Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Iphone Apps for fitness - Strava

The Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center (where I work) is having a walking challenge in March. Teams of 5 track their steps using a pedometer and the winning team gets....street cred I think. I've been trying out a bunch of pedometer apps this week. The GPS ones don't work very well. Even with my phone sitting still on my desk it will add a couple hundred steps over the course of the day.

The accelerometer versions seem a little better, but with an iphone they don't run in the background. Everytime you open another app, the counter stops. It kind of sucks, but it should be more accurate. I bet the other teams will be using the GPS-cheater apps, but we're going to try and win it the ol' honest way.

The other free app I started experimenting with is called Strava. It's a pretty awesome idea. It tracks your ride (or run, skate, etc) via GPS. Big deal...right?

It's cooler than that. There are little race courses people map out all over the country. Once you get on the course, the app starts another stopwatch to measure your time on that course.

Some of the current courses include a lap around Lake Hefner, a lap around Draper, around Overholser, the sod farm loop, etc. There are also mountain bike laps out at bluff creek and draper.

Each course has a leaderboard and you can view the people with the top 10 laps. Right now there aren't a ton of people using the app, but as it gets more popular it will get more fun. There are about 150 times laps around Draper, Hefner, etc.

I gave it a try at Bluff Creek tonight. The first lap worked just like it was supposed to. For some reason the second lap didn't pick up the course. I think the second lap was a few seconds slower than the first, so I guess it doesn't matter. I grabbed the top time, but I'm sure once guys like B$ and Drummond start using the app my time won't be so high up there.

Then I decided to try it out skating at Hefner. There are two different start/finish points you can choose from. Joey Mesa has the top time if you start over by Britton and MAcArthur. I started on the east side of the lake and ended up skating my way into 2nd place. The weather was pretty awesome for skating tonight. I'm looking forward to tracking my laps over the next few months to see if I can take some time off. I've gone much faster drafting off a bike, but considering I didn't have a bike to hide behind tonight, I was really stoked about skating a 26:33.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The Worst Part of Bike Racing

I got a new office chair today at work. It's one of the Herman Miller Aeron chairs. That probably sounds pretty lame to those of you who don't sit in front of a computer screen 8 hours per day, but to me it's actually a highlight.

Pretty much the last thing I want to do on a Friday after I leave work is get back in a chair, this time in my car, and drive 6 hours to a race. Even if my car had one of the Herman Miller chairs, it still wouldn't be appealing. Traveling is a real pain in the butt (literally), but it also sucks being away home my wife, dogs, and home all weekend. Not to mention when you leave Friday afternoon after work and return Sunday night, on Monday morning it feels like you missed out on a weekend.

Travel gets expensive too. Gas and hotels aren't cheap. Sharing it with a team definitely helps, and it also makes the travel a lot more fun. Skating is even worse since the closest race is 6 hours away and all but 3 races per year either require a flight are a 12+ hour drive each way.

It's pretty awesome that Oklahoma is getting more and more races each year. These year we'll have an additional big-time road race (Eucha Tough), another big crit (Sandridge), and an omnium (Tribbey). That, in addition to the strong local race teams I mentioned the other day, takes a little bit of travel out of the picture.

I still want to hit Lago Vista this weekend. I was hoping to find somebody else to drive, but it looks like I might be taking my car. It shouldn't be too bad, and on the plus side I don't have another race in Texas until an inline marathon on April 21.

Racing is the main reason I train the way I do, so I understand it is necessary to bite the bullet and travel once in a while. Sure, I could go back to Kansas and save some money and time, but I know the racing in Texas is going to be more competitive and more fun...but gosh...Austin is really far away.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Hutchinson Zoo Crit

A bunch of Undiscovered guys decided to race the Hutchinson Zoo crit outside of Wichita on Sunday. The fields looked to be a decent size for the masters and cat 4/5s, but they got smaller for the 3/4 guys and the 1/2/3 guys. It was kind of a bummer. I was really hoping more riders would stick around or show up for the 1/2/3 race. It didn't look like too many Oklahoma and Kansas guys made the 6 hour drive to Pacebend/Walburg and even less seemed to go over to Froze Toes in Missouri, so I thought there would be a halfway decent turnout.

The race would have been really cool if there were more people. It's a pretty family-friendly venue. There is a free zoo with some bobcats, bald eagles, owls, and even a badger (not of the honey variety). There were also some parks and other stuff to keep the families occupied. The course was flat and fast. They call it a crit, but it was really a 2+ mile circuit.

I decided to use my powertap instead of the zipps. The race lasted 46 minutes and my normalized power was right about what I thought my FTP was. I think I could have held that tempo for another 14 minutes, so that was pretty reassuring after 2 really taxing days of riding before this race (8 hours between the two prior days).

There are still 2 more races in the series. I don't think I'll make it back to either. I'm planning on hitting Lago Vista next weekend. I've never done that race, so I figured it's about time for me to press my luck. The following weekend in the big Oklahoma showdown at Salt Creek/Tall Chief.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Crazy Redbull Sports

It seems like every few weeks there is some new extreme sport that redbull is marketing. I saw this one on TV last week while we were hanging out in our hotel in Mineral Wells. It's called "Crashed Ice." It's basically an ice skating version of the downhill inline event they used to have in the x-games, only with more "extreme" obstacles. I don't understand why people have to push the limits of "extreme." Jumping out of an airplane used to be cool...then to be cool you had to have a snowboard attached to your feet while you did it. Now you have to be in a wing suit to get any attention.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Using Golden Cheetah Aerolab

There's a bunch of software out there to help dissect your powermeter data. TrainingPeaks WKO is probably the gold standard, but I hate paying for stuff when there are decent freeware options. 99% of the time I use PowerAgent, a free product by CycleOps. It is pretty easy to use and it tracks most of the information that I care about.

A local athlete made Gorilla Endurance, which can be found at http://gorillaendurance.com/. The big benefit of this app is that it has performance management charts that track ATL, CTL, and help predict when you'll be at your peak fitness and form.

The other program I use is called Golden Cheetah. It has a pretty good combination of features including a performance management chart, but it is a little more quirky. The interface, especially for the ride plot, isn't very attractive.

I think the coolest feature has to be Aerolab, a way to figure out how aerodynamic one bike setup is compared to another. You can check bike fit, tire rolling resistance, and whether one aero helmet is faster than another.

With the neverending Oklahoma wind, the data tends to be a little fuzzy, but I can repeatedly get results within 1 watt of each other, most of the time within 2/10 of a watt.

Here is how it works: Whenever your power rises, your speed should rise as well. If it doesn't, it either means you are going up hill or you are getting hit with more wind. You are supposed to test on a calm day, so we'll assume that when your power rises and speed does not increase, you are going up hill. When your power drops but your speed increases you are going down hill. Golden Cheetah draws a line that should simulate the elevation profile of the route you did. If the line doesn't look right, you adjust the slider bars until it does.

On any one ride (in a short period of time with no weather changes), most of the sliders should remain constant. If you didn't change tires, the CRR (coefficient of rolling resistance) will stay the same. Your weight will stay the same. Your eta and eoffset (based on your elevation) should stay the same. The rho (weather dependent) will stay the same as long as the weather stayed pretty much constant. This just leaves your cda (coefficient of drag) as the only independent variable.

I test on a very small flat loop. The loop has a white line I can follow to make sure each lap is exactly like the one before. It is completely exposed to the wind, so the results are a bit more fuzzy, but the wind is pretty consistent. It also makes it easy to see each lap. On a perfect day without win, each peak and valley would be exactly the same. Even on this fuzzy data, having the first peak at the highest or the last peak at it's highest only gives a different of a half of a watt. Is it accurate enough to tell whether your mouth is open or closed? No. But it is accurate enough to tell you if one elbow position is faster than another.

Photobucket

Most of the results I've seen have been common sense stuff. For example, the lower my front end was, the more aerodynamic I was. It wasn't rocket science.

There were two things that really shocked me. One was arm pad width. The most narrow position was the fastest...as was expected. Surprisingly, the middle position was slower than the out most position. I went back and forth three times because I didn't believe it, but the results were constant each time. It's one of those things where they "eyeball wind tunnel" which is usually pretty accurate was incorrect.

The second surprise was that an aluminum Roval wheel (not a deep section wheel) with a conti tire (GP4000S with chili compound) was significantly faster than a cheap 50mm carbon rim with a conti sprinter (chili compound, not the gatorskin version). It's one reason why I really don't encourage people to buy cheap carbon wheels off ebay. They look really cool, but your stock wheels (especially if you have a tarmac pro with roval wheels) might be even faster.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Things I've found on rides

It seems like people with unhealthy habits tend to litter more....or maybe there are just that many more people that practice unhealthy lifestyles these days. When I ride on busy rodes it always surprises me how much trash I see. For the most part it's empty cigarette packages, chewing tobacco/dip/snuff/, or fast food bags, wrappers, and cups.

I'm not sure why, but every once in a while an interesting item will catch my eye. A couple days after the race in Kona, I found a brand new Challenge Tubular on the side of the highway out in the middle of nowhere. It didn't even have any glue on it yet. I don't ride tubies, but I snagged it anyway since I've heard how nice the Challenge tires are.

The two most common items I've found are tools and iphones. Iphones? Yes..I've found 3 of them.

I picked up some nice Vice Grips (name brand) and then a couple days later I got some Craftsman pliers. You can never have too many of these laying around.

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

I drove away with a utility knife on top of my car one time. A few days later I found a new one that is a little higher quality...not that utility knives are that expensive or anything.

I found this Smith And Wesson knife in about a mile west of MLK Street on NE 4th. Who knows what this thing has seen. I boiled it real good as soon as I got home. I actually knicked my hand pretty good with it one time, so it's probably a really good thing I boiled it.


Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

I've found 3 iphones. The first one I found was an iphone4. The grass is cracked, but it works just fine. It was before the 4s came out. I wish I realized back then that even broken I could have sold it for a couple hundred dollars. Now that the 4S is out, it really isn't worth anything. I just keep it around in case I ever need parts for mine.

I found one of the original iphones too. Even in perfect working condition this wouldn't be worth anything, but I grabbed it anyway. I don't really know why.

Today's find was more fun. It was an iphone 4 in a pink case. The case was chewed up, but the phone was in perfect working order. The owner had a passcode on it, but I like puzzles so I decided I'd try and figure out the code. Without being able to access the phone, I wouldn't be able to find out who it belongs to, and they wouldn't be able to get it back.

There were two text messages on the main screen. My plan was to look these people up on facebook and message them to let them know I have there friend's phone. No luck. The names were nicknames.

So I tried the most popular code first...1,2,3,4. I was actually shocked when that didn't work. With a job in IT security I learned pretty quickly that people use the most simple password the majority of the time. On one business trip out to Dayton, Ohio I was looking through an application's logs and noticed one guy used the password "BigBalls69!". That is a little less common I guess). I tried the second most common passcode (0,0,0,0) and that worked.

I don't get it. It's a pain to enter a password each time. If you don't want your info (addresses, numbers, possibly banking info and SSN) protected, why use a passcode? If you do want it protected, why do you use a code that any idiot like me could figure out in 3 seconds?

So I got in the phone and noticed the last call was to "Mommy." Jackpot. I tried calling "Mommy," but the phone was already disconnected. Luckily I had my phone on me, so I called her and she seemed pretty grateful. She was headed out of town and her husband had to make an emergency run to the vet with their dog, so I just left it in their mailbox, which was right down the road from where I was riding. Hopefully the kid is as grateful as the mom was.

I didn't take a picture of the phone I found today, but just picture any other iphone4 but in a REALLY ugly pink Spec case.

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App


Has anyone else found anything interesting?

Thursday, February 23, 2012

OK Cycling Is Getting Competitive

This season is looking pretty good for Oklahoma cyclists. When I started racing back in 2007, OKC Velo seemed to pretty much dominate the OKC scene and Tulsa Wheelmen had Tulsa. Five years later, cycling in Oklahoma is totally different. Now OKC has Undiscovered, DNA, Cyclesmart, and OKC Velo. Tulsa has Tulsa Tough, BOT, Soundpony, and Superleggera. That's 6 teams with strong enough riders to win just about any p/1/2/3 race. Plus there are a handful of other master/cat4/cat5/junior teams.

With such a mild winter, it seems like the Oklahoma riders are pretty strong right now. With the extra amount of competition and the good riding form, the Oklahoma races in March should be pretty interesting. I think everyone wants to prove their worthiness. There's been a lot of hype on facebook, and even some trash talk going around. It really feeds the energy of the racing scene, and I'm expecting a pretty explosive Salt Creek/Tall Chief weekend.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The Generosity Manifesto

A friend of mine, Mike Zserdin, wrote a piece called "The Generosity Manifesto." I asked his permission to post a section of it here, even though he hasn't finalized it yet. Thankfully, he agreed. Hopefully I'm not posting too much, but it is a really inspirational piece that parallels my desire to influence people to become radical givers. It also explains how being generous releases chemicals in the brain that make you feel good, like a natural high. Giving doesn't just help the receiver, it helps the giver too.

The final piece will be launched on his website shortly. I'll be sure to post a link here once the website goes live.

On March 14, 2010, a bunch of entrepreneurs and bloggers were at a party in Austin, TX, during South by Southwest (sXsw). At some point, word went around that Matt, a man most of them didn’t know, needed a wheelchair. He was 18 and a firefighter, and had recently gotten a virus that left him temporarily paralyzed. While his parents could cover the entire treatment, they weren’t opposed to a little help from Matt’s friends and family. Even with insurance medical care is costly and without a wheelchair, he couldn’t leave his bed. Can you imagine being stuck in bed for months as an eighteen-year-old?

The room, like so many at SXSW, was filled with some sincerely likable and generous people including bloggers, public speakers, and business owners. One woman who knew Matt, Annie, shared Matt’s story with a blogger named Thom Singer. Thom was so impacted by the story he opened his wallet then and there and gave $20. They told the story to Ian, Scott, and Cindy, who in turn shared the story with a half-dozen more. Together, they raised a couple hundred dollars in 30 minutes and made Matt’s last wheelchair payment. Matt’s life was transformed by the unexpected gift from complete strangers. Not only that, the generosity that Annie, Thom, and the others showed transformed their lives. Giving made them feel good, not just in the moment but, for long afterwards. Annie had high expectations of her time at SXSW, but finding a group of generous friends to help a stranger wasn’t one of them. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the highlight. The million-dollar presentations and flash-filled exhibits were probably soon forgotten. She probably didn’t even remember the deluge of information she got from the conference. However, she will never forget the look on Thom’s face as he gave that $20, or the way it felt to witness the viral response of others.

When Thom blogged about it later, Annie commented that Matt’s mom was “thrilled and grateful (if not a little confused) for everyone’s generosity.” Rufus responded to Thom’s story with simple note of, “Thank you for sharing.” Lynn H. said, “Life is about noticing the good little things, if you ask me. Wait for big deals and you wait too long. Notice the little things, and they add up.” Tracy Lee said, “I am sure Matt and his family will never forget the kindness offered up by strangers. This is really an inspiration to all.”


He goes on to explain that to inspire people to give, there has to be a need to give. Well...the need is here. 600,000 Oklahomans will wake up today and wonder where their next meal will come from. Oklahoma ranks as the fifth hungriest state in the nation. I don't want to get into politics here, but we shouldn't need government programs to help out the people around us when we have the ability to help them ourselves. I've worked in the government for nearly 9 years now, and I can tell you that we can do it ourselves much more efficiently and effectively.

Spero can feed a famly of 4 for 10-14 days for $15. Each person who matched my donation from Mineral Wells stage race fed two families for two weeks.

Two families of 4...for 2 weeks...for $30. It doesn't take huge gifts to change the world. It only takes a small amount, given regularly, by lots of people, to make a big difference.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Breakfast of Champions

When I was in highschool, Breakfast Of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut was my favorite book. It actually had nothing to do with Breakfast or Champions, but it was a pretty funny satirical read.

I may have mentioned that I finally got my copy of the Feedzone Cookbook last week after it was back-ordered a couple months. There are some pretty awesome recipes in there, but the ones that stick out most are the breakfast dishes.

For years my staple has been Old Fashioned Oats cooked with water, and then peanut butter mixed in. I probably eat that 6 days per week on average. My favorite breakfast recipe I've tried so far is the muesli. I've modified the recipe slightly to meet my vegan needs.

1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup soy milk
a large dollop of vanilla soy yogurt
a good sprinkle of cinnamon
a handful of raisins
a small diced apple (I've been using jazz apples since the fit in my juicer without having to cut them. They are also a perfect size for this muesli)

You just let the ingredients sit overnight in a covered Tupperware, and they are ready in the morning. No cooking is required. It works great since I'm out of the house at 5:30 am. I can grab the container, head to work, and eat it at my desk. It's about 11 grams of protein and only about 250 calories. It's easy to eat, tastes good, and leaves me pretty satisfied for a few hours.

If you aren't vegan, some greek yogurt would probably work awesome.

I'll probably keep eating this two or 3 times per week at work. The other days I'll treat myself to some Peanut Butter and Co "Dark Chocolate Dreams" mixed with some old fashion oats. It doesn't get much better than that, and I feel like I'm in some weird way supporting cycling since they sponsor a pro women's team :)

Monday, February 20, 2012

How not to race a rainy crit, and more videos

I have a couple videos leftover from this weekend. The first is about a 10 minute section of the crit. Like I said before, it was cold, rainy, and pretty miserable, but also a really good experience. I'm definitely more comfortable with rainy races in the future, especially knowing that lower tire pressure really does seem to help.

This video is a great example of how not to race any crit, but especially in the rain. I left the first 7 minutes or so uncut so you can see just how bad it was. Gaps kept opening up and it was taking a lot of energy to come around the guys to make it back up to the main pack. It's a pretty helpless feeling. As soon as I would get behind somebody so that I could take a deep breath, they would drop off and I'd have to come around.

I was really disappointed that my camera stopped filming 45 minutes into the race. It quit just before Joey's crash, which would have been pretty epic to see. I know he was really looking forward to seeing it.



Here is the clip of my crash in normal speed and slow motion.



Here are the last 27 minutes of the road race. I didn't realize how much time I spent in the wind throughout this last part of the race. No wonder my sprint sucked.



Here is the last 4 minutes or so if you don't want to sit through the 27 minute video, which I admit is only going to be interesting if you are in the race, and even then it isn't all that great. The last 4 minutes were pretty animated, so that is why I cut it down.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

$30 won and donated today. I challenge you to match it.

I ended up placing 7th in the grand classification. It wasn't the result I hoped for, but im happy with the way the racing went.

Today was an interesting day. I had great positioning going into the sprint, but I wasn't patient enough. Patience is something I constantly focus on, but today it went out the window and had a poor result because of it. Better luck next weekend I guess.

This is a short post today, but the videos are still uploading and I'm too tired to give a play-by-play that could be shown to you in 5 minutes. Check back in tomorrow.

If you pledged to match my giving, or want to, it was $30 to http://www.thesperoproject.com/Make_A_Donation

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Mineral Wells day 1 wrap-up

Today was soggy and cold. The weather report last night said it would clear up by 10 am, but it was still raining at 6 pm.

Joey and I waited until the last minute to take our jackets off and ended up getting to the start line after everyone was already lined up. I got a bad start and it teally dictated the rest of my race. I race better from the front, and I spent the day sitting in the back. Joey moved up quick , which is what I should have done, but I slowly picked off riders as they were getting popped. Tail gunning like that isn't a great idea in a crit, and it is even worse in the rain. It means you are behind all the wrecks. I got behind one that I couldn't get around and ended up going down and flatting. I got Back out after the repairs and stayed there until 3 to go. Joey was in front of me with 3 laps to go as the pace was gettin pretty quick and he slid out. The main field gapped us good and we couldn't catch back on so late in the game, but we ended up 19th and 20th out of 60 starters.

It wasn't the finish I wanted, but I raced pretty stupid so I got what I deserved. It was nice to get my first race of the year, first crash of the year, first rain crit of the year, and first flat of the year all taken care of within one hour of racing. I don't count the mountain bike flat from 2 weeks ago.

Brian played it safe in the rain today, and I think that was a wise move. With his bad luck here last year, there was no reason to risk it. Tomorrow is another day and he's riding so well. It would be a shame to have a wreck today mess him up mentally for the road race.

The time trial was a bit better. I didn't warm up at all really. It was really cold and raining harder than earlier, so Joey and I just hung out in the car. I rolled around for about 10 minutes and headed to the line. I started 3rd. I rode well within myself for the first half and never got out of my aero position, even on the climbs. The bike felt great. I caught my 30 second guy and started picking it up as I got closer to my minute man. Going into the last climb I heard a weird noise and noticed the non-drive side of my disc cover was no longer attached to my rim and was floating around. I reached down and opened the rear brake up so the cover wouldn't get stuck. I tried to throw it down on the last climb and averaged 440 watts for the last minute. I ended up with a 335 watt average power, and figured it would have been top 10.

It was actually good enough for 5th, which pretty pleased with. 4th was less than a second ahead. In a time trial, every second counts. Joey beat 2 guys by less than a second. Tires, tubes, helmets, bike fit, etc all make a difference in these kinds of races, especially points based stage races like this.

Our cat 3 team and cat 4 teams did well too. Our two 3s got caught up in the 2nd group and never stopped trying to catch the leaders. They pulled some guys around that out sprinted them at the end, but they were both top 20.

Our 4 team is second in the points standings right now.

Our 5 team would have been strong today, but their races were cancelled
Because the rain made the course so bad late in the day when they were supposed to start. Se with the women's 4 race.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Pre race chaos

The first race of the year always has extra stress involved. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a bit nervous today. I always seem to lose the smoothness of my pre race routine by the time February comes around. Packing always takes longer for that first race because I forget everything I usually bring. I packed way too much today, but since I was driving my own car it was ok.

Joey and I got our 4 bikes, extra wheels, and all of our coolers, tools, and bags inside my wagon.

This race is the one where I wrecked on the crit last year and when I stopped to help Brian out in the road race when he broke his leg.

The stress really started to compound when I realized there is a 70% chance of rain at the start of our crit tomorrow. Last time I raced in the rain was Tulsa tough, and that ended in a wreck and a dnf. Tomorrow will be my "web redemption."

The nice thing about cycling is we get to race almost every weekend. If
Things don't go my way tomorrow I'll try again next week. I never had that in skating. There were so few races that each event had the chaos involved with being the first race of the season.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Tires and Tubes for Race Wheels

Most of the post today is about clinchers, but a few topics go both ways. If you have questions about setting up some tubulars, you should check out http://warracresbikebandit.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-glue-tubular-tire-on-carbon-rim.html

That is Joey Mesa's site and he has a good video to walk you through the gluing process.

Tire choice is important. You want something fast, but you also want something with some puncture resistance. To get an idea of which tires roll fast, I use the spreadsheet at http://www.biketechreview.com/tires_old/images/AFM_tire_testing_rev9.pdf

You can see that the difference it takes to keep the fastest Vittoria rolling and a Bontrager Sport is over 11 watts per tire. Sure, that is an extreme example, but even when looking at two tires that are considered high quality, there is a noticeable different. A Vittoria Corsa Evo CX (my choice for race day) takes 12.3 watts to keep it rolling. A Conti GP4000S (my training tire) takes a little over 15. That is 3 watts per wheel...and that is still a pretty big difference.

The flip side is that the GP4000S is a much more durable tire. I get about 7000 miles out of a set. I get about 700 (1/10th) out of those vittorias before I see a bunch of little cuts.

You'll also notice in that chart that the Conti tubulars don't perform very well. That is because they use butyl tubes in their tubulars instead of latex. The fast tubulars, such as Vittoria's, use latex.

They sell latex tubes for clinchers too, but they are tough to find locally at times. I bought the last one from Schlegel's two weeks ago, but they should have some soon. You can see by that chart that a latex tube takes about 2 or 3 less watts to keep rolling. That's a great upgrade for $15 per tube. That is probably similar savings to a $1000 set of wheels for $30. Some people will tell you latex tubes aren't flat resistant, but that simply is not true. Do some research. They are just as durable as butyl tubes in my experience. They are also lighter.

So once you have your tire picked out and some latex tubes in your hand, you'll have two more decisions to make. Do you want to keep the tubes light, or do you want to add some stan's liquid latex or Slime? Last year I ran them without any sealant. This year I'm going to give Stan's a try. It is cheap, doesn't have side effects other than a little extra weight, but if it works to just seal one flat, it was worth it.

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

The vittoria latex tubes (and most others) have a removable valve core.

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

Pour about 100ml of sealant into each tube. These stans bottles come with a plastic tip that butts up against the valve. It barely spills a drop when you tip the bottle upside down and squeeze it in.

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

The next question is what type of valve core extender you will use. There are the type that screw over the existing valve core. To let air out of the tire, you'll have to stick something in the extender to push down on the pressure release. I prefer the extenders that replace the existing valve core. They screw into the tube and basically just make the valve stem longer. These seem a little more reliable to me.

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

Installation of the latex tube is the same as any other. Take extra care not to pinch the tube. They are more thin than butyl tubes and pinch easier. The liquid latex won't help you here.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Group Ride Etiquette

How you want to ride is your business, but there are a few common things you might be doing that will annoy the people riding with you. I'm not being a jerk or judgmental. I've done 99% of this stuff before...most of it over and over again.

1. If you are on a group ride with me, wear a helmet. I don't want to be the one wrapping your head up with my jersey to keep you alive until the ambulance arrives. If you don't want to wear a helmet, that is your choice, but don't try to ride with me.

2. Try to ride 2 abreast when you can. The tempo will inevitably get fast enough that it goes single file. That is fine. When it slows down, form two lines again.

3. If you are up front, don't attack every climb and coast down the backside. If you aren't pedaling, you aren't training. If you are in the back and the guy up front is coasting down the hill, you'll have to ride your brakes all the way to the bottom.

4. Bring your own flat repair stuff. I've been guilty of this before :(

5. If you are too tired to pull, you don't have to pull. When you get up to 2nd wheel, pull out and head to the back sometime before the guy in the front tries to pull off. This will keep the flow of the group from being interrupted.

6. Know where the wind is coming from. If the wind is coming from your left, don't hug the curb and gutter your friends (unless you are trying to drop them). If the wind is coming from your right, don't hug the yellow line.

7. Be aware of where your snot/spit goes.

8. If the group stops to pee or regroup, do what you need to do and then get ready to go again so that they are not waiting on you.

9. Don't be ashamed or embarrassed if you get gapped or dropped. We've all had bad days and we've all had good days. Next time try to ride more conservatively and hang in longer.

10. Don't gripe about people on TT bikes. You sound like an elitist. If they are riding sketchy, let them know, but that goes for anybody regardless of what type of bike the are on. If they are in their aerobars at the front of the pack, that is fine. If they are in the middle, nicely tell them it is dangerous.

Edit: Some people are interpreting #10 as me saying it is okay to ride in the aero position in the middle of the pack. That is not what I'm saying. Being in your aerobars in a group is dangerous. The time it takes to get your hands back to the brake levers is too long, and if somebody slows down quickly in front of you, you can hurt a lot of people. If you see somebody riding IN the aerobars, ask them to sit up and explain to them why it is dangerous.

What I am saying is just because they are on a TT bike doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to ride in a group, as long as they stay up on their pursuit bars. I've heard from multiple triathletes who are great cyclists that roadies started talking smack as soon as they rolled in on their TT bike. I don't see a reason for that. We're all cyclists and we can ride together as long we're safe about it. Getting mad, yelling at the person, or not letting them ride with you at all isn't the answer. Educate them on why it is dangerous and I bet they won't do it anymore, and they won't even think you're an elitist.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Influence

It's fascinating how the environment you put somebody in influences so much of what that person becomes. You take a mediocre cyclist and have him train with stronger riders, and that mediocre cyclist will improve faster than he would have by himself. When a motivated rider upgrades to a faster category, that rider almost always has a big jump in fitness.

It's similar with skating. You get areas of the country that produce stronger skaters than the rest of the country. Sure, there are outliers, but one outlier usually ends up building a new group of fast skaters. Look at areas like North Carolina. They've had fast skaters since I remember. Sure, part of it might be good coaching, but I think that in a lot of cases areas have great skaters just because that area already has great skaters.

The same works out in other areas of life. The whole reason I started thinking about this the other day was because I realized what a positive influence Sarah has been on me. My wife is the most giving person I know. When we met I was as stingy as anyone could be, and even though I'm still very cheap when it comes to myself, she has really shown me the joy from giving to others. Her motivation is contagious. She sets a goal and has laser-beam focus on it until she meets it. It's how we got out of debt, how she won Redman, and how she qualified for Kona. Sure, there is a lot of natural talent there, but focus, motivation, desire, and a lot of hard work are the real secret. It is impossible to be around a person like her and not always strive to be the best you could be. I'm really a lucky guy to have somebody as caring, supportive, giving, and driven as Sarah in my life.

Plus, she made us some chocolate chip cookies today for Valentine's Day. I hope these cookies work some of the soreness out of my legs from skating on Sunday, because nothing else I've tried today seemed to work.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Race Wheels

Wheels seem to be the most sought after upgrade for road cyclists. In my opinion, there are a bunch of different purchases with more bang-for-the-buck than race wheels, but I can't deny the cool factor of deep carbon wheels. They will make the ugliest bike look pretty. When you're ready to pull the plug and buy some, there are a few key decisions you need to consider.

For triathlon and time trials, it isn't a very hard choice. Race a disc in the rear, or a disc cover if you are cheap like me. Run the deepest and fastest wheel up front you can handle. For road race/crits, the decision is more difficult.

The biggest is going to be whether you want tubulars or clinchers. There are plenty of purists out there that will tell you that you have to buy tubulars. They'll give you a list of reasons why. They will tell you that tubulars ride better, that they are faster, that they are lighter, and that you can ride out a flat.

In my opinion, only half of that is true. Yes, they are lighter. Quite a bit lighter in many cases. Do they ride better? It depends on your tire choice. There are clinchers out there that will ride just as well as tubulars and there are tubulars out there that ride like crap. The same is true when it comes to rolling resistance. Some tubulars are fast and so are some clinchers. A tubular probably is more safe to flat on a descent, but regardless of whether it is a tubular or clincher, you're still going to want to change the tire before the end of the race.

Then you need to decide how much you want to spend. You can spend $500 or $5000. In some cases you get what you pay for, but there is a point where you get very little return on your financial investment.

You have to decide how often you are going to ride the wheel. If you are only racing on it, are you cool with changing out brake pads every time you race? If so, you can get something with a carbon brake track. If not, consider a wheel with an aluminum brake surface. It will add some weight and hurt the aerodynamics slightly, but you won't have to worry with the brake pads each time you switch. Sure...it only takes a minute to swap pads, but some people don't want to do that.

If you are using the wheel every day, you'll want to make sure you get something with a quality braking surface. I bought a cheap Asian-made knockoff and I was amazed at how quickly the braking surface wore down, even though I always used the right pads. I wouldn't have gotten more than a few months of daily riding out of this wheel. The higher dollar wheel brands use a better resin that won't wear out as quickly. If you want your wheels to last, be prepared to spend some money.

With tubulars you are literally stuck with whatever tire you choose, unless you want to peel the tire off and re-glue it. If you have a flat, it costs a bunch of money to replace it.

With clinchers, you have the ability to select tires based on race conditions. Is the course well groomed? Use a fast tire. IS there a lot of debris? Take 5 minutes and put a more flat-resistant tire on. If you are doing an ironman on a course with broken glass and gravel, do you really want the same tire you use on a clean crit course?

The argument that tubulars can hold more pressure has been ruined too. A tire inflated to 160psi is actually slower than one inflated to 110psi unless you are on a perfectly smooth track.

The last question is what you want to get out of the wheels. If you want something that looks cool, the Asian-knockoff will look cool. If you want something fast, again, you'll have to spend more money.

I did some aerodynamic testing using Golden Cheetah's aerolab and found that my 50mm deep carbon wheel was slower than a stock roval wheel that came on a specialized tarmac. I was amazed, but I tested it again and again and the results stayed the same.

I was looking for the wheel that would be the fastest. I believe (and any calculator will agree) that aerodynamics trump weight in almost every scenario. The only exception would be an uphill time trial like at Joe Martin. I wanted to buy the most aerodynamic wheel. I looked at tests from pretty much every manufacturer. They all rate their own product as the best (obviously) but they almost all have the same brand in 2nd. Independent tests almost always say the same. Zipp.

I ended up buying a set of Zipp 808 firecrests. It's hard to argue with Zipp wheels. SRAM is the parent company, and I've never dealt with a company that had better customer support. IF I'm spending a couple thousand on wheels, I want a company that will stand behind the product like I know Zipp will.

I went with the 808 firecrest because the new firecrest design is supposed to handle better in the crosswinds, and the 808 is the deepest and fastest firecrest model. The firecrest rim is wider, and it comes in a clincher model that has carbon brake tracks.

I love these wheels, but if I had to do it all over again I would probably do the 404 front and 808 rear. It might not be quite as aerodynamic as the 808 front/rear, but the handling would be much less sketchy. The 808s are great in crits, but in road races with 40+mph descents, the 808s can be a handful. If you aren't a big rider, a more shallow front with a deeper rear will work together to provide more predictable handling.

I'm not saying Zipp is the only option. There are lots of other good companies out there. I think HED, Mavic, and Bontrager all make nice wheels; but for everything I was looking for, the zipp firecrest came out on top.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

The hardest workout I do

It's hard to compare one sport to another and say that either one is more difficult. All sports take a ton of skill to get to the highest level. It's impossible to say which is the best.

I've spent a lot of time skating, biking, running, swimming, and even wrestling. All of them have their unique challenges. I've always gravitated more towards endurance sports, probably because I've never been all that great at sports that involve throwing, catching, and kicking. I guess you could say any of those would be the most difficult sport for me.

Out of all of the fitness related sports I've done, the workout I get from skating is by far greater than any other. It doesn't make any sense really. When you watch somebody skate, it looks pretty easy. It doesn't really look like they are working all that hard, but it's like no other workout I do. I can't even describe it, but a 500m race takes between 45-50 seconds and it will destroy my entire body. It doesn't matter how hard I try and run or ride for 45 seconds, the feeling doesn't come close. Same with riding...it would take 5 sprints of the same duration to make me feel that way.

Since the bike racing season kicks off next Saturday, today was my last indoor skating workout for a while. It's a little disappointing because each week I could tell I was getting stronger, but cycling is my main focus right now. As much as I'll miss skating indoor, I'll enjoy racing the bike even more.

Skating really seems to compliment cycling. Both male and female skaters have crossed over to cycling recently and the transition looked seamless. Take a look at the career of Theresa Cliff-Ryan or Chad Burdzilauskas. Hopefully the indoor skating I did during this off-season will give me a little extra boost heading into the road season.

At our indoor practice we do a plyometric workout. Each week we seem to go through each exercise a little quicker, which makes it harder and harder. I guess if you do each of these exercises right you can get a similar feel to how hard a skating workout is. Your legs start to burn, your heartrate jumps up out of nowhere, and you fight for each breath. Instead of trying to explain each exercise, here is a video. This is about half of the workout we do. Do each exercise with 10 reps and between exercises hold a 90 degree leg bend for 10 seconds.



The other thing I love about these practices are how serious all the kids are. They are the same type of kids that show up at our Team Undiscovered kids tri. Motivated, dedicated, and extremely fun to watch. Here is a quick little video I put together from today's practice. We had a bunch of people travel from Tulsa to skate practice with us.




Some friends posted these two pictures on facebook today. Carnage.

Photobucket
I can't even explain what took place here. It looks more like rugby than women's bank track skating.
Photobucket

Saturday, February 11, 2012

A beet root a day keeps the doctor away

Ok...maybe it doesn't, but I've been seeing a lot of articles about the positive affects of beet root juice on endurance athletes. Sarah and I bought a Breville juicer a couple weeks ago, and I've been trying to drink about 12oz of fresh juice per day. Just in case the beet root doesn't keep the doc away, I put a couple carrots, some parsley, kale, and two apples through the machine for good measure.

The jury is still on on whether or not it works. I actually kind of like the taste (Sarah doesn't) and I like the fact that my pee is a new color. The pale lemonade look was getting old :)

Photobucket
Photobucket

I spent some more time yesterday getting my time trial bike ready for the Mineral Wells Stage Race. I never really liked the saddle I had, so I switched to a Fizik Arione Tri 2 Wing Flex saddle. I wanted a saddle that was flat, and as soon as I saw that shiny patent leather I knew this thing had to be mine. The old Selle Italia was kind of scooped at the nose and I could never get comfortable. Schlegel's has a few more of these that they've taken off new bikes when customers have another saddle they prefer, and they sell them for about $90, which is quite a great deal.

Quite a few other things have changed on the bike since this time last year. For one the fit is much different, but some equipment has been upgraded too. The bike had compact gearing before, and now it has my old ultegra 6700 crankset on. I also got some zipp handlebars. I topped it all off with a new chain yesterday, and between the bars, cranks, saddle, chain, and the zipp wheels, it hardly looks like a 5 year old bike.

Photobucket
Photobucket

Today was a very cold ride. The windchill was right around zero for the whole ride. Pretty miserable, but it was nice not seeing many other riders. It makes you feel pretty good about your level of dedication. I tried using some of those handwarmer packets today. They seemed to work out pretty well. My hands never lose their feeling, but gripping the bars felt a little awkward with 2 layers of gloves (one of them being thick ski gloves) and the hand warmers. Once my feet became unbearably cold I put one of the warmers inside my left sock, on the top of my foot. It definitely helped. For about $1 per ride, these things are definitely worth using when the windchill dips below 20.

A few of our cat4 riders have REALLY stepped it up lately. I'm extremely excited to see these guys succeed this year.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Vegan Rice Cakes

I mentioned yesterday that I would put together a little video on how to make the rice cakes. It didn't come out very well, but I'll post it anyway. I'd recommend watching Allen Lim's video instead at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UiuqIWGe_s. You can just substitute firm tofu for scrambled eggs and season it with some salt, pepper, and a little louisiana hot sauce.

These cakes taste awesome. If you are tired of gels and other sweet stuff, give these a try (the vegan version or the regular version). Unlike bars, they really don't take much chewing. The white sushi rice has a high glycemic index, so it turns to fuel almost instantly.

Photobucket
Photobucket

Last week I tried packing pancakes. I cut them in half and put some peanut butter and maple syrup on them. It was kind of like a sandwich. I looked forward to eating them all day...something I can't say about any gel or bar I've ever taken with me. These were a little more difficult to chew and swallow because of the peanut butter, but for a training they worked out great.
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket

And here is the crappy video.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Calories during workouts

A friend of mine asked me about my poptart eating from the mountain bike race the other day.

Poptarts, in many ways, are NOT the perfect food, but they are pretty convenient. They are cheap, pretty easy to eat, readily available, lightweight, slim, and pretty dense in calories. Each poptart has 200 calories. Since there are 2 poptarts per package, that is 400 calories. If I have to choose between eating 4 gels or 2 poptarts, the poptarts will win every time. Are poptarts healthy? Probably not, but they are good fuel during a ride.

At the race I was eating one every time we hit the last fireroad before the finish. I carried 3 packages with one (a package in each pocket) and had them pre-opened at the top so I didn't have to fumble with them on the trail. I only hit the pit twice; each time to get another bottle of EFS and to restock my pockets.

The goal should be to consume as many calories as your gut will be able to digest. That is a tough number to come up with. The higher the intensity, the less you can digest. Same thing with heat. You'll have to lower your caloric intake (and increase water intake) on a hot day. For the 6 hour race, I knew I'd be in the aerobic zone the whole time, so 400 calories an hour wouldn't be an issue. I wouldn't even attempt that for a crit.

Ideally, you should enter a race with your glycogen stores topped up. The calories you consumed going into the race can get you through a pretty good distance, but you'll want to start eating early, before your body is depleted. Saturday was a pretty tough ride for me. It was 85 miles at a good tempo and I was averaging about 880 kilojoules of work per hour. That translates to about 850-900 calories per hour according to what most books say. If my body can only digest half of that in food, the deficit grows pretty quickly. Once your calorie stores are empty, you bonk. Your race is pretty much over. I experienced this at Hell's Kitchen last year.

Joey Mesa turned me onto Allen Lim's rice cakes a few months back. Do a search on youtube and you can find a video on how to make them. It isn't a rice cake like those Styrofoam things people eat to lose weight. It is a calorie dense, tasty little square that is full of quick burning fuel. The typical Lim rice cake isn't vegan, but since I'll be making my vegan version tomorrow in preparation for my weekend workouts, I'll try and take some pictures or video to show you how it's done on my next post.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Key Workouts

I typically do about 4 "key workouts" per week. What I mean is, out of the 6 days per week I exercise, 4 of them include training hard and the other 2 are pretty easy. It seems to work pretty good for me, so I'll keep doing it.

This time of year, I'll usually do longer intervals at or just above threshold twice during the week. I switch up the interval duration and intensity throughout the year. On Saturdays I will put in a long ride with a variety of efforts that leave me pretty wasted at the end. On Sundays I've been skating in Wichita, which usually includes some strength training and shorter, more intense intervals. Lately, Sunday has been the most painful day of the week. Mondays are off, and two other days a week I just ride for the enjoyment of riding and to help recover a bit. If it is really windy or really cold I will take my mountain bike to the trails instead. When it is really windy, it is hard to have an easy day. I experienced that yesterday after riding about 9mph into a headwind for nearly an hour to try and keep the intensity where I wanted it.

I do have one thing I'd like to change, and actually started implementing last week. On one of my easy days I should be skating really easy with 100% of my focus on technique. Technique/form in skating is so much more important than it is in cycling. Anyone with a decent fitness background can ride a bike quickly with just a short period of training. Skating is different. I get on to other people about not perfecting their technique, but I get just as lazy with mine sometimes. Doing this between key workouts is a great idea because you aren't putting added stress on your body (in fact, you are helping it recover) but at the same time you are building speed through the efficiency of your movement.

There are a lot of different training theories out there. A lot of people seem to believe that doing less intensity but working more frequently is better. For example, they will do multiple days in a row of intervals at about 85%-90% of their threshold. The thought is that while each workout provides less net gain than a workout at 95%-105% of your threshold, you can do the workouts more often because it doesn't fatigue your body as much, and in the big picture you get even stronger. It makes some sense, but I'm not willing to apply it yet. I can handle (and even sometimes enjoy) long and hard threshold intervals twice a week. I don't really want to do intervals every day. Maybe if I was stuck on the trainer, since intervals make the time go by faster. I just like having some variety to my workouts. I like riding hard on some days and easy on others.

Since today wasn't one of my key workout days, I decided to play around with my TT bike fit in preparation for mineral wells. My saddle felt a little high, so I lowered it. I played around with it a couple weeks ago and decided to move my elbows out a little bit. It is 10x more comfortable, and my shoulders actually look tighter this way.

I also tried the LG Rocket and Giro Advantage to see which looked better on my back. Sarah prefers the Rocket for herself, but the Advantage feels a lot better on me. It's way more comfortable and it seems to line up with my back pretty well. The pictures are a little dark, but you can see the outline at least.

Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Picking Teams

This isn't directed at anyone or any team. It was just something I was thinking about during my ride today. I also can't say I've never fallen into these traps.

Teams in the skating world are so much different than teams in the cycling world. I'm not sure why that is. The turnover in skating is a lot greater than in cycling. I think a lot of skaters choose a team based on what they can receive. It's slightly annoying when people ask "what are you getting?" I'm getting a chance to skate with some of the most experienced guys in the country...guys that are fun to travel with, who I enjoy being around. I get the opportunity to wear the logo of a company (Simmons Racing) I've looked up to since I was 12 years old. I can't think of anything that another team could offer me that would make me want to skate for somebody else.

I feel the same way with my cycling team. Unless I was determined to become a professional, which I'm not, there isn't a single reason I would switch to a different team.

Undiscovered isn't just a random group of guys. Each person from category 5 and up was hand picked because we want them there. We have standards that extend further than just how fast somebody can ride a bike. It doesn't matter how much talent somebody has, if they don't click with our guys right away, they won't be racing in our kit. We were lucky to be able to add so many great guys to the team for this year. Not only are most of my inline skating teammates racing bikes for Undiscovered, but we also have a handful of cat 4s and cat 5s that instantly became part of the family. We might all be really nice guys, but that doesn't take one bit of our desire to win off the table; and we will win in 2012.

Monday, February 6, 2012

$80 donated, some leftover thoughts, a video, and Contador news

First of all, I won $80 at the mountain bike race yesterday. That will be going to the Spero Project. If anyone is willing to match that, please make your donation at http://www.thesperoproject.com/Make_A_Donation . Let me know if you do. It will be interesting to see tally up how much we've raised throughout the year.

I still have a lot of excitement left over from yesterday's race. I spent a good chunk of that 6 hours and 40 minutes of riding by myself, and that gives you a lot of time to think. At first I would just break the course down in my head. I knew where I wanted to lock out my fork and where I wanted to change it back. I knew where the really loose corners were. I knew where I could eat and where I could take a drink. I knew where to play it safe and where to take some risk. A few times I got those mixed up and ended up over my bars once, starring at dirt another time, and ripping my favorite wind vest on a tree, so now it looks like a highschooler's t-shirt at the YMCA gym (if you've been there, you know what I mean).

Then I would try and figure out who was the next guy in front of me. Their name would become a mantra that I would repeat over and over in my head until I catch them. It's weird, I know. But it felt like it was working.

Once I realized I was in 3rd place I actually got a little emotional. That always happens to me for really long races. A mechanical multiplies this. The same thing happened at Joe Martin when my shifter broke. You just get proud of yourself for overcoming adversity. Even though this was a really small race and didn't mean much to most people, the way the day played out really mattered to me. I really felt like I needed it this weekend. A few weeks ago I had told my cycling/marriage/spiritual/career/etc mentor (Brad Cox) about my fundraising plans. I don't think he'll mind me posting an excerpt of what he said.

"You know that by doing this, you’re taking the fight to a different level right? Satan hated you on general principals before, but now it’s “personal”. He will try whatever he can to undermine what you’re attempting… your fitness, bike racing, marriage, etc."

Well...without going into detail, on Monday Sarah and I got some news that will impact our financial situation. It was completely out of the blue. Everything is fine...I'm not looking for sympathy or anything. In the grand scheme it is a very small and temporary setback.

It's the timing that stands out the most to me. It's also what makes me believe in this fundraising thing even more. So when I found out I was racing for the money, it got me super pumped. My 9th lap was probably nearly as fast as any. Like I said, I didn't just want it this weekend; I felt like a needed it. When you feel like you need it, nothing can stand in your way. Not a mechanical, not the pain in your legs, not your tired lungs.

Anyway, here is the video from the race. Enjoy.



The big news of the day has to be the Contador ban. A few things -

1. It sucks that whenever cycling makes the news headlines, it is always something negative.
2. I don't agree with the retroactive ban.

It's been one year and seven months since his test, and he has gotten quite a bit of racing in. Granted, all those results are over-turned; but it seems like giving him a retroactive ban is such a small slap on the wrist. He will only be out of racing for 5 months. If he was guilty (which they decided he was) then I think he should have to take 2 years off from racing...which means that would start now. If he was innocent, then charges should be dropped and he can keep on going. Oh well...it's not an American court so my limited knowledge of the justice system (mostly from Law and Order re-runs) probably doesn't apply.

It sucks for the guys who finished second to him. Now they are bumped up to first, but who really wants to win like that? In my opinion those guys still finished second, but maybe there should be an asterisk beside their names saying the winner was a convicted doper.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

6 Hour Mountain Bike Race

I competed as a solo rider in the Uno Mas Por Favor 6 hour mountain bike race at Clearbay (Thunderbird) today. It was my 3rd mountain bike race. Here is a rundown of the first two:

Mountains of Mayhem - With about 2 miles to go I was fighting for 3rd place with one other rider. We had a big gap on 4th and the top 2 guys were gone. We missed a turn and added miles onto the course. We ended up about 50th or 60th.

Syllamo 125k - I felt great on the first climb. I hit the single track in the top 5 (this was a big pro race so I was happy with that) and then I slid out on a wet rock and broke my hydraulic brake line about 3 miles into a 76 mile event. Not good. I finished hours behind the winner.

That brings us to today. It was a really well put on race, and some people traveled from out of town, but I pretty much knew the top guys and was really amped about racing them. It was a le mans style start (everyone has to run to their bike). I expected about a 50 yard dash, but it was more like 500 yards. I didn't want to go out too hard (6 hours is a long time) and didn't get the greatest position into the single track. We were going pretty fast, so it wasn't too bad; but I knew that the leaders were putting time on me (and Brandon, who was right behind me.

I finally moved into 3rd place and sat there for the rest of the first lap. I moved into 2nd starting the second lap, and eventually caught the leader on the third or fourth. I sat on him for about a quarter lap and then my mountain bike racing luck hit.

I burped my tire on a root around a corner. I pulled over and got my mini pump out. I had taped the head so that it wouldn't rattle, and I really didn't expect to need it. I put new stans (liquid latex) in last night. I run UST (tubeless) rims and TNT (tubes-no-tubes) tires, so they are usually pretty reliable. It took longer than I expected to get the tape off my pump, and by the time I started pumping I had already lost a couple spots. I got it back up to my desired pressure, but what I should have done is kept going until the bead re-seated. After 5 minutes of work I was back on my bike, but 30 seconds later it was low again. I stopped and put a tube in it. When your heart rate is up and you are trying to hurry, you inevitably take way longer to change a flat. Plus I had on gloves at first...two pair. Then I broke my tire lever. Then I got latex all over my hands so I couldn't get a good grip on the tire to get it back on the rim. It took nearly 11 minutes to get going again. (I had the video camera going, which is how I knew how long it took.

I thought about quitting. It is hard to get motivated when you were do happy with how you were riding, and then you have a setback that puts you 16 minutes back.

6 hours is a long race, so I thought I might be able to at least make it back into the money spots. I had been doing a good job on my nutrition plan, so I figured I could ride the entire 6 hours pretty hard, where others would start to fall off. I was doing a pop tart (yes...a yummy poptart) every lap. That is 200 calories every 36-40 minutes. I was doing a bottle of EFS sport drink every 2 hours. I'll go more into my race nutrition plans in a future blog post since this one is already getting long.

For this race, you go as far as you can in 6 hours. If you finish a lap at 5:59, you can finish another lap. I saw that each lap was taking just under 40 minutes, and with 120 minutes left I realized that I would probably finish 9 laps in just under 6 hours, which meant I'd have to do a tenth lap. I wasn't very excited about that thought.

With 80 minutes left I found out that 2nd place was just in front of me. I couldn't believe it. It turns out that two guys had dropped out, so that moved me up further than I thought I was. It was tough to pace myself with this news, but that is what you have to do. Nearly 5 hours into a race, if you go anaerobic you may not recover. I knew I was riding faster than he was because I took a split the lap before at Huffy Hill and he was about 4 minutes up. I kept my pace, caught him, and passed him. When I finished my 9th lap there was 3 minutes left. I figured I had about 2:30 on him. I couldn't stop yet. The 10th lap sucked, especially since I figured first place was still about 16 minutes up on me. My body and mind were both finished.

It's hard to say what would have happened if I didn't flat. It probably would have been a good battle between Brandon and I for the win. He is the better mountain bike rider, so if he wanted to drop me in the technical sections I'm 99% sure he could have. But....he was on his single speed, so he would have had a tough time the last half mile on the double track. I still think he would have taken it though.

The interesting thing is that we both got in 85 miles on the road yesterday. So, 85 HARD miles yesterday on the road and 70 miles with about 7000 feet of climbing today. It was a pretty fantastic end to this training block.

I got some good video from my gopro today, but I don't have time to edit it down and upload it tonight. Hopefully I can turn the 6 hour race into something about 6 minutes long.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Product Review: Giro Aeon Helmet (and some older helmets)

I started speed skating about 15 years ago, and I've had at least a dozen different helmets between then and now. I've had a few Rudy Projects, a Limar, a BUNCH of Bell helmets, a specialized, and a few Giros.

The Rudy Project helmets were nice because they were pretty sleek and you don't see them everywhere. They were also pretty light. The best feature was the dial in the back that adjusted out tight the retention system was. In my opinion, the fit left a bit to be desired. The new ones may be better, but I feel like they sat too high up on my head.

Photobucket

The limar was also sleek and streamlined, but it fit like the rudy project (must be a euro thing) and it didn't have a dial. Like the rudy project, you don't see many people with them, so it was something different.

Photobucket

The specialized fit great, but the look was a little bulky. It had great ventilation, but it lacked a rear dial to easily adjust the retention strap on the go.

Photobucket

The most recent Bell helmet I had was the Volt. I think it is a really good looking helmet, which is why I was pretty excited when we chose it as our team helmet last year. It does look good, and like the rudy projects, it has a dial on the back to adjust the fit. The problem with this helmet is that I was between sizes, so it never felt quite right. It also isn't ventilated as well as some other helmets.

Photobucket

I really liked the Giro Atmos. It looked good, ventilated great, fit good, and felt pretty light on my head. Too bad one of my dogs got a hold of it. (NOTE: I think the most current atmos has the same retaining system as the Aeon).

Photobucket

The Aeon tops them all....easily. And I can say that after only one 85 mile ride. It looks good, it is light, it is well ventilated, the fit is perfect (for me), and it has a dial on the back. The dial is almost like a micro adjust. Where the Bell goes from too loose to nearly too tight with one click, this Giro allows you to make it just right. When I say it is light, I mean it is STUPID light (218g vs 330 for the bell volt). The straps are very thin and very light. Just because it is light, doesn't mean it is any less safe. All of the helmets I've had have had to pass certain safety tests. Giro really hit a home run with this design. I can't think of a single fault.

Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket

Just for fun, this is the oldest picture I have of myself in a helmet. When I bought this Bell Nemesis, I thought it was sooooo cool. I was probably about 16 in this photo.
Photobucket

Friday, February 3, 2012

"A goal without a plan is just a dream"

Ok....so I opened with another Dave Ramsey quote, but it fits so well I couldn't help myself. If you want to be successful in cycling or skating, you ride or skate with the best and learn everything you can. If you want to be successful in other arenas, you look for the subject matter expert and learn everything you can.

Financially, we have a budget each month. Every dollar is assigned at the beginning of the month. The leftover goes towards our financial goal.

Training is the same way. We have a limited amount of time (just like we have a limited income) and the best way to spend that time is to have a workout planned ahead of time. We all have different training methodologies, so I won't go into the specifics of how I think we should spend our time, but having a written plan helps keep us honest. If I have a specific workout planned on a certain day, I am much more likely to do it. If my mind isn't already set on a specific workout, there is a better chance I'll think of a reason to back out.

It almost happened tonight actually, even though I did have a workout in mind. I was supposed to pre-ride a mountain bike race course today, but the rain snuffed that idea. 7:00 rolled around and it was dark outside and I hadn't gotten my workout in. When the weather is this nice, riding the trainer is unthinkable for me. I ended up putting some running shoes on and getting a solid aerobic workout in, just like I had planned on the mountain bike.

Just because you have a plan, it doesn't mean you can't call an audible. Weather throws us a monkey wrench sometimes, but instead of skipping a workout completely, I try and fit in something that will stress my body in the same way.

The main race season in the region is from March through June. I usually like to set my training up so that I'm decently fit early and keep getting stronger through the end of April. Then I just try to hold onto fitness as long as I can, or until Tulsa Tough at least. Last year was a crappy year for racing, but my fitness levels were pretty much right where I planned them to be for the first part of the year. Then (especially in 2012) I'll switch to skating and get ready for the fall inline racing season. This seemed to work out well last year too. I had some problems at Duluth, but I finished 2nd in St Paul, 2nd in Houston, and first in San Diego. Why? For one, I had a goal, then a plan, and then the motivation to reach it.

For 2012 in 2012 I have a dream, a goal, a plan, and more motivation than I think I've ever had. Let's see if I can implement it.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Goal Setting

Sarah and I set aside time every January to establish annual goals. We don't consider them "new years resolutions;" we just happen to document them around the new year for the ease of tracking them. We typically set physical/fitness goals, career goals, spiritual goals, and financial goals. Dave Ramsey says "Successful people reassess their lives and then start living intentionally, in writing, on paper, on purpose;" and I can't think of many people who know more about habits of successful people than Dave Ramsey.

Actually, while I'm quoting Dave, I may as well just give you the whole shebang.

"Be specific. When setting goals, be specific in what you want to achieve. Vagueness will only cause you to feel overwhelmed, and you will just give up.

Make your goals measurable. In order to know if you achieved the goal, it must be measurable. For example, if you want to lose weight, don't simply write down "lose weight" as a goal. How much weight do you want to lose? Or don't just write "spend more time with family." How much time do you want to spend with your family every night?

Are they your goals? Only you can set your own goals. If your spouse, co-worker or friend sets a goal for you, you're not going to achieve it. Taking ownership will give you more incentive to meet your goal.

Set a time limit. Setting a time frame will help you set realistic goals. For example, if you want to save more money, list how much money a month you want to put into your savings account.

Put them in writing. Putting your goals in writing will make you much more likely to achieve them. Write down your goals and review them often. This will give you motivation to make them a reality."


As an example, based on yesterday's post you all know that I want to use raise money for the Spero Project this year through racing my bike. There isn't much use in just saying "I want to raise money." The first time I win $10 in a race my goal would be met. Stating that I want to raise $10,000 by December 31 is a little better. Printing it out and hanging it on my desk at work and my refrigerator at home so that I have to look at it every day makes it even more real.

I usually don't set a goal to win a particular race. It almost seems like bad karma, like I'm asking for a flat or crash. Anything can happen during a race, and a lot of it is out of your control. Your teammate could get in an early break. Are you going to chase him down to meet your goal? No. I prefer to go into every race trying to win, but having certain months of the year where my fitness is at its best.

Once you have a goal in mind, your next step is to make a plan to achieve that goal. I would talk about that today, but I'm afraid I'll only be able to come up with 28 relevant ideas for blog posts, and since this is a leap year I'll need 29.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Using bike racing to raise money for the community in 2012

I took some inspiration from my teammate Joey Mesa's 31 blog posts in the 31 days of January and decided to challenge myself to write 29 posts in the 29 days of February. If you haven't read Joey's blog, go to warracresbikebandit.blogspot.com and check it out. There is a ton of solid information over there.

I'll share some race tips, nutrition info/recipes, race reports, and various other things that come into my head while I'm out pedaling around. Most of it will be about riding, but I might have a few skating or triathlon posts in here as well if I get inspired. I'm mostly just writing this stuff so I can look back on it and have a laugh a few years down the road (like I did last night when I re-lived Joe Martin 2010), but I figured I'd make it public for some newer members of Team Undiscovered who are trying learn as much as they can while preparing for their first or second race season, and anyone else who might care.

This first post is a little different though, because unlike the other stuff I write, I really do care that people read this.

In 2012 it is my goal to use cycling to impact the needy in our local community, and many other communities across the U.S. I believe this idea is divinely inspired, and I hope it spreads like a wild fire.

For 2012 Sarah and I take whatever I was supposed to win at a bike race (finish and primes combined) and donate it to a local non-profit. On its own, that won't be very much money (not selling myself short...it just isn't a lot no matter how well I do). What I'm hoping is that I can find people who will pledge to match my donation, and give the money to whichever local non-profit they want to.

For example, lets say I win $50 at a road race. That money gets split amongst the team, but then Sarah and I will donate our own $50 to a non-profit, such as the Spero Project. Any friends, family members, etc. that want to help out can donate their own $50 to the Spero Project or anyone else they have in mind. If I find 10 people to match my $50, we are now looking at $550...a little better. If I can find a realistic 50 people, we just raised $2550; and that can make a huge difference in a local organization. Think of how many families $2550 could feed/cloth, and that is just from one day of racing.

I don't want to collect any money myself. The Spero Project has a place you can donate online. I do ask that if you make a donation, you let me know. It will be interesting to see just how much we can raise, and I won't know that unless you tell me.

I've told a few people about this, and others have decided to toss their own race winnings into the hat. Through the use of social media, internet forums, and some other connections I have (such as my friend Tony Stewards awesome blog at joetoprocycling.com), I want to get some other riders and teams doing the same thing in their own local communities.

To me, bike racing isn't about winning money. It's about training hard, getting fast, and trying to beat my opponents. Prize money has always been a cool side effect, but never the reason I wanted to do a race. Cycling is my hobby, not my job. I'm blessed with way more than I need, and the couple extra dollars I win aren't going to make a bit of difference to me, but they will surely make a difference to the working poor.

If you are interesting in participating/pledging, let me know. If you can't commit to 100% of the money or 100% of the races, just do what you can.