My ride home last night was unusual for a couple of reasons. I left work and headed over to barrington to hook up with a ride there. Because of the weather, very windy and looking like the skys were going to open up any second, only a couple of people showed up. They decided to go catch the northbranch ride which means going the opposite direction that i want to go to go home. I went with them for a while but eventually turned around when we hadn't met the northbranch guys yet.
The first weird thing was while on cuba road, i heard what basically sounded like a dog being mauled to death. It was pretty nasty. I couldn't see anything because they were on the other side of a fence but I definately heard the rustling and the yelps coming from the dog.
The second, more interesting thing was on Spring Creek road in barrington hills. As i came up to meadow hill road there was a police officer holding up traffic. Once i passed him and crested the hill there, it looked like a huge party was happening at this newly built house. The first thing that clued me to what was going on was i saw that there was distro feeder cables laying by the road and a huge production truck. The driveway had a sign on it that said "The Return." After crossing Braeburn rd i had to zig zag between 2 huge lifts with lights on them. In the field on the right there were a bunch of production trucks and about 100 cars parked there.
Once home i looked up "The Return" and found that it is a Tim Robbins movie about 3 iraq veterans returning home. Due out in 08. Should be interesting.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Monsters of the Midway 30+
Yesterday was the Monsters of the Midway Criterium held on the campus of The University of Chicago. It's actually on the Midway Plaisance a few blocks west of the Museum of Science & Industry. It's a flat 1.1 mile, long rectangle loop. For the most part nice smooth pavement and wide turns.
I entered the Masters 30+ race since it was early and I could get back home and still have some sort of mothers day celebration at home. After having 80 degree days this week yesterday at race time the temps seemed to still be in the 50's and overcast.
The race itself was good. Lot's of attacks which kept it interesting. It was also very smooth like a 30+ should be. Nobody paniking, just good clean racing. I went in with the goal of riding smart, staying in the field and waiting for a move at the end or the final sprint. For the most part I accomplised all these goals. As much as I could I stayed nicely tucked in the field and tried not to jump on attacks like i tend to do.
About 3/4 of the way thru the race there was an attack that drew at least 8 or 9 guys out. Since I was towards the front and saw everybody jumping I went as well. I made the group and we had a little gap but it died out and we were all back together. Now I was just sitting in for the sprint.
3 riders got away with 2 or 3 laps to go and it looked like they might hold us off but they were caught on the last half of the last lap. I tried to get into good position for the sprint but ended up back further than I wanted to. I ended up finishing 25th.
The one thing that i noticed thruout the whole race is i don't have the initial power burst yet. After every turn when you're toward the back of the field you have to jump to get back on. Almost every time I would lose the wheel infront of me and have to work to get it back. I can't say that i'm not that surprised by this because I haven't done any work on that yet with my training. The good thing about the race was fitness wise i felt really good. I had no problems finishing the race and felt pretty good afterwards.
Bottom line I'm really happy with how it went. I feel like my form is right on track for where I am in my training this year. Hopefully I can get some of that kick back in the next couple of weeks for Winfield.
I entered the Masters 30+ race since it was early and I could get back home and still have some sort of mothers day celebration at home. After having 80 degree days this week yesterday at race time the temps seemed to still be in the 50's and overcast.
The race itself was good. Lot's of attacks which kept it interesting. It was also very smooth like a 30+ should be. Nobody paniking, just good clean racing. I went in with the goal of riding smart, staying in the field and waiting for a move at the end or the final sprint. For the most part I accomplised all these goals. As much as I could I stayed nicely tucked in the field and tried not to jump on attacks like i tend to do.
About 3/4 of the way thru the race there was an attack that drew at least 8 or 9 guys out. Since I was towards the front and saw everybody jumping I went as well. I made the group and we had a little gap but it died out and we were all back together. Now I was just sitting in for the sprint.
3 riders got away with 2 or 3 laps to go and it looked like they might hold us off but they were caught on the last half of the last lap. I tried to get into good position for the sprint but ended up back further than I wanted to. I ended up finishing 25th.
The one thing that i noticed thruout the whole race is i don't have the initial power burst yet. After every turn when you're toward the back of the field you have to jump to get back on. Almost every time I would lose the wheel infront of me and have to work to get it back. I can't say that i'm not that surprised by this because I haven't done any work on that yet with my training. The good thing about the race was fitness wise i felt really good. I had no problems finishing the race and felt pretty good afterwards.
Bottom line I'm really happy with how it went. I feel like my form is right on track for where I am in my training this year. Hopefully I can get some of that kick back in the next couple of weeks for Winfield.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Fun Harper Ride/Another trail reason
Saturday i had what was for me one of the more fun harper rides that i've had in a long time. My buddy Tim Henry from Project 5 and I left my house at 6am to ride out to harper. Once we joined the harper ride we eventually ended up in a break together with Robert Krone of Team Mack. The three of us worked together pretty well and by the time we got to River Rd in algonquin, we had a lead of 2:15. Tim and i peeled off at that point to go home and left Robert to battle on his own. Now i read that at the end of the ride there was a crash that took out a couple of guys. The harper ride has seemed to be getting a little chippier since it has started to get so big. Maybe more on that later. In any case the ride has me feeling pretty good about racing next week.
Last week i had another reminder why I don't like riding on bike paths. Near the end of a ride I was on the trail and coming up on a section that has an s curve in it. As I approched the curve I could see thru the trees that someone was coming from the other direction. I slowed down to make sure i could negotiate the turn while staying on my side of the trail. Once thru the turn my worst fears were confirmed. About 30 feet in front of me was a guy on a department store mountain bike, wearing 80's era walkman headphones and thick glasses, staring up and to his left at the tress, and IN MY LANE! I yelled a warning to him which scared him so much I don't know how he kept his bike up. Insane.
I go to sleep now.
Last week i had another reminder why I don't like riding on bike paths. Near the end of a ride I was on the trail and coming up on a section that has an s curve in it. As I approched the curve I could see thru the trees that someone was coming from the other direction. I slowed down to make sure i could negotiate the turn while staying on my side of the trail. Once thru the turn my worst fears were confirmed. About 30 feet in front of me was a guy on a department store mountain bike, wearing 80's era walkman headphones and thick glasses, staring up and to his left at the tress, and IN MY LANE! I yelled a warning to him which scared him so much I don't know how he kept his bike up. Insane.
I go to sleep now.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Reason #3 not to use the bike path
I ride bike paths as little as possible. Usually only to get me somewhere fast or if there isn't a safe road to get me where I want to go.
Every day that I ride from home there is a hill that I have to climb up to the subdivision where I live. I would say that 2 or 3 times a year somebody passes me that just can't fathom why I would be on the road with there is a nice, wide, paved path right next to the road. The usually yell some form of expletive out the window surrounded by the words, "get on the" and "bike path."
I have several reasons for not being on the bike path but last week I got a new one. Mudslides.
It seems that all the rain, coupled with the 6 inches of snow we had last week was too much for the retaining wall on Huntington. Bricks and mud were all over the the bike path. It's been almost a week since it happened and crews came out to clean it up but no repairs have been made yet. I'm curious how long that will take.
Mudslides aside, there are two other, more often occurring, reasons for not using the bike path.
1) Debris: This for me is the main reason. There is always tons of junk all over the path. From glass, to sticks, to gravel, to garbage. All the stuff that was on the road gets blown on to the bike path.
2) Kids use the path: There have been multiple times that i have actually used the path and while I'm going up the hill some kids come flying down on their bikes or skateboards and almost hit me. Bottom line it's too dangerous to use the path.
An issue related to this is the use of bike lanes. Algonquin has been cool enough to build some of the streets wide enough to include either painted bike lanes or non painted lanes. The problem with this is the same as reason 1 above. There is always crap in these lanes. What's worse is when the village comes around to clean the streets, they lanes are worse off then before they cleaned them.
The other week I finally saw it with my own eyes. The street cleaner goes by and it's tank is full so out of the top, pouring down the side of the vehicle is the overflow of the tank, depositing all the crap that it cleaned off the road right onto the bike lane.
Anyway I think I'm done typing now. This is the long way to say that hey, we had a mudslide by my house last week.
That's all for now. Maybe someday I'll actually have a race report.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Snow?#%*@&!?????
For the second week in a row a great week of training has been interrupted by bad weather. This time it's actually snow. Freak!
That's all
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Wisconsin ride and First fitness test of the year
I was up in Eau Claire this weekend and I finally got a ride in on saturday morning during just about the only two hours that it didn't rain the whole time we were up there. I found a route on routeslip that was near our hotel. I detoured off the route to go up to Elk Mound. I almost didn't make it up to the top with my 21 cog cassette on. It was really tough.
After Elk Mound i returned to the route and all was fine until the road that was supposed to be the turnaround point was not just gravel but mud. I had to back track and find another way home. I made it back with about a half hour to spare before the downpour started again.
Back home today i did my first fitness test of the year. After warming up you do 5 miles on the trainer at what is for me 168-170 bpm. I did part of my warmup riding around the block with the kids, put the bike on the trainer in the garage and did the test while the kids washed their bikes. I have yet to compare the results but i'm interested to see where i'm at compared to this point in my training calander last year.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Best Recovery Ride Ever!
This week is supposed to be a rest and recovery week for me so I decided to do a nice easy ride on monday with my 7 year old son, Ryon. We did over 5 miles. We've set a goal this year of doing 10 miles. I'm thinking he'll have that done in no time.
The fun thing about the ride is coming back home we have a pretty good hill to climb. About a 1/4 of the way up we had to start walking. While walking up the hill some jr. high kids passed us on their bikes. Once over the hill we started riding again. After a couple of block we saw one of the kids up ahead and I said, "Ryon, I think we can catch him." Sure enough we caught and passed the kid. Ryon's first counter attack.
Anyway we had a total ball and the weather was awesome. Here are some pics.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
My name on Velonews.com
So I actually got my name posted on the Velonews.com website.
They've been running these website of the day features and were asking for suggestions. I sent them an email suggesting they feature World Bicycle Relief. Well they actually did it. Very cool.
So you can see the feature at here to fullfill my vain desires to see my name printed on a big website and then more importantly click on over to World Bicycle Relief to check them out.
They've been running these website of the day features and were asking for suggestions. I sent them an email suggesting they feature World Bicycle Relief. Well they actually did it. Very cool.
So you can see the feature at here to fullfill my vain desires to see my name printed on a big website and then more importantly click on over to World Bicycle Relief to check them out.
Monday, March 19, 2007
The day after
I woke up this morning pretty sore so I decided not to ride in to work this morning which meant no riding at all today. I guess that in the end is a good thing but I was really wishing i could ride home since it reached the 60's today and was very sunny.
The aching body parts are as follows:
The muscles on the left side of my neck are pretty sore. It must be some form of whiplash cause I didn't hit anything there.
Half way between my shoulder and my elbow i feel like somebody punched me.
My wrist is still sore but already seems to be feeling better.
I have a nice little contusion on my right thigh. It's more a bruise than anything else.
I have a very small nick on my right shin. Didn't even notice it until i was getting dressed this morning.
That's about it.
I actually rode around the block a few times with my son tonight and everything felt pretty good. The wrist is the source of the most pain. I will definately have to baby it on the bike for a couple of days.
I'll be riding tomorrow. Too bad it's only going to be 42 degrees.
The aching body parts are as follows:
The muscles on the left side of my neck are pretty sore. It must be some form of whiplash cause I didn't hit anything there.
Half way between my shoulder and my elbow i feel like somebody punched me.
My wrist is still sore but already seems to be feeling better.
I have a nice little contusion on my right thigh. It's more a bruise than anything else.
I have a very small nick on my right shin. Didn't even notice it until i was getting dressed this morning.
That's about it.
I actually rode around the block a few times with my son tonight and everything felt pretty good. The wrist is the source of the most pain. I will definately have to baby it on the bike for a couple of days.
I'll be riding tomorrow. Too bad it's only going to be 42 degrees.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Parkside #2 Masters 30+
Today we made what is now the yearly March trek up to Kenosha, WI for my first race of the season. Due to scheduling we decided the best race to do was the Masters 30+ race at 1:30pm. More and more I’m leaning towards doing the 30+ races. For the most part they seem a little calmer with less crashes (more on this later) so I was wanting to see how I would do in this race to see if I’m going to focus more on 30+ versus cat 3.
We arrived at 12:30 so I by the time I got registered, made a quick trip to McDonalds for the kids, and then got back and got the bike and myself ready I only had a half hour to warm up. After 2 seasons I’ve never settled on a warm up procedure. Sometimes I ride the trainer, others I just ride the roads. This time I opted for the roads. I spun around for about 20 minutes then headed back to the start finish. The previous race was running late so I headed back out for another 10 and then went back to the start. We watched the sprint for the 40+ race and then took our warmup lap.
I had read some reports from last week saying that the course was really rough. I don’t remember it being too bad last year but during the warmup I realized all the sealed cracks that run across the road sunk down a bit. This made for a jarring course.
I lined up with the 40 or 50 other riders and the race started. For the first few laps there were constant attempts of breakaways but the overall pace wasn’t too bad. I just tried to play it smart and hang in there. I kept myself in good position but tried not to jump at every attack like I sometimes tend to do.
About half way thru the race there was a group of 4 or 5 guys off the front. It seemed like it would be a good group to get up to since the ABR 30+ crit champion was in that group. Just as I was bridging up to that group, on the hill between turns 2 and 3, the supposed calmness of the 30+ racing was interrupted.
Now I still can’t explain how the 3rd guy in a 4 man paceline can just go down while going up a hill but he did. Next thing I knew there was a fellow human lying straight across the road right in front of me. I had no other option but to keep going. Translated that means my bike stopped when it hit his body and I kept going.
Well I guess my ninja skills came into play because I did a nice tuck and roll and landed on my right side. I got myself upright quick enough to see my bike still flipping around on the pavement. The next thought of course is please nobody hit me. Luckily nobody did.
I grabbed my bike, took the waterbottle and threw it in disgust. I had to twist my handlebars back and my left shifter was bent in. I then checked my front and rear wheels and everything seemed fine. Just as I was hopping back on the bike I saw my water bottle that I threw. I decided to go grab it. It was a good thing cause I realized that in the crash I lost my other bottle.
As I rode the backside of the course my intention was just to get back to the start and then call it a day. But then I remembered the free lap rule. I bolted for the start/finish and went ahead and swapped out my front wheel. I didn’t need to but I wasn’t sure what the actual rule was so I just wanted to make sure I could get my free lap.
There was 3 of us who got a free lap and as the field went by we jumped back in. The rest of the race I just tried to keep in a good position and be ready for the sprint. I wasn’t expecting anything out of myself for the final sprint since I haven’t even done one sprint yet this year. Sure enough I got myself in a good spot going into the last turn and then started the sprint. I managed an 11th place.
Overall I’m very happy with the result. I could’ve done without the crash. The bike seems to be just fine but my wrist is pretty sore and the hip is bruised. Hopefully I’ll be back on the bike tomorrow or Tuesday.
Thanks for reading.
Ron
I had read some reports from last week saying that the course was really rough. I don’t remember it being too bad last year but during the warmup I realized all the sealed cracks that run across the road sunk down a bit. This made for a jarring course.
I lined up with the 40 or 50 other riders and the race started. For the first few laps there were constant attempts of breakaways but the overall pace wasn’t too bad. I just tried to play it smart and hang in there. I kept myself in good position but tried not to jump at every attack like I sometimes tend to do.
About half way thru the race there was a group of 4 or 5 guys off the front. It seemed like it would be a good group to get up to since the ABR 30+ crit champion was in that group. Just as I was bridging up to that group, on the hill between turns 2 and 3, the supposed calmness of the 30+ racing was interrupted.
Now I still can’t explain how the 3rd guy in a 4 man paceline can just go down while going up a hill but he did. Next thing I knew there was a fellow human lying straight across the road right in front of me. I had no other option but to keep going. Translated that means my bike stopped when it hit his body and I kept going.
Well I guess my ninja skills came into play because I did a nice tuck and roll and landed on my right side. I got myself upright quick enough to see my bike still flipping around on the pavement. The next thought of course is please nobody hit me. Luckily nobody did.
I grabbed my bike, took the waterbottle and threw it in disgust. I had to twist my handlebars back and my left shifter was bent in. I then checked my front and rear wheels and everything seemed fine. Just as I was hopping back on the bike I saw my water bottle that I threw. I decided to go grab it. It was a good thing cause I realized that in the crash I lost my other bottle.
As I rode the backside of the course my intention was just to get back to the start and then call it a day. But then I remembered the free lap rule. I bolted for the start/finish and went ahead and swapped out my front wheel. I didn’t need to but I wasn’t sure what the actual rule was so I just wanted to make sure I could get my free lap.
There was 3 of us who got a free lap and as the field went by we jumped back in. The rest of the race I just tried to keep in a good position and be ready for the sprint. I wasn’t expecting anything out of myself for the final sprint since I haven’t even done one sprint yet this year. Sure enough I got myself in a good spot going into the last turn and then started the sprint. I managed an 11th place.
Overall I’m very happy with the result. I could’ve done without the crash. The bike seems to be just fine but my wrist is pretty sore and the hip is bruised. Hopefully I’ll be back on the bike tomorrow or Tuesday.
Thanks for reading.
Ron
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The eagle flys
So today was a beautiful day. I had to ride to crystal lake to pick up my car from the shop but I took a detour out around union, IL as well as stopping by Wheelworks to get my wheel trued up. Coming back from Union i saw something i've never seen in these parts. A bald eagle. I first saw it flying to my right. It was big black bird with a white tail. I thought it looked like an eagle but I couldn't see it's head. It then turned to the left and when behind a barn and once it came out from behind the barn and crossed the road 50ft in front of me it was plain to see it was indeed an eagle. That's one of the things i love about riding. You never know what your going to see.
It hit 73 degrees today. Incredible. Even more so since they tell us that we will have snow flurries by thursday night. I'm going to take tomorrow off and then hopefully be able to commute to work on thursday and friday. Most likely I won't be able to ride at all on Saturday, and then race on sunday. The countdown begins.
It hit 73 degrees today. Incredible. Even more so since they tell us that we will have snow flurries by thursday night. I'm going to take tomorrow off and then hopefully be able to commute to work on thursday and friday. Most likely I won't be able to ride at all on Saturday, and then race on sunday. The countdown begins.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Training in full swing
Well I've finally begun to feel like the cycling season is upon me. The last couple of weeks have been great. I've started riding the commute to work 3 days a week as well as getting at least one long ride in a week.
On thursday when i left home it was 24 degrees out. I actually made it ok. It was sunny and not very windy so I didn't get too cold. Right now it is 60 out. Things are looking up although it is supposed to get cold again by thursday.
My first race is scheduled for sunday. It's gonna be cold with a high of only 40. It's right near lake michigan so there's usually a pretty good breeze. It'll be nippy.
On thursday when i left home it was 24 degrees out. I actually made it ok. It was sunny and not very windy so I didn't get too cold. Right now it is 60 out. Things are looking up although it is supposed to get cold again by thursday.
My first race is scheduled for sunday. It's gonna be cold with a high of only 40. It's right near lake michigan so there's usually a pretty good breeze. It'll be nippy.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Outside ride today! / Tour of California
Well I've actually been a little sad about the warming temps because this winter i built a backyard ice rink and the whole family has had such a blast with it. Today temps were supposed to hit the 40's so I got my bike fixed up for the road and took it out. It turned out to be a beautiful day. It was right around 40 degrees and just as I started riding the clouds moved out so I had clear sky's the whole ride. You can see the route here. I took my time and really enjoyed it. The legs are stiff but little by little they are coming back.
I've been watching the coverage of the tour of california. It's been pretty great so far. I have to say the technology surrounding this race is incredible. I had 2 computers going watching the live coverage. On one i had the Amgen Tour Tracker showing live video with route and race descriptions overlayed. On the other computer I had Google Earth opened with CSC's live gps tracking on. It was pretty cool. At one point it looked like Levi Leipheimer had thown his transmitter out because it stopped moving with the field.
The Amgen site is quite amazing. I'm even finding more crazy things now.
Later
I've been watching the coverage of the tour of california. It's been pretty great so far. I have to say the technology surrounding this race is incredible. I had 2 computers going watching the live coverage. On one i had the Amgen Tour Tracker showing live video with route and race descriptions overlayed. On the other computer I had Google Earth opened with CSC's live gps tracking on. It was pretty cool. At one point it looked like Levi Leipheimer had thown his transmitter out because it stopped moving with the field.
The Amgen site is quite amazing. I'm even finding more crazy things now.
Later
Sunday, February 11, 2007
I am training...really
So i actually started my 2007 program this week. I've done 5 indoor trainer rides in my basement this week, watching cycling dvd's on my little tv. This weeks selections have been 2004 Paris-Roubaix, 2004 Amstel Gold, 2004 Leige, 2004 Paris-Nice, and the 2004 Criterium Intl.
Last night I did 1 1/2 hours on the trainer. It gets pretty boring but I have a lot of work to do. Here's some proof.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
VO2max Test
Well 3 months of not really doing any training showed this morning as I went to the Gatorade Sports Science Institute for a VO2max test. After warming up for 10 minutes on the bike you start at 100 watts for 3 minutes, then 200 watts for 3 minutes, 300 watts for 3 minutes then 400 for 1 minute followed by 25 watt increases every minute.
The whole test you have your nose plugged and you are breathing into a tube. The machine measures how much oxygen you use. By 400 watts I was starting to suffer and my cadence was dropping. When they switched it to 425 watts it became really hard and my mouthpiece came off the machine and I had to stop pedaling. I tried to restart but I was just pedaling squares. I couldn't keep it going so I stopped. It came out to 45.2 ml/kg. Not high enough to get into the study this time.
Both scientists told me that I was very close and that in a couple of months they will be doing another study and that I should be able to score high enough after being back into training for a bit.
Though I'm dissappointed, i am glad that they will be doing another study in a couple of months because I was already wishing this study wasn't so soon because of the off season I've had.
In the midst of all this, training did start for me this week. It's back to the grind but I'm actually looking forward to it. I have a lot of work to do. I gained a bunch of weight but mentally I really needed the break that i had.
Until next time
The whole test you have your nose plugged and you are breathing into a tube. The machine measures how much oxygen you use. By 400 watts I was starting to suffer and my cadence was dropping. When they switched it to 425 watts it became really hard and my mouthpiece came off the machine and I had to stop pedaling. I tried to restart but I was just pedaling squares. I couldn't keep it going so I stopped. It came out to 45.2 ml/kg. Not high enough to get into the study this time.
Both scientists told me that I was very close and that in a couple of months they will be doing another study and that I should be able to score high enough after being back into training for a bit.
Though I'm dissappointed, i am glad that they will be doing another study in a couple of months because I was already wishing this study wasn't so soon because of the off season I've had.
In the midst of all this, training did start for me this week. It's back to the grind but I'm actually looking forward to it. I have a lot of work to do. I gained a bunch of weight but mentally I really needed the break that i had.
Until next time
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Welcome to 2007
This week is actually the beginning of my 2007 campaign. Today it is about 0 degrees F and it's been too cold to even skate on the backyard rink i built this year.
After the end of last season I've taken the longest break from cycling that i've had since I dug my bike from under the pile of junk 4 years ago. I've taken the customary month break every year but this year was different. I had the goal of trying to lose some weight before the end of the year so after my last race in august I kept riding, doing long lower intensity rides in an effort to lose a fair amount of weight before the holidays.
Just after my birthday I had to stop. I really needed a break. My body was telling me to stop. My head wasn't in it anymore so I abandonded that plan and put the bike away...for 3 months!
It wasn't my intention at the start but after 4 weeks I had no desire to get the thing back out. We even had great weather and I could have gotten alot of outdoor riding in but I couldn't do it.
Finally in the middle of January I put my training and race schedule together. This season is going to be different than last year. I am focusing on different races and will be peaking much later than last year. By march of last year i was flying. My first objective was the Burlington RR on memorial day weekend. This year my first target is not till july. I'm going to be doing a long slow buildup to superweek.
Although i haven't ridden much the last couple of months I have been doing some other stuff. My son started taking hockey lessons and so I've been at the rink a bit. I've found that I can go skating before work and get a great workout in and it's pretty intense. Each time i've been nearing my max heart rate. It was refreshing to be doing something different for a while.
I also had a flareup of my herniated disc in my lower back. It actually happend in the middle of october but after getting better it got worse again in december. I finally broke down and got some drugs from the doctor and am finally getting that under control again.
There's also been another development on the Gatorade side of things. I am in their athelete pool and got an invitation to participate in a cycling specific study. This is what i was hoping for when i signed up last year. Tomorrow I go in to have a Vo2max test done. This alone is pretty cool. This is where you breath into a mask while riding till you can't ride anymore.
If i score high enough on this test I get to come back and do a Lactate Threshold(LT) test. This is where they check your blood levels while you ride till you can't ride anymore. If I score high enough on that I'm in the study.
The study is pretty intense. 3 3hour sessions. You ride for 2 hours right below your LT and then after 2 hours you ride a 20k time trial. I'm actually really excited about this and hoping I can make it in. It's actually a few hundred dollars worth of tests done for free. It would be great.
I'm only wishing that it was a few weeks later after I'd been riding a little bit but I'll take it whenever.
Well that's all for now. Stay tuned for the report on my Vo2max test.
After the end of last season I've taken the longest break from cycling that i've had since I dug my bike from under the pile of junk 4 years ago. I've taken the customary month break every year but this year was different. I had the goal of trying to lose some weight before the end of the year so after my last race in august I kept riding, doing long lower intensity rides in an effort to lose a fair amount of weight before the holidays.
Just after my birthday I had to stop. I really needed a break. My body was telling me to stop. My head wasn't in it anymore so I abandonded that plan and put the bike away...for 3 months!
It wasn't my intention at the start but after 4 weeks I had no desire to get the thing back out. We even had great weather and I could have gotten alot of outdoor riding in but I couldn't do it.
Finally in the middle of January I put my training and race schedule together. This season is going to be different than last year. I am focusing on different races and will be peaking much later than last year. By march of last year i was flying. My first objective was the Burlington RR on memorial day weekend. This year my first target is not till july. I'm going to be doing a long slow buildup to superweek.
Although i haven't ridden much the last couple of months I have been doing some other stuff. My son started taking hockey lessons and so I've been at the rink a bit. I've found that I can go skating before work and get a great workout in and it's pretty intense. Each time i've been nearing my max heart rate. It was refreshing to be doing something different for a while.
I also had a flareup of my herniated disc in my lower back. It actually happend in the middle of october but after getting better it got worse again in december. I finally broke down and got some drugs from the doctor and am finally getting that under control again.
There's also been another development on the Gatorade side of things. I am in their athelete pool and got an invitation to participate in a cycling specific study. This is what i was hoping for when i signed up last year. Tomorrow I go in to have a Vo2max test done. This alone is pretty cool. This is where you breath into a mask while riding till you can't ride anymore.
If i score high enough on this test I get to come back and do a Lactate Threshold(LT) test. This is where they check your blood levels while you ride till you can't ride anymore. If I score high enough on that I'm in the study.
The study is pretty intense. 3 3hour sessions. You ride for 2 hours right below your LT and then after 2 hours you ride a 20k time trial. I'm actually really excited about this and hoping I can make it in. It's actually a few hundred dollars worth of tests done for free. It would be great.
I'm only wishing that it was a few weeks later after I'd been riding a little bit but I'll take it whenever.
Well that's all for now. Stay tuned for the report on my Vo2max test.
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