spend quality alone time with my wife. Work will be much more challenging in this New Year with the economy in the doldrums, so more time at work to be as productive as last year.
You get the gist. It will be a challenging year, however, I will have more teammates to work with this year and it should be fun as we all are in the same situation with family and work.
Oh, by the way. I've been off the bike for 3 weeks now. Time to get back on this Tuesday.
Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2009!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Off Season
Well it's the off season for me and I am still riding. Once a week with over 20 miles a day, and about 2-3 times a day I ride to work and back (9 miles each way).
Last weekend I actually rode both days! Kids and wife out of town for semester break. I really have to do more than the 20 miles on a ride. The 40-60 mile rides I did over the weekend seemed to tap me out pretty well. I took a nap each day to recover. My legs were definitely tired as I cramped up a few times switching positions on the couch.
Well, I finally got fed up with fooling around with my positioning and got a professional bike fit with BJ Basham. He's been recommended to me by several guys I respect. I drove to BJ's place after work on Monday. Fighting through traffic on I-66 I finally arrived. BJ performed all of the measurements based upon the wobble naught system. He was very patient in explaining every measurement to me as well as how it would affect my comfort and power. BJ took a quick look at me on the trainer and remarked that I should raise my seatpost a bit more. I was a bit surprised as when I switched shoes and pedals, I was lowered down on the seatpost about 1 1/2 inch with my cleats moved all the way back. Well, after finally moving it to the point where Wobble Naught's system said I should be, I viewed my marker mark about the same exact point. This mark was put on in the Spring after I had to adjust my seatpost after draining the bike after a wet ride. Wow, I was really close before, however the cleat on the shoe was in a different place. My seat position also was moved backwards as far as it could go as I have a zero set back Thompson post. I still should move my seat back another centermeter. BJ also said that I should probably use a slightly shorter stem as well. I've used 130cm before, switched to a 120cm and now.. I should be using a 110 cm stem. I will need to find a new seatpost with more of a setback and a shorter stem.
I rode today and because I've been getting used to the other position I had been in after a couple of weeks of fiddling with the position, I definitely felt a weak point in my pedal stroke as my muscles probably lack the power from the previous position. I am hoping that this fit will provide me more consistent power and it may also help with the cramping I had had in my quads.
Anyway, only time can tell and I do think I'm in a better position now (kind of like when I was in the spring and of course I was performing decently).
If you are not feeling a smooth powerful pedal stroke or are uncomfortable on the bike, then you probably should get a bike fit. BJ also gave me some tips on pedal stroke and back positioning for a flatter and more powerful position. I think I ride in that position for the most part, however because the fit was different before, I may have started building a bad habbit, which I need now to break.
Time will tell... Now if I can continue to get some long miles in this winter, I should be in a good position to perform well this next year.
Last weekend I actually rode both days! Kids and wife out of town for semester break. I really have to do more than the 20 miles on a ride. The 40-60 mile rides I did over the weekend seemed to tap me out pretty well. I took a nap each day to recover. My legs were definitely tired as I cramped up a few times switching positions on the couch.
Well, I finally got fed up with fooling around with my positioning and got a professional bike fit with BJ Basham. He's been recommended to me by several guys I respect. I drove to BJ's place after work on Monday. Fighting through traffic on I-66 I finally arrived. BJ performed all of the measurements based upon the wobble naught system. He was very patient in explaining every measurement to me as well as how it would affect my comfort and power. BJ took a quick look at me on the trainer and remarked that I should raise my seatpost a bit more. I was a bit surprised as when I switched shoes and pedals, I was lowered down on the seatpost about 1 1/2 inch with my cleats moved all the way back. Well, after finally moving it to the point where Wobble Naught's system said I should be, I viewed my marker mark about the same exact point. This mark was put on in the Spring after I had to adjust my seatpost after draining the bike after a wet ride. Wow, I was really close before, however the cleat on the shoe was in a different place. My seat position also was moved backwards as far as it could go as I have a zero set back Thompson post. I still should move my seat back another centermeter. BJ also said that I should probably use a slightly shorter stem as well. I've used 130cm before, switched to a 120cm and now.. I should be using a 110 cm stem. I will need to find a new seatpost with more of a setback and a shorter stem.
I rode today and because I've been getting used to the other position I had been in after a couple of weeks of fiddling with the position, I definitely felt a weak point in my pedal stroke as my muscles probably lack the power from the previous position. I am hoping that this fit will provide me more consistent power and it may also help with the cramping I had had in my quads.
Anyway, only time can tell and I do think I'm in a better position now (kind of like when I was in the spring and of course I was performing decently).
If you are not feeling a smooth powerful pedal stroke or are uncomfortable on the bike, then you probably should get a bike fit. BJ also gave me some tips on pedal stroke and back positioning for a flatter and more powerful position. I think I ride in that position for the most part, however because the fit was different before, I may have started building a bad habbit, which I need now to break.
Time will tell... Now if I can continue to get some long miles in this winter, I should be in a good position to perform well this next year.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Summer Sufferin'
WTF?? I thought Summer was done!! It sure was hot this weekend!
After a week of pain, from my quads cramping all of the time, walking down hill, I decided to do something about it. I went for a run last Monday. Most of the people I spoke with said I need to do some cross training. So, I went for a noon time run. I ran about 3 miles and was pretty much spent. My legs were pumped and sore. The next day I was suffering with quad pain, hamstring pain and Achilles tendon soreness. So much for running. It wasn't till Friday that everything was starting to feel okay. I rode on Wednesday on the Hill ride, however we went out for a slow pace. I didn't have much chance to ride any other time this past week. Coppi was Saturday and I wasn't sure I had anything positive going for me.
Coppi... I arrived to see my teammates getting cooled down from the finish of the CAT4 race. Both of them said they cramped up and to save enough for the finish. It was damn hot. I was a bit worried that I would not have enough water, so I made sure I drank enough before the start. I filled up one of my bottles with some electrolytes (powerbar electrolytes. I was feeling pretty good through out the race, sipping often on my bottles. I even attacked and tried to ride away on the 2nd lap, though not pushing too hard as I had no one who decided to go with me. After a bit the pack caught me as I saw them gaining on me. Well, I fell back into the pack and rode on. I grabbed a water bottle from the feed zone as I didn't have the need to refresh till this lap. We rode up the hills and I was now feeling a bit queasy. My stomach wasn't feeling too good and everything seemed to close around my view. The pack picked up the pace on one hill, I started feel dizzy and fell back. I was thinking, should I chase back on??? The answer became apparent, as I started feeling the reflux action on my throat. I pulled over, thinking of passing out. Immediately I started to heave, (I remember telling some of the folks that I sometimes vomited after a major sprint to the finish). Well, happened again. I vomited another four times hoping someone would drive up. Of course the folks standing outside their houses didn't mind me heaving across the road from their yard. I waited about 10 minutes to see if I could stand without falling over. No one came!!! I decided to get back on the bike and ride. Another 10 miles to go. Well, I could make it. And I did. Slowly and surely I did, I was amazed, John from Coppi rode by me. I didn't really care at this point. All I did was to hope I could make it back. Of course, I was looking at the time and thinking that I had a Black Tie event to go to later with the wife and she would be pissed if I missed the car which was picking us up. Well, I made it back, missing the crash, refilling my bottles and leaving the scene. I did eventually get home in record time, showering and changing for the event. Damn, was it hot at the event that evening. We were outside under a tent and all I could think about was the sweat pouring down my back. We did get to go in to the performance later in the evening and I did eventually dry up a bit. However after the show ended we went back outside for the dessert. The car picked us back up about 11pm and we got back to our friends house only to continue the partying. Bottles of champagne and wine were continued to be served. Oh yeah... our children were still up playing video games and watching movies with each other. 2 AM rolled around, and my eyes were rolling back in to my head, I had to pry my kids away from their activities and then pull my wife away from our friends. Enough... time to go home. Sleep!
Well, we got up the next morning, fairly late, but early enough to make Church. It was a special day at Church as my youngest daughter was being presented her own bible. 11:30 rolled around and I had to depart from the Church gathering to get to Turkey Day race. I got on the Beltway only to find it backed up. Oh yeah.. all of those damn Redskins fans. I forgot. Oh crap...less than an hour to arrive before the race started. I crept along and arrived about 10 minutes before the race started, registered and had enough time to race up to the start line only to find out that I pinned my number on the wrong side. Yep.. I was the guy with my jersey off repining right before the start. I finished just in time when they blew the whistle. I pretty much sat in as much as I could as it seemed to me that no one would stay away. Immediate Mortgage did a good job of chasing down the breaks and I pretty much just stayed up within the first 15 riders. A few attacks, I chased a little bit, but for the most part I just hung in there. On the last lap the Immediate mortgage team did a great job lining up for the finish. I was one rider behind SuperDave. The train was off and running, unfortunately the guy I was behind didn't react hard enough and was distanced, I was hoping to have him lead me out, however he faltered and fell back more. The last 100 meters, I went around him trying to recoup the distance, however it was just too much and rolled in at 11th place, not enough to even contend to the sprint. Oh well.. Last race of the season, probably. Not too bad for staying up til 3 am for the night before. Next Sunday at the ING Capital Criterium, I think I'll pass on that as the night before, we have a late night family camping night celebration, so again, I won't be in a good form.
Clearly, the motto is correct: Don't train like me.
'cause you'll be suffering.
After a week of pain, from my quads cramping all of the time, walking down hill, I decided to do something about it. I went for a run last Monday. Most of the people I spoke with said I need to do some cross training. So, I went for a noon time run. I ran about 3 miles and was pretty much spent. My legs were pumped and sore. The next day I was suffering with quad pain, hamstring pain and Achilles tendon soreness. So much for running. It wasn't till Friday that everything was starting to feel okay. I rode on Wednesday on the Hill ride, however we went out for a slow pace. I didn't have much chance to ride any other time this past week. Coppi was Saturday and I wasn't sure I had anything positive going for me.
Coppi... I arrived to see my teammates getting cooled down from the finish of the CAT4 race. Both of them said they cramped up and to save enough for the finish. It was damn hot. I was a bit worried that I would not have enough water, so I made sure I drank enough before the start. I filled up one of my bottles with some electrolytes (powerbar electrolytes. I was feeling pretty good through out the race, sipping often on my bottles. I even attacked and tried to ride away on the 2nd lap, though not pushing too hard as I had no one who decided to go with me. After a bit the pack caught me as I saw them gaining on me. Well, I fell back into the pack and rode on. I grabbed a water bottle from the feed zone as I didn't have the need to refresh till this lap. We rode up the hills and I was now feeling a bit queasy. My stomach wasn't feeling too good and everything seemed to close around my view. The pack picked up the pace on one hill, I started feel dizzy and fell back. I was thinking, should I chase back on??? The answer became apparent, as I started feeling the reflux action on my throat. I pulled over, thinking of passing out. Immediately I started to heave, (I remember telling some of the folks that I sometimes vomited after a major sprint to the finish). Well, happened again. I vomited another four times hoping someone would drive up. Of course the folks standing outside their houses didn't mind me heaving across the road from their yard. I waited about 10 minutes to see if I could stand without falling over. No one came!!! I decided to get back on the bike and ride. Another 10 miles to go. Well, I could make it. And I did. Slowly and surely I did, I was amazed, John from Coppi rode by me. I didn't really care at this point. All I did was to hope I could make it back. Of course, I was looking at the time and thinking that I had a Black Tie event to go to later with the wife and she would be pissed if I missed the car which was picking us up. Well, I made it back, missing the crash, refilling my bottles and leaving the scene. I did eventually get home in record time, showering and changing for the event. Damn, was it hot at the event that evening. We were outside under a tent and all I could think about was the sweat pouring down my back. We did get to go in to the performance later in the evening and I did eventually dry up a bit. However after the show ended we went back outside for the dessert. The car picked us back up about 11pm and we got back to our friends house only to continue the partying. Bottles of champagne and wine were continued to be served. Oh yeah... our children were still up playing video games and watching movies with each other. 2 AM rolled around, and my eyes were rolling back in to my head, I had to pry my kids away from their activities and then pull my wife away from our friends. Enough... time to go home. Sleep!
Well, we got up the next morning, fairly late, but early enough to make Church. It was a special day at Church as my youngest daughter was being presented her own bible. 11:30 rolled around and I had to depart from the Church gathering to get to Turkey Day race. I got on the Beltway only to find it backed up. Oh yeah.. all of those damn Redskins fans. I forgot. Oh crap...less than an hour to arrive before the race started. I crept along and arrived about 10 minutes before the race started, registered and had enough time to race up to the start line only to find out that I pinned my number on the wrong side. Yep.. I was the guy with my jersey off repining right before the start. I finished just in time when they blew the whistle. I pretty much sat in as much as I could as it seemed to me that no one would stay away. Immediate Mortgage did a good job of chasing down the breaks and I pretty much just stayed up within the first 15 riders. A few attacks, I chased a little bit, but for the most part I just hung in there. On the last lap the Immediate mortgage team did a great job lining up for the finish. I was one rider behind SuperDave. The train was off and running, unfortunately the guy I was behind didn't react hard enough and was distanced, I was hoping to have him lead me out, however he faltered and fell back more. The last 100 meters, I went around him trying to recoup the distance, however it was just too much and rolled in at 11th place, not enough to even contend to the sprint. Oh well.. Last race of the season, probably. Not too bad for staying up til 3 am for the night before. Next Sunday at the ING Capital Criterium, I think I'll pass on that as the night before, we have a late night family camping night celebration, so again, I won't be in a good form.
Clearly, the motto is correct: Don't train like me.
'cause you'll be suffering.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Page Valley RR.
What a tough course! Of course it didn't help that I rode hard on Saturday as well.
I was expecting more of a rolling course than one with two tough climbs.
Saturday, I decided to go out an do the 7 am DC Velo ride. We climbed Mass Ave. with a decent pace, and the pace on MacArthur and Clara Barton didn't seem too taxing. So, I decided it would be a good spin. I purposely didn't take many pulls on the front. We reached Anglers Inn, and the climb started out steadily, then faster. I was feeling really good and noticed that my heart rate was fairly low and if it did spike it dropped down quickly. I reached the top of Anglers with about 5 guys. You know the usual 50+ suspects (Ad Bax, Paul Middlestat). We descended down Great Falls and started back up. Paul seemed to be kicking up the pace constantly. I don't remember who he was chasing, however we were going pretty hard. Back down to Brickyard Road then up the steep hill. Wow.. I was not suffering a bit. Usually at Brickyard, I'm lagging, but on Saturday, I was going strong, only one back from the rider in front. We got back up to River Road and no one was waiting for us, so we all hammered to catch the other guys. We caught a group and passed them on Oaklyn, I rotated through several pulls up the hills and we met up with a faster group at the intersection at River Road. From then it was a fast pace through Potomac and then the final sprint on Democracy. Aziz gave the signal to follow him as he would try to lead me out. James Palo started the first leg, then Aziz, who got caught up in a bit of traffic, then I did my sprint. It felt good. I motored on home to recover after the ride. My legs were feeling good.
I relaxed watching some of the Olympic re-runs, then decided that I should do some house work before the family came home from their vacation. I was on my feet for most of the day. I had a late lunch because of the delay in my father in-law's schedule...We had a nice lunch in Bethesda. It was more like an early dinner as it was about 4 pm. I wasn't too hungry later that evening, however made some pasta at about 9pm, I watched more Olympic coverage til about 1am then went to bed. Oh yea, during the evening, I finally decided to change my chain, as it had been shifting a bit funky. You know you're never supposed to do things like that. I cleaned the cassettes and it didn't shift too well so I put some lube on the cassette and went out for a test ride. Well, it worked decently so I didn't decide to make anymore changes, except to clean the bike. It had definitely been some time since the last cleaning.
As you can see, these are not good habits to follow.
I awoke at 6:15 am, feeling a bit tired still. got packed and ready to go. I made my coffee and had a bowl of cereal. On my way. It was a very nice scenic drive for me and I left with plenty of time to spare. Of course, I passed the turn off of 340 and headed into Stanley, where I went to the gas station to fill up the car. I proceeded down the road looking for the sign, however never saw it. I kept going till I saw the next town and knew I drove too far and backtracked. Luckily I saw another cyclist heading towards the race so I just followed him till I got there. Still plenty of time and I warmed up a little bit and then the race started.
The first lap was slow and everyone seemed to be having fun chatting. I stayed up with the top 10 slots putting in little effort. We reached the first long hill and I found myself moving towards the second position and the guy in front of me was putting in a good brisk effort, he pulled off then I continued the pace from mid-way to the top. Well, I didn't feel too out of breath and it looked bright for me. Next hill came up soon afterward and that one again, I stayed up in the front several spots, dropping back a slight bit when others who had more power decided to pass me.
Down the first part of the course, the pace really picked up. The first half of the course was the recovery section and pace was decently fast. I was in good position coming back up to the long hill. This time I was swallowed up my the pack deciding to go at a much faster pace as a couple of guys attacked the field. That put the hurt into me and I was feeling that I was putting out about 95-100%. The problem was that I found myself towards the back of the pack up the second climb. Several racers picked up their feed and I was caught behind them trying to pass them to bridge back to the pack. We got back to the leaders on the front side downhill section. Time to recover again. It seemed like the pace was not picking up. Obviously riders were sensing that there were several of us, who might not be recovering as quickly.
Third time around on the hills, attacks kept up. This time, however, the attack happened on the bottom of the rise before the hill got steeper. I decided not to put out too much effort as I didn't want to run out of juice for the next climb. I found myself at the back of the pack as apparently many had already dropped. The starts and hesitations on being in the back caused me to suffer. I made it over the top and I definitely wasn't feeling good. The next climb, I was in the middle towards the back of the pack and again, feed zone attack. I tried to react, however my legs wouldn't give me anything, so I backed off. That's when the rubberband broke. I was gapped enough before reaching the top and my heart rate wasn't subsiding. My head wasn't into it and I let the pack go. A couple of riders passed me on the decent and pretty much sat up. That's when Art Brown (who was racing the 123 event), caught me and passed me. I thought, well if he can keep up his pace then I can possible do it to and catch the pack again. I put my head down and started my time trial after Art. I was averaging over 27.5 mph and gaining on him. Well that was till the hills started approaching, my speed dropped and he went out of my sight. Here comes the hill climbs again. My legs were definitely feeling tired, I felt like I had bonked. So, I just took it easy up the hills, some one had yelled that I was 5 minutes behind. That definitely didn't help. So I dropped it another notch down and slowly pedaled up the last hill to the finish line. Over the hill I just looked for the place I was supposed to turn off and go to the parking lot. I stopped and asked for directions with one road guard and then trudged my way back. Another hilly road race which I didn't finish. Oh well, you have to know your limits.
Lessons taught, but probably not going to ever learn:
Don't ride hard the day before a taxing long race. (you can do a short crit and race another race the next day) So you have to wonder how these guys in the Tour de France do it (day after day).
Don't change your bike parts/positioning the day before the race (though nothing happened to me), however it's always bad luck.
Don't stay up too late before a race.
If you've exerted yourself and you know you have to rest, just rest! Don't do all of these other things on your feet.
Eat appropriately before a race.
Oh yeah.. take a day off of riding and rest. I've been riding to work every day this past week and thought I was going to take Friday or Saturday off. I didn't.
So, Today, I'm resting. :)
I hate DNF's.
I was expecting more of a rolling course than one with two tough climbs.
Saturday, I decided to go out an do the 7 am DC Velo ride. We climbed Mass Ave. with a decent pace, and the pace on MacArthur and Clara Barton didn't seem too taxing. So, I decided it would be a good spin. I purposely didn't take many pulls on the front. We reached Anglers Inn, and the climb started out steadily, then faster. I was feeling really good and noticed that my heart rate was fairly low and if it did spike it dropped down quickly. I reached the top of Anglers with about 5 guys. You know the usual 50+ suspects (Ad Bax, Paul Middlestat). We descended down Great Falls and started back up. Paul seemed to be kicking up the pace constantly. I don't remember who he was chasing, however we were going pretty hard. Back down to Brickyard Road then up the steep hill. Wow.. I was not suffering a bit. Usually at Brickyard, I'm lagging, but on Saturday, I was going strong, only one back from the rider in front. We got back up to River Road and no one was waiting for us, so we all hammered to catch the other guys. We caught a group and passed them on Oaklyn, I rotated through several pulls up the hills and we met up with a faster group at the intersection at River Road. From then it was a fast pace through Potomac and then the final sprint on Democracy. Aziz gave the signal to follow him as he would try to lead me out. James Palo started the first leg, then Aziz, who got caught up in a bit of traffic, then I did my sprint. It felt good. I motored on home to recover after the ride. My legs were feeling good.
I relaxed watching some of the Olympic re-runs, then decided that I should do some house work before the family came home from their vacation. I was on my feet for most of the day. I had a late lunch because of the delay in my father in-law's schedule...We had a nice lunch in Bethesda. It was more like an early dinner as it was about 4 pm. I wasn't too hungry later that evening, however made some pasta at about 9pm, I watched more Olympic coverage til about 1am then went to bed. Oh yea, during the evening, I finally decided to change my chain, as it had been shifting a bit funky. You know you're never supposed to do things like that. I cleaned the cassettes and it didn't shift too well so I put some lube on the cassette and went out for a test ride. Well, it worked decently so I didn't decide to make anymore changes, except to clean the bike. It had definitely been some time since the last cleaning.
As you can see, these are not good habits to follow.
I awoke at 6:15 am, feeling a bit tired still. got packed and ready to go. I made my coffee and had a bowl of cereal. On my way. It was a very nice scenic drive for me and I left with plenty of time to spare. Of course, I passed the turn off of 340 and headed into Stanley, where I went to the gas station to fill up the car. I proceeded down the road looking for the sign, however never saw it. I kept going till I saw the next town and knew I drove too far and backtracked. Luckily I saw another cyclist heading towards the race so I just followed him till I got there. Still plenty of time and I warmed up a little bit and then the race started.
The first lap was slow and everyone seemed to be having fun chatting. I stayed up with the top 10 slots putting in little effort. We reached the first long hill and I found myself moving towards the second position and the guy in front of me was putting in a good brisk effort, he pulled off then I continued the pace from mid-way to the top. Well, I didn't feel too out of breath and it looked bright for me. Next hill came up soon afterward and that one again, I stayed up in the front several spots, dropping back a slight bit when others who had more power decided to pass me.
Down the first part of the course, the pace really picked up. The first half of the course was the recovery section and pace was decently fast. I was in good position coming back up to the long hill. This time I was swallowed up my the pack deciding to go at a much faster pace as a couple of guys attacked the field. That put the hurt into me and I was feeling that I was putting out about 95-100%. The problem was that I found myself towards the back of the pack up the second climb. Several racers picked up their feed and I was caught behind them trying to pass them to bridge back to the pack. We got back to the leaders on the front side downhill section. Time to recover again. It seemed like the pace was not picking up. Obviously riders were sensing that there were several of us, who might not be recovering as quickly.
Third time around on the hills, attacks kept up. This time, however, the attack happened on the bottom of the rise before the hill got steeper. I decided not to put out too much effort as I didn't want to run out of juice for the next climb. I found myself at the back of the pack as apparently many had already dropped. The starts and hesitations on being in the back caused me to suffer. I made it over the top and I definitely wasn't feeling good. The next climb, I was in the middle towards the back of the pack and again, feed zone attack. I tried to react, however my legs wouldn't give me anything, so I backed off. That's when the rubberband broke. I was gapped enough before reaching the top and my heart rate wasn't subsiding. My head wasn't into it and I let the pack go. A couple of riders passed me on the decent and pretty much sat up. That's when Art Brown (who was racing the 123 event), caught me and passed me. I thought, well if he can keep up his pace then I can possible do it to and catch the pack again. I put my head down and started my time trial after Art. I was averaging over 27.5 mph and gaining on him. Well that was till the hills started approaching, my speed dropped and he went out of my sight. Here comes the hill climbs again. My legs were definitely feeling tired, I felt like I had bonked. So, I just took it easy up the hills, some one had yelled that I was 5 minutes behind. That definitely didn't help. So I dropped it another notch down and slowly pedaled up the last hill to the finish line. Over the hill I just looked for the place I was supposed to turn off and go to the parking lot. I stopped and asked for directions with one road guard and then trudged my way back. Another hilly road race which I didn't finish. Oh well, you have to know your limits.
Lessons taught, but probably not going to ever learn:
Don't ride hard the day before a taxing long race. (you can do a short crit and race another race the next day) So you have to wonder how these guys in the Tour de France do it (day after day).
Don't change your bike parts/positioning the day before the race (though nothing happened to me), however it's always bad luck.
Don't stay up too late before a race.
If you've exerted yourself and you know you have to rest, just rest! Don't do all of these other things on your feet.
Eat appropriately before a race.
Oh yeah.. take a day off of riding and rest. I've been riding to work every day this past week and thought I was going to take Friday or Saturday off. I didn't.
So, Today, I'm resting. :)
I hate DNF's.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Vacation and Pain.
I took a week off from Thursday, Aug 7th through Wednesday, Aug.14th. I was really starting to need it. I've been riding a decent amount this year, however most of it comes from commuting (9 miles each way to and from work), sometimes catching the Hill ride on Tuesday and maybe riding on Wednesday at Greenbelt races.
I arrived in Seattle, WA and spent the evening at dinner with the family and my wife's friend at an Ethiopian restaurant. Afterward we enjoyed a couple glasses of wine with my wife and her friend on the roof of her apartment building. What a nice sight of the city, harbor and background mountains.
We left the next morning for Spokane, WA, where we stayed at a beautiful hotel, called The Davenport Hotel. Our children enjoyed a nice swim at the pool, had a nice dinner. My wife and I, had a nice seafood dinner at a local restaurant, Anthony's, which overlooked the Spokane Falls. It was really relaxing. The Davenport Hotel really did a good job of pampering us.
The next morning, we had a long and late breakfast, mainly delayed because of the hotel's restaurant became overloaded by a wedding party. We were comp'ed for the breakfast, which was really nice of them. We headed on our way to Glacier National Park.
The drive was lengthy, however beautiful. Mountains, lakes, rivers were all welcomed scenery. We actually passed a forest fire which was consuming a mountain range. Pretty wild, as we could see the smoke from several miles away. The fire was peaking over the mountain top. As we wound our way around the mountain range, we saw the fire spread over about 20 different areas on the range. It was pretty sad to see this happening, however I heard on the radio later that week that it was started by lightening. Nature's way of rejuvenating the forest. We approached Glacier National Park from the West Entrance and saw that they had a fire a few years back as part the forest was pretty gray/brown from far away.
We arrived at for dinner at Lake McDonald Lodge, a beautiful, historic, hunting lodge. The main entrance area included a huge fireplace (used originally for cooking the meals for the guests, many trophy display pieces of local game including bear, elk, moose, eagles, and a polar bear pelt. Dinner was typical of a US National Park service hotel. It doesn't typically match the atmosphere. My wife and I typically stay at nice hotels (Historic Hotels of America), and typically choose a very restaurant to eat at. So, when you're at the US National Park hotels, you're stuck with whatever the hotel offers as there is limited choices in the park. This was the case at Zion National Park and at the Grand Canyon, though Zion Lodge was probably the best out of all of the restaurants we visited this past year.
We went on a hike on Avalanche Trail to the Cedars. It was a nice stroll uphill next to beautiful river from Avalanche Lake. See link for the e-hike. My daughter recently had a wart on the bottom of her middle toe, which my wife had the dermatologist try to burn off with liquid nitrogen, which didn't work too well even after two tries, then another doctor used some type of acid. The last treatment was done a few days before I arrived in Seattle. So to say the least, she was having a bit of pain on the hike. I carried her back down the hike, only to find that my quads were cramping badly. It was really weird. In the beginning of the summer, I was at the beach, playing around and doing these long strides with my knees bent. I thought I had pulled a muscle in my quad. I had to go out and buy some icy hot to give me relief. I'm thinking it may have been a major cramp as well. I think I'm in decent shape and I don't think the hike should have really tired me. I just checked the internet to see that I probably need to do some cross training. See here: http://www.cptips.com/muspain.htm The next day I had the same problem coming down from the hike on Logan Pass. The hike up was no issue but the downhill walk killed me. I was walking slower than a 90 year old. I had to walk backwards or sidewards while coming down. My quads were constantly cramping and my shins also felt sore (shin splints). So there is definitely something physically wrong with my muscles and training. If anyone had the same experience, let me know, what you did to alleviate this issue.
The hike to the hidden lake at Logan Pass was amazing! We hiked over snow fields, even though it the middle of the summer. We saw lots of Columbian ground squirrels (which look a bit like prairie dogs). From the top we saw a few mountain goats down in a rocky field near a lake in the valley. Other than that we didn't see many other animals.
We traveled from the West side to the East side of Glacier National Park. Then, I left heading back to Seattle to catch my plane home. My family continued the opposite way towards the Teton's and Yellowstone.
I had a nice time, however the next time, I'll probably want to do some camping, so that I see more wildlife, also I'd probably want to do more rugged hiking, though I don't know if my legs will be able to take it. Fishing is something else I really want to do. A few hours fly fishing and or lake fishing would be really relaxing and fun. I know that my family had done some camping already so the hotel stays were probably was a good break for them.
Well, I took the red-eye home and went straight to work. I was pretty tired as I didn't get much sleep on the plane because of this little girl screaming and crying the whole way. I ended up leaving work for the Greenbelt training race. I didn't know how my fitness would be as I've been eating well and enjoying my wine while watching the Olympics. Luckily for me, my fitness hasn't left after a week off. Good! I finished I think 7th, however for the second time, they didn't get my placing. It doesn't really matter, as it's just a training event.
I rode to work on Thursday and took Friday off. Today, I did the Highway to Heaven hill climb. I saw the Gamjam post by Nick Bax on his strategy, however don't know if that really would help anyone except for him. He's a guy who can climb and attack on the a climb. My rides with him every once in a while on Brickyard or Mountaingate is proof enough that not to many can do what he does on the hills. So I rode the hill time trial blind. On the start, I hammered it, thinking that by the second part of the hill, I could recover and keep a good pace up that part. Not the case, as I should have known better, from my climbs. I die if I go too hard on the bottom. In the case of Mountaingate, if I pace myself up, I can be ready for an attack or can attack and make it to the top and recover after that. Well in today's case, the second part of the climb killed me. I dropped from about 14 mph, from the bottom part, down to about 8 mph. Even if the pitch was not as tough as the start, I was blown. It really hurt and I was happy when I reached the third part. I shifted into my big ring and hammered away as Nick has said. Only to find out that I wasn't hammering away to a flat finish. The last 200 meters was another steeper pitch which wasn't ready for as again, I abused myself and blew up. I could barely pedal finishing up at a crawl. I waited for the results and Ad Bax, told me that I was at the top of the list. I was pretty amazed and couldn't believe it as I thought it wasn't a great performance. Unfortunately about 10 minutes later, the ref. said that there a protest. Yep...Karl Connelly from Kelly Benefit had been placed up top. I thought he had probably done well as he was in his long sleeve skin suit and looked like he could climb. I know that I'm not a great climber except for short sprints up, so I couldn't believe that I would win my category. Oh,yeah... I was wheezing and coughing at the end and still am coughing now (8 hours later). Weird, it feels like I have water in my lungs. The thing is that others were coughing like I was including Nick. Hopefully I feel better this evening. I'll probably have a couple glasses of wine to give me some relief. Just like last night, I had a few with friends and stayed up till about 2am watching the Olympics. Yep, Michael Phelps is amazing. Looks like my training regiment includes grapes (wine). Apparently there's a study about grapes(Resveratrol) about how it may enhance performance. I guess I'm a good test subject without really trying... hehe.
I arrived in Seattle, WA and spent the evening at dinner with the family and my wife's friend at an Ethiopian restaurant. Afterward we enjoyed a couple glasses of wine with my wife and her friend on the roof of her apartment building. What a nice sight of the city, harbor and background mountains.
We left the next morning for Spokane, WA, where we stayed at a beautiful hotel, called The Davenport Hotel. Our children enjoyed a nice swim at the pool, had a nice dinner. My wife and I, had a nice seafood dinner at a local restaurant, Anthony's, which overlooked the Spokane Falls. It was really relaxing. The Davenport Hotel really did a good job of pampering us.
The next morning, we had a long and late breakfast, mainly delayed because of the hotel's restaurant became overloaded by a wedding party. We were comp'ed for the breakfast, which was really nice of them. We headed on our way to Glacier National Park.
The drive was lengthy, however beautiful. Mountains, lakes, rivers were all welcomed scenery. We actually passed a forest fire which was consuming a mountain range. Pretty wild, as we could see the smoke from several miles away. The fire was peaking over the mountain top. As we wound our way around the mountain range, we saw the fire spread over about 20 different areas on the range. It was pretty sad to see this happening, however I heard on the radio later that week that it was started by lightening. Nature's way of rejuvenating the forest. We approached Glacier National Park from the West Entrance and saw that they had a fire a few years back as part the forest was pretty gray/brown from far away.
We arrived at for dinner at Lake McDonald Lodge, a beautiful, historic, hunting lodge. The main entrance area included a huge fireplace (used originally for cooking the meals for the guests, many trophy display pieces of local game including bear, elk, moose, eagles, and a polar bear pelt. Dinner was typical of a US National Park service hotel. It doesn't typically match the atmosphere. My wife and I typically stay at nice hotels (Historic Hotels of America), and typically choose a very restaurant to eat at. So, when you're at the US National Park hotels, you're stuck with whatever the hotel offers as there is limited choices in the park. This was the case at Zion National Park and at the Grand Canyon, though Zion Lodge was probably the best out of all of the restaurants we visited this past year.
We went on a hike on Avalanche Trail to the Cedars. It was a nice stroll uphill next to beautiful river from Avalanche Lake. See link for the e-hike. My daughter recently had a wart on the bottom of her middle toe, which my wife had the dermatologist try to burn off with liquid nitrogen, which didn't work too well even after two tries, then another doctor used some type of acid. The last treatment was done a few days before I arrived in Seattle. So to say the least, she was having a bit of pain on the hike. I carried her back down the hike, only to find that my quads were cramping badly. It was really weird. In the beginning of the summer, I was at the beach, playing around and doing these long strides with my knees bent. I thought I had pulled a muscle in my quad. I had to go out and buy some icy hot to give me relief. I'm thinking it may have been a major cramp as well. I think I'm in decent shape and I don't think the hike should have really tired me. I just checked the internet to see that I probably need to do some cross training. See here: http://www.cptips.com/muspain.htm The next day I had the same problem coming down from the hike on Logan Pass. The hike up was no issue but the downhill walk killed me. I was walking slower than a 90 year old. I had to walk backwards or sidewards while coming down. My quads were constantly cramping and my shins also felt sore (shin splints). So there is definitely something physically wrong with my muscles and training. If anyone had the same experience, let me know, what you did to alleviate this issue.
The hike to the hidden lake at Logan Pass was amazing! We hiked over snow fields, even though it the middle of the summer. We saw lots of Columbian ground squirrels (which look a bit like prairie dogs). From the top we saw a few mountain goats down in a rocky field near a lake in the valley. Other than that we didn't see many other animals.
We traveled from the West side to the East side of Glacier National Park. Then, I left heading back to Seattle to catch my plane home. My family continued the opposite way towards the Teton's and Yellowstone.
I had a nice time, however the next time, I'll probably want to do some camping, so that I see more wildlife, also I'd probably want to do more rugged hiking, though I don't know if my legs will be able to take it. Fishing is something else I really want to do. A few hours fly fishing and or lake fishing would be really relaxing and fun. I know that my family had done some camping already so the hotel stays were probably was a good break for them.
Well, I took the red-eye home and went straight to work. I was pretty tired as I didn't get much sleep on the plane because of this little girl screaming and crying the whole way. I ended up leaving work for the Greenbelt training race. I didn't know how my fitness would be as I've been eating well and enjoying my wine while watching the Olympics. Luckily for me, my fitness hasn't left after a week off. Good! I finished I think 7th, however for the second time, they didn't get my placing. It doesn't really matter, as it's just a training event.
I rode to work on Thursday and took Friday off. Today, I did the Highway to Heaven hill climb. I saw the Gamjam post by Nick Bax on his strategy, however don't know if that really would help anyone except for him. He's a guy who can climb and attack on the a climb. My rides with him every once in a while on Brickyard or Mountaingate is proof enough that not to many can do what he does on the hills. So I rode the hill time trial blind. On the start, I hammered it, thinking that by the second part of the hill, I could recover and keep a good pace up that part. Not the case, as I should have known better, from my climbs. I die if I go too hard on the bottom. In the case of Mountaingate, if I pace myself up, I can be ready for an attack or can attack and make it to the top and recover after that. Well in today's case, the second part of the climb killed me. I dropped from about 14 mph, from the bottom part, down to about 8 mph. Even if the pitch was not as tough as the start, I was blown. It really hurt and I was happy when I reached the third part. I shifted into my big ring and hammered away as Nick has said. Only to find out that I wasn't hammering away to a flat finish. The last 200 meters was another steeper pitch which wasn't ready for as again, I abused myself and blew up. I could barely pedal finishing up at a crawl. I waited for the results and Ad Bax, told me that I was at the top of the list. I was pretty amazed and couldn't believe it as I thought it wasn't a great performance. Unfortunately about 10 minutes later, the ref. said that there a protest. Yep...Karl Connelly from Kelly Benefit had been placed up top. I thought he had probably done well as he was in his long sleeve skin suit and looked like he could climb. I know that I'm not a great climber except for short sprints up, so I couldn't believe that I would win my category. Oh,yeah... I was wheezing and coughing at the end and still am coughing now (8 hours later). Weird, it feels like I have water in my lungs. The thing is that others were coughing like I was including Nick. Hopefully I feel better this evening. I'll probably have a couple glasses of wine to give me some relief. Just like last night, I had a few with friends and stayed up till about 2am watching the Olympics. Yep, Michael Phelps is amazing. Looks like my training regiment includes grapes (wine). Apparently there's a study about grapes(Resveratrol) about how it may enhance performance. I guess I'm a good test subject without really trying... hehe.
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