Getting anal-lytical

I have an unusual Monday off from work this week because the good folks who run the company decided to make Good Friday a paid holiday for us this year. I would rather be out riding but due to the rain I am keeping it indoors and driving myself stir crazy trying to anal-yze the last couple of weeks worth of workouts.

The past two weeks have been really productive riding weeks for me. The first I logged just short of 10 hours of saddle time and about 7 and a quarter hours worth last week. Both weeks have seen me riding home from work a couple days a week and then on my days off I have tried to get in a longer ride and then something in the 30-40 mile range. Total mileage for the two weeks were 174 and 137 respectively.

Last week for my longer ride, I decided to head through the city to extend my usual Riverside route. It was intended to add some more elevation change at the same time which it certainly did. Despite the wind and terrible road conditions in the city, I was extremely excited about the pace especially considering the small tantrum my legs decided to throw at the base of Old Gun.

Elevation profile for the Home-Riverside Complete route

This past weekend I had to switch hats over to the support hat as Jenn took part in her first triathlon in Smithfield. I didn't think this was going to be hard for me to do as I cannot swim "well" and really do not like running. What I do like though is competition. I have always been the one competing with others supporting me. So I thought to myself, W.W.D.D (What Would Dad Do) as he has always made sure I was were I needed to be and had what I needed at the correct times.

Jenn did an amazing job and didn't show much nerves at all despite her saying she was extremely nervous. Once she was in the water she looked completely focused on the task at hand. She had pretty quick transitions for her first ever attempt at one (she hadn't even practiced one prior). Coming off the bike her hands were extremely cold to the point which they didn't work which slowed her ability to get her running shoes on. She finished strong and is extremely excited to continue to doing more in the future. She has definitely caught the bug! Pics here!

Jenn finishing her first tri

Laundry Day

Laundry day really isn't much fun around here. Mostly because Jenn and I will wear everything in our dressers and closets before we decide to finally do some laundry. Not bad really when it comes to our power bill because we are only running the units once or twice a month but when you ride 6 of 7 days like I did last week it forces you into digging deep into the dresser then deep into the closest to find any old pair of bibs so you don't have to wear a dirty pair. Well yesterday I found this pair.

Surprisingly enough, I couldn't feel the chamois hemorrhoid once the bibs were on. I suppose I still have some winter pounds to shed so that gel chamois don't flatten out beneath me. Guess it is time to hit up another Pearl Izumi order so I can keep my areas comfortable.

I started this week out by instead of riding over directly over to Endorphin Fitness where Jenn has been working out I took a little detour for a fly-by of Westcreek Pkwy before heading over to EF. The ride wouldn't have been so bad except for the wind coming out of the South which has been trying very hard to bring in another set of showers this morning. I ended the ride with just shy of 20 miles, which is 4 times the amount of miles I started last week with. Tonight Jenn and I will be back out at WC for a little bit as she prepares for her first triathlon this coming Saturday in Smithfield.

Family type issues...

Yesterday I decided to take the long route home once again. I have really been enjoying that route as it contains much less traffic and an almost never ending set of rolling terrain. On days when I don't take the time to eat and drink throughout the day prior to jumping onto the bike, it often leads to discussions between my mind and my dysfunctional family of body parts.

I was a bit surprised my legs felt as heavy as they did when I awoke yesterday morning. As I got dressed I checked the current temperature and was happy to see the mercury was going to rise above 60 degrees. I had a talk with my legs about how much skin needed to be covered up as there is no need in offending anyone so early in the season. I made the decision to cover up the knees despite my legs whiny objections. They proclaimed they were much to old to have to obey by the finger tip rule of grade school. I disagreed and they fought back. The entire way home all they did while half-assing their work was complain like whinny teenagers. For the most part the ride was enjoyable although I was never able to turn them loose and allow them to do their own work without sitting over them on my high saddle with a whip.

Today, like any loving and naive parent, I felt bad for asking them to dawn such long shrouds yesterday. I caved in and let those two pale sticks run free for a day. I was afraid if I gave them an inch they would take a mile. Take a mile they did, 31.8 of them! Isn't it amazing how the same amount of work can get done properly in a shorter amount of time when the workers are happy? It may of also helped that I took the time to hydrate and eat lunch prior to jumping on the bike. Good thing I wasn't pulled over with my little baggy of powder.

On a non-cycling note but still family related, today is Sage's 2nd b-day. The other day when Jenn asked what he wanted for this joyous occasion he told her all he wanted was an extra scoop of food with dinner and a new bone to destroy in less than an hour.

Holding the wallet ransom

Sage has always been the yappier of our two dogs, so I was very pleased to see he was growing more polite now that he has turned another full year older. When I got home I found he had already started putting his mark on the Thank You cards he plans on sending out to all those who sent him gifts.

Not my fault...

Last week, I was finally able to find the time and desire to take down all of the outside Xmas decorations. It was admittedly way overdue. Some even blamed me for the harsh February weather saying it was my decorations which were confusing Motha Nature. They may have been correct but I put the blame on a certain friend/realtor who didn't send Santa's reindeer packing until about the same time last week. The combination of the two surely had Motha Nature's head spinning in a vortex. As soon as they came down, the weather got warmer. First into the 50's for a few days and then to the upper 60's and then the low 70's yesterday. Mid 60's looks to be the norm for the next 10 days as well.

I had yesterday off from work and was planning on doing a possible half century or something close to it. But instead I woke up with an itchin to finish cleaning up the front yard. I mowed the grass, filled in two flower beds with topsoil and cleaned out all the garden of the last of the crop from last summer. And just because it felt so much like Spring/Early Summer, I grilled two of the best hamburgers out on the deck last night.

I do not feel too bad for not riding yesterday, as I was still able to get exercise in while cleaning up the yard. My arms are quite upset with me this morning. On Monday and Tuesday I took advantage of the nice weather and rode home from work. I took a slightly less direct route this week in order to work in the climb up Old Gun Rd. I know both rides were good because I didn't think about them at all. I just sat my padded rear onto the broken tipped saddle and let my legs and lungs do the work. Sorry for no pictures but Rhythm(lungs) and Flo(Legs) had put out the "Do not disturb" sign as if they were getting it on while staying in a "Pay Per Hour" motel for the afternoon. I didn't interrupt and they just kept pumping it out.

Weather looks a bit damp for the next couple of days through the weekend. I may need to find time to get the cross bike over to PSP. But then again, I may just recon some new routes while staying dry inside the house.

Seasoned card player

It all begin with my sister playing her first card (picture) of the beautiful Spring weather out in Boise.

"What a beautiful day" she says

I was going to play this card from yesterday's ride in hopes of trumping her photo.

Not a cloud in the sky! Photo taken on my 44 mile ride down to the riverside. You can read about it by clicking on the blurb to the right of the page.

Then like a whiskey hardened experienced card player, she laid down this ...

It's a chandelier made out of gummy bears!

Game over as I think we have a cheat on our hands. OORRRRR I just suck... The worst part is, she didn't even know she was playing.

With a certain Handmade Bicycle Show in town this weekend, there has been a ton of pron posted to blogs and forums this weekend. While out for a ride with Nate on Friday afternoon, I was able to score some first hand amateur homemade stuff. Enjoy!

The Upskirt

Who am I?

Since the beginning of the year, I have been on a kick to really learn who I am.  Not so much on a personality or emotional level but more in the terms of how my body works.  For the past 29 years, I have been under the assumption that I didn't really need to know all the workings of my body as they have always just seemed to work.  Now that I will be hitting the big 3-0 in a couple of months, I have really been trying to figure out what really works best for me when it comes to riding/training.

I first started by wearing a heart rate monitor during all of my snowy indoor riding sessions.  There have been quite a few of them this year which I am sorta proud of as I hate to ride indoors.  It ranks right up among the other things I hate, running and painting.  All three suck equally!  By doing so I have been able to prove the old estimate of 220-age=max wrong.  That would put my max at 190.  I been able to get it as high as 197 and I am sure I could get it up to 200 in a race situation if needed.  Now I know the max hr isn't something to brag about but it is necessary for me to understand where my thresholds lie.  These will be important for the longer races/record attempts I make in the future.  The longer I can stay in my upper threshold without going above it the faster I will be.  The next step is to get an accurate reading of my resting heart rate.  So far that reading has been all over the map which means I wasn't really "resting".

While waiting for Jenn while she was at swim training the other night I did some searching around on the UMCA website for any new articles.  It is a great place for information if you have never been to it.  Well there was a two part article on recovery published not too long ago.  The first part simplified the caloric intake necessary to remain strong on the bike and to stimulate faster recovery.  Despite the article being written in English and the math simplified for us simpletons, it meant nothing to me as I had absolutely no idea how many calories I consume in one day.  I have since made an account on Fitday.com and have been tracking everything I eat each day.  I am on day two and can already tell you this experiment will not last long.  But hopefully I can stick with it long enough to get an idea of just how many calories I take in on an average day.  I eat pretty healthy these days but more importantly I am eating pretty consistently as well.

Hopefully, if I take all of this knowledge I am gaining and combine it with all the motivation I am still riding high on, I may just find out who I am.   Now to go ride!