The Time of Cold

I've been on a number of short 5-10 mile rides on weekends over the past month, but my riding time has definitely decreased. It doesn't mean I'm not already looking forward to next spring though! I often find myself dreaming of rides as I slip off to sleep, and I'm already doing some preparing for keeping in shape this winter. I probably won't spend much time on an indoor trainer, at least until January or February. Instead I've taken my rowing machine out of the mothballs and started cranking out workouts on the ergometer.

I think rowing can have many similarities to cycling in terms of workouts when you're actually on the water, but on the erg it couldn't be more different. Where you can easily spend three hours on a hard training ride just a half hour on the erg can leave you completely destroyed. Even during my peak rowing crew in college anything much over an hour would leave me in a state of exhaustion so complete that I've rarely been there since. I think the only time in recent memory I've felt similar was after the 100k Tour of the Vineyard I did this spring on my mountain bike.

In any case it looks to be a long cold winter, but the promise of spring already has me excited to be back on the bike.

Knocked out by a Cold

It was pretty amazing, the poison ivy and then a wicked head cold that has run me down over the last three weeks pretty much ended my riding season. Now that I'm finally starting to feel better a part of me wants to get back out on the road for October before the rough weather sets in but I'm not sure if I'm going too. The TMI version is cycling cooks the family jewels, and if you're looking to start a family it helps to try with uncooked goods.

If I do get out and about on the bike more this year I'll write about it, but only time will tell. In bike maintenance news I removed my wife's clipless pedals and put on her old iron blocks so she can hop and whenever she wants to with her street shoes. It took a little more force than I was expecting and it was plenty greasy, but all together a pretty easy task.

Aside from riding my last big chore of the fall will be to give the bike a good cleaning and fresh set of lube before I store it for the winter, but that's a greasy story for another time. Until then, cheers.

Surreal Ride

Surreal, that's how I would describe today's ride. I haven't been on the bike since the last Landry's group ride thanks to a combo of poison ivy, allergies, and a cold. I felt like I was floating over the bike for most of the ride, and just watching a bike cruise along the road. The air was cool and crisp, and the sun was bright but not overbearing.

The only thing that kept bringing me back down to earth was the amount of glass I had to avoid. The evil side of me would love to force people who throw glass bottle onto the road to pick it up by walking over it with their bare feet. The lawful side of me would love to see them out there with brooms sweeping up the side of the road for all the many miles they've covered in glass shards. The good side of me is depressed that people would do something so maliciously idiotic.

I only went six miles today as a sort of test run to see if everything was still working before riding in to work tomorrow. I'm already certain that it'll be a hard ride, but if I'm going to survive the 110 mile Tour de Landry's on Columbus day then I need to get back out there and get some miles under my belt.

Pit Stop

I woke up before the sun came up this morning at 5:45am to give myself time to bandage up my arms before heading down to Norwood for the Landry's group ride. The ride itself showed me just how much having the massive reaction to the Poison Ivy has taken out of me. The whole ride I felt sluggish, and just couldn't get my muscles to go when I needed them too. It was only on the hills that I was able to make up any ground, and I would quickly lose it again once we hit the flats. In other words I spent most of the ride hanging onto the wheel in front of me.

That lead to my first flat during a group ride. Hugging the wheel of the guy in front of you means you can't see much except wheel, ass, and back. You have to trust the people in front of you to tell you if something looks odd, unfortunately for me no one pointed out the big metal lined hole in the pavement that my tire struck square. After the initial jarring blow from hitting the hole I swore, and then about three seconds later I heard the hiss of a blown tire. This was my first pinch flat, the tube tore at the stem. Before I could call out flat the guy next to me did and the ride slowed to a stop ahead and a group of five riders gathered around my bike and went into full on Pit Stop mode. I popped off the tire and handed it to an older gentleman whose name escapes me at the moment, but I think it was Jim. I pulled out my tire levers and handed them to him while getting out the tube and CO2 tire inflater. In all of about five minutes the tire was inflated and we were back on the road.

Still with no spare in my kit and the jar fresh in my mind I spent most of the rest of the ride getting my confidence back so I could draft effectively. If I hadn't been so exhausted I think I would have just hung back and left a gap, but I couldn't afford to. In the end we did 36 miles at a 19.2 mph average. At least according to two different computers in the group. A good workout, and a great way to start the long weekend.

My poison ivy is still weeping, but it doesn't itch much anymore. It only woke me up a couple times last night. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep through the entire night soon.

Ruined by a Plant

I'm not sure where I screwed up but I screwed up big time. I haven't been on my bike as the poison ivy really nailed me. I have spots of it everywhere. My wrists are really in a sorry state, as are most of my fingers at this point. It makes riding the bike a daunting proposition. I really want to get back on but I'm also reluctant to ooze all over my handle bars. I may not be riding in the group ride this weekend, or doing any riding for that matter for the near future. All the various creams and such haven't really dulled the itching. Ugh

Round 3: Poison Ivy Wins

I love our new house, we have a huge yard and a large swath of forest behind us on city land that won't be developed. The downside is there is poison ivy everywhere in the forest. So far Michelle and I have done three rounds of thinning it out the hard way, by pulling up the roots. It would be easier to spray poison on them, but that would be less ecologically sound as the missus says.

On Sunday I helped Michelle pull out two ten gallon bags worth of poison ivy vines, and that only comprised maybe 5-10% of the Poison Ivy we have in our back yard. We had geared up for it with plastic bags covering our arms and then covered with latex gloves. Now everything was going fine and we were moving at a real good clip. Poison Ivy pulls out of the ground really easy as its roots don't seem to go very deep. After about an hour though our gloves and plastic bags were full of water from sweat, and then back to back both of us punctured our gloves on brush (not Poison Ivy itself.) Michelle only had a pin-prick tear so her poison ivy isn't that bad. I, on the other hand, tore a huge gash along my thumb on my right hand. The oil on my glove mixed with the water in the gloves and my arms were quickly covered.

A quick shower seems to have isolated it to the area around my wrist but in my rush to disrobe it looks like I also got some on my left wrist while taking off the glove, though just a smattering. I can already tell from what's shown up that its going to get really bad on my right arm, here's to a couple weeks of itching like mad. Hopefully we'll win in Round 4 like Michelle did in Round 2 where she used the same plastic bag/glove technique but didn't get any holes and as such no poison ivy.

Harry Potter's Glasses are ROUND!

I made the full circuit to a from work today on the bike, and while the ride in was smooth and uneventful the ride back was full of surprises. The biggest surprise to me was how much energy I actually had to keep pedaling hard up the hills all the way home. Even the big Medway hill didn't phase me as I powered up it without having to down shift or stand up.

Around the middle of the ride I noticed a car full of teenagers ahead of me on my right looking to pull out. The driver never even looked left after she came into my field of vision so I slowed slightly and prepared to slam on my break if she pulled out. She did pull out of course and I timed my stop to bring me right to her car door. She look appropriately shamed, I hope she looks both ways in the future.

Shortly after the I hard a large crunch an saw a big white blur in my peripheral vision that looked to me like my derailleur had flung off the back of my bike or my tire had blown out. I slowed and checked everything out only to see a white plastic cup rolling around in the middle of the road behind me. It was pretty windy today so it must have blown into my back tire as I passed.

Finally the highlight of the ride of follies was at a four way stop. I stopped and signaled a left turn and as I had arrived last waited for my turn. Everyone signaled for me to go so I did, only to have my left foot uncliped as I pulled up on it. I think I slid my foot a little out to the side and that's all it took. This caused my leg to lurch up and me to wobble side to side as I recovered and pedaled with my now clipped in right leg. Displaying all the grace of a drunken circus clown the motor cyclist on my left yelled out, "Smooth moves Harry Potter." To which I replied, "Harry Potter's Glassed are ROUND!" My glasses are not round!

More Gas in the Tank

This Saturday during the Landry's group ride I rolled through my 500th mile on the bike since I bought it. I've definitely improved since then, with my main nemesis hills becoming a place where I gain ground instead of lose it. I still can't pull at the front for long periods of time, but if I'm on someones wheel I'm getting much better at hanging on to it at speed.

The group was pretty spread out on some sections of the ride which gave me a great opportunity to practice bridging gaps. Near the end of the ride I managed to bridge three sizable gaps to catch up to the leaders on one long stretch. Basically leap frogging from group to group and recovering on someones wheel before jumping again. Earlier in the ride I hit a big bump and lost one of my water bottles. That too gave me an opportunity to chase up through the pack to the leaders. There I made my move while we were going up a hill and managed to go from the back all the way to the leaders which was a gap of around a hundred yards in less than two-hundred traveled.

There aren't many races left this year, and they're all crits of some kind or another. I'm looking forward to next year where I'll have a chance to try some open road races. I have a feeling they'll suit me better than crits, but I'll just have to wait and see.

Oregon and Back Again

The Sullivan family reunion out in Oregon was great fun last week, and a great opportunity to meet parts of the family that I hadn't met before. While I was out in Oregon I drove into Portland with my wife to visit River City Bicycles and I was stunned. I've never seen so many cyclists on the road in a major city before, and I've never seen a city laid out in such a manner that was so friendly to cyclists. I swear that in parts of the city on the Saturday afternoon their were more people on bikes than cars on the road.

River City itself was a veritable cycling Mecca. Two huge floors full of all manner of bikes, free Espresso, and more people in the shop than you could shake a stick at. Beyond the shop staff they had a gaggle of women at a central checkout handling all the people that had just come in to pickup some random piece of gear. It was truly impressive.

Needless to say I haven't had much time on my bike lately, but I still went to Wompatuck this evening. Luckily for me after I was dropped the third time by the field a group of six other riders fell off with me. For the next nine laps we hung together in a ragged paceline that had me at the very edge of my current abilities. I think if we had been able to keep a clean paceline going I may have been able to help more but it was a pretty sloppy affair with people pushing after they peeled off or peeling of crazy wide. When the field finally caught back up to us on the tenth lap together I fell off and spent the last 5 laps talking with Dave who had been helping to organize our group into a functional paceline. On the bell lap he led me out and let me sprint for the finish for practice, which was fun and nice since my wife Michelle had come out to see what I was spending my Wednesday nights on.

I've been continually impressed with the cyclists I've encountered at Wompatuck, they've all been very helpful and supportive. They've gone out of their way to share knowledge with me, and help me progress so I can hang on just that little bit longer. I feel pretty good right now, even though I'm exhausted and a little sore. I can't wait for this time next year!

Hill Attacks

I ended up not riding Tuesday and Wednesday as I wanted to rest for the Wednesday race on Tuesday and Wednesday the weather scared me away in the morning only to ignore the weather man and turn into a beautiful afternoon.

The ride into work today I had fresh legs and a head full of anger at missing the race yesterday so I really attacked the hills hard. I gave it everything I had to carry my speed up the hills and then over the top and down. In the end it took me just a few seconds under an hour to get to work, which I was pretty pleased with considering I had to stop for a car on the first downhill section, stop for construction on the second downhill section, and stop for a semi that was blocking the road as it slowly backed into a driveway. All told I did a good job of making up the time by really pushing up the hills.

I paid for it this afternoon with some really sore legs, but it is a pain I'm happy about. I'm off to Oregon for a family reunion this weekend and most of next week so I probably won't get a chance to ride again until next Friday. I'll be back in a week with some pictures and maybe even a story or two.

Mind Over Mind

When I woke up this morning my quads were really tight, and I really just wanted to roll over and go back to sleep. Instead I played proverbial footsie with the alarm clock for around a half hour before I finally convinced myself that riding into work at a nice even pace would do more to loosen up my muscles than driving into work and taking the day off.

The ride into work went well, and my legs did feel better after a nice long stretch after the ride. I've never personally seen any benefits from stretching cold muscles, so I tend to do all my stretching after I finish exercising or after a nice warm-up. To keep from pulling muscles I'm pretty careful to slowly warm myself up over the first 5-10 minutes before pushing.

This evening I replaced the front tire on my commuter wheel with a Dillo tire and it was a new record for me. I managed to get the old tire and tube off and then the new tire and tube on in around 15 minutes. So far each change has taken me at least a half hour or more so I was pretty pleased to have it go quickly. I feel like I'm really starting to get a technique down that works for me. Maybe when I have time I'll take pictures so people can tell me all the things I'm doing wrong.

I know it has nothing to do with cycling, but here's another picture from the Garden in the Woods I liked.

Garden in the Woods

Michelle and I spent the afternoon on a tour of the Garden in the Woods. I had a fun time taking pictures of the various flowers, and I particularly liked this one. Since I already had an easy hike under my belt when we arrived home I went out for a short 13 mile ride to try and flush some of the crap out of my legs from yesterday's effort. The only real excitement came as I pumped up my front tire, when I went to remove the nozzle the top of the valve broke off inside! I took apart the nozzle to remove the piece, and since the tire was already inflated and I wasn't planning on going fast I just left it alone. I figured if it flatted I'd change the tube, just like I was going to have to do if I wanted to fix it now. In the end it was fine.

I liked the ride of the Armadillo tire on the back, though the weight difference was really driven home when I climbed some of the small hills on my route. Since I'm going to have to replace the front tube anyway I may just buy a Dillo for the front tire too and kill two birds with one stone. An expensive stone, but well I've come to terms with the fact that keeping up with this cycling habit isn't going to be cheap.

Speaking of not cheap I also took a picture of the new wheels this morning before changing them out with my commuting/training wheels. I'm really looking forward to Wompatuck this Wednesday night to see if I can hang for more than two laps at a time. I have so much to learn, and so much conditioning to catch up that I'm not sure if I'll be able to hang on for a full race until next year but that won't stop me from trying.

I'm going to stop doing the food log, in the end I haven't really been able to glean much from it and I don't like obsessing about food so hasta la vista.

The Joy of Riding

Once again I awoke at 6:00am Saturday morning to drive down to Norwood for the Landry's group ride. Wiser after last weeks experience I went out with the B group, and I had an absolute blast. Patrick was our group leader, and he had some fresh legs after taking around a week and a half off due to the flu. Unfortunately with only 9 people in the group we had no chaser and we lost two early on at a turn, after around a half hour of trying to track them down we reached them on a cell phone and we continued on our way.

The 7 remaining riders were all at a pretty equal level of ability, except for Patrick, so the ride went at a nice clip and I didn't get dropped off the back like a ton of bricks. Part of that was the new wheels. Now, I liked my old wheels just fine but wow do the new Ksyrium SL's make a huge difference on the hills and during accelerations. While I am slowly getting in better shape they were a huge help in letting me scoot up the hills, and take my turns at the front.

The Pan-Mass Challenge was going the other way as we headed out of Medfield and it was an impressive sight. I don't think I've ever seen so many cyclists on the road at the same time before. My only qualm is they really hogged the road. They were riding so many abreast at one point that they took up half of our lane and almost hit one of our riders. Still it is a great cause and I was proud to see all shapes and sizes flying by.

Near the end of the ride there is a really long uphill climb that has a series of steep and then shallow climbs. Around half way up as we hit a steep part I decided to put on some speed and see just how much I could accelerate going up the hill and I took off. As I slowed down further up to catch my breath and let the others catch me Patrick flew by me at mach 9, so I went for another push to catch him. I didn't manage to make it onto his wheel until right near the very top and only then because he slowed down. He taught me an important lesson on attacking, do it near the top of the climb and only do it when you have the energy to keep pushing the pace after you reach the top. Otherwise they'll just blow by you while you're getting your legs back under you.

After the hill four of us formed into a pace line and they taught me some of the basics like pulling off to the left, the elbow saying go through, and accelerating before you reach the end of the line so you don't get dropped. I did eventually get dropped from the line a short way before one of the stops as I screwed up getting onto the last wheel and burned myself out trying to latch back on.

When we finished I was tired but glowing. Out of all the rides I've done so far this was by far the most fun. I think part of it may be that I've made it to the ride for the past four weeks in a row and people are starting to warm up to me. I think some of the older riders get a kick out of my enthusiasm and eagerness to listen to their advise and stories. The new wheels really did make a difference too, and now that my commuter wheels are heavier than ever I think I'll always feel that difference when I put the race wheels on.

Michelle took a picture of me yesterday before I took off for work. I wish I had seen it before this afternoon as I now realize my helmet strap is way loose. Oh well, and damn I have knobby knees! This Saturday also marks the end of my third week of riding. In the last three weeks I've traveled roughly 380 miles on the bike. While not even close to the mileage I know some people put up in a week I'm pretty happy with how its gone. Today was also the first day where I really started to believe that I could be a great climber one day. It was the first day where I really looked forward to each hill as we approached it, and wow does that seem strange.

Glass

I didn't ride yesterday as I had to spend a couple hours in the afternoon taking care of car and bike maintenance so I had to skip so I could swing into work early. The world from the Landry's in Norwood crew is that I didn't get ripped off with the wheels. I'll be taking them out for a ride tomorrow on the group ride. My plan is to only use the for racing after the group ride. I'm excited to give them a try. The only real problem is the cassette on the race wheels isn't exactly the same as my commuter wheel cassette so I have to adjust the cable tension every time I switch out but I can live with that. I'll have to take some pictures because they look pretty cool.

Today I was looking forward to nice ride into work and for the first six miles it was nice, if a little warm. A nice little piece of glass decided to hitch a ride in my wheel and after taking a half hour to change the flat on the side of the road I was soaked in sweat and my quads were really uncomfortable as I got back on the bike. About a mile down the road my wife passed me (my support crew) and I decided to throw in the towel and put the bike on the roof rack and took a ride into work. My quads are pretty unhappy tonight, I'm hoping they loosen up on the group ride tomorrow morning.

There is actually a fair amount of glass on the side of the road on my way to work so I ended up getting a new Specialized All Condition Armadillo Elite tire for my rear wheel. I'll probably get one for my front commuter wheel too, but I want to see how this one handles. My front tire still is in decent condition for now anyway. Hopefully I won't have any more flats any time soon.

Where I did flat to elderly women came out onto their front porches and watched me go through the paces of changing the tire. I'm sure I looked plenty goofy, though one was kind enough to offer me a glass of water, which I declined as my hands were well covered in smutz. I had one cyclist pass and offer assistance, as well as a motorist with a bike rack. Its nice to have the offers even though I didn't need it this morning.

After changing the flat this afternoon and putting the new tire on tonight my thumbs are burning from all the pushing and stretching, but I feel like I'm getting better at it.

The Food Log
On the Ride to Work - 1 Gu Packet, 16oz of Gatorade
Breakfast - Sausage McMuffin w/Egg (I know horrible but the wife wanted a quick breakfast)
Lunch - Sub with Turkey and Ham w/ American Cheese
Dinner - Spaghetti with to many meatballs and mushrooms. (Oops I just made to many meatballs and not enough sauce.)
After Dinner - 1 Glass of Chocolate Milk

Wicked Workout

I'm whipped, the ride tonight at Wompatuck was way faster than last weekend as there were more people and some better riders that really pushed the pace. Once again I was lapped multiple times, though near the end I managed to hold on for two laps giving it everything I had and the stopping to watch the finish. The sound of the finish is something I'll never forget, and it is a sound I'll cherish every time I hear it in the future. Like a swarm of angry bees the hum of the tires on the road screaming along at over thirty miles and hour in the sprint to the finish was just awesome.

I did end up meeting Andrew and I did buy the tires from him, I'll take them into Landry's tomorrow to get them all setup so I can use them next Wednesday. In the end since he was willing to accept a personal check I was willing to accept that the tires really were a good deal. I definitely liked him, as we chatted for as we did a cool down lap after the race. I hope to see him at Wompatuck or Wells Ave in the future.

I also talked with a 66 year old that managed to keep with the group for around 19-20 laps before he was dropped. He is an inspiration to me to keep pushing to get in shape, and hopefully stay in shape like he has. Before the race started I did a couple laps with a racer that was also getting back into the swing of things, though he has a deep well of experience to pull on. I couldn't quite catch his name as he mumbled it, but essentially he is a racer that was on the Haitian Olympic squad many years back, and it was his racing that allowed him to come to and stay in America. Now later in his life (I would guess mid-40s) he's a success and has been able to start racing again. Every time the group came around he was always near the front and participated in at least one break that I saw. I hope to see them both at future rides as I loved listening to their stories.

Another thing I learned today is it is so much better to be at the front than the back. For the first two laps I hung out at the front on the far right about 2 rows back from the leaders. The closeness of the other riders as we were riding 6 abreast on a fairly narrow road was pretty nerve racking for me. After the 2nd lap I let myself slip back to give myself some more room and while I hung on until the start of the 3rd I was dropped due to the accordion effect you get at the back around turns. I have a lot to learn, but I feel like I'm learning and slowly getting some conditioning.

Still I'm totally exhausted now, so I'm off to bed.

The Food Log
Glasses of Water - 9
Breakfast - A Bagel w/Cream Cheese and a Banana
Lunch - 1/2 a Cheese & Pepperoni Pizza
On the Ride - 32oz of Gatorade & 2 Packets of Gu
Dinner - 2 Italian Sausages and a Bowl of Fresh Snow Peas

Rain Delay

Yesterday it rained. I didn't ride, and that's all I have to say about that.

Today I woke up and for the first time I really wanted to skip biking into work. Taking yesterday off allowed my muscles to tighten up and I was pretty uncomfortable. Still I managed to force myself through the motions of getting ready for the ride, and inevitably I was on my bike pedaling my way into work.

Since I'll be going to Wompatuck for the training crit tomorrow I wanted to have a nice easy ride in, and that pretty much what I had. Despite the soreness today was by far the easiest ride I've had into work since I started. The hills didn't slow me down as much, and more importantly they didn't leave me winded at the crest. I also carried my speed off the hills much longer with what felt like light effort.

In theory I should be meeting up with Andrew, a much more experienced rider, at Wompatuck tomorrow. If I do I'll hopefully be buying some used 2004 Mavic Ksyrium SL wheels from him. I really don't want to buy a new set of racing wheels and then crash and wreck them while I'm still learning. I'm hoping I can get some good mileage out of the used wheels and get a feel for what kind of advantage they'll provide without breaking the bank. I'll also need to buy some more tubes, tires, and potentially a second cassette. I'm pretty excited and I'll let you know how it goes.

I also picked up a second jersey the other day. A Screaming Yellow/Black Podium Jersey from Pearl Izumi. It isn't as comfortable on my shoulders as the Descente, but its fairly comfortable overall. The reflective tape in the middle of the Descente Jersey is already peeling off which is pretty budget, but overall the jersey is holding up ok.


The Food Log
Glasses of Water - 8
Breakfast - A bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios
Ride In - 16oz of Gatorade
Second Breakfast - One Packet of Oatmeal and a Banana
Lunch - A big chunk of Lasagna
After Lunch Snack - 1 Packet of Peanut M&Ms and a Banana
Dinner - Mac & Cheese with Hot Dogs
After Dinner Snack - 1 Cherry Yoplait

Recovery Ride

Today I decided I'd do a two hour or so ride at a nice slow and steady pace to try and pump the crap out of my legs that I'm sure I built up from running on empty for an hour and a half yesterday. Looking at google maps I decided to try out a loop right near my home that would be six miles long and do it several times. The loop was pretty good, hilly but no monster climbs. One of the climbs had the road washed out pretty bad on the white line so I had to take the lane whenever I came to that short section but since there was a stop sign at the top of the hill it really didn't cause any problems. Traffic was mild, so I spent most of the time marveling at just how much broken glass sits along the side of the road.

In the end I did three loops over a little less than two hours and never really pushed my heart rate up excepting a little spike on one of the larger climbs. My legs felt pretty good and I know I could have pushed harder but I wanted to stick to my plan so it was all easy pedaling.

The Food Log
Glasses of Water - 8
Breakfast - Two bowls of Cheerios
On the Ride - 32oz of Gatorade
Lunch - A Dbl. Whopper with Cheese
After Lunch Snack - A Banana and a Cheery Yoplait with a glass of chocolate milk
Dinner - 2 Pieces of Deep Dish Pizza

My First Bonk

Despite a full day of work and the hard riding yesterday I didn't sleep well last night, and that should have been my first clue to take it easy today but I wasn't listening. When I made it down to Landry's in Norwood for the Saturday morning group ride the weather was overcast and the total group probably around 25 people or so. As the group leaders worked out the route it became apparent that we were going to split into two groups. Since I really didn't feeling like puttering around at 14 miles an hour with the B/C group I decided to chance the A Group since they said it'd be going 40 miles at around 18.5 miles an hour after to few people responded to the 20 miles an hour speed. Well once we were out on the road we were going well over 20mph.

I can stay with a pack when we're cruising on the flats at 20-23 mph but once we hit some hills I'd just drop off the back like a lead wrecking ball. One of the Landry's riders dropped back to help pull me along so I got a chance to talk with him a bit. It turns out that he was Jim, one of the owners of Landry's. It also gave me a chance to give props to Patrick the shop manager of the Norwood store as I think he did an excellent job fitting me to my bike. We had a fun time talking about cycling and compared running injury war stories as we cruised along. He seemed quite shocked when I told him that I was attempting the ride with only 2 weeks of riding under my belt, oh how right he would prove to be when he said I wasn't ready for a ride like this just yet. With Jim's help I managed to hang on to the main group or catch up to them at stops for the first 30 miles or so, but after one stop the group went and my legs said no more.

It is a weird feeling to tell your body to do something and have it refuse. My heart rate was low, and my breathing steady but my legs simply had no more go juice left in them. My troubles only amplified when I reached the next turn and went the wrong way. It wasn't until about 2 miles later that I realized this and had to turn around and head back. Being on empty is bad, but re-tracing your route while bonked is worse. To push things over the top the humidity was around 100% and it was heating up. Even though I had two full bottles of Gatorade at the start of the ride I was quickly running out.

I settled in for a long slow and dry spin back to the shop and while I made a few more wrong turns along the way I did eventually make it back after nearly three hours and forty-five minutes in the saddle. With most of that time being the last 15 miles which should have been ten. I went into the shop to check in, and they were glad to see me finally arrive. I ended up buying some more Gu gel packets and another bright yellow jersey since the Descente one is a little to small.

My legs are pretty leaden right now, and even walking up from the downstairs to the upstairs is a bit of an ordeal. I'm just going to keep shoving food into the tank and take it easy for the rest of the day.

Another story from today's ride. Since the Pan-Mass Challenge is just around the corner there were a lot of teams out on the roads this morning training for it with their Pan-Mass Jerseys on. They were also going at a much more sedate pace than us so we flew by several groups. When we went past one on a hill I was out of the saddle fighting to keep up with the group and one of the riders called out, "Hey look its Chicken Legs! Its Rasmussen!" Since Jim had commented that my build was similar to his earlier in the day it made me smile and gave me just a little bit more energy to get up the hill. Of course, what gave me the energy was thinking, "Ya, only out of shape and definitely not doping."

This afternoon as I was napping on the couch Michelle came in with a garter snake she found out in the little stone wall we built with the stones we pulled out from digging our garden. I think he was trying to figure out if I has a flavor.

The Food Log
Glasses of Water - 11
Ride Food - 2 GU packets and 32oz of Gatorade (Powdered Mix)
Breakfast - 4 Blueberry & Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Butter & Maple Syrup
Lunch - 4 pieces of deep dish pizza with the works
Dinner - 5 Chicken Tenders and a large salad with nice fatty Italian dressing.
Evening Snack - A glass of Chocolate Milk, A Raspberry Yoplait, and A Banana

There and Back Again

Today was a good day on the bike. My ride in this morning was fast and easy. The hills are giving me far less trouble and I didn't feel any fatigue all afternoon. The highlight was being passed by Michelle in the car on a downhill. When I saw it was here I stood up and sprinted after her. I couldn't catch her but I was keeping pace until the road started to go uphill again, which was pretty much right after the downhill. During the downhill she said she was going 42, so I was going pretty quick probably in the high 30's and it was a lot of fun.

Since I was feeling good this afternoon I decided to try the ride home. Before I did though I got a chance to ride a co-workers bike around a little bit. His bike is more comfortable to ride as it has a nice soft seat on a shock absorber and wider wheels to keep things less skittish but I couldn't get it anywhere near the speed I can get mine. I think part of it is the gearing as I think my ratio is a lot higher in top gear. It was neat to do the comparison though. I'm hoping that'll he'll catch the bug and join me.

The ride home was harder than the ride in as it was in the high 80's and sunny, and since I ride home towards the west the sun was in my eyes whenever I wasn't in the trees. A decent headwind didn't help either, and with it swirling it hit me pretty hard broadside a couple times. Now on the way to work the uphills are long with a shallow grade and the downhills are shorter and very steep. Of course heading home the downhills are long and winding, and the uphills are crazy steep. There is a particular climb that has to be 8% or more for about 1/4 of a mile that then continues uphill for another 1/4 a mile around 3-4%. It made it up it without to much trouble but I was pretty winded by the top.

All told I still feel pretty good after the 36 miles or so that I rode today. I'm hoping that it doesn't rain tomorrow morning as I'm looking forward to a nice group ride. I do know that I'm going to sleep well tonight!

The Food Log
Glasses of Water - 10
Breakfast - 16oz of Gatorade on the Ride, a Banana, and a small bag of pretzels
Lunch - A hot dog, a Cheeseburger, and a Brownie (Company Picnic Lunch)
Ride Home - 16oz of Gatorade, a Banana
Dinner - A glass of Chocolate Milk, Beef Stroganoff with Peas
After Dinner Snack - A Cup of Yoplait Cherry Yogurt and a glass of Chocolate Milk

Stiff and Sore

I slept in this morning until 9am, which is kind of funny because just a couple months ago waking up at 9am would have been waking up early. As soon as I rolled out of bed my muscles in my legs, butt, and back started to complain. Since it was already late I decided I'd just drive in with Michelle and go for a long walk instead of riding today.

I probably walked a little over a mile and half this afternoon during breaks and loosened up my muscles nicely. I should have a good ride into work tomorrow. I did more research on wheel sets this evening and its just mind numbing how many options there are. If they weren't so expensive it wouldn't be so bad, but they really are something you want to get right the first time.

The Food Log
Glass of Water - 8
Breakfast - 2 Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches & a Banana
Lunch - Lg. Chunk of Lasagna
Dinner - Mac & Cheese with Ham and Hot Dog Chunks w/ glass of chocolate milk
After Dinner Snack - Bag of Snow Peas and a Cup of Yoplait Peach Yogurt

Wompatuck, Oh What a Feeling

I left work early today to go to the Wompatuck Training Criterium and still ended up getting there just in time to line up and go. Now there are many rides that you can show up to cold and be fine, this was not one of them. Up until now I've considered 20mph on the flats really fast, but today totally blew that away. Even though it is just a training race these guys were flying. I managed to hang onto the wheels of the group for three laps (roughly 3 miles) at that pace before my muscles started to freeze up and my lungs started to explode. The great thing about it being a training race though is I was able to sit up and ride at a comfortable recovery pace of 17-18mph while waiting for them to come back around. After around 3-4 laps they'd catch me and I'd latch back on for as long as I could. The 2nd time I made it for 2 laps, but after that I never held on for more than a lap. In the end when the main field completed its 25 lap I finished my 20th.

Even though I was clearly outclassed I had an absolute blast trying to hang onto the group for as long as I could. If it had been flat and straight I know I could have held onto them for a lot longer, but in the end the acceleration out of the turns and up the couple small hills just did me in. For me it was like doing intervals, so overall a great workout. Since we were in a rush I forgot my water bottle again so I went without for the whole ride. It was only and hour but it would have made recovery a lot easier.

Dinner was late today so no after dinner snack. I have a feeling the Saturday ride this weekend is going to be a whole lot more manageable now that I have Wompatuck to compare it to. I've added new wheels to my list of things I'd like to get for my bike. I'd like a racing set to help give me just a little bit of extra speed out of those turns and up the hills. As I left the state park I thought Wompatuck was a very fitting name, because I felt like I'd been womped and I just wanted to tuck myself into bed and go to sleep.

Today the Tour de France just made me sad, comparing it to the joy of having the other racers cheering for me to push and catch their wheels and hold on for as long as I could just makes me sad for the state of the Tour.

In other news I did a weigh in this morning, and I'm up to 152lbs. It is always the same with me an exercise I always pack on pounds quick when I do it. The first day I was on the bike I was 144lbs. If history holds true I should cap out at 155-160. Still quite thin for a 6'4" guy, but it is the way I'm built.


The Food Log
Glasses of Water - 7
Breakfast - A banana and an Orange
Lunch - A Salad, 2 Spring Rolls, Salmon Curry and Rice
Post-Race Recovery - 32Oz of Gatorade and a packet of Gu Gel
Dinner - Teriyaki Chicken with Sprouts, Peas, and Carrots over Rice and a glass of Chocolate Milk

A Day of Rest

After waking up this morning and moving around a little I decided that today would be a rest day for me. While nothing hurts badly I'm approaching a high level of overall fatigue. Since I've been eating and sleeping well I'm taking it to mean I've pushed a little to hard. Crew taught me the danger of pushing into total exhaustion day after day, so I think I'll just try and dodge that bullet this time.

I also took the bike into Landry's to get the 2nd water bottle rack and have them tweak the rear derailer back into line. While I was there I talked with Patrick about tagging along up to the Wompatuck Training Criterium He's planning on heading up so I'm planning on heading into work early tomorrow so I can take off around 4:30pm to join them. I don't think I'll race, but I plan on at least doing some practice laps with them while they warm up just to see what its like. If I feel really comfortable I might join in. My worst fear is that I do join and end up with lots of pictures of bloody body parts and broken bike bits to post tomorrow.

One thing I haven't been talking about is the fact that I quit drinking soda as soon as I started riding again. I've been repeatedly addicted to coca-cola throughout my life. Recently I was drink 40-60oz of it a day. Throw in some morning tea and afternoon chocolate and I'm over 300mg a day. Needless to say I've had some pretty killer headaches over the last week and some but they've finally calmed down. Reading this article on Caffeine reminded me of how glad I am to be free of it. It also made me choke when I think of how much caffeine my Starbucks addicted friends are pulling down a day.

Like most cycling fans I've been watching the Tour de France every day and marveling at what these amazing cyclists are able to do. That said, I know enough about how an normal human beings body works and it just seemed impossible that Alexandre Vinokourov could yo-yo so dramatically between winning a time trial handily, collapsing the next day, and then charge back to lead a break-away to a stage victory the next. Now the time-trial win and the next day collapse I can by. Any huge effort will have consequences, sadly it has now come to light that Alexandre Vinokourov resorted to transfusions to accomplish these feats that we now know are indeed in-human. All Alexandre Vinokourov had to do was finish the tour, and he would have been remembered for a long time as the man who survived the tour despite massive injuries from a crash early on. Instead he'll only be remembered for his disgrace. I'm sure he went through unbelieveable amounts of pain to stay in the race, but it all means nothing after what he's done.
I wonder how long it will be before people watching the tour will stop wondering during every amazing effort if the riding isn't cheating, I know I'll be wondering.

To me winning isn't everything, my favorite rider in the tour is George Hincapie. He's my favorite rider because he's shown himself to be all too human. He's blown himself up time and time again to help his teammates out. Watching him creep over the Col de Peyresourde and the dig deep to lead-out Alberto Contador (and pull along Rasmussen) was awesome. To me that is the most noble part of the Tour de France, the riders that know they are going to lose but give everything they can to help out their teammates. When I see a lead-out man weaving back and forth like a drunk paper boy after helping out his team leader I'm proud of that man. For that matter the Rabobank squad has been very impressive also in their defense of the yellow jersey. They've done a ton of work to protect Rasmussen, and they've dropped like flies long before the finish because of it. That's what I like about the tour giving it all for a common goal that is beyond yourself.

The Food Log
Glasses of Water = 7
Breakfast - A cup of Tea and 2 Slices of Toast
Lunch - 1/2 a lg pepperoni pizza
After Lunch Snacks - 1 cup of Ramen, 2 bags of M&Ms (one peanut one regular)
Dinner - Rice, Squash, 2 Sausages, and a Corn on the Cob and a glass of Chocolate Milk
After Dinner Snack - A bowl of cherries

Nature Provides

In a classic move I put my water bottle on a shelf near my bike while I pumped up the tires and left it there. I really didn't notice I'd left it behind until I was already about 7 miles into the ride. The weather this morning was cool and breezy with a 12mph headwind causing lots of trouble for me. Once I did notice I'd left my bottle I decided I'd just tough it out. After about 10 miles it started to mist and drizzle, and after 12 it really started to rain. Now mind you I haven't ridden a bike in the rain since I road a BMX as a kid so I was a little nervous. The cars whizzing by didn't help my nerves either. I decided to just sit up and ride at a nice steady even pace and I made it through the remaining miles without incident, just wet. All told I would have rather brought my water bottle and skipped the rain.

I'm not sure if its mileage or time that leads to loose shifters but by rear derailer is already starting to get a little skittish. Especially at the extremes it'll sometimes skip a shift or hop back and forth. I'm going to take the bike into the shop tomorrow to get a second water bottle rack put on, and I'll have them look at the shifters at the same time. All told I've put 180 miles on the bike since I bought it, not to shabby for an out of shape game designer.

On a rather less seemly subject I've discovered muscles in my butt that I really never noticed before. I'm pretty sure its my gluteus medius that's the most sore from dealing with keeping me balanced in the wind the last couple days, though my gluteus maximus is also getting more a workout than its used to. I'm used to being sore though, so none of my aches have moved into the realm where they're really bothering me. Its more like they're sending updates every couple minutes letting me know they've been putting in overtime.

The weather looks like the weather is going to pickup tomorrow, I'm probably going to drive into work and ride the bike home for a change of pace.

The Food Log
Glass of Water - 8
Breakfast - 2 Pop Tarts and 16oz of Gatorade
Lunch - Lasagna
After Lunch Snacks - Dbl. Cheeseburger, 1 Pack of Peanut M&Ms, 1 Pack of Pretzels
Dinner - Mac & Cheese and Ham Chunks, Salad with Ham, Glass of Chocolate Milk
After Dinner Snack - A Cup of Cheery Yoplait Yogurt

Top Off

This afternoon I went out with Michelle for a nice easy ride. Since she rides a MTB I left the Synapse in the Garage and rode my MTB as well. What a difference! Right away I noticed how much cushier the seat as and how much harder it was to get the bike going and keep it going. We took back roads into the center of town and after a quick hydration stop road back home. Since it was just a six mile ride I decided to hop on the Synapse and do some extra miles. The double yellow street that mine connects to has nice wide shoulders and makes for a safe 6.6 mile ride if I turn around at each end. It is all rolling hills so it allowed me to work on accelerating up long mild grades, and in the end I went an additional ten miles.

I've always liked competition, and part of the reason I bought the bike was to start racing but I have to admit I'm crazy sacred to try. When I was running the difference between the top end shoes and the bottom end really didn't matter in terms of performance. When I rowed crew great gear made a difference, but when you sat down on an ergometer everyone was on a level playing field. I feel with bike racing the difference between the low end and the top end in terms of performance is pretty huge. Combine that with the fact that I just started biking and it becomes evident that any race I enter won't end well.

Still, when I ran Cross-Country I came in dead last in a number of races. Between asthma induced from the running, and a body built more for speed than distance I just plodded along. I kept doing it because I enjoyed it. I think that's the attitude that I'm going to try and take into bike racing. I may come in dead last, but for now I'm competing with myself. Maybe next year after a winter of conditioning I'll be ready to be more serious in the spring.

I've been reading up a bunch on the different types of bike tires available. Right now I have Shimano WH-R550 Clincher Wheels that came with the bike. They seem solid and since they're the fastest I've ever owned, they're good enough for now. I'll probably keep my eyes peeled for a good deal on better tires but I'm not in a rush to buy any right now. Reading a lot of the various tire reviews it seems that the people that have the biggest problems are the biggest people. Being light weight I think I can get away with using low spoke tires that don't seem to work for other people.

There is a 50k road race up in Bow NH that I think I may try and do. This Saturday's ride was hard but gave me confidence that I could finish such a race at a respectable speed. I would assume that most of the other people in the Cat 5 race would be newbies like me, so I don't think I'd be to outclassed. We'll see how this week goes, and I'll make a decision by Thursday of next week.

The Food Log
Glass of Water - 9
Breakfast - 4 Pieces of French Toast with Maple Syrup
Lunch - Chicken Tenders
Dinner - Beef Lasagna with fresh Mozzarella, Spinach, and Green Beens Glass of Chocolate Milk

Landry's Group Ride

Once upon a time on a cruise ship my father, sister, and me were doing a workout when the instructor said that this next exercise would work our obliques. I asked my dad what they were, and he replied "Do this for 30 seconds and you'll know exactly where and what they are." Boy he was right. If you asked me today what muscles are used in bicycling I could point to every single one.

I woke up at 6am to drive down to the Landry's in Norwood for their Saturday group ride. Last week I had coasted along in the last group over 23 miles, and with the biking I did this week solo I was pretty sure I could handle the faster 16-18mph group that would travel 33 miles. Well, I finished the ride in one piece but it was way more than I bargained for. The fast group ended up merging with ours, and the pace was killer. I was dropped by the main group multiple times only catching them when they'd wait for us stragglers at a stop sign. The main problem for me was their acceleration on flats and the speed they climbed hills. Time and time again I'd be latched onto someones wheel in the back when the rest of the group would go. By the time I would make a move to pass and rejoin them it would be to late. I found myself alone between the groups more than once and spent a lot of time without protection. The times when I did manage to stick with the main group the ride was a blast. It was great fun to feel like I was coasting when we were moving along at 19-20mph on the flats. The last 3rd of the ride I pretty much gave up hope of sticking with the main group and hung onto the wheels of several riders that were struggling to keep the pace like myself.

Despite the crazy pace when I did have a chance to sit up and talk to other riders they were nice and supportive. It was also a lot of fun to have people to ride with as they gave me multiple mini-goals to reach during the ride. I'll probably end up getting a second water bottle cage next week as the one bottle wasn't quite enough for the full ride. I had brought a second smaller bottle to put in my jersey but decided to leave it in the car instead. I ended up sucking it down when we made it back to the parking lot. I also tried GU Gel for the ride, since I've never done a ride of this distance and intensity before I'm not really sure if it helped but it certainly didn't hurt. I ended up taking one just before the ride and two during. In any case despite all the hurt and blowing myself up on a couple of the longer climbs I still had energy when we finished. It wasn't until this afternoon when things started to tighten up that the hurt began in earnest.

One other thing I noticed is a number of people on the ride had tires that looked under inflated. It makes the advice Pat from Landry's gave me of deflating my tires every night more clear for me. If you're inflating your tires every morning you always have them topped off. If you're not in the habit its easy to just head out with tires that have lost pressure and aren't optimally inflated.

I'm going to head out on a ride with Michelle tomorrow on the MTB, it'll be interesting to switch back to it after all the time on the Synapse this last week. All told I managed right around 120 miles from last Sunday to today. Not to shabby, though I'm sure that number is bound to climb.


The Food Log
Glass of Water - 7
Morning Ride - 24Oz of Gatorade and 3 Gu Gel packets
Breakfast - 1 Glass of Chocolate Milk, and a mess of chocolate chip pancakes
Lunch - Ham & Cheese Sandwich and a Glass of Chocolate Milk
Dinner - Lasagna & Chicken Parm
After Dinner Snack - 3 Chocolate Chip Cookies, and a bag of snow peas

The Tire Hungers for Metal and Flesh

I wasn't expecting to be able to have a sunny ride in this morning, but the weather obliged and I hit the road around 8:25am. After about 7 miles of solid riding the bike started to handle a little strangely, and as I looked down at my back tire the vision and sound of the flat filled my senses. Now I had a spare tube, some plastic levers, and a CO2 tire inflater but I've never had to replace a tube before. Of all my worries getting a flat was one of my highest and it had happened after just around 100 miles on the new bike.


I spun the back wheel around an before it completed a revolution I saw a piece of metal sticking out of it. A little industrial staple had ruined my ride with ruthless efficiency. Since I take my front tire off all the time I wouldn't have worried about it, but the back tire is scary with all the various moving parts back there. Luckily it is rather easy to disengage and take off, otherwise I'd have been in trouble. With the tire off the bike I set about trying to get the tire off the hub, and after about ten minutes of trying different techniques I finally managed it.


Unfortunately for me, I wasn't paying close attention to the teeth attached to the wheel and they took a bite out of me during the struggle. Compared to taking the tire off getting the new tube in and on was actually pretty easy. I'm glad we stopped to check on the biker replacing his tire the other day because I was able to mimic his technique and get things put together rather quickly. At this point the owner of the home I was in front of came out to make sure I was ok. I let him know that I was and that I was just going through the process of putting everything back together, and that I'd be done soon in theory. It took me another five minutes or so to figure out how to engage the CO2 to fill the tire, and I was pretty shocked at just how fast it filled it. It probably took a second at most to refill the tire, leaving the frozen cartridge stuck to my quickly freezing hand.

I was pretty happy to be back on the road and glad to have the fear of changing a flat abolished. About a half mile later my wife passed me in the car on her way to work. Now she's follows me into work just in case something catastrophic happens and I need a lift in. When she passed me she waved and then just took off. I was shocked that she didn't question why I was less than half of the way to work when normally I'd be near finishing. It taught me that we need a clear hand signal for her to stop when I need help, even though I really didn't need any assistance this time.

I finally pulled into the office a little after 10am, making this the longest commute yet but also an important learning experience. I cruised by the first speed sign today at 25mph, as I was a little tired at that point. At the second sign I figured I should give at least one good sprint attempt and made it up to 31mph which I was pleased about since it was going slightly uphill.

If the weather channel is correct it looks like I won't be riding to work tomorrow, but will have clear skies for the Saturday morning ride. I'm plenty happy to take tomorrow off to rest as the Saturday ride will be 30 miles at and 17-19mph pace and I won't mind having fresh legs for it.

I also stopped by Landrys to by another C02 cartridge and another replacement tube just in case my tire hungers for more metal and flesh again soon.

The big pain of the day was my stomach, I couldn't get it to stop demanding food all day long. Even throwing a Dbl-Cheeseburger at it in the afternoon just made me want a salad, it didn't make a dent.

The Food Log:
Glasses of Water - 9
Breakfast - 32oz of Gatorade, 2 Packets of Oatmeal
Lunch - 1 LG Turkey Sub w/ Mozzarella Lettuce, Tomato, and Mayo
Afternoon Snack - 1 Bag of Pretzels, 1 serving of peanuts, 1 Dbl-Cheeseburger, 2 Chocolate Chip Cookies
Dinner - 1 Lg Salad with Ham, 1 Bowl of Broccoli and Cheddar Cheese soup with Ham
After Dinner Snack - A bowl of cherries.

The Pitter Patter of Little Rain Drops

The ride into work this morning was overcast and very humid, which made the ride hot and sticky even though its only 70F. I made the ride in exactly an hour today, though the highlight for me was a really long hard push in top gear that carried me for about a half mile to the first speed sign where I sailed through at 31mph without any further acceleration. I had been keeping pace with a truck over the distance, and it was just a blast to buzz along at that speed. Still my RPMs at that point were pretty low probably around 45-50. I look forward to really picking that number up in the weeks to come. I didn't have to much trouble keeping my speed up the hills along Village St. but by the time I was well along 109 some of the longer ones kicked my butt and forced me to spin slowly up them. For that last 10 minutes of the ride it was drizzling slightly, but nothing that major.

When I got to work I realized I forgot my key card, so I had to go in through the front. The looks on the faces of the front desk people seeing me in full biking gear was pretty amusing. When I got to my desk I took off my bike helmet and a cascade of sweat was released that had been held back by the front padding. I'll have to be more careful of that next time.

Throughout the day my legs were letting me know pretty loudly that they've been going beyond the usual call of duty this week. Still my overall tiredness was definitely down even though my soreness was up. One other story from the ride this morning, near the end there is a rather long downhill and just before it one of those trucks with all the lawn mowing gear in a trailer behind pulled out across the road and nearly cut me off. I quickly stood up to accelerate out of the way and was once again stunned at how responsive the bike is to power input, it makes it a ton of fun to ride.

The Food Log:
Glasses of Water - 8
Breakfast - 1 Raisin Bagel with Cream Cheese, Banana, and 16oz of Gatorade
Lunch - 1 Dbl. Whopper w/Cheese
Afternoon Snack - 1 Orange, 4 Twix
Dinner - Breaded Chicken Alfredo with Chicken & Prosciutto Tortellini
After Dinner Snack - 3 Choc. Chip Cookies

The Calm Before the Storm

The weather channel says its supposed to rain from Wednesday afternoon through Saturday. In theory I'll still be able to bike in tomorrow morning and beat the storm, but it looks like I'll be stuck driving. I'm hoping I'll have a window of clear skies to ride but we'll see. I'll be especially bummed if the Saturday morning group ride is canceled.

During the ride this morning I gave up going really fast on the downhills and instead pushed hard up the hills and rested on the way down. I hit 30mph again on a sprint to the first speed sign. On the second I just maintained a comfortable pace to see what my cruising speed was and it was solid at 18mph. Overall the ride took me one hour and 2 minutes. I was pretty winded after some of the longer hills, but I didn't feel as saddle sore today. My legs are definitely letting me know that they're been worked but its not too bad.

The Food Log:
Glasses of Water - 7
Breakfast - 1 Glazed Chocolate Donut, 2 packets of oatmeal, and 16oz of Gatorade
Lunch - 1 Lg. Veal Cutlet Sub with Mozzarella, Red Peppers, and Prosciutto.
Afternoon Snack - 1 Peach
Dinner - 1 Lg. Bowl of Mac & Cheese with many chunks of ham
After Dinner Snack - 3 Choc. Chip Cookies and a glass of Choc. Milk

The Monday Wall

In the past whenever I've been getting into shape, whether it was for Crew or Cross Country the 3rd day of training has always been the wall for me. This morning I've got minor aches and pains throughout my legs and back and I haven't even started peddling yet. The good news is that if the past holds true it should start getting easier after today. In any case its off to work.

Today's ride was much like yesterday's only I managed 30mph at the first you're going this fast sign and 29mph at the next. The wind was still a factor today, but it wasn't nearly as strong. Near the end of the ride a honey bee smacked into my shoulder and hung on for dear life. He rode with me for about a mile until a came to a stop sign and decided to blow him off. This ride took me just over and hour at 1:06 so a little slower today, but that was on purpose as I'm going to try and ride back this evening if the weather holds.

The weather held, but Michelle convinced me to drive home with her instead of riding back. Its probably for the best as my legs are feeling a bit sore and stiff. On our way back we saw a cyclist on the side of the road with a flat. We stopped to make sure he had everything he needed and with his thanks an assurances that he was fine we left him to his own devices.

I'm currently 6'4" and around 145lbs, I tend to eat whatever I want but when I'm not exercising I tend to not eat as much. For me the hardest part about doing high endurance sports has always been the eating. I'm going to keep a rough log of what I put down in a day to see how my food intake changes with the intensity of my rides.

The Food Log:
Total Glasses of Water - 6
Breakfast - 16oz of Gatorade, 2 packets of instant oatmeal, and a banana
Lunch - Bertucci's: Two rolls, a side salad, and 3 pieces of a Lg. Chicken Margherita pizza.
Afternoon Snack - 1 piece of a Lg. Chicken Margherita Pizza, 16oz of Gatorade, 12oz of V8
Dinner - Lg Bowl of Macaroni & Cheese with Hot Dog pieces and Spinach, 1 glass of Cranberry Juice
After Dinner Snack - 4 Chocolate Chip Cookies, 1 glass of milk, and one tomato

In The Beginning

My commute to work recently changed from 3 miles to just over 18. While I occasionally commuted to work on my bike previously, 3 miles of biking wasn't really worth having to take a shower once I arrived at work. At the same time my new commute is long and hilly enough that my old mountain bike just wasn't going to cut it so this past Friday I went down to Landry's in Norwood and test rode several different bikes. In the end I left the shop with a new 2007 Cannondale Synapse Carbon 2 as it had the most comfortable ride, and was still blazing fast. Then again I think most any road bike would feel blazing fast compared to my mountain bike. Patrick, the store manager, was very helpful in tracking down a bike that suited my needs and let me know about Saturday rides from the store which I plan on joining to get some group ride experience.



I woke up at 6am on Saturday to drive down to the bike shop to join the group ride, and get some time in the saddle on the new bike. We went out on a 23 mile ride that due to a mix up that separated the ride into the two groups ended up taking 2 1/2 hours. The group that I was with probably sat around for a good half hour at one point waiting for the rest of the group to catch up. Still once we realized they were gone we made good time back to the shop. Overall the ride was very comfortable, with me being just slightly saddle sore at the end. I think next week I'll try and hang with the 2nd group that goes on a 30 mile route at a faster pace.


This morning I woke up around 7:30am and did a test ride of my route into work. The route is really hilly, and it took me an hour to travel the 17.2 miles. By the end of the ride I was pretty tired from pushing up the hills, and a little saddle sore since the road is also pretty bumpy in places. It was extra fun because there were two speed signs on the route that let me sprint towards them. I managed 27mph on the first, and 24mph on the second. The second was slightly uphill and into a strong headwind. The wind today is around 12mph, with gusts into the twenties.

I made a few other purchases to help round out what I felt I needed to make commuting work.

Specialized Tire Pump - My old pump only went to 100psi and my new tires go to 120psi. They also have different valves so I wanted to get a pump that would work on both my old Mtn. Bike and the new road bike. So far its worked nicely, I deflate my tires every night and get a small upper body workout every morning.

Bellow Yellow Decente Jersey - I wanted a nice bright jersey so when I get smacked by a car at least I can point out I wasn't exactly hiding.

I also bought a spare tube and the tools necessary to change a flat if I get one, and a small pouch that fits under the seat to hold them.