Happy birthday to me.

My idea of a good birthday is to race three races in two days and get top 20 in all three races. Not winning yet, but still good enough for me. For years my motto has been to race for the pure fun of racing. I never gave a crap about places. I just race for the fun of it. I like to sit in a tight pack of riders and go around corners fast. The more technical the course the better. When the race got argy bargy at the end, I would sit up happy to have finished on the same lap and not been dropped. Heck, I have to go to work in the morning. Why risk crashing? -- Now that my fitness is coming along, I am rethinking this motto. Time to start caring. Time to start sprinting.

Saturdays race was in Chantilly Virginia.Category 35+ 3/4 race. Another easy D course but with no hill. Just a whole boat load of wind. I've decided I needed a nice pair of race wheels to go along with my new Fuji SST 2.0 race bike. Happy Birthday to me. Lance Lacy was selling a nice pair of Sram S80 wheels. They are a very large profile rimed wheelset. 80mm large! He said they were fast. I've seen him make them go fast. I had to try them. People were looking at me a little strange trying such a big wheel on such a windy day. Heck, why out. You can handle them or you can't, right. I started the race extra cautious. After two laps I realized the wheel were going to be no problem at all. Because of the wind you were hanging on to the bike already. I did my normal playing in the race. To the front, to the back, off the front, smile, to the back, go back to the front. I do like my games. As the race entered the last laps I again stayed up front. I had to work a bit harder to stay there and didn't get the nice position coming out of the last corner I had hoped for. I sprinted to 17th place. Not bad. The wheels were fast. I bought them. :)

Sundays races were in Colombia Maryland. Back to back races. Can I do this? 25 mile category 3/4 race followed directly by a 21 mile category 4/5 race. The course is a 2.1 mile loop with a small climb right before the finish line. Somehow the weather has gone right back into fall again. I was dressed for a cylocross race, knee warmers, long sleeves, gloves. And windy again. Just sit in and conserve, conserve, conserve. This is going to be a long day. Of course I had to go to the front to play some. Too much fun not too. I had good position coming up the hill for the final sprint. The finish line is so far away. Oh boy i can't sprint for 300 meters. Fading, fading. Hey! I still got 7th place in the category 4's. Nice! $22.00! Really nice.

Second race, 4/5, watch out for crashes, watch out for gaps. Recover, recover, recover. Wow, not feeling bad at all. Ok lets go to the front to play. Lets go get this sprint thing going. Again going for good position. Got it. Remember the sprint is long, be patient. The hill ends almost 200 meters from the finish. Don't sprint up the hill, you won't last. Crap! You sprinted up the hill. Again faded before the line. Got 12th place. Still quite happy. Note to self-- you can't sprint for 300 meters yet.

Great B-day race weekend. 17th, 7th and 12th. Not bad. Better results are coming soon to a blog near you. Stay tuned. :)

First Race Weekend of the Season

The past few weeks have been encouraging. I've been getting out a couple times a week for 2-3 hour rides. And I'm even getting to do my Home Depot loop for some up hill sprint efforts. I've been looking forward to getting my lighter self on the road racing again.

Saturdays race was in Walkersville Maryland. Five laps on an eight mile loop with rolling hills for a whopping 40 miles. It was a category 35+ 4/5. The good thing about this category race is because everyone has to go to work in the morning it tends to be safer then racing with the crazy 20 somethings. And because it is a 4/5 race, they don't push hard on the climbs. Nice. I sat in for the beginning of the race just watching people stretch the early season legs. Little breakaways, nothing dangerous. With two laps to go I made my way toward the front to have a look around. There were three guys off the front by about a 20 second lead. Their teammates were sitting on the front letting the lead get bigger and bigger. I started saying we need to get though their little roadblock to bring the break back. There was no response from the rest of the riders. I got to the front and wiggled my way through their little armada. That opened the flood gates for everyone else to come through. The break came back.

The last lap I sat in recovering a much as possible waiting for the final sprint. The last corner is over a mile away from the finish line. I was doing my best to stay up front but also stay out of the wind. We also had the yellow line rule to deal with. We had to stay in one lane until the 200 meter sign. Guys were trying to push their way forward early. I was sitting second row working hard to stay there. The front guys were not building up speed like I had hoped. I was just waiting to get swamped by the guys behind us at any second. As soon as a whole opened in the front line I jumped with my sprint. I got a good jump but way to early. I was losing my power quickly about 50 meters from the line. They came around me on both sides. I got 9th place. They pay the first 8 places. :(

Sundays race was in Tysons Corner Virginia. A one mile D with a long down hill backstretch and a short big ring homestretch. This was a straight category 4 race. Very funny race for me. Almost half a race for me. The down hill was so easy for me it became a game. Every lap I could coast from the back of the group to the front of the group. Pedal up the hill going from the front drifting to the back and repeat. The game became how far can I go off the back and still make it to the front by the bottom of the hill. If I let myself go twenty feet off the back I could give it 2-3 hard big gear pedal strokes and tuck all the way to the top ten riders. Very funny. For the last few laps I stopped playing my game and just stayed up front as the speed got higher. I started to second guess myself about sprinting with this crowd. Whether they were safe or not. I dropped back twenty places or so before the final corner. Decided to sprint for the line and saw a giant wall of riders and immediately turned off the jets. I finished in the group.

All in all it was a good first week of racing. Very happy with my fitness so far. I just have to let myself sprint for the win instead of just being satisfied with a group finish.

All in all it was a good week

As I mentioned last week, I planned on riding my century of the year in San Diego on March 7th. Well, that didn't go quite as planned.

Ed and I flew non-rev early Friday morning. We got on the flight to Denver without a problem. The second leg to San Diego almost didn't happen. We got pulled because the flight was oversold by 6 people. It didn't look good for us at all. The next open flight to San Diego wasn't until 9:15pm,a full 12 hours later. As Ed and I were making plans to spend the day in Boulder, the CSA found us the empty seats we needed to get back on the plane. We were on our way.

We landed in paradise at 11:30am. We had the rest of the day ahead of us. Awesome. Eric met us at baggage claim, from there we went to the hotel, got changed and Eric and Ed headed to Encinitas to get Eric's bike. I took a bus to La Jolla to get my bike from AJ's house. I rode up to Encinitas to meet them and we all rode back downtown to the hotel. By the time we got back into town it was way past dark, I got us a little lost, oops. I got in about 47 miles and Eric and Ed got in about 30 miles. Not a bad day of riding for spending most of it on an airplane.

Trying to stay on course with my fitness, I got up early for a little gym time. After a nice breakfast, we went to the Gran Fondo Expo to check out all the different vendors and to meet AJ, EJ and Melanie for a bike ride. We all had a great ride showing Eric and Ed the incredible sites in Mission and Pacific Beach. It was something like 25 miles. Just what we needed to keep our legs fresh for our 101 mile ride in the morning. We all met at 5pm for an amazing pasta dinner in Little Italy. AJ's idea for us to meet early for dinner was a great plan, we were able to get to bed early since the ride started at 7am in the morning. Ouch, even for us east coasters.

We woke up to threating skies, the promised rain was on it's way. Again after another great breakfast we rolled down the 3 blocks to the Gran Fond's start. Sometimes it is all about who you know, we lined up with the VIP's at the very front of all the 3000 other riders. There were past Olympians and past World Champions and many National Champions. There was Dave Letteri, Mari Holden, Kurt Stockton, John Howard, and Paolo Bettini. Even NBA star Bill Walton was riding. As we were waiting for the start the skies opened up with the hardest rain I've ever seen in California. We rolled out very cautiously because this was the first time AJ ever rode in the rain. Must be nice living in Southern California. Except today. The rain never let up.

After crossing Coronado Bridge, we went south down the strand, before going east to the hills. I was riding with AJ and EJ when Paolo Bettini and his entourage sped by. I had to take this opportunity to ride with a 2 time World Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist. I said see ya to AJ and EJ and jumped on the Italian train. Quickly we caught up to Ed, I yelled for Ed to jump in. He looked at me like this is way too early to be going this fast, then he saw who I was riding with, he jumped right in. Shortly I dropped back to ride with AJ. We rolled along though the rain, even passing Paolo with a mechanical, to the first rest stop. AJ and EJ kept on going and Eric and I grabbed some snacks. Paolo and company came in and I was able to get a picture of Eric with Paolo and Flat Stanly. Nice.

Eric and I were just riding along when he said Paolo should be passing us soon, and there he was. We jumped right in with the Italians for the next few miles. I could get use to riding with a World and Olympic Champion. We met everyone at the second rest stop. We were all freezing and soaked to the bone. I was trying to remember the last time I started a century in the poring rain. It was the Civil War Century in Gettysburg about 5 years ago. We did the 50 mile ride instead of the 100. We decided to do the same thing here. We were all good with this.

From here the ride changed from a 100 miles survival ride, to a 55 mile fun fast ride. Since we were heading back to San Diego, instead of doing another 70 miles over a mountain, we all rode freer and faster. EJ and I took off a couple times stretching our legs, fast. Lots of fun. The last 5 miles were on some pretty sketchy roads with lots of pot holes and a crazy amount of railroad crossings at all kinds of bad angles. We all stayed upright, thank goodness.

We got to the finish ate some great food and raced back to the hotel for the hottest shower I could stand and then came back to the Expo for some more food. Oh yea, we went for dinner for some more food that night. In spite of the rainy weather, we had the best time. I love riding with good friends in any weather. San Diego is awesome! I can't wait for next years Gran Fondo. In dry conditions :)

Since I've gotten back, I've ridden 3 days in a row. 25, 50 and 40 miles. Total for the week 240 miles. Not a bad week at all.

It has been a very interesting month

Since I got back from San Diego, I've been trying to keep my fitness consistent. I had to work quite a bit to rebuild the bank account for my planned trips in February. I was able to stay consistent by, believe it or not, working out on my overnights and at home and even riding the trainer. I know. That is such a big step for me. The addition of a new TV and DVD player made the trainer bearable. I've been watching bike races from the 80's. Most of my overnights were in Denver with a very good workout room. Bonus.

So I started off February with three days of reserve with the idea being to not get used and be home to work on remodeling my basement and working out. I had great plans for lots of work and lots of play. The goal was to go back to San Diego for 4 more days of riding then fly to Seattle for a quick trip up to Canada to watch the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Well it didn't play out quite as planned.

On the 3rd I rode my trainer for an hour and was going to lift weights afterwards. When I got off the trainer I had a tightness in my lower abdomen. I picked up the weights and thought 'not today'. I retired to the couch to watch TV and play with the computer. During the next few hours my stomach started to feel more tender. I was thinking it was something I eat or just a muscle strain. I don't remember what I was watching but one of the characters had a pain and was said to have appendicitis. A light bulb went off and I said "Crap I have appendicitis!". Of course, I Googled it. Pain lower right quadrant- Yes, reduced appetite- Yes, nausea- No, vomiting- No, and a low-grade fever- No. Well 2 out of 5 and the pain wasn't really that bad anyway. So I am just going to hang out on the couch. I kept thinking of my moms appendicitis from last year and how bad it can get. And that I was home alone. At 9:30pm I went to the ER at York Hospital.

There were only a few people in the ER when I arrived. They took me in right away when I said I think I might have appendicitis. They drew blood to check if my white cell count was elevated. It was not. The next step was to have a CAT scan. I was very reluctant to have another CAT scan after having so many CAT scans just three months ago. If I was not willing to have the CAT scan the doctor all we could do was wait. I said I can wait at home. So I went home at 2am with instructions to return if the pain got worst or if any other symptoms occurred.

I crawled into bed at 2:30am. At 5:30am I woke up stuck to the ceiling like a cat, the pain was so bad. And now I was feeling nauseous. There is your second symptom. Back to the ER I go. I walk into the ER and the same doctor looks at me and says " How about that CAT scan now?" I smile and agree. Now it is time to hang out waiting for the results from the CAT scan.

Emergency room's are a great place to hang out if you really went to hear how the other half lives. The guy in the bed next to me talked non stop about his drunken lifestyle. How he had drank myself out of a job, a relationship and into homelessness. Then I realized he was talking to the guard who was escorting him. He was in handcuffs.

The test came back positive, I have appendicitis. Now what? I have a big month planned. I have a century on March 7th in San Diego. I am trying to get into shape. Am I going to be side lined for 6 weeks after an operation? Am I going to lose all the fitness I've worked for?

The surgical resident came in to explain the surgery, she told me about the nice 4 inch incision and the weeks of rest I will need. I told her about the big month I had planned and above all I was going to the Olympics. I asked if this could be done laparoscopically. Less invasive. She said the doctor on call didn't do laparoscopic surgeries. I thought for a couple minutes and told her I was going to go to my parents house and have the surgery done at her hospital. I might as well said I was going to do the surgery myself. She told me not to go anywhere.

She came back an hour later and told me she found a surgeon to do the surgery laparoscopically. Dr. Scott came in and said he had heard I had big things coming up. I said I sure did. He said no problem with going to the Olympics and the century should be a go. I liked this guy.

I had the surgery at 3pm on the 4th. The surgery was suppose to be one hour, three and half hours later I was in recovery. Dr. Scott told me my appendix was a lot worst then first thought. He said I probable had it for two weeks or more. Wow. I guess I didn't have gas the week before.

I spent the night in the hospital and was leased before the big snow at 3pm on the 5th. My parents came out to take me home and to hang out with me for a few days. We got well over 2 feet of snow over night. Sadly I was not allowed to go outside to shovel snow. I love to shovel snow. If I would have made a move toward the door I believe my parents would have tackled me. Despite having surgery I was feeling pretty darn good. The only thing keeping me from feeling great was the plastic tube sticking out of my stomach with a vacuum bulb hanging from the end that I have to drain every four hours. So we just hung out for the weekend watching the snow.

On Monday I had my post-surgery doctors appointment. I finally got this dam tube removed. When he pulled the tube out the doctor told me to take a deep breath and exhale. He pulled out a tube that I thought was all the down to my toes. It was at least a foot long. I asked about my planned trips. He hold me to do whatever I felt good doing. And don't lift over 30 pounds. Wow. Cool! Open hall pass.

As you may know, I don't sit well. during the first week I x-c skied twice, went snow shoeing twice and shoveled my driveway. The second week I took two yoga classes, telemark skied, riding my trainer twice and gone to the Olympics. Now I am back into the full swing of things, riding, lifting, working, whatever I feel like doing. I leave for San Diego tomorrow for a 101 mile bike ride. All is good.

Home Sweet Home

I just walked in the door, back on the couch, relaxing in my Crusty The Clown pants, waiting for the CBS must see Monday TV to begin. After traveling across the country sitting on the 4th jumpseat, this is all I can muster for the evening. I left San Diego a soggy mess at 4:30am to arrive in BWI at 3pm and 60 degree temperatures. Nice timing.

I rode 285 miles in 6 days, not bad for January. Now I must make sure to keep on riding and working out everyday. I need to not repeat last years trend of getting in a big week and riding the couch til the next big week. That won't happen this year. The weather is going to be good for a nice ride tomorrow.

Swami Ride - The Last Ride of the Week

The San Diego area has so many great places to ride. And on top of that, it has some of the best group rides I've ever been on. There are multiple groups rides everyday for all levels of riders. Today I went on the 8am Swami ride from the Panera Bread in Carlsbad. The Swami rides are some of the hardest rides in the area. This ride is listed as the easier ride of the weekend. Apparently Chris Horner showed up for the harder Saturday ride and broke some legs.

We started with about twenty or so riders at a very steady pace climbing out of the coast onto the ridge before descending to the valley floor. Thirty minutes into the ride we stopped for a quick minute to pick up a couple more riders. The route had a lot of twist and turns, going thru neighborhoods and small back roads before we hit the real riding. Some of the guys at the front were a little slow to point out where we were turning, a few times I got caught by surprise with a quick left followed by a quick left.

When the roads opened up, away from the urban sprawl, the pace picked up to a nice roar. I few guys went off the front on a rolling flat road. I ,of course, went with them because I like that type of road. I made sure to stay third wheel so as to not take the lead since I had no idea where the heck we were. After a few miles we regrouped going down a very long descent and on to a flat section of road. I was helping push the pace when we turned to go back up hill, very dumb on my part. I tried to hang on as long as I could on the climb, thinking it was short. I popped and rode my own pace to the top. We all regrouped again at the top. I really enjoy riding on a group ride where you can go hard and not worry about getting left in the middle of nowhere to die a hundred deaths while riding alone. This pattern of going up and down and up and down, with big climbs and big descents continued for quite a few miles.

I'm not sure where we were at all during the ride. All I know is it was east and north of Carlsbad. But what I do know is it was absolutely beautiful. It reminded me of riding in the Chianti region of Italy. The views of the valleys, mountains and vineyards were just like between Castellina and Gaiole. The big difference was the landscape had more of a desert feel with cactus and sage brush. We stopped at a general store at a campsite for lunch. From here we started another long climb that I was promised was the second to last climb for the day. My climbing legs were on their way out. Five miles of climbing later we topped out with a ridge ride until we made our way back to the coast. Because we started our ride with a gentle climb out of the parking lot, we had a nice cool down back to Panera Bread.

A 60 mile hilly ride deserves a good lunch, so I ate a sandwich and salad at Panera Bread. I sat with five of my riding companions for lunch. We all talked about how much fun and how beautiful that ride was. We then realized that non of us were locals. We all were in town for the great San Diego weather. We were from Northern California, Detroit, Atlanta, Vancouver and of course me from Pennsylvania. That explains why just a few people were ever on the front leading, because most of us were just along for the ride.

Almost a Flat Ride

Today AJ and I spent the morning watching the waves at her favorite place, Windansea Beach. The winter waves are just amazing to watch. I have never been to this beach without seeing at least a handful of surfers. A pretty popular place indeed.

Afterward, we went for a 35 mile round trip ride down to Point Loma. This is mostly a flat ride straight down the coast with beautiful views. The coast towns just count by like the worlds class beaches they are, La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach. From Ocean Beach the ride winds around and kicks up some of the steepest hills in the area. I thought I was going to flip over backwards, well almost. Then a steady 2 mile climb to Point Loma. The views from the point look down at San Diego Bay, downtown San Diego, downtown Coronado and North Island Navel Air Station. Pretty incredible views.

Our ride home took us around Fiesta Island and up to Mt Soledad National Park. This is another 2 mile climb. So much for a flat ride. It is nice how much easier this climb was this year compared to last year. 15 pounds lighter is the difference. Lighter is better.

Another Beautiful Day in Paradise

Today we rode from Encinitas to La Jolla and back. 30 miles. Markus and Cameron are riding a century tomorrow so they just wanted to do a coffee ride. Eric from BikFit.com joined us for todays ride. We just spun our way south down the coast riding and chatting. The best thing about cycling is just riding along getting to know new people. That is what this whole week has been about. And of course getting some good quality base miles in. The only effort of the ride south was the climb up to Torrey Pines. We took the main road instead of the park road. The main road is a longer climb but has a more steady pitch. I felt really good about the consistent pace I was able to keep the whole way up the climb.

We stopped for coffee at Goldfish Point Cafe right in front of the La Jolla Coves. The euro way to ride is to ride for an hour, stop for coffee and ride for another hour. Works for me. Except I don't drink coffee. I can eat pastry though.

While riding out of La Jolla, back up to Torrey Pines, I dropped off the pace of the other three guys a bit. I just made the light to catch them at the top. Since I had a head of steam going from making the light, I kept the pace a little higher on the flats. We caught up to a guy in all yellow who was riding strong. He pulled us for the next few miles. Our pace was higher until we got to Solana Beach. Cameron had to stop at BL Bike Shop to have his chain worked on. The last few miles to Encinitas was nice and easy. Another great ride.

We all went to lunch at Denny's. I had a veggie omelet. Afterward the best part of the day was a recovery massage by Emily Baker from Velo Therapy. Life is good.

A Nice Easy Spin Up The Coast

Yay right, 70 miles later, I am whipped out. I met the guys from Cyclefilm in Encinitas for a ride up the coast and back. We met up with a couple more guys from Nytro Bike Shop. Six of us rolled two abreast at a nice conversation pace up RT 1 to Carlsbad. Entering Carlsbad Cameron got what sounded like his umpteenth flat of the week. He decided to just stop for coffee and head back to the hotel. He just wanted an easy day anyway, he made a good choice.

The strong guy of the group was on the back side of a 90 mile day so he just wanted to keep steady tempo with a couple downhill sprints thrown in. Steady tempo was a really good tempo especially when we entered I5 for 7 miles. Yes that I5, Interstate 5, with the big rigs and fast moving cars and everything. Then we got on Old Route 1, which is a completely closed road that is used for a bike route. Very cool. This section of road goes thru Camp Pendleton. As we were rolling along my head was on a swivel watching all the different helicopters flying over head doing their maneuvers. Again very cool.

We turned around just before San Clemente. The strong guy and the old guy went home from here. Now it was just Markus, Simon and myself. Maybe because we were heading south, ei: downhill, the pace picked up quite a bit. I guess I picked up the tempo some myself too. That came back to haunt me. Simon began taking long strong pulls and Markus and I were doing our share as well. We rode thru Camp Pendleton on our way south. Pretty cool but that added a few more hills. Not my strength at all. I got dropped on every little hill. They waited for me. When we got back to Carlsbad Simon turned off for home too. Now we are down to just Markus and me. I was fading fast. Markus dragged me in the last 10 miles. We ended up with 65-70 miles of pure fun. Again I can't wait for tomorrows ride.

First Day Riding with Cyclefilm

After a morning walk down to the beach to watch the waves (I could get used to this), I drove up to Encinitas to ride the Cyclefilm Winter Social Networking Training Camp. What a great idea, getting cyclist together to share their varied interest in the sport we all love so much.

I met Markus at Days Inn for a 10am ride. We headed south along the coast to BL Bikes in Solena Beach so Markus could get a new tire. With a light drizzle we went away from the coast to try to find some warmer dryer weather. We held a nice steady conversation pace for most of the ride. The drizzle turned to rain and back to drizzle but it was a heck of a lot better then riding at home. We rode about 40 miles. I never really know how far a ride is because I don't have or even want any kind of telemetry on my bike. A ride is just a ride, enjoy it. Of course by the end of the ride the sun made its presence known.

Tomorrow I am going to meet Markus and Cameron for another ride at 10am. I can't wait.

Let the Base Miles Begin!

Getting across the country is an all day affair. I was so excited for this trip that I woke up an hour before my alarm yesterday. This should have allowed me to get on the 10am non-stop flight to San Diego. After packing and repacking, I left my house with what I thought was plenty of time to negotiate I695 traffic. No such luck. There were three, yes three major car accidents on I695. I don't know how people commute to work everyday on this crazy road. I cranked up my cell phone GPS to get me around this morning mess. Ronda, the lady stuck in my phone, kept trying to send me back thru the crash scenes. 'Make next legal u-turn and go straight to a standstill for the next 45 minutes' I just kept on driving away from I695 while reaching in my seat back pocket for my trusty old road map. I got to the airport right at push time for the 10am flight. Oh well, the 12:25pm flight will have to do.

I checked in my bike box and another bag full of cycling clothes and cycling shoes. After a quick bit to eat, I went straight to the gate to stand for an hour so I could sign up for the 4th jump seat. Sadly I had to sit on the 4th jump seat on a 5 hour flight to Phoenix. I got to San Diego at 5pm and my bags made it there as well. Nice.

Today I woke up in paradise. Started the day off with a walk to the beach to watch the winter waves crash upon the rocks. Wow, I do love this place. AJ and I sat watching the waves while sipping tea and eating oatmeal for well over an hour.

AJ planned a great first day ride for me today. We rode out of La Jolla up to Torrey Pines and north to Del Ray. From there we headed east on beautiful rolling hills to Rancho Santa Fe. We completed the loop by riding back up Torrey Pines, that climb kicks my butt, and riding past the La Jolla Coves. 50 miles in 3 hours and 6 minutes is a great way to start my base mileage week in paradise.

Tomorrow I am riding with the folks at Cyclefilm. I really look forward meeting and riding with these guys.

My Bags Are Packed and Ready to Ride.

I am so excited to get out of this frozen weather, I gave away two days of work so I can leave early. I hope to make the 10am flight out of BWI to SAN tomorrow. It is listed as full but there is always the 4th jumpseat. That should tell you how ready I am, willing to sit 4th on a 6 hour flight. I must be crazy. California here I come!

Start of a New Cycling Season-- I may even try training this year.

Last year I started the year out with three week long base mileage trips, in Florida, Tucson and San Diego. Each of those weeks were great but the problem was the many hours I spent sitting on my ass eating everything in the house between training weeks. I weighted more in April then I did in December. Not a smart start of a season. This year is going to be different.

How? For the first thing I started already. Back in November I started watching what I eat. I've gone from 205lbs to 188lbs so far. I've yo-yo ed a bit but for the most part it has been going pretty good. During the holidays I only had one bad day of over indulging. Pretty good for a cookie and chocolate junkie. I have a goal of holding 185lbs then working on bring down the body fat percentage. My racing weight will be what ever it is when my % body fat goes from 25% to 15%. Thats the goal.

I've also started lifting weights. Wow! I know! Me lifting weights.... amazing. I even workout on my overnights. I haven't done that in years. To help me stay consistent I've moved my trainer and weights out of the basement into my second bedroom. I've made it into a full blown exercise room with padded floor, large wall mirror and flat screen TV. I can already see a difference in myself. My little stick arms are getting some shape and even feeling stronger. My abs are getting firm and showing signs of losing the fat covering I've always had since childhood. I'm not one for following a set workout program so I've been just working out when ever I can and just doing what feels right for me. Just trying to stay consistent.

Part of my changed views on working out on my overnight also includes taking a Yoga class. Ok, so far I've taken just one Yoga class but that is a start. I have a bunch of Denver overnights coming up and I've found a class that begins at 2pm every day at Core Power Yoga. Trying new things.

Riding the trainer has not been as consistent yet. I need a kick in the ass to get started. So, I'm going to spent a week in San Diego getting much needed base mileage. Thanks to Facebook I've found a training camp in Encinitas. I am going to spend a week riding with Cyclefilm http://www.cyclefilm.com/. I hope to ride with good people and get that kick start I need. 7 days of riding 3-5 hours a day should do the trick.

This year I am going to stay consistent.

First Weekend of Racing

After spending the winter fighting to find good riding weather between long stretches riding the sofa, it is time to find out if this very specialized training plan worked out. This weekend I signed up for two races on Saturday and one on Sunday. Nothing like finding the speed by fire.

Saturdays races were part of the Syn-Fit Races in Chantilly, VA. The course was shaped like an almost flat sloppy capital D with two 90 degree corners. My first race was a 20 mile cat 4 race at 10:15am with an at field limit 100 racers. I got there with enough time to sign in and get twenty minutes of riding in before the race. I'm not one to do big elaborate warm ups. I don't have a large amount of base miles or fitness for that matter so a good warm up could burn all of my energy before the race even starts. My main concern for the races for the weekend was just surviving the starting speed off the line. I lined up toward the back which is not good for me to do especially in my first race. It started out pretty calm off the line, that allowed me to move up a bit so I could stay protected in the heart of the group. It really was interesting how these guys would not let themselves just carry their speed through the corner instead of feathering the brakes. As the pace picked up toward the end of the race the repeated accelerations off the corners started to take their toll on me. My legs began to feel the strain of speed. Knowing I had another race later in the day, I decided not to dig to deep to hold on to the group so I pulled the plug with 6 laps to go. I was happy to hold on for as long as I did in my first race of the season.
The second race of the day was a 20 mile 35+ cat4/5 race at 2:15pm. This is my favorite category to race, old slow guys who have to go to work in the morning. Much smoother and safer races. I started this race at the front which makes it easier to take the corners at full speed. I had fun going with little breakaways and doing my normal of finding the big guys to hide behind for protection. In the last couple laps I was hanging out in the back watching teams setting up their sprint trains. Yes even cat 4/5's watch the Tour and are able to set up Mario Chipo type lead out trains. I heard a guy talking to his lead out so a asked him him if he was a good sprinter. He said yes. I told him ok I'm going to follow him and get second place in the sprint. He said hang on if you can. We started to make are way back up to the front. With half a lap to go the speed really picked up and big surprise, I couldn't hold on to the train. The guy I was talking to won the race. It was nice to see them have a plan and be able to pull it off. Good for them.

Sundays race was at 9:15am. I had to drive like a bat out of hell to get there in time. I'm glad I'm not one for warm ups because I got a 10 minute warm up. The race was The Carl Dolan Memorial Classic. I raced the 27 mile cat 3/4 race. I have raced this race for the last three years. I've had some pretty good results here in the past. The only concern for me this year is the small hill right before the finish line. I am not lite at all this year. The winter weight never had a chance this year. Too much sofa time. This course is a long round circuit of about 2 miles. The first lap I fought to hang on up the hill. So I decided to make my way toward the front before the hill comes back around again. I did just that and of course on the way up the hill this time I started to slide back til I was spit out the back on the second lap. Now I'm thinking 'crap I just paid $15 a lap to race'. I was passed by a guy at the top of the hill who wanted to continue. I caught up to him and we gathered up two more guys and the four of us rode together for the next five laps until we good lapped. $6 a lap was much easier to stomach.

All in all I am very happy with my racing for my first race of the season with really on speed work at all.

A Great Birthday

A birthday to me is my day. I do not do anything to celebrate. I have only worked on my birthday once in the past 20 years. I think it should be a national holiday. Not my birthday but everyones birthday. I always find something fun to do. In the past I've gone camping, bungee jumping, glider riding, mountain biking in Moab, and many other bike rides all for my birthday. Today I found a group of accountants who were celebrating the end of tax season with a 70 mile ride starting in Taneytown, Md. After the soaking rain we have been getting for the past week, the sun was so welcome today. At was not the warmest day but good all the same. Knee warmers and long sleeve jersey was the order of the day.
The six of us started out at a very relaxed pass. Really nice to start easy when you know your doing a hilly 70 miles. These guys have been sitting behind a desk for 60 hours a day since January doing taxes. They were not into any kind of stress at all today. Perfect for me. The route is flat for the first 20 miles then climb up South Mountain in PA and roll around the rolling hills for a bit followed by 20 miles of flat back to Taneytown. The climb was long and hard but the scenery was beautiful. Somewhere in the middle we were to eat lunch. The problem was all the planned lunch stops were closed for business, a sign of a bad economy, until we arrived in Emmitsburg at 55 miles. By this time I've been out of water for quite a while. Must have water and eat now. At this point I would eat darn near anything. We ate at Pizza Hut. As pizza goes, Pizza Hut does not really qualify. I ate it anyway. We finished up with an easy 15 miles back to the parking lot.

A great day!

Stop, Swap and Save

The areas largest bike swap takes place this weekend in Westminster, Maryland. I have wanted to attend this bike swap for the past few years but I've always remembered what day it was being held after the fact. So this year I've put it on my calendar as something not to miss. Greg Weber has kept me in the loop about when it was being held and how to get a space to sell stuff. We decided to go in together on a small space. After cleaning out the shop and garage, it is time to figure out what price to sell things for. I've got everything from new Fuji accessories to equipment that I've collected after my many years in cycling. I am also bring a full rack of cycling clothing and at least three bikes.

Have Bike Lets Travel will be at the 12th annual Stop, Swap and Save in Westminster, Md on February 8th between 9am-2pm. Come on out for the fun and great savings.
Check it out at www.stopswapandsave.com

I am also signed up to donate to the American Red Cross Blood Drive. Wish me luck, I tend to pass out while giving blood.

It's Official!!

Have Bike Lets Travel is now an official USA Cycling racing team. After much talk and a year of racing as an unattached rider, I have now signed up my small little company as a racing team. This is very exciting to me. Now I have to get people to sign up to race with me. Also I will have to host a race at some time this year. Much more info to come. Sign up now at usacycling.org

Staying home for now.

Well it is Sunday the 25th and I'm not going anywhere this week. I've strained my low back while trying to stay in shape doing ab workouts. So I've decided to pick up some reserve days for a little extra cash. Now I've just got to drag my butt to the rollers for a lite ride to help stretch my back.

We will see what next month brings.

5 days off, where do I go next.

Starting on Sunday, I have 5 days off from work. I've been trying to decide where I should go to find some sun and good riding. Should I go back to Florida and finish the top side of my map and go from Jacksonville to Orlando. Should I go back to Tucson because the riding was just amazing. Or should I pick somewhere different?

Texas has been a thought. Go ride in Lance's stumping ground and ride the Hill Country. Either fly into Austin or San Antonio. They are only about an hour apart but San Antonio has more flight options. CyclingTexas.com has lots of great information about routes in and around of Fredericksburg.

Another idea is to go to San Diego. But I don't think i want to spend all day on a airplane getting there and getting back. I think I'm going to save California until I have a full week off from work in February.

Decisions, decisions.

Tucson Trip Day 6

Tucson Trip Day 6

Today is the big test, can I make it up to the top of Mt. Lemmon? It is a 25 mile climb from 2400 feet up to 8315 feet. Almost 6000 feet of climbing, oh my. I couldn't ask for a better day, the high in Tucson is 73 degrees and of course nothing but sun. The high at the top is 51 degrees. That makes dressing an on and off and back on again kind of affair.

After yesterdays ride, which I'm still feeling in my legs, I decided to get a van ride to the base of the climb instead of using the 20 mile ride to the base as a warm up. Up and down and back to the house should be be well over 70 miles as it is. Good enough for my last day, I must say. Joy dropped me off at Tanque Verde Rd. and Catalina Hwy., that is where to guide book says to start from. I started out at a very comfortable pace just feeling my legs and spinning them out a little. There is about a 2 mile run in to the base of the climb,which worked out very nice as a warm up. Just as the climb was starting another rider came up. I was asking him about the climb when I realized he had an Arizona Hill Climb Champion jersey on. He said he won it with his uncle on a tandem last year. Nice! He told me about the climb mile for mile like he was reciting a script for some show he had been studying. He was just going up for a little workout to mile marker 9 before going to work. Not a bad place to go before work. I said thanks for the info, than he was gone. Out of site in a flash.

I just kept telling myself one mile at a time so I would not freak myself out. I had two full water bottles with me and I knew there would be no where to get water until the top. So I would just take little sips or that might be my turn around spot if I ran out of water. I set into a nice easy pace for the first two miles. Then I realized that I could actually push a little bigger gear. It is steady but not really that steep. I started in 34x24 and dropped to the 21 and even down to the 19. I never had to use the 27 at all.

There were a couple road side parking lots to stop to see the view on the way up but I decided to keep on riding for as long as I could before taking a break. I could stop on the way back down for pictures. I lasted until mile marker 7, I had to stop to use the restroom and put some clothes on. From there on it was really just putting one foot in front of the other watching the mile markers ever so slowly tick away. I stopped again at mile marker 10 for a little break and to take some pictures. I kept telling myself just one more mile and I'm turning around. Then at around mile marker 13, I had a little down hill section which really give me an extra spark to continue. A sign said 7 miles to Pinnacle Ranger Station, 12 miles to Summerhaven and 14 miles to Ski Resort. AAAHHH!!!

I have already been riding for 2.5 hours and still 14 miles from the top. I started at noon so time was not going to be on my side. It is time to recalculate my goals. Ok, if I make it to the ranger station that would be great. I should be heading back down by at least 4:00pm so I can have a nice safe fast descent.
I'd been doing all kinds of math in my head all day long to keep me going like at mile 2, 1/12 of the way there and mile 10, 2/5 of the way there. Very simple math, that is all I was capable of. Remember all of my oxygen was going somewhere else and not to my brain.

I started with my arm warmer and leg warmers on for the first two miles. And they quickly came off as I really began to work up a sweat until I reached mile marker 7, when I began going in and out of the shade. I didn't want to get too cold or too hot so I was pulling them up and down quite often. At mile marker 14 they stayed up for good and the vest came out, soon followed by the jacket and gloves.

Pinnacle Ranger Station is now my new top. I've been wanting to turn around with every pedal stroke for the past few miles. Mile marker 20 is the goal, can I make it. Where the hell is it. Dam it, did I pass it? No way, is it hiding? Ah, there it is, behind that snow bank. I pulled in really hoping for some water and a place to sit and rest for a few minutes. At first I didn't see an entrance because the front door was impassable because of snow. I had to use the wheelchair ramp to the back of the building. Inside I met the ranger who told me that we were just shay of 8000 feet and yes, the ski resort was still 5 miles away. I was done. Finished. Ready to go back down. I bought two bottles of water and a big dark chocolate bar, as a reward. I earned it. Darn it.

It was 4:00pm when I started back down. Hey, that makes 4 hours of climbing. And 20 miles. A couple stops along the way. Not bad for a 200+ pound flat lander. Or like I like to say fat lander.

On the descent I couldn't figure out why my bike was shimmying going around the corners. Then I realized it was because my teeth were chattering. It was probably 45 degrees at 8000 feet and I was doing about 35 miles per hour. I was cold! The miles were ticking away much faster than I saw them going by on the way up.

At mile marker 13, I saw two guys going up at a fast pace just talking. Bastards. I did stop a few more times to talk pictures and enjoy the view. The views were quite spectacular to say the very least. I met a couple out on their BMW 1150gs. I so wanted to trade them on the way up.

When I was pulling out of my last photo stop, I saw those two guys descending behind me. They came on me very quickly and passed me. They looked like real deal racer types. Of course, I couldn't let them go, so I give a couple quick pedal strokes and caught back up to them. One guy had a USA National team kit on and the other had a team kit that I didn't recognize. The USA guy looked very comfortable on the bike and the other guy looked to be fight for some extra speed. I sat back a bike length or so watching them. I did have to feather my brakes at times, so I decided to pass the other guy and catch the USA guy. I caught him in seconds, 200+ pounds does have some advantages. We sat and talked while descending the rest on the way down.

They were in Tucson for the rest of the winter training. I didn't catch the USA guys name but he is a neo-pro racing for Time and the National Team. And has spent the last few years racing in Belgium. He is 19 years old. The other guys name is Jerome, he is 25 years old and from Philadelphia. Jerome is trying to get on a team.

If you would have asked me at the top or even at the last photo stop, if I was going to ride all the way back to the house. I would have said NO. Get me a ride. But when I started riding with these two young guys, my legs came right back and I felt fine. Youth does rub off. We rode thru town chatting about racing and training. The kid had lots of international experience and lots of big dreams for the future. Oh to be 19 again. As it turns out, I had met him this summer during Superweek in Chicago. He was racing for my roommates friends there. It was really good to talk about bike racing and to see the future of cycling out on the road.

This really topped off a great week in Tucson.