That's the bike I've been riding. It helps that the Slim Chance doesn't need repairs and/or maintenance like most of the others either. The race bike still has clipons on it from the Pinnacle Challenge, and I don't want to wear out its pricey 10 speed drivetrain by riding it on the dirty winter roads. So the Slim it is. The bonus comes with the plush ride of this aging steel frame. I used to think that all this stuff about this bike or that bike being more comfortable was bullshit, but the Slim is WAY more shock absorbing than my aluminum race bike. The front end is a little bit squishy for racing and hard climbing, but for training and riding the frost heaves, this bike is awesome.
That's right, I'm actually riding regularly, not just on telecommuting days. The time change f'd up my normal spring plans. With my 9-6 work schedule, morning training is a must, but now it's damn cold in the morning. Yeah, I know, I should ride to work. I will, just have to work out some logistics, and probably get the MTB going in road trim, preferably with a rack (I hate riding with shit slung over my shoulders). Regardless, with the time change, I get in an hour after work without pushing it too far into darkness.
My left calf is fucked up since the half marathon. This has been a persistent issue all winter, but this is the worst it's been. The pain responds to ibuprophen, and every thing else seems to indicate it's a muscular issue. It seems like something is tight or inflamed and putting pressure on a nerve, sending pain all the way down my outer calf and into my foot. I've tried only two short, easy runs since the half, and neither went so well. Wednesday after my ride I ran 4.5 miles and the first mile it twinged every foot strike. Not good. At least now the ice in the woods and fields is gone and I can go back to training on soft surfaces. February and March nearly all my mileage was on pavement, very bad. Plans to do a 10K pr this Sunday at Cohasset may need to be put off. Sorry this was boring, but I'm half asleep. No proofing here, and every verb weaker than Dunkin Donuts coffee. Thanks for reading.
since 2006
Friday, March 30, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
More charts than Ross Perot
It's been a while, and since Bold requested it, here are some charts. I'm just posting links to the big files this time.
Last week my weekly training time topped eight hours for the first time in six months! Yikes. I sure hope that running is as efficient as they say. I ran the report and the average comes out to a mere 5.5 hours/week. This broke down to about three hours on the bike and the balance running. I guess that's why we call it the off season. Hopefully the next six months will produce almost double these 143 hours.
Here are the others. The first one is several repeats. The first ones are slow, and the last few under six minutes.
Repeats on Big Blue
Here is my fastest ride, it says 4:46, sorry, no cadence.
The altitude and distance don't always come out exactly the same. Maybe Murat will come up for a ride with us some day so you can all be treated to one of his helmet cam videos. It ain't Independence Pass Bold, but it's all we have! Thanks for reading.
Last week my weekly training time topped eight hours for the first time in six months! Yikes. I sure hope that running is as efficient as they say. I ran the report and the average comes out to a mere 5.5 hours/week. This broke down to about three hours on the bike and the balance running. I guess that's why we call it the off season. Hopefully the next six months will produce almost double these 143 hours.
Here are the others. The first one is several repeats. The first ones are slow, and the last few under six minutes.
Repeats on Big Blue
Here is my fastest ride, it says 4:46, sorry, no cadence.
The altitude and distance don't always come out exactly the same. Maybe Murat will come up for a ride with us some day so you can all be treated to one of his helmet cam videos. It ain't Independence Pass Bold, but it's all we have! Thanks for reading.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Baselining - he said "log" huh-huh
Besides over twenty years worth of scribbled notes regarding the who, whats and whens of my training adventures, I now possess almost four years worth of workouts downloaded out of my Polar HRMs. When the bikes have sensors mounted, and these things are working correctly (which is only about 80% of the time, or so it seems), these devices ensure the capture and archiving of at least the basic stats for my training. In addition to this, I sometimes use the notes function to provide myself with a little more subjective and descriptive information. One of the things likely to make it into these notes is the inclusion of a trip or two up the Big Blue Hill access road during the ride.
Loyal readers already know that I use my Big Blue times as the primary gauge of my cycling fitness. Now that we also have analyticcycling.com, a hill this steep can function as a poor man's power meter. If you look at the math, on this hill, almost 80% of the power requirement comes from raising your weight up the slope. That's good, because we can measure the slope and our weight. The stuff that is not so easy to determine, rolling and wind resistance, are an almost inconsequential part of the total. We can use the ranges provided on Compton's calculator and be reasonably comfortable. Furthermore, I have validated the model by testing with the Cronoman's power tap, so I know it's pretty accurate.
Twenty years in the future, we'll have riders who are young and using power meters now with comprehensive, accurate logs tracking the rise or decline in fitness over their lifetimes, at least as measured by power output on the bike. Someone who is 30 years old now and in their cycling prime will be able at 50 to precisely analyze how aging and changes in their training affected their abilities. As an aside, there was an article published in The Washington Post yesterday about the inevitable declines in athletic performance that come with aging, and ways of staving them off. I know it is possible, as there are some ass-kicking mofos out there in the 50+ ranks.
What's this got to do with me? Well, you kids today have got your PM's, but I've got twenty years of riding Big Blue (actually it's more like 35 years, but when I was a kid we used to ride over from Stoughton, and had to walk the bikes up in order to make the banzai trip down). I had a seven year break from racing in the middle of all this, but I'm still fortunate to know that even when I was in my prime fifteen years ago, sub 5 minutes was a good time. Obviously I was thrilled to go under 5 a few times last year, at age 45. Yes, my bike is now about four pounds lighter, the wheels are better, the gearing is more appropriate (in the 7 speed days I rode with a 42x20 low gear), and the pavement on the access road is a thousand times better than the pave in days of old, but still, not losing any time is pretty damn encouraging. The problem is, all of medical science indicates the next fifteen years will not be so kind. I'm supposed to be right on the cusp of the big decline. One more reason why I might not want a power meter - Do I really need concrete data documenting my impending demise?
Now that we have that little bit of morning sunshine out of the way, on to the meat of this discussion. This winter was different for me, with all the running. I've hardly ridden outside at all. How is this going to affect me? Well, Big Blue to the rescue. Since this hill is reportedly the birthplace of snowmaking, no matter what kind of winter we have, it always seems to be too icy to ride during the cold months. Along with the obvious lack of fitness, it's easy to avoid the climb even if I'm out riding the area during January and February. Yesterday though, was my first outdoor after work ride of the season. Now that I work literally in the shadow of the hill, I was changed up and on the bike at 5:45 pm. The Blue Hills Reservation ain't what it used to be. These parkways were originally set aside for conservation and "pleasure use," but since Chickatawbut Road runs parallel to the congested route 128 (that's I-93 for you clueless out of staters), lots of impatient jackasses clog the parkway in a senseless effort to "beat the traffic" out on the highway. Never mind that the speed limit in Blue Hills is 40 MPH and even on a bad day the highway still rolls along at better than that. Moron commuters who are used to going 80 all the time just have to "keep moving" and instead choose to sit in line thirty deep at the stop signs on the parkway. Of course they can't keep toward the center so I can get by, because they're too busy dicking with their radios and cell phones...
Still though, I shouldn't complain. Last night the traffic wasn't too bad in there, but still I got off (huh-huh) Unquity Road and instead warmed up by riding the loop that will make up the course for the Blue Hills Circuit Race in May. This little 3.2 mile loop was also used way back in the day for the "Milton-Roubaix" stage of the now defunct Dedham Stage Race one year (that's right JB, we had a road stage from Dedham to the Rhode Island border and back. We went right down through Norwood on 1A, and it was a rolling enclosure with over 30 police motorcycles leapfrogging and blocking traffic. This was the only race I ever did with no yellow line rule. We returned right up Rt 109 through Westwood and sprinted in front of the courthouse. It was epic;,those were the days). At that time, Hillside Street was a pothole-strewn mess. The 1-2-3 field did 18 laps in the rain, and since the race was on points, we had sprints every lap. I got in a break with Sean Linehan and Fetus Head, who were teammates on the powerhouse Broadway Kitchens squadra. Eventually they ripped my legs off and sent me back to the peloton, but not before I'd accumulated enough points to end up scoring in the overall. Well anyway, this year the Master's field will race a paltry eight laps, and the formerly rugged "pave" is now smooth new pavement. It' good to see racing back in the Blue Hills, and it was kinda nice to have a smooth, quiet hill loop to ride on right next to work too. I imagine I'll end up logging quite a few laps there this summer.
After a couple of laps, where I felt better than expected, even big-ringing it up the hill at a GeWilliesque (the Gewilli of old) cadence of around 60, I headed backwards up Canton Ave and took on Big Blue. The gate was closed and I had to squeeze through and fumble to start my timer. The lower portion of the road, from Coon Hollow trail on down was virtually a stream, with snow melt rushing down, almost an inch deep in places. That surely didn't help my time, and neither did the nice lesbian couple who were too busy groping each other in the middle of the road to curb their two unleashed dogs, whom I had to practically stop for at the flattest and fastest part. No big deal, I felt better than expected and stayed in the 41x24 the entire way, seated much of the time. My HR was sky high, but it didn't feel too bad. Maybe the running really has paid off. I felt like I could have accelerated at any time, but I also knew that if I did I'd blow for sure before too long. The timer read 6:30 when I got to the top.
Here's a brief rundown of each year's first trip up Big Blue, along with a summary of the winter's training:
2007 running and barely riding outdoors at all
March 23 6:30
2006 - Lots of outdoor riding
March 30 5:57 and 5:19
2005 - Three Days of da 'Pan (that's Mattapan bro)
March 31 6:58 and 6:43
2004 - consistently riding all winter
April 3rd 6:00
Since this post isn't long enough already, I'll continue on with some analysis. JB was asking about Big Blue times just a week or so ago, so I know at least one reader will find this interesting. Originally I was really psyched to clock a 6:30 with so few miles in my legs, and I'm still not too disappointed, but reviewing last year's mark brought home a reality check. Right now I weigh about 80 kilos (probably more like 81). The Slim Chance with a pump and two full bottles weighs close to 11 kg. Add in my kit, spare, helmet, etc and the total nut was conservatively 92 kg. Plug this into analyticcycling.com along with appropriate rolling resistance and drag numbers and the calculator will tell you that maintaining my speed of 3.58 m/s on an average grade of 8.9% will require about 320 watts, putting my current CP5 at ~4w/kg, 13 on a scale of 40 over on Coggan's charts. This contrasts with my best ever efforts of ~5.1 w/kg, using my best times of 4:48 and appropriate adjustments in weight. Just for giggles, I played with the numbers to see what someone with a "world class" 40 out of 40 CP5 of 7.6 w/kg would clock on this hill. Seeing as this kind of rider would also have a lighter and more slippery bike/physique than me, I made adjustments to those numbers as well. I came up with a time of around 3:20. This seems to match up pretty well to Markie Mark's best of something like 3:40 (because for people this fast, we're closer to their CP3 than their CP5 at this point). So there you have it, when I'm going well, I'm only 31% slower than Bettini or Armstrong! Thanks for reading.
Loyal readers already know that I use my Big Blue times as the primary gauge of my cycling fitness. Now that we also have analyticcycling.com, a hill this steep can function as a poor man's power meter. If you look at the math, on this hill, almost 80% of the power requirement comes from raising your weight up the slope. That's good, because we can measure the slope and our weight. The stuff that is not so easy to determine, rolling and wind resistance, are an almost inconsequential part of the total. We can use the ranges provided on Compton's calculator and be reasonably comfortable. Furthermore, I have validated the model by testing with the Cronoman's power tap, so I know it's pretty accurate.
Twenty years in the future, we'll have riders who are young and using power meters now with comprehensive, accurate logs tracking the rise or decline in fitness over their lifetimes, at least as measured by power output on the bike. Someone who is 30 years old now and in their cycling prime will be able at 50 to precisely analyze how aging and changes in their training affected their abilities. As an aside, there was an article published in The Washington Post yesterday about the inevitable declines in athletic performance that come with aging, and ways of staving them off. I know it is possible, as there are some ass-kicking mofos out there in the 50+ ranks.
What's this got to do with me? Well, you kids today have got your PM's, but I've got twenty years of riding Big Blue (actually it's more like 35 years, but when I was a kid we used to ride over from Stoughton, and had to walk the bikes up in order to make the banzai trip down). I had a seven year break from racing in the middle of all this, but I'm still fortunate to know that even when I was in my prime fifteen years ago, sub 5 minutes was a good time. Obviously I was thrilled to go under 5 a few times last year, at age 45. Yes, my bike is now about four pounds lighter, the wheels are better, the gearing is more appropriate (in the 7 speed days I rode with a 42x20 low gear), and the pavement on the access road is a thousand times better than the pave in days of old, but still, not losing any time is pretty damn encouraging. The problem is, all of medical science indicates the next fifteen years will not be so kind. I'm supposed to be right on the cusp of the big decline. One more reason why I might not want a power meter - Do I really need concrete data documenting my impending demise?
Now that we have that little bit of morning sunshine out of the way, on to the meat of this discussion. This winter was different for me, with all the running. I've hardly ridden outside at all. How is this going to affect me? Well, Big Blue to the rescue. Since this hill is reportedly the birthplace of snowmaking, no matter what kind of winter we have, it always seems to be too icy to ride during the cold months. Along with the obvious lack of fitness, it's easy to avoid the climb even if I'm out riding the area during January and February. Yesterday though, was my first outdoor after work ride of the season. Now that I work literally in the shadow of the hill, I was changed up and on the bike at 5:45 pm. The Blue Hills Reservation ain't what it used to be. These parkways were originally set aside for conservation and "pleasure use," but since Chickatawbut Road runs parallel to the congested route 128 (that's I-93 for you clueless out of staters), lots of impatient jackasses clog the parkway in a senseless effort to "beat the traffic" out on the highway. Never mind that the speed limit in Blue Hills is 40 MPH and even on a bad day the highway still rolls along at better than that. Moron commuters who are used to going 80 all the time just have to "keep moving" and instead choose to sit in line thirty deep at the stop signs on the parkway. Of course they can't keep toward the center so I can get by, because they're too busy dicking with their radios and cell phones...
Still though, I shouldn't complain. Last night the traffic wasn't too bad in there, but still I got off (huh-huh) Unquity Road and instead warmed up by riding the loop that will make up the course for the Blue Hills Circuit Race in May. This little 3.2 mile loop was also used way back in the day for the "Milton-Roubaix" stage of the now defunct Dedham Stage Race one year (that's right JB, we had a road stage from Dedham to the Rhode Island border and back. We went right down through Norwood on 1A, and it was a rolling enclosure with over 30 police motorcycles leapfrogging and blocking traffic. This was the only race I ever did with no yellow line rule. We returned right up Rt 109 through Westwood and sprinted in front of the courthouse. It was epic;,those were the days). At that time, Hillside Street was a pothole-strewn mess. The 1-2-3 field did 18 laps in the rain, and since the race was on points, we had sprints every lap. I got in a break with Sean Linehan and Fetus Head, who were teammates on the powerhouse Broadway Kitchens squadra. Eventually they ripped my legs off and sent me back to the peloton, but not before I'd accumulated enough points to end up scoring in the overall. Well anyway, this year the Master's field will race a paltry eight laps, and the formerly rugged "pave" is now smooth new pavement. It' good to see racing back in the Blue Hills, and it was kinda nice to have a smooth, quiet hill loop to ride on right next to work too. I imagine I'll end up logging quite a few laps there this summer.
After a couple of laps, where I felt better than expected, even big-ringing it up the hill at a GeWilliesque (the Gewilli of old) cadence of around 60, I headed backwards up Canton Ave and took on Big Blue. The gate was closed and I had to squeeze through and fumble to start my timer. The lower portion of the road, from Coon Hollow trail on down was virtually a stream, with snow melt rushing down, almost an inch deep in places. That surely didn't help my time, and neither did the nice lesbian couple who were too busy groping each other in the middle of the road to curb their two unleashed dogs, whom I had to practically stop for at the flattest and fastest part. No big deal, I felt better than expected and stayed in the 41x24 the entire way, seated much of the time. My HR was sky high, but it didn't feel too bad. Maybe the running really has paid off. I felt like I could have accelerated at any time, but I also knew that if I did I'd blow for sure before too long. The timer read 6:30 when I got to the top.
Here's a brief rundown of each year's first trip up Big Blue, along with a summary of the winter's training:
2007 running and barely riding outdoors at all
March 23 6:30
2006 - Lots of outdoor riding
March 30 5:57 and 5:19
2005 - Three Days of da 'Pan (that's Mattapan bro)
March 31 6:58 and 6:43
2004 - consistently riding all winter
April 3rd 6:00
Since this post isn't long enough already, I'll continue on with some analysis. JB was asking about Big Blue times just a week or so ago, so I know at least one reader will find this interesting. Originally I was really psyched to clock a 6:30 with so few miles in my legs, and I'm still not too disappointed, but reviewing last year's mark brought home a reality check. Right now I weigh about 80 kilos (probably more like 81). The Slim Chance with a pump and two full bottles weighs close to 11 kg. Add in my kit, spare, helmet, etc and the total nut was conservatively 92 kg. Plug this into analyticcycling.com along with appropriate rolling resistance and drag numbers and the calculator will tell you that maintaining my speed of 3.58 m/s on an average grade of 8.9% will require about 320 watts, putting my current CP5 at ~4w/kg, 13 on a scale of 40 over on Coggan's charts. This contrasts with my best ever efforts of ~5.1 w/kg, using my best times of 4:48 and appropriate adjustments in weight. Just for giggles, I played with the numbers to see what someone with a "world class" 40 out of 40 CP5 of 7.6 w/kg would clock on this hill. Seeing as this kind of rider would also have a lighter and more slippery bike/physique than me, I made adjustments to those numbers as well. I came up with a time of around 3:20. This seems to match up pretty well to Markie Mark's best of something like 3:40 (because for people this fast, we're closer to their CP3 than their CP5 at this point). So there you have it, when I'm going well, I'm only 31% slower than Bettini or Armstrong! Thanks for reading.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Damage Assessment
Sorry Ge, writing daily blog entries became quite a bit tougher the last few weeks. You see, I'm a morning over coffee blogger. Admittedly, most of us read blogs at work, but writing them, well, that's another story. I've got too many distractions and just don't get the "good" thought flowing once I'm in the cube. The premature leap to Daylight Savings time, or Atlantic Maritime time, or whatever the hell time we're on now, hasn't made my blogging life any easier. Delaying the morning sun's precious rays awakening of my weary bones steals away the time to blog. Now you know how we all felt during your hiatus last week. Looks like the Three Boyz, or at least two out of three are on Spring Break from "the factory" and they haven't been doing much to wet our appetites. (or anything else, Meg...)
Beyond all this, my best ideas for a post-half marathon blog entry were stolen by KL in her most recent post. That stuff about previously never using the word "marathon" in a sentence without also using "never?" All mine. At least she admitted the whole idea was mine. Truth be told, several weeks into the half-mary training, with the darkness of winter still upon us, I started giving some thought to putting the cycling season on ice and maybe, just maybe continuing on with running after New Bedford. The theory was that with the running base already laid, perhaps any marathon aspirations were best not put off. Marathons are generally scheduled in the spring and fall. In order to compete in a fall marathon, I'd need to cut cycling short and start running again in late summer, or even sooner, perhaps not eliminating running at any point of the year. On the other side, if I wanted to do one in the spring, I'd need to train like we did this winter, only more. This year the weather was kind, and spring marathoners have had almost no crimps in their preparation. I only set foot on a treadmill once all winter. Next year I may not be so lucky.
What if I came out of New Bedford strong and injury free? Maybe I could press on for another few months, taking on the Burlington Vermont marathon in late May? That was the consideration. I'd get this little adventure under my belt, and still have time to salvage something of a cycling season. Well, I didn't have to wait until after the race to shelve this plan. Toward the end of my build, the soreness in my legs started taking longer and longer to go away, and with the improving weather my enthusiasm for cycling returned as well. This was the longest and most consistent attempt at being a runner I've ever undertaken. In the past it was always just run forty minutes three times a week for a month to get ready for a 10K, then slack off.
I've already had parts of the meniscus in both knees removed, victims of hard climbing on the bike and the stupidity of racing cyclocross, treading over frozen tundra in instruments of torture disguised as mountain bike shoes. Building up the run miles carries some risk. I'm the first one to give budding endurance athletes advice about taking it slow. Too many newcomers think anything can be accomplished in one year, as if it were some magical time period. Doing a marathon or becoming a bike racer is more like getting a bachelor's degree. You wouldn't try to do that in just a year, would you? So I came to my senses and decided to step back and evaluate how I came through this little running phase. Will it come back to haunt me during cycling season? Will I emerge better and stronger? Will it have finally made me "an athlete" instead of just a praying mantis on a bike? To be continued... Thanks for reading.
Beyond all this, my best ideas for a post-half marathon blog entry were stolen by KL in her most recent post. That stuff about previously never using the word "marathon" in a sentence without also using "never?" All mine. At least she admitted the whole idea was mine. Truth be told, several weeks into the half-mary training, with the darkness of winter still upon us, I started giving some thought to putting the cycling season on ice and maybe, just maybe continuing on with running after New Bedford. The theory was that with the running base already laid, perhaps any marathon aspirations were best not put off. Marathons are generally scheduled in the spring and fall. In order to compete in a fall marathon, I'd need to cut cycling short and start running again in late summer, or even sooner, perhaps not eliminating running at any point of the year. On the other side, if I wanted to do one in the spring, I'd need to train like we did this winter, only more. This year the weather was kind, and spring marathoners have had almost no crimps in their preparation. I only set foot on a treadmill once all winter. Next year I may not be so lucky.
What if I came out of New Bedford strong and injury free? Maybe I could press on for another few months, taking on the Burlington Vermont marathon in late May? That was the consideration. I'd get this little adventure under my belt, and still have time to salvage something of a cycling season. Well, I didn't have to wait until after the race to shelve this plan. Toward the end of my build, the soreness in my legs started taking longer and longer to go away, and with the improving weather my enthusiasm for cycling returned as well. This was the longest and most consistent attempt at being a runner I've ever undertaken. In the past it was always just run forty minutes three times a week for a month to get ready for a 10K, then slack off.
I've already had parts of the meniscus in both knees removed, victims of hard climbing on the bike and the stupidity of racing cyclocross, treading over frozen tundra in instruments of torture disguised as mountain bike shoes. Building up the run miles carries some risk. I'm the first one to give budding endurance athletes advice about taking it slow. Too many newcomers think anything can be accomplished in one year, as if it were some magical time period. Doing a marathon or becoming a bike racer is more like getting a bachelor's degree. You wouldn't try to do that in just a year, would you? So I came to my senses and decided to step back and evaluate how I came through this little running phase. Will it come back to haunt me during cycling season? Will I emerge better and stronger? Will it have finally made me "an athlete" instead of just a praying mantis on a bike? To be continued... Thanks for reading.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
1:28:57
The date for the New Bedford Half Marathon finally arrived today, after about fifteen weeks of fairly consistent preparation for me. Friday things weren't looking too good with heavy, wet snow blowing down all around these parts, but luckily the city of New Bedford is about the southernmost point in Massachusetts, and sticks out into the warm waters of Long Island Sound pretty well. The roads were lined with snow all the way to the shiny gates of the city proper, which had been 99% spared by the storm. The sun was shining too, but the big weather event of the day was the constant biting wind that made the mid 30's temps feel much worse.
Due to the storm, KL was pretty snowed in under a foot and a half of powder in New Hampshire, and she was not able to get here in time for us to drive down and preview the course on Saturday, so we ran it blind. The start area was downtown, which sits on a hill overlooking the harbor, and this was the windiest and coldest part. After a last minute trip to the portajohn I lined up well back in the 1500 runner throng assembled at the start. When we trotted out, I found my way up behind four runners from the HFC Striders running club. I knew one of these guys by sight as he lives in my town, and I knew he was not only a more experienced runner than I, but that he would be running just a bit faster than my goal pace, making him a good rabbit.
The wind direction was apparently not typical for this race. Right off the start, we had a stiff headwind from our right. The first few miles are pretty flat and just take you around the north of the city. I hit the first mile marker 6:54 after the gun, as it had only taken me about ten seconds to reach the starting line. There looked to be hundreds of runners ahead of me, and I thought for sure KL, whom I'd lost before the start, was among them, so I was quite surprised when she appeared next to me, cruising along and chatting away. She didn't stay by my side for long, and even with the distinctive dog with a bone logo on the back of her singlet, I soon lost sight of her.
Mile two went by at 6:57, the third in 6:59, and the fourth, containing a sizable hill, 6:53. Around this point the course made a 90 degree turn and the wind was now at our back. I'd gone with tights and a skullcap, and here I was a touch warm, so off came the hat. This section of the course was a long, straight road that gradually descended down to the ocean along the western edge of the peninsula the city sits on. Mile 5 took just 6:32, and the following markers 6:30, 6:27 and 6:21. By this point the course was pancake flat and right down on the beach, but the wind still hadn't really hit us in the face yet.
I'd been warned about how this course could be deceivingly easy in the first half. Eventually it makes its way down near the tip of the peninsula, a spot infamously known as "the turn." It is here the course turns back north with the harbor proper now on your right, and this stretch is known for brutal headwinds all the way back to second significant hill, which at the twelve mile mark starts your ascent back into the downtown. Everyone advised that drafting would be key, and that's why I really pushed it in mile eight in order to stay near a group. However, when we rounded "the turn" the only real wind was that which was knocked out of my sails by this effort. There was a little rise that took us up to the nine marker, and here I faded and lost my group, back to a 6:54 stretch.
Heading into mile 10 was tough. Back along the seawall, the wind wasn't as bad as I'd feared, but some gusts surely had me seeking shelter behind anyone I could get near. I made it through in 6:49 for a 10 mile split of 1:07:14, about a minute slower than I ran Foxboro. I knew my "real goal" of an hour thirty was still in reach so long as I didn't totally fall apart, but I wasn't exactly brimming with confidence. The eleventh mile hadn't been kind to me on my training runs.
This was the 30th annual running of this race. I'm not sure of the exact date for the first, but I lost my Dad on March 18, 1978, the inaugural year. Those who know me can assure you that I am not exactly a fervent worshiper of any kind, but I was praying to my Dad for strength and help in mile eleven, that's for sure. I think the wind may have even died down on queue in a few spots too...
Making it to the eleventh mile sign in 6:53, I was psyched to still be on goal pace, and also to be back away from the water on a tenement-lined boulevard. By the way, the mile markers were nostalgic looking old Sunbeam bread signs with the blonde girl pointing to a loaf. Pretty funny. The twelfth mile seemed the longest. I was falling apart, I'd lost all my rabbits, some people were catching me from behind, and others were exploding in the road ahead of me. The twelfth Sunbeam girl finally appeared after 7:01, just as the final hill began. The hill wasn't that steep, but here we found the elevated portions of the city were clearly the windiest. It sucked. The entire course had a lot of spectators, a first for me, and the dozens of uniformed police officers marshalling the course were actually quite enthused as well. Their cheers helped me keep going as hard as I could.
I didn't know the finish, but mercifully I discovered we got a nice downhill for a block right before the last stretch of a few hundred meters that headed back south. For sure I knew this little descent was going to help me keep my pace respectable. Someone said "288th" or something like that as I went by, and then only one guy passed me before I made it to the line just a few seconds short of 1:29. KL greeted me there, as she'd done a great run and finished in 1:25:39. The last 1.1 miles had taken me 7:48, a 7:04 pace, my slowest. Good.
All right, that was a friggin' book, way too much drama. Too bad. I trained all winter for this, and I'm pretty happy it all worked out. I was having my doubts as I tapered this past week. My legs were always sore, despite having two massages, and I just didn't feel fit like I did going into Foxboro. Saturday my legs finally started to feel fresh, and I gave them even more couch time, staying off the trainer. It worked. The total training was only about 325 miles in a bit under four months. My average HR was 164 for the race, right where is should be. Mistakes? Really just one, switching to thinner socks and Bodyglide instead of my preferred two layer "ankle jackers" and vaseline for the race. Like they say, don't race it unless you tried it in training. Well, my feet moved around in the shoes a bit with the thinner socks, and the Body Glide didn't get it done. Both feet have blisters. Live and learn. Thanks for reading.
Due to the storm, KL was pretty snowed in under a foot and a half of powder in New Hampshire, and she was not able to get here in time for us to drive down and preview the course on Saturday, so we ran it blind. The start area was downtown, which sits on a hill overlooking the harbor, and this was the windiest and coldest part. After a last minute trip to the portajohn I lined up well back in the 1500 runner throng assembled at the start. When we trotted out, I found my way up behind four runners from the HFC Striders running club. I knew one of these guys by sight as he lives in my town, and I knew he was not only a more experienced runner than I, but that he would be running just a bit faster than my goal pace, making him a good rabbit.
The wind direction was apparently not typical for this race. Right off the start, we had a stiff headwind from our right. The first few miles are pretty flat and just take you around the north of the city. I hit the first mile marker 6:54 after the gun, as it had only taken me about ten seconds to reach the starting line. There looked to be hundreds of runners ahead of me, and I thought for sure KL, whom I'd lost before the start, was among them, so I was quite surprised when she appeared next to me, cruising along and chatting away. She didn't stay by my side for long, and even with the distinctive dog with a bone logo on the back of her singlet, I soon lost sight of her.
Mile two went by at 6:57, the third in 6:59, and the fourth, containing a sizable hill, 6:53. Around this point the course made a 90 degree turn and the wind was now at our back. I'd gone with tights and a skullcap, and here I was a touch warm, so off came the hat. This section of the course was a long, straight road that gradually descended down to the ocean along the western edge of the peninsula the city sits on. Mile 5 took just 6:32, and the following markers 6:30, 6:27 and 6:21. By this point the course was pancake flat and right down on the beach, but the wind still hadn't really hit us in the face yet.
I'd been warned about how this course could be deceivingly easy in the first half. Eventually it makes its way down near the tip of the peninsula, a spot infamously known as "the turn." It is here the course turns back north with the harbor proper now on your right, and this stretch is known for brutal headwinds all the way back to second significant hill, which at the twelve mile mark starts your ascent back into the downtown. Everyone advised that drafting would be key, and that's why I really pushed it in mile eight in order to stay near a group. However, when we rounded "the turn" the only real wind was that which was knocked out of my sails by this effort. There was a little rise that took us up to the nine marker, and here I faded and lost my group, back to a 6:54 stretch.
Heading into mile 10 was tough. Back along the seawall, the wind wasn't as bad as I'd feared, but some gusts surely had me seeking shelter behind anyone I could get near. I made it through in 6:49 for a 10 mile split of 1:07:14, about a minute slower than I ran Foxboro. I knew my "real goal" of an hour thirty was still in reach so long as I didn't totally fall apart, but I wasn't exactly brimming with confidence. The eleventh mile hadn't been kind to me on my training runs.
This was the 30th annual running of this race. I'm not sure of the exact date for the first, but I lost my Dad on March 18, 1978, the inaugural year. Those who know me can assure you that I am not exactly a fervent worshiper of any kind, but I was praying to my Dad for strength and help in mile eleven, that's for sure. I think the wind may have even died down on queue in a few spots too...
Making it to the eleventh mile sign in 6:53, I was psyched to still be on goal pace, and also to be back away from the water on a tenement-lined boulevard. By the way, the mile markers were nostalgic looking old Sunbeam bread signs with the blonde girl pointing to a loaf. Pretty funny. The twelfth mile seemed the longest. I was falling apart, I'd lost all my rabbits, some people were catching me from behind, and others were exploding in the road ahead of me. The twelfth Sunbeam girl finally appeared after 7:01, just as the final hill began. The hill wasn't that steep, but here we found the elevated portions of the city were clearly the windiest. It sucked. The entire course had a lot of spectators, a first for me, and the dozens of uniformed police officers marshalling the course were actually quite enthused as well. Their cheers helped me keep going as hard as I could.
I didn't know the finish, but mercifully I discovered we got a nice downhill for a block right before the last stretch of a few hundred meters that headed back south. For sure I knew this little descent was going to help me keep my pace respectable. Someone said "288th" or something like that as I went by, and then only one guy passed me before I made it to the line just a few seconds short of 1:29. KL greeted me there, as she'd done a great run and finished in 1:25:39. The last 1.1 miles had taken me 7:48, a 7:04 pace, my slowest. Good.
All right, that was a friggin' book, way too much drama. Too bad. I trained all winter for this, and I'm pretty happy it all worked out. I was having my doubts as I tapered this past week. My legs were always sore, despite having two massages, and I just didn't feel fit like I did going into Foxboro. Saturday my legs finally started to feel fresh, and I gave them even more couch time, staying off the trainer. It worked. The total training was only about 325 miles in a bit under four months. My average HR was 164 for the race, right where is should be. Mistakes? Really just one, switching to thinner socks and Bodyglide instead of my preferred two layer "ankle jackers" and vaseline for the race. Like they say, don't race it unless you tried it in training. Well, my feet moved around in the shoes a bit with the thinner socks, and the Body Glide didn't get it done. Both feet have blisters. Live and learn. Thanks for reading.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Same Place, Same Time
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Nega-coach fading into oblivion
Daily Transmission Statistics
Date Requests Bytes Sent
----------- -------- ------------
Mar 7 2007 6391 293649360
Mar 8 2007 6435 262174463
Mar 9 2007 4489 193188363
Mar 10 2007 3866 170059690
Mar 11 2007 1431 68642142
Mar 12 2007 2392 106107741
Mar 13 2007 1368 61706745
Mar 14 2007 830 33633341
Maybe I should have gone to cafepress and had the merchandise made up while I had the chance... Like attacking in a bike race, in life, timing is everything.
GeWilli - This one is for you. This pretty much confirms what you already knew; Graber uses WaldoMart grade components in their $800 hub. Can you say profit margin? This has to go down in history as one of the greatest guerilla marketing campaigns ever. I don't think I've ever seen an ad for a PT. The original maker, Tune, gave hundreds of these away, mostly to coaches and other persons of influence. The internet did the rest. Of course, I'd have probably written rave reviews too, if I got it for free.
You can't blame them for making as much as possible off of this in their limited window of opportunity. It shouldn't be long before a more capable and lower cost manufacturer comes along and blows them out of the market with a $399 unit that actually works in the rain. The $1500 wireless unit is another example of their marketing savvy. Now, I'm no EE, but the price difference between a wired bike computer and a wireless is about $30. So you have to ask yourself, why the $600 bump in price over the wired model? Hmmmm, maybe they took this opportunity to upgrade the cones and bearings, eh? That ought to have eaten up another $100, tops (hell, an entire Dura Ace hub ain't much more than that). The only real answer is, the market would bear it. In fact, since most of the wireless customers are probably existing users who either can't wait to get out the plastic, or are fed up with reliability issues, Graber did them a favor by not depressing the price of used wired units on ebay.
So JB, there you go. NegaCoach isn't against scientific training and training with power per se, it's the transformation of cycling from a sport of cheap fucks who'd sprint for a $5 prime into a high hype boutique sport of well-heeled posers that gets his retrogrouch crew cut standing up straight. If you want real irony, look at your breakaway hombe from Wells Ave last week who broke out the 404's for a crashfest training race with a can of Shaklee first place prize. Some guys from the ski business told me years ago this would happen some day...
What do you "need" to be a racer? I don't know, I guess everyone has a right to set their own priorities. I know some power meter owners who've never sprung for a massage, who own two pair of riding shorts, and don't own wheels for training. They can recite their CP20, but have never had an ECG and don't have any idea what their HCT or their blood pressure is for that matter. That's not scientific training, IMHO.
Their was an article on boston.com a few days ago about the youth of today being more susceptible to marketing than those in the past. Think it's true? Marketing: getting people to work at a job they don't like in order to buy stuff they don't need. Or something like that. Thanks for reading!
Date Requests Bytes Sent
----------- -------- ------------
Mar 7 2007 6391 293649360
Mar 8 2007 6435 262174463
Mar 9 2007 4489 193188363
Mar 10 2007 3866 170059690
Mar 11 2007 1431 68642142
Mar 12 2007 2392 106107741
Mar 13 2007 1368 61706745
Mar 14 2007 830 33633341
Maybe I should have gone to cafepress and had the merchandise made up while I had the chance... Like attacking in a bike race, in life, timing is everything.
GeWilli - This one is for you. This pretty much confirms what you already knew; Graber uses WaldoMart grade components in their $800 hub. Can you say profit margin? This has to go down in history as one of the greatest guerilla marketing campaigns ever. I don't think I've ever seen an ad for a PT. The original maker, Tune, gave hundreds of these away, mostly to coaches and other persons of influence. The internet did the rest. Of course, I'd have probably written rave reviews too, if I got it for free.
You can't blame them for making as much as possible off of this in their limited window of opportunity. It shouldn't be long before a more capable and lower cost manufacturer comes along and blows them out of the market with a $399 unit that actually works in the rain. The $1500 wireless unit is another example of their marketing savvy. Now, I'm no EE, but the price difference between a wired bike computer and a wireless is about $30. So you have to ask yourself, why the $600 bump in price over the wired model? Hmmmm, maybe they took this opportunity to upgrade the cones and bearings, eh? That ought to have eaten up another $100, tops (hell, an entire Dura Ace hub ain't much more than that). The only real answer is, the market would bear it. In fact, since most of the wireless customers are probably existing users who either can't wait to get out the plastic, or are fed up with reliability issues, Graber did them a favor by not depressing the price of used wired units on ebay.
So JB, there you go. NegaCoach isn't against scientific training and training with power per se, it's the transformation of cycling from a sport of cheap fucks who'd sprint for a $5 prime into a high hype boutique sport of well-heeled posers that gets his retrogrouch crew cut standing up straight. If you want real irony, look at your breakaway hombe from Wells Ave last week who broke out the 404's for a crashfest training race with a can of Shaklee first place prize. Some guys from the ski business told me years ago this would happen some day...
What do you "need" to be a racer? I don't know, I guess everyone has a right to set their own priorities. I know some power meter owners who've never sprung for a massage, who own two pair of riding shorts, and don't own wheels for training. They can recite their CP20, but have never had an ECG and don't have any idea what their HCT or their blood pressure is for that matter. That's not scientific training, IMHO.
Their was an article on boston.com a few days ago about the youth of today being more susceptible to marketing than those in the past. Think it's true? Marketing: getting people to work at a job they don't like in order to buy stuff they don't need. Or something like that. Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Grown men (and women too!) riding around in circles
This post might be good. The thoughts are here, although I've got a hectic day of telecommuting ahead of me and the effort to get this all down might be lacking, but here goes. The inspiration for this post comes from a few new links, fallout from the NegaCoach blip on the traffic charts. Actually, these two linker/linkees are only indirectly related to Negacoach, their discovery owing to my traffic logs becoming interesting enough to actually look at.
Cycling Automaton belongs to a guy I've known for years, sort of. Well, I sort of knew him years ago, didn't know him for about twenty years, and now I sort of know him now. Back in the olden days, the Automaton (I have no idea what that means) raced among the juniors in my first club, the Boston Road Club, aka the Purple People Eaters. If you don't know what that means, then you haven't been around long enough to remember the distinctive old purple and yellow BRC kit. That explains the purple, the people eaters part came from this group being about 90% novice racers whose main talent was taking out half the field at races like Myles Standish and the Bay State Games.
Anyhow, back then, apart from a half dozen or so riders who'd made it to Cat 2, most BRC members were Cat 3 and Cat 4 guys in our twenties, you know, guys who somehow stumbled upon the sport and decided to give it a try. Truth be told, most of the sport was that way then, and still is now, although now many of those entering the sport are even older, in their thirties and forties. Like it or not, that is where the bulk of the USCF membership comes from. Of course, there always seems to be a vocal minority of "leaders" who insist "juniors are the future of our sport" and seek to divert a disproportionate amount of club and federation resources to junior programs. I really don't know why this is, but then and now I consider(ed) it my duty to resist this and keep the focus on making bike racing better for the people who actually do it, not the ones we'd like to do it.
What's this got to do with the Automaton? Well, he was a junior back then, recruited by an amusing but untalented teammate of ours who had volunteered (actually, insisted is more like it) to head up the BRC Junior program. I laughed at him then, but lo and behold, the Automaton didn't really give up the sport after a year or two, and he is still here now, a Master racer, one of the handful who started out as a junior. At least one of his teammates is also still racing, as read over on Gewilli's blog the mystery rider is returning to east coast soil (hopefully not literally) at Battenkill-Roubaix next month. Yet one more of this group, Robbie Dapice, even went on to win collegiate nationals one year, although I don't know if he's still racing. So could I have been wrong about this? No, not possible. Nonetheless, Cycling Automaton is a good blog, and you should go read it. The future is now.
If we really care about the future of the sport, we'll do something for the promoters. It is that simple really. Athlete-focused programs do not grow the sport. If we have more races, then we'll have a bigger base of fans and athlete recruits, and everything else will take care of itself. Do we even want to make cycling mainstream? Don't you like it that way that it is? People take this way too seriously already.
Next up we have kette rechts or chain to the right or something like that. Not sure who this is but maybe I've raced against him at Wompatuck. Looks like he made a bundle last year delaying his upgrade out of Cat 4. He's a teammate of CTodd and apparently somewhat of a disciple of the power meter religion, so this should give Gewilli another imaginary friend to talk to. Maybe Ge can get all serious about his training too, after all, we are talking about grown men and women riding bicycles around in circles at vacant office parks. What could possibly deserve a more serious approach than this? Thanks for reading.
Cycling Automaton belongs to a guy I've known for years, sort of. Well, I sort of knew him years ago, didn't know him for about twenty years, and now I sort of know him now. Back in the olden days, the Automaton (I have no idea what that means) raced among the juniors in my first club, the Boston Road Club, aka the Purple People Eaters. If you don't know what that means, then you haven't been around long enough to remember the distinctive old purple and yellow BRC kit. That explains the purple, the people eaters part came from this group being about 90% novice racers whose main talent was taking out half the field at races like Myles Standish and the Bay State Games.
Anyhow, back then, apart from a half dozen or so riders who'd made it to Cat 2, most BRC members were Cat 3 and Cat 4 guys in our twenties, you know, guys who somehow stumbled upon the sport and decided to give it a try. Truth be told, most of the sport was that way then, and still is now, although now many of those entering the sport are even older, in their thirties and forties. Like it or not, that is where the bulk of the USCF membership comes from. Of course, there always seems to be a vocal minority of "leaders" who insist "juniors are the future of our sport" and seek to divert a disproportionate amount of club and federation resources to junior programs. I really don't know why this is, but then and now I consider(ed) it my duty to resist this and keep the focus on making bike racing better for the people who actually do it, not the ones we'd like to do it.
What's this got to do with the Automaton? Well, he was a junior back then, recruited by an amusing but untalented teammate of ours who had volunteered (actually, insisted is more like it) to head up the BRC Junior program. I laughed at him then, but lo and behold, the Automaton didn't really give up the sport after a year or two, and he is still here now, a Master racer, one of the handful who started out as a junior. At least one of his teammates is also still racing, as read over on Gewilli's blog the mystery rider is returning to east coast soil (hopefully not literally) at Battenkill-Roubaix next month. Yet one more of this group, Robbie Dapice, even went on to win collegiate nationals one year, although I don't know if he's still racing. So could I have been wrong about this? No, not possible. Nonetheless, Cycling Automaton is a good blog, and you should go read it. The future is now.
If we really care about the future of the sport, we'll do something for the promoters. It is that simple really. Athlete-focused programs do not grow the sport. If we have more races, then we'll have a bigger base of fans and athlete recruits, and everything else will take care of itself. Do we even want to make cycling mainstream? Don't you like it that way that it is? People take this way too seriously already.
Next up we have kette rechts or chain to the right or something like that. Not sure who this is but maybe I've raced against him at Wompatuck. Looks like he made a bundle last year delaying his upgrade out of Cat 4. He's a teammate of CTodd and apparently somewhat of a disciple of the power meter religion, so this should give Gewilli another imaginary friend to talk to. Maybe Ge can get all serious about his training too, after all, we are talking about grown men and women riding bicycles around in circles at vacant office parks. What could possibly deserve a more serious approach than this? Thanks for reading.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Because you've all been good
Monday, March 12, 2007
Team Stonyfield-Shift trip to Mecca
On Sunday, Feltslave led a ride of five Shift-BOB team members, three of whom rode fixed gears, and special guest KL around the snow melt-covered roads of southern New Hampshire. The constantly undulating route took us past the place where Shift happens, the Stonyfield Farms plant next to Manchester Airport. Since only three of us had the brains to wear the new kit, here you go, me, Feltslave, and Whitey. I couldn't really tell how well I was going, as those guys were on fixies and obviously at somewhat of a handicap, but I was nonetheless pleased to be able to stay near or ahead of them on all the little hills. This was a good first group ride of the year for me.
Saturday was my last tuneup tempo run for the New Bedford Half Marathon next week. I wore my Saucony ProGrid4's and tried to produce a 7:10-7:20 pace (20-30 seconds slower than my hoped-for race pace, at least according to my training plan) without going over LT. I started out ok, but in the last few miles small hills and headwinds had my HR creeping over 163 and I had to back off to hold it down. Ending the 8 miles at 59:04 (7:23) I was satisfied, but not thrilled. At least I wasn't wasted afterwards, and even went out for nice hour road ride before heading up to the KL North Training Center for the evening.
So my running training has had both positives and negatives. On the downside, I've been falling apart at around 11 miles on most of my training runs, despite consistently being well behind the 6:50 target HM pace my training plan predicts from my 10K best. I rarely trained faster than 8:00 on my long runs, against plan goals for the long stuff in the mid sevens. My lack of a running base explains this, as my 5 mile and 10K times are clearly aided by the years of aerobic training on the bike. My lungs are just way ahead of my running legs.
On the up side are my race times from the Raynham 15K and the Foxboro 10 miler. Hitting my target pace in both of these was surely a good sign. The first few years that I raced bikes I often left my best efforts out on the road during training rides, stinking it up in more than a few races. If nothing else the years have made me wiser in this regard, and now I'm much better at corking it up until race day. At Foxboro I felt awesome and ran the 10 miles at 6:37 pace, so I know my half-mary goal pace is possible. That would take me across the 13.1 tape with a chip time of 1:30. I'm not being too hopeful for that though, as I will be trying to start a bit more conservatively. Anything slower than a 6:59 pace of 1:31:40 will be a bit of a disappointment, but I won't get too wigged over it. I won't be really bummed unless 1:36 goes by and I still can't see the finish... There it is for you in black and white. Thanks for reading, hope you had a great weekend of training too.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Taper
Not much running this week. Nine days and counting until New Bedford. It has been cold as a mofo around here, so I've been indoors doing my running "speedwork" on the trainer. I think this has made me 100% ready for the bike racing season, so long as the races are only 30 minutes long and we don't go over 17 mph.
Today I cranked it up to 6 x 90 seconds at high rpm in the 39x15 with one minute rest in between. This may seem lame to you, but that's good. He/she who wins races on the trainer in March gets squat. How many wins do you have? It is March however, so of course you can't just sit there twiddling the pedals, so that is why I'm adding a bit of modest effort in order to prepare myself for the harder stuff that is coming soon.
I read a few blogs about the Benidorm mofos going to a training race and really killing it last Sunday. Yikes. No wonder I get blown off at the April races. People are crazy. Also checked out Feltslave's Raleigh Grand Prix. Holy shit that's a DWI bike. Oh yeah, I know all of you already read cyclingnews, etc, and posting links to media that everyone already fucking reads is lame, but too bad, check out this guy who clearly went to the solobreak school of descending. I've burned my knees on the front tire a few times with that trick. Speaking of front tires, don't blow one out when in that position. Thanks for reading this lame post.
Today I cranked it up to 6 x 90 seconds at high rpm in the 39x15 with one minute rest in between. This may seem lame to you, but that's good. He/she who wins races on the trainer in March gets squat. How many wins do you have? It is March however, so of course you can't just sit there twiddling the pedals, so that is why I'm adding a bit of modest effort in order to prepare myself for the harder stuff that is coming soon.
I read a few blogs about the Benidorm mofos going to a training race and really killing it last Sunday. Yikes. No wonder I get blown off at the April races. People are crazy. Also checked out Feltslave's Raleigh Grand Prix. Holy shit that's a DWI bike. Oh yeah, I know all of you already read cyclingnews, etc, and posting links to media that everyone already fucking reads is lame, but too bad, check out this guy who clearly went to the solobreak school of descending. I've burned my knees on the front tire a few times with that trick. Speaking of front tires, don't blow one out when in that position. Thanks for reading this lame post.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Canadians make the best bloggers.
First we had Bold. Now we have Team Jonny. Yeah, a lot of it is just collected from around the web, but I got like four chuckles on the first visit, so he gets a link. Thanks for reading.
Refer This
Over at NegaCoach the swell in traffic has only tailed off slightly. FatMarc is now neck and neck with Fixed Gear Fever for third spot on the referrers list. Not sure where all the direct references are coming from. Did people really bookmark this shit, or do I check my webmail too often? Thanks for reading!
Referrers By Count
Count% Count URL
---------- ------------ ------------------------------------
64.85 7254 Direct Reference
25.30 2830 http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/11805.0.html
1.42 159 http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php
0.78 87 http://www.fixedgearfever.com/modules.php
0.53 59 http://www.fatmarc.blogspot.com/
0.41 46 http://forums.transitions.org.au/index.php
0.30 34 http://www.google.com/search
0.30 34 http://www.humenny.blogspot.com/
Referrers By Count
Count% Count URL
---------- ------------ ------------------------------------
64.85 7254 Direct Reference
25.30 2830 http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/11805.0.html
1.42 159 http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php
0.78 87 http://www.fixedgearfever.com/modules.php
0.53 59 http://www.fatmarc.blogspot.com/
0.41 46 http://forums.transitions.org.au/index.php
0.30 34 http://www.google.com/search
0.30 34 http://www.humenny.blogspot.com/
Sound of Silence
The ringleader of the 3B2, the intrepid Moveitfred, continues the musical theme with a few pics of his training CDs. Not to be outdone, here is my entire collection. That's right Freddie, solo isn't exactly an audiophile either. No mp3 player, hell, I don't even play music when I'm on the trainer. Just me and my thoughts most of the time. Must be the 800,000 car miles I've logged with NO RADIO! Alright, my first car, a 1979 Ford Fiesta came with an AM radio that didn't get any stations, but could serve as a sort of tachometer by picking up ignition wire interference. After 79,000 miles of leadfoot beating, the Fiesta said ciao baby and it was on to a 1983 Ford Econoline, complete with captains chairs. This breadbox did eventually sport a Blaupunkt and some cabinet speakers, complete with extra long cabling for placement on the roof when camping at Pocono raceway. Photographic evidence of this masterpiece was lost in a common-law divorce settlement, aka being kicked to the curb and making said van a temporary home for your hero.
Eventually , 175,000 miles and one engine rebuild later, 16 mpg with an 18 gallon tank got a bit old, and it was off to the Dodge boys for a 1989 Colt, which was really a Mitsubishi. For just $6700, this beauty had no tunage at all, but it did have a cool plastic cover where the radio would have been, easily removed/replaced to conceal the stash box behind. The Colt was the best car ever, and it gave me 224,000 miles of music free (and maintenance free) service before the motor said enough is enough and dropped a valve. That took me to 1995 when I got the Corolla, the first vehicle I ever owned with AC and a factory sound system consisting of a radio/cassette and four crappy speakers. So I guess I did have music for this portion of life, but honestly I didn't turn it on for many of the 205,000 miles the Toyota dutifully transported me about the planet.
Squint or click to zoom and you mofos can critique and chuckle at what's before you. Time to defend your honor and tell me what a pathetic dinosaur I am. I'd rather listen to the chain running over the cogs anyway. Thanks for listening...
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
New Linkage
Perusing the traffic logs after the NegaCoach fifteen minutes of fame revealed a few interesting blogs linking to it. We'll start with Coach Curly. I only skimmed this one, but it looks like the Coach used to have a different blog with a lot of NegaCoach type content on it. His new blog has this same tone, along with some humorous shit. Coach Curly also seems to think along the same lines as solobreak/NegaCoach when it comes to equipment. So he gets a link.
Got some other links from forums and blogs too, I'll be reviewing and maybe posting those in due time. You might also be wondering why I spared you the February training details. No good reason, just haven't gone over them. The running was pretty much right on plan, and the cycling, well, that was pretty weak and short on hours. March might not be too much better, with the half marathon in two weeks and all. I'm in my taper now, but today in order to avoid the chill outside, I did my running "speedwork" workout on the bike trainer instead. 5 x 4 minutes efforts at high rpm in a 39x15, zone 4 stuff with 1:15 recovery between each. Good enough.
Bummed to see the Paris-Nice forces seem to have caved. I'd really have preferred to see a lockout by the organizers. Maybe they are wisely waiting until the Tour to break the union, err, UCI/IPCT conspiracy. Good for them if that is true. Thanks for reading.
PS - Meg, it hurts me so that you don't comment anymore. I don't think you're dumb, really. But nobody listens to the Smiths. What was your imaginary teen angst anyway? I'm picturing "I wanna a Miyata" or something like that pitched out in a whiney voice cried from under a pink canopy bed with herringbone frills in a room with floral print wainscoting. Please come to New Hampshire for our spring training camp. I'll even promise to kiss that little boo-boo on your knee.
Got some other links from forums and blogs too, I'll be reviewing and maybe posting those in due time. You might also be wondering why I spared you the February training details. No good reason, just haven't gone over them. The running was pretty much right on plan, and the cycling, well, that was pretty weak and short on hours. March might not be too much better, with the half marathon in two weeks and all. I'm in my taper now, but today in order to avoid the chill outside, I did my running "speedwork" workout on the bike trainer instead. 5 x 4 minutes efforts at high rpm in a 39x15, zone 4 stuff with 1:15 recovery between each. Good enough.
Bummed to see the Paris-Nice forces seem to have caved. I'd really have preferred to see a lockout by the organizers. Maybe they are wisely waiting until the Tour to break the union, err, UCI/IPCT conspiracy. Good for them if that is true. Thanks for reading.
PS - Meg, it hurts me so that you don't comment anymore. I don't think you're dumb, really. But nobody listens to the Smiths. What was your imaginary teen angst anyway? I'm picturing "I wanna a Miyata" or something like that pitched out in a whiney voice cried from under a pink canopy bed with herringbone frills in a room with floral print wainscoting. Please come to New Hampshire for our spring training camp. I'll even promise to kiss that little boo-boo on your knee.
Monday, March 5, 2007
March of the Penguins
The new Team Shift-BOB kit made its debut this weekend when I finally got outside for a three hour ride on Sunday. KL was back from not-so-sunny New Mexico. We got in a nice 15 mile run on Saturday before I headed up to the BOB pre-season banquet to pick up my kit. Out on the road Sunday, we ran into the famed CCB Juggernaut and rode with them for a bit.
What's the difference between a Team BOB ride and a CCB ride? We would have pulled in for some donuts... Thanks for reading.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Newsflash!
Nega-Coach has been named the VeloNews site of the day for March 3rd! To steal a phrase from Joe from the Daily Grind - Validation! Thanks for reading.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
It's best to start at the beginning.
Has it really been four days since I posted? OK then, against my better judgment, and despite not having enough time to do this properly, I'm going to take on the ProTour/UCI/ASO issue. Way, way back in the embryonic stage of solobreak.blogspot.com, one of the things I promised to cover was the lack of love for race promoters. At the time, I was referring to local races, and to the athlete-centered USCF, who pretty much do nothing for the promoters who do the real work that makes the sport possible.
Well, here we are with the same thing happening on the big stage in Europe. Make no mistake, this is nothing more than the UCI and the race teams trying to use their money and popular clout to steal away something the promoters have worked hard to achieve. The ASO et al recognized early on that this would be the fight for their very existence. If they do not win this one, in a few years they will be in the same spot that race track owners are with NASCAR, in a weak position subject to conditions of a totalitarian dictator governing body. After decades of building their races into what they are today, the foundation of the sport, they will be left begging for a spot on the calendar and increasing monetary demands. Screw that.
These guys know they own the races. If the UCI and the teams don't want to race in them, too bad. Go away. McQuack's comments completely ignore the facts. The Pro Tour is nothing more than a union of the teams formed to wrestle as much money, power, and control as possible away from those who built the sport, and now they are threatening to strike. I hope they lose. I would love it if we see all the "second tier" teams competing at the tour this year. Thanks for reading.
Well, here we are with the same thing happening on the big stage in Europe. Make no mistake, this is nothing more than the UCI and the race teams trying to use their money and popular clout to steal away something the promoters have worked hard to achieve. The ASO et al recognized early on that this would be the fight for their very existence. If they do not win this one, in a few years they will be in the same spot that race track owners are with NASCAR, in a weak position subject to conditions of a totalitarian dictator governing body. After decades of building their races into what they are today, the foundation of the sport, they will be left begging for a spot on the calendar and increasing monetary demands. Screw that.
These guys know they own the races. If the UCI and the teams don't want to race in them, too bad. Go away. McQuack's comments completely ignore the facts. The Pro Tour is nothing more than a union of the teams formed to wrestle as much money, power, and control as possible away from those who built the sport, and now they are threatening to strike. I hope they lose. I would love it if we see all the "second tier" teams competing at the tour this year. Thanks for reading.
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