Suffer Fest

Around this same time every year it is customary to look back on the year that was and make resolutions for the upcoming year.  For many of us one of those resolutions comes in some form of living a healthier lifestyle.  Gym memberships will go through the roof and then by the end of January, 55-60% of them will stop being used.

This time last year, I was one who had stopped racing and therefore was lacking the motivation to just ride.  I had lost the desire and couldn't find the fun factor in racing so I found new hobbies.  Those new hobbies left my competitive side feeling unfulfilled.   I got back on the bike with a goal in mind.  I was going to attend a 12 hour race in Ohio and then possibly more after that if I enjoyed it.  I did enjoy it but I didn't do any other races the rest of the year.

Here we are and once again I am looking to set some goals for the upcoming year.  I have spent the last couple of days researching and debating which races I want to attend this year and which ones I do not.  I am beginning to narrow down the list but it looks like I will need to do some riding this year in order to accomplish them.

Instead of waiting for Jan 1 to come around like I did last year, I took the opportunity to do a fitness test last night.  With it being late (I actually kept Jenn from going to bed until I was done) I popped in the Spinerval Vol 27 Threshold Test / Suffer Fest.  The workout started with a couple of hard intervals before doing a 20 minute time trial at your threshold.

My legs felt stronger than I expected them to but my cardio just couldn't keep up.  It took no time for my heart rate to go into a zone 5 and it didn't leave it for the 20 minutes.  I am encouraged I was able to keep my cadence nearly the same for the entire test without changing gears.  Although I wasn't expecting great results from this first test with all the time off of the bike I have had in the last 6 months, I am expecting to learn a lot about my fitness levels as my training progresses.  I am going to do this test every 6 weeks throughout the year.  Hopefully it begins to become less of a complete suffer fest.

New sensor

Be careful of what you ask...

The Christmas season is always my favorite season of the year.  It is full of good food and a never ending supply of family.  Sadly most of them we haven't seen since the last holiday season.  Earlier in the month as I was putting up the lights outside and decorating the yard, I made the comment that we were the Griswald's in training.  Jenn didn't really like the idea of me turning the house into a tacky light tour stop but the decorations continue to grow each year.

As most of you will remember during nothing seemed to go right for the Griswalds in the movie.  That was not the sort of Christmas I was asking for when I said we were in training.  I just wanted our house to glow like theirs but it is exactly what we got.

When we awoke yesterday morning, we did so to a heating unit which would not turn on.  Lucky for us we live in a house built in the early 80's which still have the original windows which do anything but keep the inside temp in and outside out because it was 35 outside and 52 and dropping inside.  After not being able to figure out a quick fix we just decided we would worry about it later and head over for Christmas breakfast.  We weren't going to take the pups but we didn't want to strand them in the cold house all day so they jumped in the back and headed out with us.

Once we arrived, Sage decided he was going to go lap surfing and ran across the laps of 3 unsuspecting family members before getting to our Grandpa who was drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper.  A split second later, the coffee is in his crotch and Sage is running for his life.

Moments later, our darling Petra is running around the living room with a poo covered elastic band hanging from here rear.  She had torn up a pair of my old sweatpants about a week earlier and it was finally ready to pass it.  Outside we ran followed by a lot of gagging.

After that things seemed to calm down and bit and the only thing we weren't sure of was the heat situation back at the house.  I was really hoping we would be able to return home and find a fuse blown or a reset button which needed to be hit up in the attic which we didn't have the time to check for before breakfast.  Once home Dad came over and we crawled up to the attic.  Sure enough one of the fuses on the inside unit had gone bad.  Now the living room was being heated by a few space heaters we took from our parent's houses.  I could finally relax.

Once I sat down I decided to balance the old checkbook since we had done a lot of spending the last couple of days.  Now, I'm upset because to the list of everything which had already gone wrong yesterday, I can now add identity theft.  A quick phone call to the bank has my account on hold while they investigate.

Luckily nothing else happened as I was able to just lay around for the rest of the evening and watch tv before falling to sleep. This morning I reflect back and I am extremely thankful for all the love and support we have in our life.  I am also thankful Dad just brought us a new fuse for the heat!  Merry Christmas everyone!

Tuesday Night Track Run

Just like most Tuesday nights I tagged along with Jenn to her workout with the EF crew.  Once we arrived we found the track in less than prime condition.  It was still covered in an icy slush and where it wasn't icy it was soft like peanut butter.  Now because I am not part of the team I usually do my own thing while Jenn works out with the team and coaches.   They took the party off into a neighborhood across the street and I stayed on the track.

A big part of me thought it was not a great idea to run in such conditions.  My biggest fear was slipping on the ice and falling.  I was also worried about how my knees would like running on such unvaried terrain.  Since I was there I decided to go ahead and put in the work while I had a slight bit of motivation to endure the cold.  I was glad to see my lungs didn't mind the cold and my knees held up to the challenge. 

My hip flexors however didn't fare so well.  Once they begun to hurt a bit I eased up finished the mile I was on and then walked a lap before I started to stretch.  My flexibility was once described as slightly better than a steel bar so I am not sure why my hips hurt me to the point where I cannot sleep the night following a run.  One of these days I will have to start listening to my body as it wants to react differently to the abuses as it is getting older.

The Performance Enhancer of the Future?

 A conversation with a Team in Training teammate last night about stretching sent me looking for the link to the article I re-posted here back in October.  Not only did I find it, but I also found another article which was just posted on Wired.com about a future performance enhancer which I found quite interesting.

The Next Sports Performance-Enhancement Fad? Blood Pressure Cuffs

• By Brian Mossop
• December 17, 2010

Forget illicit drugs and questionable supplements. New research suggests that a small, constrictive band that wraps around an athlete’s arms or legs may lead the next wave of performance-enhancing fads in competitive sports.
A study published this month in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise demonstrated that highly trained swimmers that used a blood pressure cuff to restrict blood flow to their arms a few minutes before maximum-effort time trials improved their performance in a 100-meter race by 0.7 seconds. The study team was led by Greg Wells and Andrew Redington at the the University of Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.
So, in just a few minutes’ time and with minimal effort, athletes were able to significantly boost their performance, making gains that — according to the authors — would normally take an average of two years of intense training to accomplish.
The study builds off research first conducted in the 1980s by cardiovascular pioneer Keith Reimer that examined infarcts, areas of dead cardiac tissue that resulted after heart attacks, when blood flow (and, hence, oxygen) were cut off for extended periods of time. Reimer and his colleagues discovered that much less heart muscle deteriorated when the tissue had previously experienced a few training sessions where blood flow was slightly reduced.
It was as if practice makes perfect, and the previous bouts of low blood flow, which researchers refer to as ischemic preconditioning, primed the heart muscle to endure more serious, even catastrophic, events. When a life-threatening heart attack transpired, instead of shriveling away, the preconditioned heart muscle seemed to stand strong.
In 2009, a research team led by Maria Hopman from Radbound University in the Netherlands posed a question: If Reimer’s team was able to use ischemic preconditioning to protect the cardiac muscle during a heart attack, would the technique protect different types of muscle tissue from the stress and damage that occurs during another type of ischemic event, like exercise?
Though immensely different than a heart attack, exercise is technically an ischemic event, as athletic performance hinges on how much blood reaches a tissue. And insufficient blood flow, which also translates to reduced oxygen and nutrient delivery, can be one factor that limits exercise duration and intensity.
Hopman recruited 15 healthy, trained cyclists, asking each participant to complete two maximum effort bicycling tests, where the intensity was slowly ramped up over time. But before one of the bicycling tests, the subjects underwent three 5-minute rounds where an inflatable cuff, similar to what’s used to measure blood pressure, limited the circulation to their legs, followed by a five-minute rest period where the cuff was deflated.
The researchers found that the subjects performed better when they underwent ischemic preconditioning before the exercise trial, touting gains in both maximum power (1.6 percent) and peak oxygen consumption (3 percent).
Yet, the performance improvements were not due to differences in heart rate, respiration or lactate levels, all of which seemed to stay the same, regardless if ischemic preconditioning was used or not. Rather, it seemed possible that the ischemic preconditioning treatment may have given the participants their edge.
While Hopman’s work recorded the benefits conferred to the average athlete, the latest research from Wells and Redington pushes the understanding of ischemic preconditioning one step further, looking at whether the technique works in elite athletes, a group whose bodies run with machine-like efficiency.
Using a group of 16 to 18 swimmers who previously competed at the national or international level, the research team devised a double-blind crossover study where the same athletes swam mid-intensity and maximum-effort trials, but on two different days.
To counterbalance one of the main criticisms of the earlier studies conducted by Hopman — that the study design potentially allowed the placebo effect to creep in, inadvertently making participants try harder when they had an inflatable cuff strapped to their legs preceding exercise — Wells and Redington decided to alter their protocol: On both days of the experiment, a cuff would be inflated on every athlete’s arm. On one day, to induce ischemic preconditioning, the cuff would be pumped up enough to surpass the systolic blood pressure, slowing the flow of blood to the arms for four cycles of five minutes. The other day, the cuff was still inflated, but only enough to slightly squeeze the muscles for each 5-minute period, which provided a better sham, or control condition, than Hopman used.


Yet it seems that ischemic preconditioning is not a placebo effect at all. Similar to the Hopman’s findings in average, healthy volunteers, Wells and Redington found that when elite athletes used ischemic preconditioning before the maximum-effort trials, they swam faster. In fact, the athletes bettered their personal records by 1.1 percent on average.
And just as Hopman observed, the performance boost was not a result of heart rate or blood lactate-level differences. Consequently, ischemic preconditioning had no effect on the less rigorous, mid-intensity trials.
All of the researchers investigating ischemic preconditioning seem to agree that temporarily reducing the blood flow to a tissue causes protective molecules to be released into the bloodstream. But many are still scratching their heads as to why.
Hopman thinks ischemic preconditioning may cause vessels to dilate once blood starts flowing again, increasing nutrient and oxygen delivery to the formerly deprived tissue. Wells and Redington, on the other hand, think altered metabolism of mitochondria — the energy powerhouses of muscle cells — may contribute to more energy available for exercise.

Though the exact mechanism of ischemic preconditioning may not be known, it hasn’t stopped researchers from commercializing their discovery. On the published paper from Wells and Redington’s lab, a few of the study’s co-authors are listed as shareholders in a company called CellAegis, whose website says it is patenting “non-invasive technology to protect the heart from injury during heart attacks and medical/surgical procedures.”
And U.S. patent application 20100292619, co-assigned to the Hospital for Sick Children and CellAegis and processed last month, lists Andrew Redington as an inventor on a new device (seen above) that uses “methods for enhancing physical performance without requiring repetitive training,” with claims that ischemic preconditioning can be used to enhance maximal performance in physical activity.
If further research validates the findings from Hopman’s lab and the work of Wells and Redington, a new era of performance-enhancing devices could soon hit the market. And once again, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will have to decide what to do with these devices.
The controversy around ischemic preconditioning devices could prove eerily reminiscent of the debate surrounding altitude training tents in 2006. WADA initially viewed these tents, which simulate a low-oxygen, or hypoxic, environment, as unsportsmanlike, since they required “no investment of skill or effort beyond entering a room or tent, donning a mask and flipping a switch.”
WADA eventually granted their use, no doubt at least partly due to the difficulty in enforcing such a ban.
Humans are fast approaching their physical limits. And as more research unfolds and inventions emerge, biology may have to nestle into its secondary role in sports. At least for now, it seems that technology is in the driver’s seat.

Image: Flickr/jasleen_kaur, CC

 The Mayne Event with Buffalo Bills Safety Bryan Scott

 Welcome to the Holidays!

 The Holidays aren't the Holidays without egg nog.

 They were outside before Jenn got home.

Griswald's in the making...

 

Our first of many trees from an actual lot

The drive...

It seems as if I have been posting about motivation and where I can find it more and more in the last couple of months.  For me, I have to have a goal in order to fire up the good ole motivation train.  Since I haven't had any real goals this year other than in the Spring, it has been a constant struggle.  But once the train is rolling, everyone who knows me has learned to either jump on or get out of the way because there is no stopping it.

This past weekend, I had the privilege of being the "personal paparazzi stalker" for Jenn as she ran her first half marathon.  Now I believe wholeheartedly things happen for a reason.  A reason none of us will know until after the "thing" is over and done with and we have time to reflect.  In reflecting back on this past year it is really appearant just how hard she has been training this year for all of tris and now this.  She was able to finish within 2 minutes of her goal time!  Watching her run with a smile on her face each time she saw me or one of her friends made me wonder if it were time to give running another go.

I gave up running back in high school because I didn't have time to do it between all of my other sporting activities and my knees weren't tolerating it anymore.  Today that seems like just another excuse to sit on the couch all winter and put on more weight than I already have.  This weekend Jenn and I are going shoe shopping so I can get rid of the excuses and start being active once again.  Between now and then I will be deciding on the Spring goals and whether they will be on the bike or on foot.  If my body can take the beating, my gut says it will be on foot. Either way you can rest assured I will be pounding the pavement in some fashion or another.

  My motivator!

Planes Trains and Automobiles

Saturday morning Jenn asked if I wanted to ride out in the Varina area as a nice change of scenery from the now traditional Saturday morning ride for her and her teammates.  After meeting up with Dale, John and the Masta of Spin, we headed out from the boat landing through the battlefield.  I was really hoping the tree color would be changing through the battlefield as it always really pretty through there in the fall months. 

The ride went relatively uneventful except we did have to wait a few minutes at a railroad crossing up near the airport.  While we waited we watched a handful of planes take off over our heads before deciding to just turn around and find another way around.  Out and backs are the worst rides ever in my opinion but thankfully I was able to recall a way back without having to backtrack all the way to the cars.

Last night, Jenn and I headed out to Westcreek for our Tuesday night workouts.  Jenn ran for 40 minutes while I took laps around the Creek.  Nothing really of note from last nights ride except it was terribly unseasonably humid and my burps tasted like jalapeno cheese dip.

Where does it go?

Where oh where does the time go to? It doesn't feel as if it was over two weeks ago since I last wrote a short blurb of nonsense. Two things have happened since. The first being more saddle time and the second being the days are getting much shorter. In order to get the rides in, I have been riding home from work this week. I was successful in making that happen 3 of the 5 days I worked this week. There would have been a fourth day but mother nature finally agreed that Richmond smelled funny and needed a good shower.

Yesterday, I decided I was going to take the long way home which meant a climb up Old Gun. It also meant I was going to have to dig out the lights as Monday's ride home ended with me racing the moon.



Below is the map and details from the long route. My legs felt pretty good except on Old Gun. The climbing legs and lungs just aren't there yet. I hope to be making that ride more and more throughout the next couple of months. Cold air and climbs are sure to feel good.

Stretching hurts

Ever since I can remember I have never been one to enjoy stretching exercises.  Even when playing organized sports growing up with a coach standing over top of us, I would fake the stretch because it always felt as if I tired faster when I stretched.  Even to this day when I see other people stretching before exercising I wonder how it is they do it and often enough they wonder how I don't do it.  Today I came across a study recently published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research which says that static stretching does more harm than good.  Here is the article which was written for Wired on the subject.

Seems that most everything your high school gym teacher told you is wrong. Well, at least when it comes to all that start-of-the-class stretching.
A recent spate of studies shows that when it comes to warming up before exercising, phys ed instructors didn’t do us any favors by having us to go through a series of calf extensions, hurdler’s stretches and the like.
The latest salvo against stretching comes from a study published in the September issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, which found that static stretching before a workout lowered runners’ endurance and made their body less efficient. While previous studies have illustrated the effects of stretching on anaerobic activities, this was the first one to show the effects on runners.
The study took 10 fit middle- and long-distance runners (all male) and had each of them do the same run on two separate days with a 72-hour recovery period in between. The researchers divided the run into two 30-minute parts, with the first testing for caloric expenditure and the second assessing endurance. One day a participant did a stretching routine before running; on the other, he simply sat quietly prior to his workout.
During the first interval, participants ran at 65 percent of their VO2 max, keeping a constant pace. The researchers found that when the runners stretched before the workout, they burned, on average, 5 percent more calories during the run than when they didn’t stretch. Because they burned more energy to run the same distance it indicates their bodies performed less efficiently after stretching. For the second half, participants were told to run as far as they could on the treadmill for 30 minutes. When the runners didn’t stretch, they went 3.4 percent farther than when they did.

Despite the rising tide of evidence that discredits the benefits of static stretching, the perception remains that it’s necessary to do prior to working out. “Just asking runners, they seem to think stretching would enhance performance,” said study co-author Jacob Wilson, an assistant professor of exercise science and sports studies at the University of Tampa. “The thought is that if you can loosen up and you feel looser, you can perform better.”
But looser isn’t better. “When you’re lifting a weight, most of the damage comes when you’re lengthening the muscle, and it’s similar when you’re stretching,” Wilson said. “You’re stretching the muscle and you do get microtearing and you’re making the muscle less stiff too, so you’re not able to store and utilize energy as well.”
We’ve grown up believing stretching wasn’t just about improving performance, but about injury prevention as well. However a 2005 meta-analysis of past stretching studies found that it didn’t meaningfully reduce soreness or injury.
Yet the effects of stretching go beyond muscles, tendons and ligaments. When we do our toe touches or hurdler’s stretches, “we lose neural control, and that’s important because neurologically, before an event we want the muscles and nervous system to be able to fire the muscle in a smooth sequence,” said Phil Wharton, a leading strength and flexibility trainer whose roster of athletes includes Lopez Lomong and 2004 Olympic silver medal-winning marathoner Meb Keflezgighi. “That diminishes when you’re holding position.”
Wharton has forsaken static stretching altogether for the athletes he trains. Instead, he uses active stretches, which are range-of-motion exercises designed to warm up the muscles and joints prior to a workout and improve flexibility when used after exercise. But he cautions that people should proceed carefully when working the active stretches into their routines.
“People think a little bit is good and so maybe a lot is better, but with range of motion it’s not the case,” Wharton said. “You need to use a progression and build into it slowly as your body warms up.”


Read More http://www.wired.com/playbook/2010/10/forget-pre-exercise-stretching/#ixzz11jxCFx4J

Climbing the Crabtree

This weekend Jenn and I were able to get of town to celebrate our first anniversary.  Time has really flown by as it is hard for both of us to believe it has been a full year already.  We decided to stay in a bed and breakfast about 30 minutes south of Charlottesville.  Saturday we climbed Crabtree Falls, the tallest waterfall East of the Mississippi River.  Today we spent the day touring Monticello and then the rest of the day was spent at the Apple Festival up on Carters Mountain. Click the photo below to be taken to the magical world of all the photos ...

Crabtree Falls - 1st Anniversary

Would you order Thai food from a place that looked like this while in Nelson county VA? We did and it put Richmond area Thai restaurants to shame.  We watched as only the freshest ingredients were chopped and prepared to order as if we were making it at home.  Best part is we have leftovers to bring home!

Do not pass go

Yesterday was the first time in quite awhile which I have had both the opportunity and desire to ride home from work in a very long time.  I was able to use the new Garmin Edge 500 which my loving wife gave to me for our upcoming 1 year anniversary which will be taking place one week from Saturday.  Below is the route and details from the Garmin Connect page.  Although is a relative boring ride to look at the details for I am excited to be able to post the information of some more exciting ones like where ever I ride tomorrow.  I have the day off and will either get a ride in by myself or maybe jump in on a RABA ride in the afternoon.  Time will tell.

I may ride tonight, I may not. Only time will tell. But if I do, I should be nicely fueled thanks to dinner last night.

Chicken and Peppers soaking it up in a Spicy Orange Marinade

Spicy Orange Chicken served with rice and a nice side salad

Reasons

Everyone has their own personal reasons why they enjoy to ride. One of those reasons for me is, I love to eat. Not only do I love to eat but the whole process of putting together a delicious meal really relaxes me. Last night, err yesterday afternoon (I turned it into an all afternoon affair by making a plate and walking out of the kitchen.) I decided to put some of the thoughts of dishes in my head into bowls and then onto a plate.

Started with a Curried flavored Potato Salad. Looks like mush in the photo but tasted wonderful.

Not my beverage of choice but it does help to get my wood wet in a pinch. Cedar was the choice of the night.

Pork Loin rubbed with a fresh herb rub and a little bit of love.

The Loin was pulled off at exactly 155 degrees allowed to rest for 5 and topped with a freshly made Pineapple Salsa.

And here it all is, plated up. One of these days I will either upgrade the lighting in the kitchen or stop being so lazy and get out the real camera and stop using my phone. The photos just don't do the colors justice.

Now that I am fueled, I will be riding tonight at Westcreek once again as we always do on Tuesdays. Maybe another night of hill sprints? Who knows really ...

Sprinting through last week

Wow, so it has been awhile since I was able to sit down and share some of my thoughts of the whats happenings in the chaotic life of Twan. The last couple of weeks haven't been the smoothest which has lead to the silence.

I was still suffering from a lack of motivation to ride. This has become quite normal unfortunately when I do not have a goal in mind. This changed with a simple email from the Masta of Spin. He too was searching for the kick in the butt to get back out there and wanted to know if I would be interested in punishing my lungs and legs while doing an offroad hill climb race. A couple of back and forth jabs and we are both looking forward to partaking in the event. Once registration opens up I will be able to officially confirm my attendance but until then I will deny everything as usual.

Monday, I cruised home from work on Le Antique and Tuesday brought some fun out at Westcreek while Jenn was lumping together 3 different workouts with the Endorphin crew. I decided to start training with some intervals, mainly hill sprints. I made up my mind I wasn't going to stop riding until Jenn was done. Usually I stop about 15 minutes prior so I can load up the car to ensure a prompt departure and on time arrival to the local Chick-fil-a. My legs were upset at me for that effort for 3 days as I totaled, 30 miles worth of hill sprints and 6 "cool down" miles.

The list of electronics of mine which have broken/stopped working has continued to grew. First, my computer/heart rate monitor decided it no longer wanted to turn on. I thought it might have been throwing a hissy fit and refusing to turn on until my legs decided they were going to put out some power again but alas, no. I still get nothing. Then last night, I got out of my car and went to slide my embelical cord to the world into my pocket and it took a 34" fall straight to the ground. The touchscreen has a nice floral display made of cracks in it now.

This week is going to be full of riding and good eating. I have had a couple of ideas to try my hand at making my own bbq sauce and attempting a new technique of grilling or two. But not at the same time.

Last week started off really well. I stayed dry for the most part on the commute home on Monday and had another ride scheduled for Tuesday night. That ride took place and was going well until, my eye had the unfortunate experience of meeting up with a gnat at speed. No problem right? When I lifted my sunglasses, there was sweating pooling at the bottom of the lens which got blown directly into the eye as well which stung like no other. Shortly there after, I could tell something was wrong with my right eye as it started to feel extremely irritated.

At its worst it would be about 3 shades of red deeper

The eye didn't heal by Friday which was the day I had planned on doing a quick metric with Wiggins around Lake Chesdin. Instead I found myself on the phone arguing with receptionists and insurance reps. Once all squared, the Doc took a quick look, "That gnat sure did a number on your cornea" he said. He advised me not to wear contacts until it cleared up, wrote me a new prescription for glasses and sent me on my merry way.

I haven't shopped for glasses in about 6 years so I took the time and tried on A LOT of different glasses. Shopping with me on Friday had to have been worse than shopping with any girl except I never asked "Do these jeans made my ass look big?" Instead it was a broken record, "What about these? These? What do you think?" All used way too many times. In the end I went with a pair which shouldn't be of much surprise to anyone, but with the new glasses I could definitely tell my ass is getting bigger.

Oakley whore above!

Saturday morning, had a two a day planned. Jenn was at the river with some old girlfriends and I had free reign to do whatever I wanted. Road ride through Ashland in the morning and then Metro had talked me into breaking out the B.U.S.S. for a ride at the Scout Camp in the evening. Which btw there is a little 18 hour race there each year if you didn't know already. Sign up now! I ended the day with roughly 55 miles, 35 on the road and 2 laps around the camp.


This week, I will be laying a bit low until my eye clears up fully and then it will be back in the saddle hardcore. A couple of events may be looming in my near future which we can discuss at a later date.

My rear may have P.T.S.D

Yesterday, was my first chance to capitalize on my motivation being at an almost all time high. Well at least a high for the past few weeks. The weathermen were calling for isolated/scattered storms throughout the afternoon and evening. Jenn gave me a call prior to her leaving work and subsequently the same side of town. She wanted to ask if I would look at the radar and make a decision on whether I wanted a ride home or wanted to chance getting a little wet. Since it wasn't raining on the south side of the river I decided to make the ride home.

While getting changed I started to hear a pitter patter on the roof of the store. Once to the front of the store ready to roll, I could tell it was rain hitting the roof. The last time I rode in the rain it was for almost 12 hours in Ohio and my ass is still a bit bitter over it. It tried to talk me out of heading out there. It tried to accept a ride from Wiggins. But to no avail, like an ex-drill Sergeant turned therapist I snapped at it and off we went.

With the rain coming down and threat of more rain coming down on the other side of the river by the time I would get there, I decided to make the commute home in a more direct fashion rather than in the around my ass to get to my elbow route I usually take to get some hill climbs in. The rain stopped about 20 minutes into the ride and then it was just ballz hot humid. Humid to the point where sweat doesn't evaporate and glasses fog immediately on any climb or stoplight. Other than the weather the ride went pretty uneventful which was nice since I was playing in the middle of traffic instead of on side streets climbing.

Today, brings a chance of more rain. It actually has the same forecast as yesterday and a chance to get more saddle time in. Look for me on the roads of Goochland and Westcreek while Jenn gets her workout in with Endorphin.

No riding yesterday but there was more cooking. This time by Jenn!

Prosciouto and mozzerella covered chicken with a side of fresh tomato pasta

Wanted to ride more last week. A combination of laziness and lack of time would prove to be the big reasons why I didn't get out there. Instead, I spent some time over the grill. More riding to come this week........possibly, maybe

Peach glazed chicken and grilled peaches over a bed of rice

Why do big weiners make people smile?

Happy 4th!

Squatting

Wednesday and Thursday all I could think about was getting out onto the bike for a nice 4-5 hour ride. I had come up with a way to join to of my regular routes and called it the "Home visiting the sisters" loop. It would have me leaving from home, riding up through town to Ashland via the 3 sisters and then back home via my regular commuting route up Old Gun. The length looks like it will be just over 90 miles in length if I do not throw anything in to get over the mythical century number.

On Friday morning, I realized I had gotten the game time wrong in my head for the U.S. World Cup game. I was thinking it was the 2 p.m. game but in reality they were a bit anxious to play and they kicked off at 10 a.m. New plans! Watch the game then head out for a shorter 50ish mile loop.

Once out onto the road, my legs were feeling great. Very spanky indeed! About 10 miles in, it started to feel as if I was getting closer to the ground with every pedal stroke. I stopped to check my seat height and sure enough it had slipped. It would continue to slip and get readjusted until I found myself down by Pony Pasture.

The view of the river surrounded by the full green foliage definitely lifted my spirits. I decided to continue riding instead of turning back as it was the same distance either direction. While climbing Old Gun, the clamp finally gave out completely and the seat went slamming down. It reminded of me of the days back in elementary school when we would all pull or kick chairs out from underneath each other while we went to sit down. A quick ticket straight to ground level!

Once to the top, I used the good ole' gps on the phone to find some back-roads which would cut the 20 something miles back home in half. Sitting while pedaling started to take a toll on my knees so I would stand as long as I could then sit then repeat. Standing for so long felt as if I was running the bike without all the pounding of the joints.

Finally got home, took a shower started hydrating and started looking for the Salsa clamp I had purchased to pimp out Jenn's Gunnar when we first built it up. It was slightly too big for her frame and never got used. Thinking it was going to be too big for my frame as well, the plan was to strip it of its bolts and use them on my current Salsa clamp. The clamps turned out to be the same size and Le Antique had been bothering me to give it some flair to prove he was still a young stud who could keep up with anyone. Now Le Antique will be officially referred to as Le Antique with a metro flair.

The last couple of weeks have been a little tough to find consistent time in the saddle. Most of it is work related as the schedule continues to change almost daily. This week will be no different as I have had to switch a few shifts to accommodate some visitors. No worries though, I have still been riding just rarely on consecutive days.

Last week, I was able to get out into Powhatan with Wiggins. On the way back into town, we both had to get onto the brakes hard due to a car getting a little to close for comfort. Shortly there after I started to develop a hard knocking in the front end of the bike whenever I grabbed hold of the front brake.

Once home and after a brief stint on the couch, I put the bike up into the stand to have a look at it. My first thought, was the headset had worked itself loose. I wanted to take the opportunity to inspect the bearings at the same time, so I tore it down.

Dangling tidbits

I didn't find anything odd, so a fresh lube job and back together it went. I was glad to see the bearings hadn't gone bad just like my pedal bearing did recently. Speaking of pedals, the Light Actions are again off of the bike and this time for good. They have been replaced with a set of Look Keo Classics. With two rides on the Keos, it is nice to not have my feet sliding around on the pedals all the time.

A look ahead to the rest of this week has me off the bike probably until Friday when I will definitely be getting in a longer ride. To where you ask, that is a good question. I guess I'll just figure it out between now and then. Ideas?

Floating around

After Tuesday's slack attack I felt a bit down on myself because I didn't chamois up and ride. Wednesday was a different day in which I decided to try and make the most of getting out of work early. I left work and headed North with no route in mind just knew I had 3 hours to kill before Jenn got off of work. Nothing really exciting to report about the ride other than I hit 2 of the sisters and fire training hill before arriving in the center of the universe and heading back to the shop.

Yesterday, Wiggins came over to the house and with the intention of riding into Powhatan for a bit. We set off for one of my more frequented routes. What we didn't know was that we would be doing a 2.5 mile warmup before having to turn around and start yelling for the support vehicle (which didn't actually exist). I was in need of a pedal change. The bearings of the right pedal locked up and then began to screech like an alley cat.

Once back to the house I did a quick pedal change over to a set of Speedplay Light Actions which I had purchased for Jenn when she first started to ride. She hated them and have sat in the Keo box (which replaced them) ever since. A quick cleat change and we were back on the road.

The ride was nice with some rolling terrain, a few good climbs and a couple of flat sections in which Wiggins felt the need to stretch his legs. Moyer Rd is a short section of road I always enjoy, as it is fast and twisty and if you don't remember where the turn is you won't see it until it is too late and you will blow right by it. We blew right by :-/

Once we got back to within a few miles of the house, we slowed up a bit for a nice cool down of 3 or 4 miles. It was impossible to "cool down" though due to the upper 90 degree temps. The pedals seemed to work fine despite my inability to line the cleat and pedal up when trying to clip in at lights. I didn't take the time yesterday during the hasty cleat change to set the float limits and it showed. Going from 9 degrees of float to 15 made it seem as if I was skating on ice. It actually made it terribly sketchy when out of the saddle. I am not sure why anyone in the world would need that much float.

S-L-A-C-K

Wanted to ride yesterday but a last minute thunderstorm came through fast enough to get everything wet and my butt turned a bit wet saddle shy. Instead I futzed around on my phone for an hour while Jenn worked out. And now to prove just how big of a slacker I am this post will have none of my own work. A couple of weeks ago my parents bought themselves a little hand held video camera. Here is the video mom put together of the footage from Jenn's most recent tri.

Looking back...

Last week, I mentioned I had hooked up Le Antique with a little bit of extra weight by mounting for the first time the Go Pro Helmet Camera. I did this in hopes of possibly making the time in which you waste by reading this nonsense, a little more enjoyable. I also mentioned I had gone out with the TnT crew a few weeks back and there was an accident. As a result of the accident, one of our fellow riders has been off the bike with a broken clavicle.

Wiggins and I decided to go do that same ride last week and that is when I decided to hook up the camera. Here is the short unedited, no music added, no frills version of the decent. If you pay attention, you will notice the what is now dried mud/dirt at the bottom. At the time it was fresh, deeper and covering much more of the road. It forced everyone to the far left of the road unexpectedly.

Clavicle Claimer

Special Delivery

Hey hun, did I order something?

Nope just Powerbar sending you a new product to try.

First thing that came to mind when I saw the drink mix inside the box was, how did they know I am terrible about staying hydrated on a consistent daily basis? Then I found the letter they included which told the story behind their new protein drink and how it was to be used before or after a workout and designed to build lean muscle mass. After Wednesday's ride with Wiggins, I could definitely use some muscle mass if I want to keep up with the youngins. Now to find out how it tastes ... better with milk or water that is the question.

Back to the grind

Since returning from Calvins 3 weeks ago, I have been lacking the desire to get out and ride on any sort of consistent basis which is evident by the fact I have ridden less miles in those 3 weeks as I did in the one day in Ohio. This week however thanks to watching a week's worth of pro cycling last week, I have been much more motivated.

Talking with Big Wiggins at work on Tuesday made both of us realize the fact that neither of us were scheduled to work yesterday. Ever since leading the TnT team on the Frog Leg Metric a couple of weeks ago, I have been itching to get back up that way. It didn't take much convincing to have Wiggins join me.

As of late, it has started to appear that you cannot be on top of your social networking game unless you include some video in your posts. I decided I would mount up the hero pro camera to the bike and try to catch some of the highlights of the beautiful ride we were about to take.

Camera mounted

The drive up had me a bit weird-ed out as it seemed as if someone were watching me. Each time I looked in the rear view mirror all I could see was a little lens just over the top of my phallicly challenged skull. Nonetheless, we arrived at the courthouse, suited up and hit the road.

Someone's watching me

The ride started well with everything I had promised hills, scenery and then more hills. I haven't been able to look at the video footage as of yet but I do know there will only be scenes from the first 20 miles or so because either the batteries died (hadn't been charged in awhile) or the memory card was full (camera cuts itself off when full).

Around the 45 mile mark or so, the combination of the heat and my lack of executing a sound nutrition plan really started to play a role. My legs really started to go away from me and looking back there really shouldn't be much of a surprise. I am just surprised it didn't happen earlier. The problem was, I drank according to plan but did not eat. One of these days I will learn to put food in my mouth, one of these days...

Should have stopped for gas

The last 17 miles seemed to drag on mentally but actually went by pretty quickly. Even with as little energy as I had, Wiggins' presence and his never ending energy kept the pace higher than if I were out alone. I would have just limped home for sure but instead I tried to not slow him down to much. We arrived back and despite my efforts to blow our average pace on the final leg, I have to be happy with still being over 18 mph for the duration.

It's who we are

This arrived in the mailbox today

These were inside the bag

These were inside the shiny cases

Calvins Challenge Recap

Its been a few days since I arrived back home from the 12 hour Calvin's Challenge in Ohio and I have been desperately trying to come up with a way to summarize 12 hours of riding. I could go extremely in depth with it but who would really read all of it? So I am going to try and keep it as short as possible without leaving out any juicy details.

We arrived at the school in which we would be starting from about an hour early. Then we had to make the 2.1 mile drive back to the hotel because I didn't pick up my race packet which had my timing chip and number in it. It was alright though because at that time the skies had opened up and it was pouring rain. Big drops of rain with lightning off in the distance type pouring rain. Kyle made the comment that all I needed to complete the human lightening rod costume was a kite and he thought they sold them at local convenience stores. We did not stop to find out.

Waiting for the start

Once back at the start the storm was starting to move off to the west of us so I got out of the car, started to prep my bike, and get dressed. Dad, Kyle and I reviewed the nutrition plan for the day and I was ready to go. Once the race got on its way, it started to rain once again. It would continue to do so for the first 4 hours of the race. The rain combined with all the spray from other riders made it a little bit difficult to eat while in the pack but I was able to get it down once I moved to the front of the groups in which I was riding with. In a race like this one you had to work together with the other riders or you would never make it. The wind was howling at a steady 15-25 mph ALL day long and the course was laid in a circle so you spent a lot of time fighting the wind and the rest flying along with it.

The first 51 miles flew by as I was working with one gentleman who could hold my pace. There were very few people there who were willing to do any work and they were content on just sitting on a wheel in a big pack doing whatever speed the group decided. This was not the case for us, we both had a goal of at least 200 miles and we weren't going to waste any good tailwinds sitting in a group. So we would use groups we came across on the road to shield us from the wind and then pick up the pace with the wind. If they held on fine, if not oh well for them. I think we finished the first 51 miles in something like 2 hours 4 minutes. Then it was back to fighting the wind until the checkpoint where we would pickup the tailwind once again.

I need bigger arms or smaller arm warmers

He had to stop to refuel before heading out for the second long loop and I just kept rolling. I was out there fighting the wind by myself. I just settled into a pace which I thought I would be able to sustain without taxing myself too much, in hopes I would ride onto a group or be caught by one. I did find a group at a most inopportune time. There was a quick zig and zag on the long loop and I caught them just as they were getting to it. I wasn't paying attention to markings and I just followed them. Thank god that road ended just a mile down with no other options or we would have been riding for a while off course. As it turns out it was only 2 miles total and back on course we went.

Rolling through the time check about to drop a bottle

By the time I finished the 2nd 51 mile loop my knees were really starting to bother me. I stopped at the rest station, relieved myself while Kyle and Dad were looking for the bottle of Advil I purchased the night prior. Can you guess what else I forgot in the hotel room? Back onto the bike I went while Dad and Kyle made the drive back to the room, got the Advil, found me on course and passed off the two little pieces of kneesavers. The third lap went by pretty uneventfully except by this time it had stopped raining and the wind was helping the roads and my clothes dry out very quickly.

Its my hurts so good look

Once done with lap 3, the short loop which was 7 miles long opened up. Rumor had it, the short course was shielded a bit more from the wind and would make for some very fast laps. The first 3 miles of it were NOT shielded and I struggled on each lap to hang onto the wheel of another gentleman Leman who I met. He and I had the same pace and the best part was we were both willing to work. We were turning low 20 minute laps consistently and before I knew it, I was over the 200 mile goal I had set. Now with the time we had left, we just set our sights on getting in as many laps as possible.

We were finishing what would turn out to be our last full lap. The scoring system allows for partial laps to count. They have volunteers at each mile mark of the short course and whichever marker you get to at the 12 hour mark is how many additional miles get added to your total. We were both determined to get as many miles as possible in with the few minutes we had left.

Pullin, pullin pullin keep those puppies pullin...rawhiiiide! Leman is the wall of man in the red shorts

I pulled into the wind until we approached mile marker 1. Then another gentleman took a very short pull when Leman decided it was too slow and went to the front. I held his wheel until just after the 2 mile mark when we were notified there were 11 minutes left. Leman started to pull away from me and I thought it was going to be the last I saw of him for this lap. I told myself not to panic and I just kept my pace steady. Somehow I rode myself back up onto his wheel as he started to tire. I just rode right past him encouraging him to grab my wheel and I would pull the rest of the time. He was able to jump on and away we went. Mile marker 4 came up with just less than 6 minutes to go. Now I had the wind to my back and I wasn't stopping. We blew by marker 5 with about 2.5 minutes to go. At this time I was pulling at over 31 miles an hour and trying desperately to get past the 6th mile marker so we would get credit for all 7 miles. We ended up getting credit for only 6 miles. We missed passing the mark by about 30 yards.

A little saddened (not much though) by being so close, I was extremely excited to have that feeling of adreneline that only comes with racing back in my body again. I ended up finishing with 220.5 miles which was good enough to take top honors in my age group. Thank you to Powerbar for fueling me the entire way, now to decide what is next on the list ;-)

18th overall, 1st in division

Photos are up ...