Shufflin' with Shawndoggy

My Review of GoPro Digital Helmet Hero Wide-Angle Camera

2009-03-31T09:30:00.001-07:00

Now in a scene-capturing wide-angle format, this incredible helmet cam from GoPro captures all your biking, boarding and whitewater action from the first-person perspective!

Best money I've spent on a camera ever!

shawndoggy Reno, NV 3/31/2009

Pros: Lightweight, Simple Controls, Durable, Great Features, Great Picture Quality

Cons: Poor sound, Eats batteries

Best Uses: Fast Action, Snowsports

Describe Yourself: Photo Enthusiast

I've had so much fun with this camera. The video quality is surprisingly good, and it's very easy to post the videos to youtube (search my username there for an example with the cam stuck to the front of my snowboard).

To me, a video camera is only as good as how much it gets used. I've got a really nice Canon video camera that records in HD. Problem is, it's a real pain to download and edit movies with it. And it's expensive and fragile. In contrast, the GoPro fits in my pocket and is super durable. It is also a snap to copy clips to my computer and upload to youtube or facebook and share with friends and family. I use it all the time because it's so easy.

Yes, it does go through batteries quickly unless you buy lithium, and yes lithium batteries are expensive. That said, I've had decent luck with NiMh rechargeables as well, though I haven't tried them in really cold weather.

The other downside is sound quality. Because the camera itself is enclosed in a watertight case, it just doesn't pick up ambient sound like other cameras. That's clearly a tradeoff for the killer water tight case, so you get something for giving something.

All in all one of the best purchases of any kind I've made in years. This camera is so much fun.

GoPro Attached to front of snowboard

: Made with Product, Camera, HERO, Nevada, Snowboarding, Wide, Carving, Gopro, Flying, Bomber, Coiler, Mt, Trench, Alpine, Hardboot, Burton, Rose

screen capture from camera attached to snowboard

: Made with Product

()

Railing the Cord

2009-03-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning's perfect corduroy at Mt. Rose. Had to come back for seconds!

More dancin'

2008-09-08T20:37:00.001-07:00

More dancin'
Originally uploaded by shawndoggy

Shawn

Connor @ demo team practice

2008-09-08T20:35:00.001-07:00

Connor @ demo team practice
Originally uploaded by shawndoggy

Shawn

Brandy

2008-09-07T17:35:00.001-07:00

Brandy
Originally uploaded by shawndoggy

Shawn

Soccer practice

2008-09-07T14:34:00.001-07:00

Soccer practice
Originally uploaded by shawndoggy

Connor @ soccer practice

Family at balloon races

2008-09-07T14:31:00.001-07:00

Family at balloon races
Originally uploaded by shawndoggy

So happy to be at the balloon races

2008-09-07T14:26:00.001-07:00

So happy to be at the balloon races
Originally uploaded by shawndoggy

Wow did Connor ever love getting up before sunrise today to go to the
balloon races.

Shawn

Democracy is a PITA

2008-01-22T14:14:00.000-08:00

Caucused on Saturday here in Nevada. It was an interesting process all around, but sadly reaffirmed my belief that when you get 250 people together in one room, there are bound to be a few people you'd have wished stayed home. The first one being the person at the mic who makes some longwinded explanation of a point that nobody understands (nor do they need to) and then asks "any questions?," and the second through tenth being the people who raise their hands to ask questions.

Signing in wasn't easy and it was pretty clear that nobody had a firm grasp on what was going on, from the precinct captains to the attendees.

Nonetheless it was extremely heartening to see 200 of my neighbors (out of a little over 400 registered dems in my precinct) show up on a wintry Saturday in the middle of a 3 day weekend with 10 months till the election. If nothing else, it rejuvenated my belief that the American people (and god bless 'em, even the dumb ones) really do still care about the fate of our country.

powder

2008-01-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

"Sometimes watching your kids do something is about 100000% better than doing it yourself."

-- Mom

Hit Mt. Rose on Sunday with the rest of the City of Reno, though we got up earlier so we got a spot in the parking lot. The kids were definitely leery of skiing on five feet of new snow, but from the first run, they were actually doing it. Nah, they weren't ripping the pow at mach speed, but they were skiing it without falling or crying or complaining. It was a hoot.

We were about 30 chairs behind when they opened the slide side, so we got a run of fresh over there too. Totally ungroomed, and the snow was literally bottomless. There was a time when I would've floored it to do as many runs as possible before the hill was tracked out. There are no friends on powder days after all. Instead, I worked with the kids to make it down. And make it down they did. Not the fastest, but they did it. When we got to the bottom I told them to take a look around in the lift line. To a person, adults, and 90% of them 18-40 year old powder jonesin' males. And here are my little 8 and 11 year old kids and they'd skied the same stuff.

Don't know whether the kids appreciated it, but I sure did.

294

2007-12-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

Did 294 avg for an hour on the rollers on Saturday. I was watching 300 (da movie) so maybe that was the inspiration.

So what. Grinding out the threshold stuff all winter I can do. And do and do. The challenge for the past few seasons has not been putting together some early season fitness, it's been keeping it together to last the summer.

It's not that my fitness wanes, either. It's my motivation to keep on truckin'. Long days, heat, less sleep, the allure of a BBQ at the lake or a float down the river with the kids... all conspire to get me to say F-it come mid July.

Help me cycling brethren! What's the secret to keeping it together through districts?

Detached

2007-10-11T16:34:00.000-07:00

"I was relaxing so much that my mind seemed almost detached from my body. There was no strain."

Roger Bannister on breaking the four minute mile.

Riding a trainer in the wee hours of the morning doesn't really qualify as fun (duh, that's why I ride rollers). But once the mental callus has built up enough to tolerate the durations, I can sometimes get this zen state where I'm doing the work, suffering, but I'm mentally detached from it. I can feel it, taste it, see it, but it's happening to my body not to me.

Finally put up some respectable numbers this morning for the first time since June. Nice. The long dark time in the training lair has begun.

Where ya been?

2007-10-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

Chores.
Soccer.
Kids.
Hiking.
Travel.
WORK.

All have conspired to keep ME away from the bike. Well those are my public reasons anyway. Truth be told, as much as I love bike racing, sometimes I just need a break from the drama. Some people love the soap opera -- they feed on it. Prolly me to a degree too, but it can quickly suck all the fun out of bike racing too.

The new plan if there is one this year... well the kiddies have been signed up to ski every Saturday this season. So that means I'm gonna be doing (a) a fair amount of Daddy shuttling in lieu of the long winter rides that have been my training staple for the past four winters and (b) a good deal more snowboarding. Gonna have to see if keeping my training in shawndoggy's secret lair over the winter will let me keep up with the free spirits come spring. Dunno, really, though it seems like a fair number of the fast kids seem to pull it off 'round here.

So I'll see you in the spring, hammerheads. I'll be doing some soul carves every Saturday if you need to come find me.

When it's no longer hypothetical

2007-07-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

photo credit Reno Gazette Journal

Big scare last night. A fire started near my neighborhood and by the time I heard about it, the streets surrounding mine had all been ordered to evacuate. Our street was still open for business, but it was shut down to traffic so by the time I got close to home (about an hour after the fire started) I couldn't get my car in. I ditched it and walked the last mile home. Thankfully no homes were lost and the fire seems to have switched directions.

Pics above show how close the fire got to homes on the backside and the view of the same homes (at the end of the street with the smoke plume behind) from my driveway.

2007-07-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

Time to hit the reset button.

I'm healed and rested, both mentally and physically after June's racing. And I'm heavy and slow too, but that's nothing that I can't cure with four weeks of saddle time. Looks like masters districts will be a big training weekend for me this year rather than a time to shine, but that's fine. I'm happy to work for my teammates.

A few random observations from the family vacation to Washington DC:

1. America really is fat. I'm sporting four of five pounds of unnecessary weight right now after ten days' steady diet of beer and fried schtuff, but that's nothing compared to most of my fellow tourists. For a few days we stayed in a hotel with a pretty good breakfast buffet that was included in the price of the room. The heaping plates of junk that my fellow guests would put away was humbling and amazing and pretty gross all at once. I stared a little bit, like the elitist snob I apparently am. But really, it was kinda sad to see all of these guys my age with these huge guts.

2. There's a level of endurance that I don't have. One day we went to Busch Gardens, a big amusement park. The kids could only take so much appreciation of history. The kids loved it but I found it to be not so fun. I must be getting old cuz the rides make me sick after a while. And the massive crowds and standing in line... well I am in the untrained category there. At once point in one of those back and forth line maze things it occurred to me that I can probably ride a bike 10x farther and 10x faster than most of my fellow line-waiters, but that they were kickin' my arse at standing in line. They were all having fun, waiting patiently with great expectation for the next ride. And I was wondering when it would end.

Hit the deck.

2007-06-16T21:56:00.001-07:00

Ouch. That last turn. That stupid chicane. The "money" turn where the NASCAR fans line up to see the carnage. And I obliged on the final lap, washing out in my effort to sprint for uh... 13th. Oh well. More later, after I gain a little perspective from my current pity party.

Ready as I'll ever be

2007-06-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

Time to surf that TSB wave this weekend at Tour de Nez and Nevada City. I'm spending a big chunk of my training account on these races. Here's hopin' I'm spending wisely!

When do you think the race starts?

2007-06-13T17:31:00.000-07:00

So last week I dutifully swallowed hard and signed up for the local beauty contest that is Tour de Nez. I paid my $50 (!) entry fee and scribbled down the start time. 3:30. After the kids race.... ugh, how's that gonna work?

But then yesterday I got an anonymous tip that the start time had been changed. The schedule now says the race starts at 2:30. And apparently the entry fee has gone up to $60. Maybe you get a 1 hour headstart for an extra $10?

Just the Facts

2007-06-10T15:16:00.001-07:00

2007 Sattley TT. Smokin' tailwind on the way out; Brutal headwind on the way back. 309w average, 55:00 official time.

My power was just where I wanted it to be, but my time was a hair slow. Basically I mis-paced the course given the wind. As you can see from the attached screenshot, my power was higher before the turnaround than after by about 10 watts average. If I had been able to reverse that scenario? Faster for sure, but hard to say by how much.

All in all, though, hard to complain about 5th place in a field of district champs, national champs, and all-round hardmen.

Now I hear Bubba finished in the 52's. We've got our work cut out for us at Tour de Nez.

Sattley

2007-06-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

Start times HERE.

Ouch... just looked at my field and it's a who's who of the district's Fast Dudes. McSassy, Olaf, and Erik the Angry (AKA Jeff A.) all breathing down my neck. Let's just hope I can hold Sasser off at least till the turnaround this year, eh?

Breakthrough

2007-06-06T05:04:00.000-07:00

So the month long high pressure ridge that's given us beautiful weather here in Northern Nevada finally broke down yesterday, yielding to a rather nasty Alaskan low. When I left for work in the morning, it was calm and cool and overcast with just a hint of "something's changing" in the air. As my workday progressed I could see the wind come up out my office window... but by 4:00 it seemed to have slowed down.

Out to Cold Springs I go for the annual pre-Sattley 14 miler. The car seemed awfully hard to keep in my lane out North 395... maybe time for an alignment? No, that would be the wind which was absolutely howling out of the northwest. And not the typical evening "Washoe Zephyr" either. No it was a bone chilling blast that sent everyone scurrying for all of the clothes they owned. To add insult to injury, I had a warmup of about 4:00. As soon as I got on the trainer I had to pee... decided to stop and take a leak over extending the warmup.

Now it's always windy out there. Usually a west wind which results in a crosswind in the opening north-south section, a tailwind for the second west to east leg, and then a swirling cross-to-the-head wind which crescendos the closer you get back to the start finish on the final south-westerly leg.

Last night was different. The wind was STRONG and had a distinct northerly bias to the usual westerly gusts. Which meant the opening leg, which is generally pretty fast despite the crosswind, was nearly dead-on into the wind. That leg begins with a downhill and then gradually climbs to a freeway overpass. Even on the downhill portion, it was a struggle to hit 30 mph, and then I was crawling uphill at 25...24...23 to the turn. I did manage to catch my :30, 1:00, and 1:30 men in that opening salvo, though, so I could tell the wind was hurting everyone.

Make the turn over the overpass, and WHAM! the wind was at my back I was going 40, 41, 42, 42.5 mph. Down the slight descent and I was still flying. Only had a 12 and just couldn't keep the power up here, spun out at over 120 rpm. Came into the right turn for the last leg hotter than I thought possible. Wow.

On the last leg, I was prepared to go into the tornado and get completely stymied. But it didn't happen. The first half of the last leg is about due south and flat. Here I was humming at over 30 mph. Then the course veers west-southwest, into some rollers and slightly uphill. This is usually where the wind slaps you in the face. Not so, though... it was windy sure, but given the northwesterly direction, more of a crosswind than a headwind. Perfect for my ghetto wheelcover.

Over the overpass and do it a second time. I went out wanting to be able to do 310 watts for the duration. Managed 307, which all things considered, I'm satisfied with. I'm sure power would have been better with a better warmup and if it were warmer.

But the big story is that I think I've finally gotten my position tuned. Broke the 30:00 barrier (29:53!) on a sub-optimal evening. I haven't checked all of my prior times, but I sifted through enough last night to be pretty sure that the fastest I've ever done it before that was 31:30 or so. It really is about the bike.

Breakthrough? Looks like I also posted a better time than Olaf ever did out there (well, if you don't count him captaining a tandem with big-motor Kauffy stoking). The undreamable has become achievable. I honestly don't know what's next. I'm kinda humbled and dumbfounded.

SGP

Finally

2007-05-30T05:12:00.000-07:00

I finally won one last night. It's been a long time since I crossed the line first. A real long time. Only won once before at Boca, four years ago in the B's, and haven't won a race of any sort for three years.

Sure, it's "just" the Tuesday night worlds. The races are shorter. The tactics are sometimes a bit less thought out, a bit more suicidal. These are training races after all.

And sure, the local heavy hitters weren't there. No Angerman, no Kyle Dixon, no Mike Taylor, no Jim Barkley, no Chad Timmerman, to name a few (and their absence was noticeable... we were a full mile per hour slower last night than a month ago).

But a VERY fit Bubba Melcher WAS there, with teammates in tow. Bubba has been a very successful racer in the past, and I suspect that this is going to be his year. He's really fast (as usual) and really thin (not so usual). Made it over the Wall with us for goodness sake, and I've been racing the A group for four years and I've never seen that (and I'm pretty sure he won Natz at least once during that time). The difference with Bubba there in the front group was palpable. He's an intimidating presence and has no qualms about expressing himself in a way that can cause teammates to question one another and me personally to question my own race savvy. It's a great tactic, really -- If I'm worried about what someone else thinks, my brain isn't racing anymore. And if the brain quits racing, the body's soon to follow.

So despite all of those qualifications, it was on last night, at least for me. As noted, the pace was relatively slow. Sure, we hit it on the hills, but towards the end the main group still had 25 or so people rolling through the canyon, and that's pretty indicative of a not-so-hot pace. As we emerged from the canyon into the crosswind flats with about 5K to go, a few attacks rolled off the front and gained some momentum. I was at the back at this time, and the breaks didn't look strong enough to stay away, so I gambled by sticking with the group.

The race came back together with about 1K to go, and I jumped with everything I had with about 600 to go. Intentionally too early. It's when everyone is making those furtive looks for which wheel to grab, and I just jumped the group. It was the Jim Barkley hail Mary, and thankfully, I caught 'em by surprise. I pedaled and pedaled after getting my gap, but I was sure someone would catch me before the line. It was just too far. After ten seconds at 1000 watts, I had to sit down, I was spun out. Reached for another gear, but was already in the 12. Put the head down and cranked.

After a long winter of work, I gambled and won and it felt great. Even if it was "just" a short Tuesday night training race. For most of us, victories are few and far between in life and in bike racing. Gotta take 'em where I can get 'em and savor the moment. I'm so thankful to have this outlet where we can do battle, physically and mentally and leave it all out there on the course and B.S. about it later. Beats bar fights, after all!

Bobby J: 1; Shawndoggy: 1

2007-05-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

Well after "beating" Mr. Julich at last week's aircenter crit, he had to seek vengeance. I don't blame him.

Overall
Place	Name	Bib #	Total Elapsed Time	Mph	Gap
1	Bobby Julich	149	0:29:25	15.71	0:00:00
2	Mike Taylor	164	0:30:45	15.02	0:01:20
3	Spencer Ericksen	126	0:31:37	14.61	0:02:12
4	Norman Zellers	135	0:32:37	14.16	0:03:12
5	Scott Fifield	162	0:33:33	13.77	0:04:08
6	John Marshall	160	0:33:41	13.72	0:04:16
7	Mike Buckley	148	0:33:47	13.68	0:04:22
8	Shawn Pearson	120	0:34:14	13.5	0:04:49
9	Kenny Burt	165	0:34:15	13.49	0:04:50
10	Justin Clipperton	338	0:34:34	13.37	0:05:09
11	Joe Trujillo	105	0:34:35	13.36	0:05:10
12	Dustin Sweet	154	0:34:36	13.35	0:05:11
13	Rich Lorson	161	0:34:36	13.35	0:05:11
14	Scott Leland	121	0:34:56	13.23	0:05:31
15	Kurt Bickel	140	0:35:11	13.13	0:05:46
16	Alex Taylor	159	0:35:40	12.95	0:06:15
17	Joey Griffo	352	0:35:42	12.94	0:06:17
18	Jeff Albert	158	0:35:56	12.86

Tough as nails

2007-05-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

Doing a time trial of any duration is serious business. There's an element of technique of course... who hasn't gone out too hard in the first five minutes and blown gloriously? That's something I still struggle with, truth be told. And there's pacing -- being able to maintain the appropriate effort for the given course.

But the hardest part for me has always been the suffering. Being able to simply endure the discomfort. To disconnect the mind from the pain and grind it out. I've been working on that a lot this winter. This morning's roller session for instance:

Duration: 1:30:19
Work: 1428 kJ
TSS: 119.5 (intensity factor 0.893)
Norm Power: 268
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 312 265 watts
Cadence: 45 103 96 rpm

Ouch. But it makes me tough as nails, I tell ya, tough as nails.

Geiger, my old nemesis

2007-05-23T05:09:00.000-07:00

Geiger TT last night at the Tuesday Night Worlds. I F'd up and didn't have my computer on at the start, so my actual time is probably 20 seconds longer than this, at least (official times not being available yet):

Duration: 33:59
Norm Power: 319
VI: 1
Distance: 7.724 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 78 447 319 watts
Cadence: 72 116 86 rpm
Speed: 10 29.5 13.6 mph

So let's call it 34:25 to be conservative. My prior best was 35:21 set earlier this year, and before that 35:40 something. So while I'm never going to win a TT like this, I've made big big leaps this year. Big leaps. Here's to hoping I can convert some of that to race results. And here's to hoping that I can take some of this weight back off... up to 158 this morning... argh.

Bobby J showed up again last night (also raced a twilight crit with us last week... no I don't know what he's thinking) and reportedly did a sub 30. Wow. It is pretty cool to get words of encouragement from a ProTour rider on the way up. Mike Taylor also reportedly did a sub 31.

But back to the mere mortals, Spencer threw down something in the 31:30 range. I was his 1:00 man and he sprinted by me. Sprinted! And for the brief time that I could keep him in my sights, he was standing and destroying every slight steep pitch. Just killing it. He's going to surprise some people at Hamilton on Saturday, fo sho.

Bike to Work Day

2007-05-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

So I usually ride my bike to work on Fridays, weather permitting (other days just don't work because I've got kid pickup or drop-off obligations). Yesterday I felt like poo, probably owing to the stomach virus which had decimated the rest of the family earlier in the week, but I wanted to ride anyway since it was national bike to work day. Now what I didn't know was that it was also national "I've got a big assed jacked up diesel 4x4 jackass agressive driver" day.

The response to bike to work day was typical Reno.... uh, completely unnoticeable. I saw NO ONE riding to or from work. And those few that did make their one-day-a-year trip to work on a bicycle were treated to life threatening intimidation by Reno's fine citizens, thereby insuring that we don't get roads clogged with slow moving bikes. Whew, what a relief.

Really, what's that intentional slow-down-down-shift-leave-a-cloud-of-diesel-exhaust- while yelling "get off the road!" thing about? Like how am I bringing you down, Mr. Giant Shiny Belt Buckle, by riding my bike in the bike lane?

Maybe I've got a "kick me" sign on my back?

Same thing happened descending Geiger on Sunday -- some yahoo had to pass me in the esses, whilst honking and yelling an expletive. Well the thing was, I'd been glued to a slow moving Harley rider's wheel. So Mr. Country Music Big Truck got around me, only to be stuck behind Mr. Harley, while I rode his bumper down. Why didn't he honk and yell at the Harley guy? What, exactly, was I doing to piss this guy off so badly?

There's a lot to like about living in Nevada, but white trash yahoos ain't one of 'em.

staring at the screen

2007-05-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

I wish I had this much confidence in my ability to measure my efforts and train by feel. But I don't. And I wish I had so much time to race that I could lament that it might be hard to get a week off to go to a stage race. But I don't. So I stare at that powermeter to make sure I'm on track and I sneak out and race when I can.

Today was beautiful in Reno. Like spring is finally here. But we had soccer games mid-day and grocery shopping and then a bbq to go to, which left me two hours to get in the weekend's "big ride." Translation, trainer again. 4 x 25 with five minutes rest inbetween, for a total of two hours. Intervals are done 20 minutes at 95% of FT, then 105+% for the last five minutes. An hour and forty minutes at near-threshold in two hours. As far as compact workouts go, this is the one. Basically like climbing straight up for two hours. 1900 calories in 2 hours. Bang for the buck time wise, this workout is an M80.

Interval 1:
Duration: 25:03
Work: 442 kJ
TSS: 40.4 (intensity factor 0.983)
Norm Power: 295
VI: 1
Min Max Avg
Power: 230 386 294 watts
Cadence: 70 106 90 rpm

Interval 2:
Duration: 25:13
Work: 444 kJ
TSS: 40.9 (intensity factor 0.988)
Norm Power: 296
VI: 1.01
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 368 294 watts
Cadence: 71 99 85 rpm

Interval 3:
Duration: 25:09
Work: 447 kJ
TSS: 41.4 (intensity factor 0.993)
Norm Power: 298
VI: 1.01
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 365 296 watts
Cadence: 66 103 85 rpm
Speed: 12.9 23.4 20.3 mph

Interval 4:
Duration: 25:04
Work: 441 kJ
TSS: 40.3 (intensity factor 0.981)
Norm Power: 294
VI: 1
Min Max Avg
Power: 170 378 293 watts
Cadence: 69 98 87 rpm

Watched "Flags of Our Fathers" during this workout. It was OK... decent battle scenes, but nothing really grabbed me about it. Guess I'll have to see how Letters From Iwo Jima compares.

Freakin' Ouch

2007-05-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

Madera is past and now it's my time to build for most of May to build up a big bank account of fitness that I can spend in June. Which sounds all good. But right now in the midst of a big build, I'm hurting. I got dropped at the Tuesday night worlds, and I went out with Johnny this morning to do Mayberry repeats on the TT rigs and my legs are fried. 'Cept for the pain, tho, the intervals went real well. The plan was to do 330w for each of the eight runs. Here's what I ended up with:

Interval 1:
Duration: 3:51
Distance: 1.519 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 442 318 watts
Cadence: 68 105 92 rpm
Speed: 16.7 30.5 23.7 mph

Interval 2:
Duration: 3:23
Distance: 1.556 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 36 451 333 watts
Cadence: 88 109 99 rpm
Speed: 21.8 34.1 27.8 mph

Interval 3:
Duration: 3:46
Distance: 1.517 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 85 488 332 watts
Cadence: 73 111 95 rpm
Speed: 15.7 31.4 24.3 mph

Interval 4:
Duration: 3:22
Distance: 1.571 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 128 419 321 watts
Cadence: 90 114 102 rpm
Speed: 23.2 33.1 28.0 mph

Interval 5:
Duration: 3:47
Distance: 1.529 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 406 326 watts
Cadence: 80 109 98 rpm
Speed: 0 32.1 24.4 mph

Interval 6:
Duration: 3:17
Distance: 1.535 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 241 495 334 watts
Cadence: 94 113 102 rpm
Speed: 0 33.9 28.3 mph

Interval 7:
Duration: 3:44
Distance: 1.504 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 100 377 327 watts
Cadence: 77 109 99 rpm
Speed: 15 30.8 24.3 mph

Interval 8:
Duration: 3:15
Distance: 1.562 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 414 332 watts
Cadence: 51 116 103 rpm
Speed: 0 34.3 29.0 mph

Reportage

2007-04-30T12:39:00.000-07:00

Madera Stage Race April 28-29, 2007

Drove down with Dimitri H. on Friday afternoon. Hit a little traffic through Stockton and Modesto, but we made good enough time to get to the road course and preride a little bit of it. Wow was it hot! Got to the hotel, checked in and then went to a divey Mexican joint for the best shrimp burrito I've ever had. If you can't get good Mexican food in the Central Valley....

Saturday was a late start for me... my crit didn't go till 1:30 (which really ended up being 1:50). It was super hot (a record breaking 98 degrees) and I thing I drank about a half gallon of water and a quart of Gatorade just warming up. Troublingly, I got a flat about five minutes before the start, so I had to swap out a zooty race rear wheel for a less preferred rear (no power data either). The race was really not all that hard, but I raced it conservatively, trying not to burn up too much mojo in the heat. A break went up the road with Hernando, Larry Nolan and Brian Bosch in it. The break stayed away, and Larry got the time bonuses every time the bell rang. I came in an uneventful 12th or so, 17 seconds down on the break.

Went back to the car, drank another quart of Gatorade, ate a bagel, and drove to the TT course, where I'd be racing in two hours. The TT is basically a rectangle. Uh, a poorly marked rectangle at that (loads of people missed turns, and not just in the lower cats. One of the top AMD TT'ers rode himself out of contention on GC because of the poor markings on the course). The course circumnavigates an almond grove. I parked, got the trainer out, warmed up, drank a little more Gatorade and a little more water, then hit the course at 4:45 p.m.

I'd felt like I'd held back a little in the crit and I was itching to stretch my legs. Other than slowing down for a turn that wasn't really a turn (all those cones at that corner are to let you know NOT to turn there, duh, everybody knows THAT!), which saw me scrub speed from 28 mph to 11 mph, I felt pretty good. I pushed it wide open and was ready to puke by the end. My powertap reported 360 watts average power for the 23:45 duration (previous best 20 minute power -- ever -- was 320). It's probably a bad torque offset value for the workout, which also kinda sucks. Frustratingly, my TT effort was only good for 14th! Mid pack! I did 23:45, and I'd really wanted to see a sub-23. That slow-down probably cost me some, and I probably could've made up some time by saving more in the tank for the headwind return leg. But 45 seconds? Dunno. Ugh. Whatever. Stupid bike racing.

We had a great team dinner on Saturday thanks to Spencer. It was really nice to get to sit down with my teammates and break bread without any of the other distractions of life. For a weekend we were stage racers, and we talked racing. It was a hoot.

So I went into Sunday's road stage in 14th (out of 29), 2:49 down on GC. The road stage is a looping affair, and our group did four laps (65 miles) over the loop. Half of the loop is really good pavement with a long, rolling, false flat-ish descent. The next third of the course is probably the worst pavement known to man. Awful stuff. And of course that's where people always drill it. The next third is a roller coaster set of whoop-dee-doos, and the finish line is at the top of the last one. I'd been cautioned by a veteran advisor that with the team tactics at play, if a break with the right composition went up the road, that that would be the race. And that's exactly what happened. About seven miles into the race, a small group of eight took off on the first lap, right at the bad pavement section. The composition of the break was good (Hernando, two AMD guys, one of whom was high on gc, a spine GC leader, a CVC worker bee and a couple of other free agents like me), so if the break made it up the road, the likelihood of a big chase was slim, 'cept from CVC, who had Bosch as their GC leader.

As luck would have it, I made the break. Mucho luck. Wow. Once through the bad pavement and the rollers and back to the good pavement, Hernando set the break on a swiss-clock rotation, and we TTT'd. And we TTT'd. And we TTT'd. Two of the eight dropped out with a flat and a mechanical and then we were six. Our moto ref updated us periodically with time splits. "45 seconds!" Two laps in we had ridden through the P12 field that had started five minutes ahead of ours, and we had over a minute on the pack. By this time I was really hurting.

And by the third lap, the moto came by and told us we were at four minutes! All of my GC deficit erased! The Olafian mantra "never get dropped from the break," kept repeating through my head. From about 2.5 laps in, I didn't contribute much. Which is not to say I could have... the rough sections were taking their toll and it was all I could do to stay on. I'd take a pull every once in a while, but I felt like I was messing it up more than helping so I mostly just sat on the back like a freeloader. On lap four through the rough stuff, I was pedaling squares, rectangles, triangles and trapazoids. The attacks began and I was hanging on the back for dear life. I stayed with two huge surges, but the third cracked me wide open and it happened... I got dropped from the break, about four miles from the finish.

Tail between my legs, I resolved to salvage what I could and still beat the pack in if I could. In contrast to the previous day's stellar (but now questionable) power output, I limped to the finish on an empty-tank 260 watts. I crossed the finish line down about 1:15 on the leaders (now down to just four, since Clint had flatted after his attack that snapped me off)... and immediately looked at my watch. The seconds slowly ticked by. One minute. Then two.... then three! YES! I'd salvaged enough to jump from 14th on GC to 5th!

Huge result for me and it couldn't have worked out better karma wise -- still made a big jump on GC, but didn't really "steal" a result from any of the harder working folks in the break (save Clint, who managed to fix his flat and still power home before the field).

Got the T Shirt!

2007-04-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

More to come....

Fifth place on G.C.

The most dangerous man....

2007-04-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

is the one with nothing to lose.

Into the Lion's Den, wish me luck!

2007-04-25T08:46:00.001-07:00

The Wall (if you are wondering what the "bare minimum" is to get over with the front group, this is it.... I was on, but by a thread)

The last climb on the way back… note lower average power than the wall, but also that there was a period of significantly higher output.

Last four minutes of the race (was pretty well blown by the end -- good racing!)

Full data dump:

(note "attack" in quotes denotes that I was just hanging on for dear life)

Entire Race:
Duration: 56:21
Work: 833 kJ
TSS: 104.7 (intensity factor 1.056)
Norm Power: 306
VI: 1.24
Distance: 24.011 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1010 246 watts
Heart rate: 30 191 149 bpm
Cadence: 34 131 92 rpm
Speed: 2.6 52.6 25.6 mph
Pace 1:08 22:59 2:21 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 331 76 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 862 235 lb-in

End of Race:
Duration: 4:22
Work: 85 kJ
TSS: 10.3 (intensity factor 1.188)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 1.973 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1010 326 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 43 113 94 rpm
Speed: 21.1 34.1 27.1 mph
Pace 1:46 2:51 2:13 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 236 79 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 862 283 lb-in

"Attack" #7 (last climb on way back):
Duration: 2:00
Work: 45 kJ
TSS: 6.7 (intensity factor 1.422)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.67 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 50 655 375 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 76 116 93 rpm
Speed: 14.9 35.6 20.2 mph
Pace 1:41 4:01 2:59 min/mi
Hub Torque: 18 216 133 lb-in
Crank Torque: 45 553 347 lb-in

"Attack" #6 (climb off of Stampede dam):
Duration: 0:45
Work: 19 kJ
TSS: 3.6 (intensity factor 1.692)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.225 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 139 590 429 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 73 96 83 rpm
Speed: 14.9 26.4 17.9 mph
Pace 2:16 4:02 3:22 min/mi
Hub Torque: 48 255 169 lb-in
Crank Torque: 125 665 450 lb-in

Attack #5 (Stampede turnaround):
Duration: 0:39
Work: 17 kJ
TSS: 3.2 (intensity factor 1.713)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.22 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 139 695 446 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 67 113 103 rpm
Speed: 7.3 24.4 20.2 mph
Pace 2:28 8:15 2:58 min/mi
Hub Torque: 42 303 157 lb-in
Crank Torque: 117 682 398 lb-in

"Attack" #4 (grabbing Barkley's wheel across Dam):
Duration: 0:43
Work: 16 kJ
TSS: 2.5 (intensity factor 1.458)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.403 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 863 383 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 87 124 106 rpm
Speed: 30.5 38.3 34.0 mph
Pace 1:34 1:58 1:46 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 165 74 lb-in
Crank Torque: 77 675 308 lb-in

Attack #3 (backside of Wall):
Duration: 0:50
Work: 25 kJ
TSS: 4.3 (intensity factor 1.762)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.308 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 249 693 498 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 70 106 88 rpm
Speed: 16.8 29.3 22.0 mph
Pace 2:03 3:34 2:44 min/mi
Hub Torque: 83 197 152 lb-in
Crank Torque: 296 613 480 lb-in

Attack #2:
Duration: 0:48
Work: 21 kJ
TSS: 3.7 (intensity factor 1.677)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.365 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 218 874 443 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 95 114 103 rpm
Speed: 24.8 31.6 27.4 mph
Pace 1:54 2:25 2:11 min/mi
Hub Torque: 57 191 105 lb-in
Crank Torque: 179 724 365 lb-in

Attack #1:
Duration: 0:49
Work: 19 kJ
TSS: 2.1 (intensity factor 1.238)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.446 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 180 884 393 watts
Heart rate: 30 30 30 bpm
Cadence: 100 114 108 rpm
Speed: 28.8 36.7 32.7 mph
Pace 1:38 2:05 1:50 min/mi
Hub Torque: 39 192 81 lb-in
Crank Torque: 148 673 308 lb-in

The Wall:
Duration: 2:45
Work: 63 kJ
TSS: 8.1 (intensity factor 1.33)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.574 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 194 586 380 watts
Heart rate: 179 179 179 bpm
Cadence: 76 105 83 rpm
Speed: 11.1 21.1 12.5 mph
Pace 2:51 5:25 4:49 min/mi
Hub Torque: 68 258 204 lb-in
Crank Torque: 171 569 390 lb-in

Peak 5s (930 watts): ha ha -- NOT the end of the race -- rather about two minutes before
Duration: 0:05
Work: 5 kJ
TSS: n/a
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 226 ft
Min Max Avg
Power: 803 1010 930 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 99 113 107 rpm
Speed: 28.3 32.4 30.5 mph
Pace 1:51 2:07 1:58 min/mi
Hub Torque: 164 236 202 lb-in
Crank Torque: 628 862 736 lb-in

Peak 10s (853 watts): very end of race
Duration: 0:10
Work: 9 kJ
TSS: n/a
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 482 ft
Min Max Avg
Power: 751 961 853 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 102 105 103 rpm
Speed: 30.2 33.2 32.5 mph
Pace 1:48 1:59 1:51 min/mi
Hub Torque: 150 192 174 lb-in
Crank Torque: 616 788 699 lb-in

Peak 20s (634 watts): very end of race
Duration: 0:20
Work: 13 kJ
TSS: n/a
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 928 ft
Min Max Avg
Power: 114 961 634 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 102 106 104 rpm
Speed: 28.6 33.9 31.3 mph
Pace 1:46 2:06 1:55 min/mi
Hub Torque: 26 192 131 lb-in
Crank Torque: 92 788 517 lb-in

Peak 30s (577 watts): very end of race
Duration: 0:30
Work: 17 kJ
TSS: 3.3 (intensity factor 1.988)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.25 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 114 961 577 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 86 106 101 rpm
Speed: 23.8 33.9 29.7 mph
Pace 1:46 2:31 2:01 min/mi
Hub Torque: 26 192 126 lb-in
Crank Torque: 92 788 481 lb-in

Peak 1min (446 watts): Coming off of Stampede Dam on the way out
Duration: 1:00
Work: 27 kJ
TSS: 4.7 (intensity factor 1.676)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.362 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 110 693 446 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 70 106 88 rpm
Speed: 16.8 29.3 21.6 mph
Pace 2:03 3:34 2:47 min/mi
Hub Torque: 34 197 137 lb-in
Crank Torque: 95 613 429 lb-in

Peak 2min (392 watts): This is the beginning of the Wall
Duration: 2:01
Work: 47 kJ
TSS: 6 (intensity factor 1.338)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.412 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 314 586 392 watts
Heart rate: 179 179 179 bpm
Cadence: 76 93 82 rpm
Speed: 11.1 15.9 12.2 mph
Pace 3:46 5:25 4:54 min/mi
Hub Torque: 158 247 211 lb-in
Crank Torque: 326 569 406 lb-in

Peak 5min (332 watts):
Duration: 5:01
Work: 100 kJ
TSS: 13.1 (intensity factor 1.251)
Norm Power: 363
VI: 1.09
Distance: 1.435 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 676 332 watts
Heart rate: 114 179 147 bpm
Cadence: 66 124 87 rpm
Speed: 11.1 38.2 17.2 mph
Pace 1:34 5:25 3:30 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 258 150 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 571 330 lb-in

Peak 10min (300 watts):
Duration: 10:01
Work: 180 kJ
TSS: 22.5 (intensity factor 1.162)
Norm Power: 337
VI: 1.13
Distance: 3.117 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 863 300 watts
Heart rate: 114 191 169 bpm
Cadence: 46 128 89 rpm
Speed: 11.1 43 18.7 mph
Pace 1:24 5:25 3:13 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 258 130 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 597 298 lb-in

Peak 20min (275 watts):
Duration: 20:01
Work: 331 kJ
TSS: 43.3 (intensity factor 1.139)
Norm Power: 330
VI: 1.2
Distance: 7.791 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 884 275 watts
Heart rate: 30 191 149 bpm
Cadence: 34 128 91 rpm
Speed: 5.3 43 23.4 mph
Pace 1:24 11:22 2:34 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 258 96 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 724 259 lb-in

Into the arena

2007-04-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

I don't race much. I train a lot, and I think about racing a lot, but between a full-time job, two school age kids, a couple of dogs, and a wonderful spouse, I don't get to play hookie every weekend and go racing. Instead I get by with a group ride once a week, twilight racing in-season, and a few thoughtfully selected NCNCA events.

This weekend is the Madera Stage Race -- one that's been on my calendar since November. As stage races go, it's a good one for me because it's flattish and is defined by the flattish time trial. I'd hoped to have a gaggle of teammates with me for this early season assault (uh, I had snow on my lawn on Tuesday night... it's still early season here in northern Nevada). Unfortunately it is not to be. So I'll be venturing into the 35+ lion's den solo.

35+ 123 in NorCal is smokin' fast with well established teams of guys that race together week in and week out for nine months of the year. They know each other's strengths, weaknesses, tells and teams. And then there's me. Into the lion's den with the world champ and the national champs and the district champs and the grizzled team players who have seen it all and know what to expect from whom and when.

Wish me luck, I'll need it!

degrees of separation

2007-04-18T09:27:00.000-07:00

So wow was it cold last night. Sunny and super windy till the start of the abreviated five lap A race when the clouds rolled in and as soon as it was over it started snowing. It literally took 500 watts to ride 20 mph down the front straight. Spring is my least favorite season in Reno. The trees are still bare, the grass is still brown, and between teaser 70 degree days, we get wind and snow.

Oh and my sprint? So embarassing that it's not really worth talking about.

____________________________________

But here's my question for the day in an odd confluence of news. In response to Don Imus' suicide by microphone (remember kids, in this media age, there are NO second chances), New Jersey governor John Corzine was hauling ass in his motorcade to make it to speak with Imus and the Rutgers team he insulted. And he gets crashed out going 91 mph and gets all jacked up because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt. Haven't checked, but has Imus apologized for that yet?

And on the topic of race in america, what's up with the focus on the VT shooter's korean ethnicity?

The case topped the front pages of nearly all South Korean newspapers today, which voiced worries that the shootings may trigger racial hatred in the U.S.

The kid had apparently been here since 1992... fifteen years out of his 23. OK so he wasn't a citizen, but I guarantee he was american. But not a white one.

And while we're talking about non-whites, what's up with ABC's Dancing with the Stars? OK, yeah, um I don't watch that crap except that my wife tivos it and if it happens to be on and I see how bad Clyde the Glide sucks at ballroom dancing... but anyway, why is it that every single one of the professional dance partners is white? Sure many are eastern european (i.e. furiners) but they all meet the ken & barby american beauty stereotype. WTF is up with that?

Franktown

2007-04-10T21:42:00.000-07:00

Weird night out there. Cold... well that's not weird for April with a winter storm rolling into the Sierra, but there was almost no wind. Very strange. And of course I decided not to bring my "fast" wheelset for fear of being blown into an oncoming semi. And of course #2, I forgot to put my shoe covers on, which I know are good for at least thirty seconds over the 7.9 mile course.

Rookie mistakes for sure. And they didn't stop there. First off I went out too hard. This course has a 200 foot climb about 3/8 of the way into the run (right after the big power dip). Pacing wise, it's gonna be fastest to reserve a little before that hill and then drill it over the top. Well, I didn't hold back enough before I got there so there really wasn't much to give. To add insult to injury, I decided that on the next 'lil kicker, I'd stand up and power over the top. Note to self, 60 rpms = bad cadence for this sort of thing (see blue highlighted area on screenshot). I was pretty much ready to pull over and puke from that point forward. Yuck.

Then to top it all off, a scant bit of bad luck. The course ends with a descent after a kicker of a climb. Planning ahead I had the SRAM 26-11 cassette on because I knew that this would be a 40 mph section. Right in the meat of the hill in a lactate induced fog, I'm boogyin' at about 38 mph and there right in front of me is the biggest dog I've ever seen. Tap the brakes, quit pedaling, mutter an explative. Thankfully he just stood there and let me ride by. But you messed up my f'in' rhythm fido!

By the numbers:
Franktown TT 4-10-07:
Duration: 17:18
Work: 333 kJ
TSS: 35.7 (intensity factor 1.113)
Norm Power: 323
VI: 1.01
Distance: 7.844 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 577 320 watts
Cadence: 59 116 94 rpm
Speed: 3.4 40.5 27.2 mph
Pace 1:29 17:53 2:12 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 334 84 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 643 295 lb-in

A hot night at the Cold Springs

2007-04-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

Duration: 15:08
Work: 290 kJ
TSS: 30.5 (intensity factor 1.099)
Norm Power: 319
VI: 1
Distance: 6.808 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 633 319 watts
Cadence: 67 114 92 rpm
Speed: 3 38.5 27.0 mph
Pace 1:34 20:07 2:13 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 252 81 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 660 298 lb-in

As opposed to last week's romp up Geiger, it was smokin' fast out there tonight. Wow. I'm pretty sure that this formally bars me from using the "but I'm not an athlete" qualifier. And I KNOW that Bickel's 14:3x time means that he never gets to tell a couch potato story again.

Makes all of those trainer sessions almost seem worth it. Almost.

Geiger

2007-03-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Geiger Grade, the road from south Reno up to Virginia City is the local testing ground. It's where the wheat is separated from the chaf and where the truly strong guys and gals strut their stuff. It's also the bane of my local cycling career. Such a hard climb and no race of truth is "truer" than a hillclimb... even the aero stuff don't help that much.

Yesterday was F-all windy. Lots of headwinds, but a fair number of tailwind sections too. Hard to say if it was fast or slow, but (besides me -- official time 35:27) I don't think any PRs were set yesterday. Two years ago, when I first got the powertap, I struggled and struggled and never managed to break 300 watts. Done it twice this year on training rides, and knocked one out of the park yesterday. If only I were 5 kilos lighter....

Geiger TT March 25 2007:
Duration: 35:23
Work: 659 kJ
TSS: 67.6 (intensity factor 1.071)
Norm Power: 310
VI: 1
Distance: 7.783 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 151 660 310 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 55 122 88 rpm
Speed: 3 26.7 13.2 mph
Pace 2:15 20:07 4:33 min/mi
Hub Torque: 43 414 159 lb-in
Crank Torque: 104 597 300 lb-in

From VC Highlands:
Duration: 7:13
Work: 140 kJ
TSS: 15 (intensity factor 1.117)
Norm Power: 324
VI: 1
Distance: 1.525 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 660 323 watts
Heart rate: n/a n/a n/a bpm
Cadence: 59 122 88 rpm
Speed: 10.7 24.2 12.7 mph
Pace 2:29 5:37 4:44 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 203 171 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 465 311 lb-in

2007-03-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

Nerds on a gondola.

2007-03-19T20:59:00.000-07:00

Connor rocks the half pipe.

2007-03-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

Cassidy airs one out!

2007-03-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

Connor gets big air.

2007-03-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

Skiing in Mammoth

Shades of Grey

2007-02-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

Parenting sometimes has these wonderful moments of clarity. Like grabbing your child as he starts running into the street after a stray ball or helping figure out how to divide fractions. But most of the time the decisions aren't so clear cut. So it goes with Cassidy's gymnastics.

We started her on the "team" three years ago. Then she was going three days a week for a total of about seven hours and we really hemmed and hawed about whether to get her involved at all. She started to compete last season, and her hours got bumped up to eight or so. This season, with a new coach, we weren't nearly as happy with her progress and moved her to a different gym, where she's going 12 hours a week, and will soon be bumped to 15. Cathy and I are pretty fed up with the whole thing... it's really a strain on the family life to be running a kid around that much. But then I see how strong she is and how hard she works at everything, and I know that, at least in part, that's due to the work she's put in at the gym. How many kids in these days of instant gratification have the experience of working slowly and diligently towards a goal that takes years to achieve?

Parentally, we're really at our breaking point with the gym. We rarely get to eat together, and Cathy spends about 2.5 hours every afternoon in the car or at a kid's activity (Connor is doing basketball and tae kwon do now too). But then we're so neurotic about our shy little 5th grader that we wonder what she'll do instead. She's a true introvert, and I worry that she'll spend her afternoons curled up on the couch with a book rather than getting out and socializing with her peers. If it's done nothing else, Cassidy's time at the gym has at least REQUIRED her to interact with other kids. And that's no small feat for her. I can totally identify with her shyness -- I was a lot like her when I was her age -- but I also know how paralyzing that shyness can be if allowed to take over.

Will she hold it against us if we make her quit?

Will we hold it against her if we're run ragged by this activity?

Will she be better or worse off at the gym or doing something else?

Parenthood -- an art as much as a science and I'm neither an artist nor a scientist.

Only One Way to Find Out

2007-02-26T15:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I had to figure out whether I was really getting sick or not. So I went out and rode hard on Saturday, and man did it feel good to open up the jets, even if I did blow a little prematurely. But then sure enough, I got my answer. Sick indeed. Yesterday it was a certainty and today I'm sick as a dog. Yuck.

Sick?

2007-02-22T12:39:00.000-08:00

Am I sick? Dunno. Feel kinda crappy but not absolutely bed-ridden terrible. Which would generally mean it's time to ride myself into the ground. Guess it's a couple of days off to try to get healthy.

Milestones

2007-02-16T09:10:00.000-08:00

Milestones are falling already this year. Weight -- 152.5 this morning. yowza! With a little discipline I think getting into the 140's is really possible. Power -- three twenty minute intervals at over 300w. It's on, baby, it's on.

Dr. Strangelove

2007-02-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

Turns out Dr. Strangelove is just about perfect for a 90/90 workout. It's 1:34:45 long, so if you warm up for 4:45, you get right to "The End" when you're done with the ninety. And though I've seen the movie several times, it's probably not been for 15 years or so that I've sat through the whole thing. Still very relevant, with enough humor to keep me engaged, but not so funny that I can't keep going. Good tension, good silliness, but with that dark dark dark side. Wonderful stuff.

Purity of Essence and all that!

2007-02-12T15:40:00.000-08:00

In response to the "dude are you insane?" look that I've been getting from the training buds...

Yeah, I've got a pretty good idea of what goes into my season. I've not structured a single "interval" session (intervals being "hard," "bleed from the eyeballs" type work) yet this year. This is my fourth winter of structured trainer work. That first winter is when I had my breakthrough season, racing competitively in the As and winning a few Cat4 races.

I guess here's the concept in a nutshell. Should you build an aerobic base over the winter? Most say yes (Dave Morris being the glaring exception). Many say it should be comprised of mostly L2-L3 rides because that's what the pros do. Unfortunately, unlike the pros, many amateurs have limited time. Pros can ride 25-30 hours at L2 in the winter and build a great big aerobic base (and don't think that that much riding, even "slow riding" doesn't build pretty huge cumulative weekly TSS scores). But for me, well I'm lucky to see ten hours on the bike at any time during the year -- summer or winter. Which means that for me, unlike a pro, who can cut volume and add intensity while maintaining a pretty steady TSS load, if I only do L2-L3 all winter, come race season, I suffer a big shock to my system because not only does intensity go up, but the cumulative TSS load does too. So the idea for me, this year, is to get myself used to a sustained TSS load (this would be the CTL line in the Performance Manager in WKO+, if you're using that) that mirrors my "in season" load, but to accumulate that training stress with mostly L3-L4 subthreshold work, which is pretty easy to recover from, day to day.

All of the above also reflects that I'm not a gifted athlete. I'm just a former fat kid who geeks out on this stuff really hard and who has to work really hard to be competitive. Jason Walker or Jim Barkley, for comparison, ride nearly never all winter long, suffer like dogs in April and will be eating me for lunch by July. C'est la vie... I just didn't pick my parents well. But were I to use their approach, I'd be off the back all the time, rather than just when they are in form.

Will I be racing in August? We'll see. I've put a few on the calendar. Truth be told I'll be suffering then since I'll have just finished my peak period. My kids (7 and 10) are interested in training to hike Mt. Rose too. So it could be that I do that instead, post-districts.

Silence of the Lambs

2007-02-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

The Mrs. is out of town this weekend, so I've got the kids. Thankfully, it's cold and rainy in Reno today. We need the water, and more to the point, now I don't have to be jealous of my teammates (relish that word, friends) being out there on a training ride without me. But Saturday is generally my big day so what to do? Well hop on the trainer and watch a movie, of course! Today's viewing fare was Silence of the Lambs, which, believe it or not, I'd never seen. And the trainer protocol was a toughie too...

A bit of background. I've been doing pretty stressful trainer sessions for the past 14 weeks or so, so I've got a pretty good handle on what I can do. Mostly, these are before w0rk 1:30:00 affairs. No matter how I structure the workout, on two cups of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal, I really can't do more than about 1400 calories worth of work. Which is a lot of work for a 155 pounder like myself, but still, it's not enough for a longer race. Like at Land Park, doing three crits in a row, I did 2500 calories worth, and on our jaunt out to Pyramid on 12/23, I did nearly 3,000. So this morning's trainer session was an experiment to see whether a larger breakfast (Olafian pre-race fare) and a mid-session goo would let me squeeze out another half hour / 500 calories worth. Breakfast wasn't optimal cuz I only had 75 minutes before I jumped on the trainer (would've liked 2-3 hours to digest first), but close enough.

I didn't quite get to 1900 calories, but darn freakin close. The workout went as follows: 10 minute warmup; 4x25, with five minutes rest between intervals. Each 25:00 "on" portion was made up of 15 minutes at 90-93% (260-270w) then five minutes of 108% (struggle to hold anything over 315) then five minutes at 95%+ (280+). Two hours and five minutes for the workout, plus a cooldown. Try getting this TSS in a two hour outdoor ride! In an oxygen deprived fog I accidentally cut #2 short by five minutes, so I added five to #3. Out to 1:54:00 my mean max power goes to 254w (and that includes some "off" minutes). Power data below.

Interval #1:
Duration: 25:18
Work: 418 kJ
TSS: 39.1 (intensity factor 0.965)
Norm Power: 280
VI: 1.01
Distance: 7.788 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 353 276 watts
Cadence: 67 102 90 rpm
Speed: 2.7 20.1 18.5 mph
Pace 2:59 21:57 3:14 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 125 98 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 371 263 lb-in

Interval #2:
Duration: 20:11
Work: 342 kJ
TSS: 32.5 (intensity factor 0.984)
Norm Power: 285
VI: 1.01
Distance: 5.855 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 36 343 283 watts
Cadence: 78 95 88 rpm
Speed: 12.5 19.4 17.4 mph
Pace 3:05 4:48 3:27 min/mi
Hub Torque: 19 129 107 lb-in
Crank Torque: 39 351 272 lb-in

Interval #3:
Duration: 30:13
Work: 495 kJ
TSS: 45.8 (intensity factor 0.954)
Norm Power: 277
VI: 1.01
Distance: 8.516 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 373 273 watts
Cadence: 70 96 87 rpm
Speed: 2.4 18.5 16.9 mph
Pace 3:14 25:25 3:33 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 139 106 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 389 268 lb-in

Interval #4:
Duration: 25:18
Work: 416 kJ
TSS: 38.9 (intensity factor 0.961)
Norm Power: 279
VI: 1.02
Distance: 7.202 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 351 275 watts
Cadence: 69 96 87 rpm
Speed: 2.8 18.8 17.1 mph
Pace 3:11 21:27 3:30 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 130 105 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 354 269 lb-in

Entire workout (247 watts):
Duration: 2:06:06
Work: 1858 kJ
TSS: 175.7 (intensity factor 0.916)
Norm Power: 266
VI: 1.08
Distance: 35.496 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 373 247 watts
Cadence: 40 103 88 rpm
Speed: 2.4 20.1 16.9 mph
Pace 2:59 25:25 3:32 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 139 94 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 389 239 lb-in

Oh, and the movie? Actually pretty good. But it really reminded me how much has changed since 1990. The whole last scene (spoiler, stop reading here if you're waiting to collect social security before you see it) turns on Clarice accidentally discovering the bad guy all by herself without backup. The bad guy bolts and she has to chase him through these labyrinth underground rooms before finally taking a lucky pot shot in the dark and knocking him off.

The whole time I'm thinking, man, that musta been a PITA for law enforcement without cell phones. I mean c'mon, nowadays she'd have called in for backup and then shot a video of the whole thing from her phone and it'd be on youtube and wiki. Anyway, it was entertaining enough to keep my interest for the workout, so that's what's important, eh?

The munchies

2007-02-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

Since I've gotten back on the wagon training wise I've also been trying to bring my weight down. And it's working. But I freakin' swear, man, I'm now at the stage where if I even look at a light beer sideways I gain a pound. I'm pretty good about sticking to the program through the day. But when I get home, the first thing I do is head to the cupboard to do some grazing. It's the kind of habit that's so hard to break that I can really empathize with people who quit smoking... what do they do with all that time once they're off the nico-stix? Stuffin' my pie hole is apparently serving a habit as much as a hunger.

Weak, I'm so damned weak.

Can't we all just get along?

2007-02-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

Snipped without permission from VeloNews:

Sadly, Hamilton's last day as a pro serves as a painful reminder of just what the sport has suffered through in recent years. That day's stage was won by Roberto Heras (stripped of the 2005 Vuelta title and suspended for EPO), who knocked Floyd Landis (facing the loss of the 2006 Tour de France title on a testosterone charge) out of the leader's jersey. Finishing second that day was Santiago Perez (suspended for blood doping), who finished ahead of third-placed Francisco Mancebo (named in Operación Puerto and ejected from the 2006 Tour).

Gadzooks, man, that says it all right there. Let's get it figured out because I wanna be able to enjoy watching this year. Only two months till Flanders and Paris-Roubaix!

Squadra makes good

2007-02-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

Back in 04 (yeah, four seasons ago now), a little experiment was launched with a group of misfit racers here in Reno. Put them under the (sometimes draconian) tutilage of a seasoned racer and see if a bunch of misfit pack fill could be turned into not just bike racers, but a team. Results in 04 were phenomenal, and like the lion in the Wizard of Oz, many of us got our courage... that is, we realized that we deserved to be there and could race when the time came. That much was certainly true for me, what with the red carpet leadouts from Mark A and Olaf. At the same time, a few of our squadra struggled a bit, Johnny in particluar. This guy is soooo strong and would often leave me like a pile of goo after a training ride. But bad luck and bad strategery would befall him in the races. Flats, too much time in the wind, attacking at just the wrong moment, etc. left him off the podium and sometimes questioning whether he was worthy.

Well, ol' Johnny is putting it together this year and finally got himself a win out at Patterson. Congrats, John, that win is sooooo long overdue. The sky's the limit from here!

Where did that come from?

2007-01-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

Peak 10min (344 watts):
Duration: 10:01
Work: 207 kJ
TSS: 25.2 (intensity factor 1.227)
Norm Power: 350
VI: 1.02
Distance: 4.563 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 861 344 watts
Cadence: 57 114 100 rpm
Speed: 22.8 31.4 27.3 mph
Pace 1:54 2:38 2:12 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 210 83 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 697 290 lb-in

First race of the season, and man oh man did it feel good to open up the throttle. The sprint is certainly a weak point, but that's actually fun to train. And apparently the trainer time is starting to pay dividends.

Looking at the files from the different races, I actually managed to do less work in the P123 race than in the 3/4 race. Funny observation -- there's one corner on the otherwise kidney shaped Land Park course -- a hard 140 degree right turn. In the 35+ race and the P123 race the speed into the corner would slow and out of the corner would be sometimes brutal, but there was never too much drama through the corner. In the 3/4 race on the other hand, there must have been twenty wankers who all had to yell at each other every time through. I'm all for pointing out obsticles, but after we've been through the corner 14 times, you really don't need to yell "hard right!" at the top of your lungs.

Back to the sst grindstone. Goals for the next two months:

1. Stay healthy;
2. Build CTL to 100 +/-;
3. Stay motivated (translation take a break before I NEED to);
4. Keep my weight moving in the right direction; and
5. Get in a set of sprintervals once a week.

THIS rawks.

2007-01-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

Went skiing with the kiddies for the first time this year on Sunday. They're finally big enough to really ski and it's sooooo cool. Connor is actually kinda fast this year and he's all balls. My kinda skier! Cassidy's got the style points and doesn't stop with her face quite as much. A lot like her mom. Hope they remember days like this one, cuz I sure will.

A whole new year

2007-01-04T15:17:00.000-08:00

Wow, 2006 was pretty good to me. I discovered that I've got a lot more personal strength that I give myself credit for, and that when I share that strength that others follow suit. I also discovered that I can do quite a bit of time on the trainer in the garage. I mean, I knew I could do some quality workouts, but who knew I could do 9 hours a week! And boy oh boy have I seen some good movies. The Godfather series, Apocalypse Now Redux, Brokeback Mountain, Road to Perdition... to name just a few (and if you've got some must see's, lemme know).

Anyhow, happy New Year, and thanks, everybody for making my world a little bit better. I promise to do the same for you in '07.

Building a Pyramid

2006-12-23T21:09:00.000-08:00

Preparing a bicycle racing season is a lot like building a pyramid... it's all about creating a big base to act as a steady foundation for the high pinacle. Base is all bout slogin' out the miles. Not slow miles and not fast miles, but the kinda miles that wear on you after hours in the saddle.

So it's appropriate that we rode out to Pyramid Lake today. What a great ride. Didn't realize how much elevation it lost getting out there from downtown Reno (close to 1000 feet all said and done). The ride out was very fast. Made it there in two hours easily. But that was downhill with a tailwind. Coming back is where the pain began. Just slightly uphill, and into the wind. Perfect for a controlled steady 30 mile death march back into town.

VRD made a special appearance. That was kinda cool to put together a group ride hookup via cyberspace. And he laid the smack down too, the whole... freaking... way. Johnny, Paul G, Devin, and Spencer rounded out the TeamRW crew. All-in-all, just the kinda group I like to share a death march with.

Best of all -- 2950 calories down the drain.

Testing is Training

2006-12-19T08:35:00.000-08:00

Went to Chad's for the computrainer 20 minute power test, using the Hunter Allen protocol (do a 5 minute max test, then a 20 minute max test, multiply the 20 minute result by .95 to get a functional threshold number).

Test went perfectly. I did 301 for the 20 minutes, which equates to 285 watts, which happens to be exactly the number I've been using. I was shooting for 290, but it was not to be. Maybe if I had my own fan....

The interesting thing was my 5 minute number. 346W for five minutes (that's 4.85 w/K for those keeping score at home), and that's without doing a single bit of "true" interval work since June. It's on this season, baby, it's on!

It's too cold this morning to talk cycling....

2006-12-18T06:57:00.000-08:00

this video almost made me pee my pants it was so funny.

It's 11.5 F here at 6:50 in the morning. And I just got done with a 700 TSS week. So just relax and enjoy the video, eh?

intensity BAD!

2006-12-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

Are there still people out there who think you need to log 17 hours a week of softpedaling over the winter in order to be fit to race Cat 4 in the spring? Yeah, unfortunately, there are. WTF is up with that?

My Plan

2006-12-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

No secret what's going on at the shawndoggy training HQ this year. In fact I've been telling everyone who can stand to listen. Having two race seasons' worth of data from the ol' powertap is finally starting to pay off. What I've figured out -- or better stated, what I think I've figured out -- is that my constant training load (CTL for CP junkies) has never gotten high enough for me to survive vigorous racing. CTL is based on cumulative training stress, and is sorta a proxy for "money in the bank" training wise. Basically over the past two seasons my deposits haven't been big enough to cover my withdrawals, and come race season when I've been hitting the big ATM of pain, eventually my card has been gobbled up.

So this season the focus is on really bumping up the CTL over the winter. Long long intervals (is 60 minutes an interval?) at 85%+ of my TT power on the trainer have been my steady weekly diet, along with a 3 or so hour ride on the weekends. I'm on week 6 of shooting for a 600ish cumulative weekly TSS score. It's feeling good and the weight is coming off (ever so slowly), and I'm able to do the workouts day after day, so I think it's working. This morning I even did the dreaded "hour of power" at 96% (that sounds a lot more impressive than 274 watts).

Takin' One for the Team

2006-12-10T13:19:00.000-08:00

I've personally never been one to relish being "in charge" of anything. Politics is hard, time consuming work. There are always two sides to every issue, and getting anything done takes a lot more time than just doing it. There's analysis (even though I've already come to my own conclusion), discussion (even though the viewpoints other than my own are obviously worthless), consensus building (convincing people about how right I am, or at least convincing someone how crazy anyone is who opposes me), and then decision making (taking the action I saw was appropriate from the get go).

OK, so that's probably why I suck at politics. It means being flexible, understanding, willing to listen and able to compromise. None of my strong suits.

---------------------

Well, we're dusting off the Ol' Team Reno Wheelmen name this year, and I've stepped in the political cow pile with both feet. With the best of intentions, I'm sure I've already po'd someone (actually several someones), and I've already been frustrated by asking a question with an obvious (at least to me -- see above) answer and getting something unexpected.

But I'm also putting it out there this time. I'm trying to work hard and lead by example. So far the contributions of others have been tentative and subtle, but they're there. Here's hoping that a big late fall planting of hard work and collaboration is going to be a beautiful flower of teamwork come spring.

4 and 3 and 2 and 1.... it's the NEW STYLE

2006-12-07T07:21:00.000-08:00

Eighteen months. That's about how long I've been in this funk. And wow, now that I think about it, that's a long long time. So it's really time for something new. A dream, a goal, a direction.

I wear a lot of different hats on any given day. Daddy, husband, cyclist, advocate, friend, mentor. I'm sure that there are more. But I've been holding back. I've been cautious for fear of failure. Hedging, always hedging.

Today begins the new style. Bet big to win big. Risk for reward. Commitment. I can't fear the smack down because even in the smack down there is life, happening to me.

And that kicks ass over sitting on the sidelines and watching it go by.

The hopeful time of the year

2006-12-06T14:40:00.000-08:00

Much as I can hate riding my bike in Reno in the winter, there is something precious about this time of the year. It's hope. Crushed dreams and unachieved goals are sooooo last year. It's next year that's worth worrying about now, and next year, anything is possible. Anything!

Getting Sat on at Sattley

2006-06-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

So Sunday was the district TT at Sattley. Given my limited and largely trainer based training regimen these days, a 40K TT is really a place for me to shine. And I spent the spring really focusing on getting my threshold power up, culminating two weeks ago with Mt. Hamilton (which was a great threshold workout despite my OTB status).

On the drive up, I stopped along the course using my homemade wind guage (a streamer stapled to a stick, stuck out the window of the car). In all instances, the streamer indicated a tailwind out and a headwind back. Out on the road (fortunately) it turned out to be exactly opposite.

Fortunately? Well, yeah. The plan, given my wind check and given tht the weather service indicated that the wind would come up in the 10-15 mph range, the plan was to ride conservatively on the out leg and let it all hang out on the way home. The best laid plans...

Man was I feeling good those first six miles. I was killing it... humming along at nearly 300 watts and telling myself to back off and not go too hard. Then I got passed by McSasser, and all discipline went out the window. I tried to keep pace, nearly riding the yellow line. I'd come up beside to pass, and then realize I didn't have the gas to make it stick and I'd fade back. Did that a couple of times, then my minute man flew by the two of us and Mark kicked it in and it was all over for me as far as sticking with him went. That was at about the turnaround. Just that little 12 second break off the gas felt so good that I instantly kicked it up to 300 watts again.

Up the rolling incline, I was flying. 28 mph. Then, before hitting the infamous cracked roadbed that represents the last five miles of the race, There is a slight descent. At that point my power wained and dropped to 280, then 270, and I was really having a hard time keeping it up. Classic mistake of going out too hard. Only saving grace was that tailwind, which was allowing me to keep the top speed going anyway. Clearly from the power graph, motivation took over during the last three minutes and I powered it home.

56:09 official time. Good for something like 10th in the 35-39 class. Yowza, that's some stiff competition. But the TT is really all about me. I have no idea what anyone esle will do and the only race I'm in is the one against my mind and against the clock. For me, this year, Sattley was a huge victory. 90 seconds better than last year, and tantilizingly close to breaking that 56:00 barier.

There's always next year...

"People to Kill" List

2006-06-12T16:53:00.000-07:00

So one of my favorite movie scenes of all time is from Billy Madison (Adam Sandler), where Billy gets forced to go back through his educational process and eventually realizes he was a jerk in high school and he goes to apologize to a guy he picked on. The picked on guy graciously accepts the apology, then closes the door, and pulls out his "People to Kill" list and crosses Billy off from the list.

So today some nutjob goes on a shooting spree, aparently trying to kill family court judge Chuck Weller, sniper style, by shooting him in his third story office through the window. This is about 40' down the building from the window where I used to sit as a law clerk for a judge.

And now it looks like he killed his ex-wife too.

The whole people to kill list thing... not so funny anymore.

now I need to really recover

2006-06-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

So the recovery week is past, and this being a "peak" week, I've been doing some intervals, but volume is way down in advance of the TT up at Sattley. Good news is that it looks like my power will be up about as high as ever... the bad news is that it looks like my weight will be too. Stupid pie hole.

Other random observations in no particular order...

Longboard = hella fun. Years of teenaged skating seem to have hardcoded a bit into me. Just jumped right on and was off. Need to get a helmet. Big turns and manhole covers are not cool though.

Parenting = a mystery. Try my best, but that obviously falls well short sometimes. And the kids do great despite me.

Time = most valuable commodity. Where can I get more? Has it really been 17 years since I graduated from chs?

Cars = almost sucked into the "buy a new car to save money and consume less" till I remember that a new car will cost more to insure and register (like what 3 years worth of fuel savings right there), plus there's the payment (which won't even be 50% offset fuel savings), and then there's the old car... where does it go? And what resources am I consuming with a new one. Seems like better policy to keep what we've got running than to turn natural resources into new (albeit more efficient) cars.

Battlestar Galactica = guilty pleasure.

Trainer Geek

2006-06-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, spending more that 20 minutes on the trainer was like a tryout for hell. Now I'm actually spending 3-5 hours a week on the darn thing. I set it up in front of the computer and watch movies and the like. Great for recovery rides, and great for threshold intervals. Loads of control over the intensity.

But I just got through season 1 of The Shield, and now I don't have anything to watch. Man, I'm a dork.

The real race

2006-05-31T10:09:00.000-07:00

Rest. We all know that true adaptation comes from a cycle of overload, then rest, resulting in supercompensation. When I'm in the overload phase, it's all good -- I'm training and I watch what I eat, get enough rest, and I plan my interval sessions. The rest phase has always been my problem. Hard to keep the ol' focus, that resting is really training. Rather, I tend to eat too much, to not sleep enough, and to have a beverage or two, and sometimes even go on a hard bike ride, when what I really should be doing is cutting back a bit on the pie-hole intake, and sleeping my arse off.

I'll letcha know how this particular rest phase goes.

Quiet Despiration

2006-05-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

Popped.... after about, what, 25 minutes? Haven't gone back to look at the power files that deeply, but I was snapped off of the main field at Mt. Hamilton in relatively short order. Continued to push over the top with a small group of fellow dropees, and then almost got popped by them after the road decided not to relent and kept going up up up. Then it was down down down, the craziest descent I've ever done. Hairball hairpins and crazy steep. I'd grab a handfull of brake and nothing would happen. Went in hot a couple of times. Then to the brutal rollers, though those did allow me to put some work in for the group. Got my grande water bottle at the neutral feed, then managed to lose it about three minutes later as it launched out of my jersey pocket around a hairpin. We got to the flat and I threw in 6 or so hard pulls, and then was cooked. When we arrived at the midpoint climb, we picked up Joe T., who'd been dropped out in the flats by a faster chase group. Once again the road went up, and once again I barely stayed on. We dropped a few and picked up a few riders for the last push in to the finish. While it looks downhill on the course profile, the course is really a super twisty up and down push for what seemed like forever. Our paceline was up to nine or so at one time, and every time I got to the front my legs were like jello. Or silly putty.

Finally the course pitched downward significantly, and I saw the 1K to go sign. Salvation at hand. Threw in the halfhearted sprint with our little group to pick up a placing somewhere in the 30's.

Yeah, I'm a lifer in the threes. So it's time to shift focus in my racing. I won't be on the podium, and truth be told, I don't really want to be (as in, then what race as a 2?). I think I'd rather do the races that I was always afraid to do whilst chasing the upgrade points and just enjoy the fact that while 20 million other people within a 75 mile radius were enjoying their sunday morning paper, I was out there testing my limits.

beats working.

All by myself

2006-05-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

Oh man, I just injected myself. And I didn't even barf. But I thought about it. For quite a while. I really thought it would be the sticking myself that would be the problem, but that's not really so bad. The thing that gets me is that it burns like a mofo and it takes a good 15 seconds to inject since it's thick from being in the fridge. Wow.

Bicycle Sunrise

2006-05-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

Weird training schedule, a result of work and family and other life demands. I do lots of rides at 5:00-7:00 a.m. That really sucks in the winter, and I've become a bit of a wuss about kitting up and going out in the cold and dark, opting for the trainer instead. But this time of the year is what I've worked for for the past 11 months. To be out there in the pre-dawn twilight and see the sunrise, hear the birds chirping, feel the planet and the day come to life... that rocks.

Another Way for Fun on Wheels

2006-05-24T13:20:00.001-07:00

My longboard came via Mr. Brownshorts last night. It was too dark by the time I got home to give her a try, but I did get in a couple of runs down the street this morning. This is going to be a perfectly reasonable way to waste some time this summer.

The Arms Race

2006-05-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

So one more observation from last night's TT -- holy crap has the arms race hit Reno. There were at least six bikes in the $4000+ range, and loads more disks and carbon wheels and aero helmets and shoe covers and...

Well dang it, let's just say that people are taking this time trial thing seriously.

Time for Time Trialin'

2006-05-23T22:20:00.000-07:00

Shufflin' with Shawndoggy
Cold Springs TT tonite. 14 miles. Windy... it's always freakin' windy out there, and it's never blowing the same way twice. This time, major crosswind on the out leg, with a big ol' headwind on the return rollers. Olaf sez to try to hold the effort steady... to set a power output and hold it. But I've been studyin' up a bit and there are some big minds out there who can bust out their sliderules and show you how going harder uphill and into the wind, and recovering a bit on the descents and downwind portions will actually be a more efficient use of power.

Of course the big problem with this "variable power pacing" concept, if you ask me, is that it's much more aggressive and really increases the chance of totally blowing and ruining the TT altogether.

But I had to try anyway.

My FT power is somewhere between 290-300. So out I go, averaging about 315 for the first five minutes. Too hard, darn it. From there, there's a hill that takes about a minute to get over. This is where one SHOULD hit the gas a bit under the VPP strategy, so I gunned it to 330 watts for the minute. Then there's a descent, so I backed off a bit.... or rather I should have backed off a bit. But I didn't and was still hitting 300 watts for the next couple of minutes, before turning right into the headwind return leg.

The next seven minutes were hell and I only managed 290W. Oh and I felt it too. It hurt. That's where I blew it under the VPP protocol... this is where I needed to turn it up a bit, and I couldn't. Well needless to say, after lap 1 I was nearly cooked.

Lap 2 was ridden a bit smarter, purely out of necessity... I just didn't have the mojo left to be stupid with on the cross-windy out leg. Nah, it was all damage control... I knew that I'd still have to hit it hard up the hill, so I was trying to conserve. Still, only managed 311 up the hill this time.

Down the hill with the tailwind, I did take the opportunity for a bit 'o recovery this time, averaging 265W instead of 300. That really paid off for the last seven minutes because I was able to muster 300W average this time, vs. 290 on the first lap.... though now that I look at the data I was still slower overall on the second lap than the first.

Huh, go figure.

Well anyway, even though I burned it a bit hard, I ended up setting a personal best: 31:56.

What a Difference a Week Makes

2006-05-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

Well, let's see, since the humira post, I've been juiced, and I've had two really good races. Let's start with the juicing. A wee bit of history... when I was 16 I thought I was the biggest pimp because I got this job working at Albertson's bagging groceries. Had to go get a health card and they did the TB test. That needle.... that sad little wimpy needle gave me the cold sweats and the urge to alternatively barf or pass out (thankfully I did neither). Ever since, needles have always done that to me. Since being diagnosed with AS in 1999, I've had what Cathy calls "exposure therapy." Basically plenty of needle sticks, eh? So I'm a little better with the needle, but still not one of my fav things to do.

Humira is self injected. It's sub-q so all I need to do is pinch an inch and stick it in the fat and let 'er go. In theory. Actually it wasn't so bad. I was a little freaked, but the nurse at the rheumy sees it all the time and she walked me through pretty easily. Actually it was remarkably easy... in a pretty disturbing way.

It's been 8 days since the shot, and honest I feel freaking great. Almost no pain. Almost like I don't know it's there. And without the steroid zanies. Placebo effect? Probably... it really isn't supposed to be working this early.

So about those races. I showed up to Boca after a week off of the bike after my rather spectacular flameout at Air Center the week prior. I did do 40 minutes of high cadence spinning the morning before, but no real efforts. I was really worried about getting over the wall. REALLY worried. As we started racing I had a hard time clipping in and found myself chasing on from the get go. Great. Slowly moved up through the canyon... hoping to buy a little insurance in case the pace got too hot. Over the first little roller and I was still there. Across the flats, and I'm on the front. Crap. Why do I always have to take my pull right before the road goes up? I think that it's a conspiracy. Anyway, there the road goes, up. And there I am on the front. And I stayed there up that whole first significant pitch -- humming along at 400W for a couple of minutes. Kept expecting the pack to fly around, but nobody did. THen to the wall and I've got my parachute ready for the bailout. Once again, I'm still there with the front group as others are ejecting out the back. Usually over the top I am fully tapped. To te absolute limit. This time I was feeling good enough to take a pull. Sweet! Took a couple of attacks toward the turnaround and on the way back to test the legs. And I was still there! Well the rest of the race turned out like it usually does from that point... the whittled down group heads for a field sprint. This one was no different and I lost my nerve a bit when it counted and lost the good wheels. ONce I got through the traffic my sprint was still good for 6th. Not bad for thinking I' be dropped.

This week was AirCenter again. I've got a decent sprint but I've always done that race in fear of the real heros... the ones that can attack over and over and over again. It's a weakness of mine that really needs to be worked on, and if I can get it worked out, will really round out my racing (well, as a critter anyhow). So it was on the attack from the get go. I know one rider who likes to go from the gun at every race, so I grabbed his wheel and off we went. He sat up after lap 1, but the preme bell was ringing so I decided to go for it. Didn't end up getting the preme, but did have my best 5:00 power ever by 15w. It was back to the caboose after that, since I was totally gassed. spent the next 20:00 or so covering breaks, then managed to get into one myself. The other two guys are class racers, and were really putting the hurting to me. I wanted to give up 10000 times. But I hung on (even though I had to skip a few pulls), and did make some reasonable contributions. With 4 to go we were caught, so I sat on for the sprint. Once again made a bad wheel choice, but still managed to get 3rd (with the massive contribution of teammates who kept the pace hot into the final laps).

So there it is... two weeks after my very disappointing mass start racing campaign for 2006, I'm back in the saddle.

Humira

2006-05-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Holy shnikies. Went to the rheumy yesterday because the ankylosing spondylitis has been acting up. The protocol for the last year has been low dose corticosteroids (medrol). The plan was to take a half a pill (2mg) constantly, along with an NSAID (peroxicam) to keep the pain in check, but to increase on the 'roids when I have a flare-up. So last week began the flare, and I was quickly up to 24 mg a day with no relief. On Thursday I was literally walking like I had M.S.... odd funky looking gait worthy of Monty Python's "Ministry of Silly Walks." At work I always take the five flights of stairs up and down, rationalizing that someday I won't be able to. Well, I think I almost found out when someday was... I got sorta trapped after going down half a flight. I knew I couldn't make it back up, but every step down was excruciating. I usually run the whole five flights down in about 30 seconds. Thursday took me eight minutes. Thank goodness for small accomodations -- none of my co-workers had to find me on the stairwell and give me the pitty stare.

So I called the rheumy on Friday and got myself in yesterday. Of course after five days, the high doses of steroids have me feeling lots better, but that's counterbalanced by paranoia over the extreme long term health risks from taking this stuff.

So now the rheumy is finally paranoid about me taking all the roids too, and has suggested that I look into getting on a tnf inhibitor, like humira. The humongous downside to these new-school drugs is that they cost, well, a fortune. As a matter of fact, the rheumy said "I can't tell you what it's going to cost... I'm just going to have to write you a scrip and you go in and try to fill it."

So off I went to the local Target pharmacy. "How much to fill this?" I ask. The flunky goes in the back and fiddles with his computer and comes back a few minutes later. "Uh, that's $1498.79. Don't you have insurance?" Holy crap... $1500 a month! "Yeah, here's my insurance card." More going in the back and typing. "Oh, yeah, that's more like it... it'll be $20. We need to order it though. Should be here tomorrow."

So pretty soon it's off the roids and into the brave new world of tnf inhibitors! And the big upside is that I won't have to feel guilty for not fully complying with my USADA obligations as a five sanctioned races a year racer, since Humira is permitted for in competition use.