Direction of focus

So the last week has been a bit of a let down in terms of saddle time.  The usual culprits are to blame work, weather and lack of motivation.  Their isn't much I can do about the work and weather but the motivation, I could probably do something about that.  It isn't the fact that I don't have any motivation, it's just I have been focusing all my attention onto work and a couple of projects I/we have started around the house.  Both of which I am terribly excited about.  Neither of which I am going to reveal any details of just yet.

I did pry myself away from said projects and out of the house long enough on Saturday morning for an easy 30ish through Ashland with the TNT crew.  They were slated to ride 75 but with Mother Nature threatening us with hail producing thunderstorms all day we thought it best to get in a quick ride before things got sporty.  As it turned out Mother Nature ended up holding her cards close to her chest and not revealing her hand until late in the afternoon.  No worries as the ride was a good one and I know of at least one other rider who had a great ride despite their being a whispering gnat in her ear all day.

Depending on how quickly the house projects get finished up, I may have a post about a decent ride or two later this week.  Until then, here are some pics from Saturday...

 Delivery thanks to Powerbar

 Orange Turtle which we helped cross the road

 

Field of purple flowers in the mist

New Name

Awhile back there was some buzz around one of the local forums about how to appropriately name your bicycle if you were indeed the type of person to name your bikes. I was in agreement with others that the name should just come to you. You should not have to force a name that may or may not fit the bikes personality just for the sake of giving it a name. Well after last weeks Westcreek ride, the La Raza will now affectionately be named Le Antique from hear on out.

Friday, Jenn gave me the go ahead to go purchase my birthday present from her. Le Antique was in need of a new drivetrain and rear tire from where I rode it flat for a mile or two on Wednesday night. So I ran over to the shop and picked up a couple of new shiny bits. Please do not stare too long at them as they will hypnotize you into thinking your bike is dirty.

Out of the package

Shiny new shifty bits

Saturday morning, Jenn and I took the younger looking Antique out for spin with the Team in Training crew. We met them at Westcreek which was stupid busy. I was wondering why so many people wanted to ride that place on a beautiful Saturday morning. Weeknights I can understand, weekend mornings not so much.

So we left Westcreek and headed into Goochland. The Spring scenery of the country roads was a nice change of venue than the around the Vista of Views I get when I ride around the burbs. The nice thing about that route is that I now know street names and traffic levels of some of the roads around Westcreek which means I won't be confined to turning laps around Westcreek on Tuesday nights while Jenn is working out with Endorphin.

Gotta run to work in a few, but remember folks, Old can be the new new if you just throw some money at it and/or believe. Happy Easter!

Pictures are worth a thousand words...

Here are the links to the pictures which were taken by myself and the TEAM

• Allen's Pics
• Jared's Pics
• Jenn and I

Back from Fletcher...

Jenn and I got back from Fletcher last night. After a six hour drive and then a couple hours of driving around Richmond as we exchanged cars and picked up the pups we were beat. A more complete report will be coming in a day or so. Until then here are a couple of my favorite pics from the weekend!

Beautiful Day and now my legs hurt

The morning started off with Jenn and I going out to meet the Team out at Osborne Park. I was a it weary of the weather conditions as I have begun to be a big ole puss when it comes to being cold. Thursday night we went out to Westcreek where it seems to always be about 10 degrees colder there than any other place in Richmond. We had planned on doing 3 quick laps (18 miles) but it soon turned into 2 quick laps as my fingernails had started to feel like I had slammed each and every one with a BFH. I had Friday off and had been looking forward to a couple hour ride all week. But with being cold on Thursday night and being a being pile of lazy I stayed at home and played with the pups all day.
Back to Saturday. I was hoping it would warm up like the weatherpersons said it was going to but weary all the same as they don't always predict it right. The group ride had gone really well with everyone keeping a very good pace the whole 33 miles. As always when we ride out there we were blessed with a few laughs and WTH looks on our faces. The WTH looks usually stemmed from a dead animal carcass. The final count was

• 3 deer
• 3 fish
  
• 2 house cats and
  
• 1 red fox hanging from a barb wire fence

Once we got back to the parking lot I had made the decision to continue on ride back to the house. Between the high 40 degree day and my clothing selection I had warmed up real nice like. Just before I was about to leave the parking lot, a customer of mine Ed McNelis of Team Nature's Path had rolled up to the park to use the restroom. Seems he was out on a solo trip in search of the ever elusive base mile. After a brief conversation, I had a partner to ride back through the city with and off we went.

My legs felt pretty good despite not eating breakfast or lunch or anything other than a Fruit Smoothie Powerbar just before the start of the first 33 miles. By the time the road turned upwards to begin the accent from the riverbed my legs started to remind me, my diet routine stinks. I couldn't take on Gelblasts fast enough, I had hit the wall.

With the dark clouds rolling in for the afternoon rain showers they had been predicting I knew I couldn't just sit up and coast back. Well that and I knew I was still about 15 miles out and I had told Jenn it would only take me about 1.5ish hours to get home so I pressed on. Downing drink, gel blast, drink, gel blast for the next 52 minutes. My legs started to come back to me a little along the flatter/rolling parts of Huguenot. I hadn't been paying attention to the time really but I knew it had been 1.5 hours since I left when I heard the phone ringing. I stopped to call Jenn back and let her know I was only about 4-5 miles out and I would be home as quick as my two dead legs would get me there.

All in all it was a great ride. Ended up with my first metric century under my belt for 2009 and it has me thirsting for the next one. Look out there is blood in the water!

First Post of 2009

So it's seven days into the new year and I thought it was about time for me to make my first post of the year. Hope everyone had a nice fun filled time with their families over the holidays. I know Jenn and I did!

I have never been one to make resolutions for New Year's and I am not going to start this year. I have however been known to set a few goals I would like to accomplish each year and this year is no different.

With having to save money so Jenn and I can afford to get out to my sister's wedding this summer and also having to pay for our own wedding and honeymoon, I told Jenn I had made up my mind not race once again this year. She tried to talk me into doing a few of the bigger races but I told her I would have to respectfully decline as I had already come up with my next big list of stupid s*** I would like to attempt this year. She got nervous when I explained the list. And probably rightfully so. Here's the list for 2009:

• Marry Jenn on Oct 3rd
• Get myself into respectable endurance riding shape by start of summer
• Attempt to break the VA North to South record as governed by the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association
• And if time allows I would like to be the first to set a record for the W-E of VA

Jenn is a bit weary of the amount of time I will have to be on the bike training to get myself back into shape but is being very supportive. I will be getting in most of my harder rides on Fridays (usually my day off) and my easier rides with our Team in Training group. Which by the way you all should donate!

But for now I am off to install a new heart rate monitor on the bike so I can get an idea of just how bad this training is going to hurt.