mini duo?

Greetings Readers,

Did I do a mini duathlon? A sprint maybe? Something?

I commuted 18 miles to work and back on my SingleSpeed today and then ran a 5k when I got home.

Will it make me keep up with Speedy, Dev, and Ken? Nope.

Will it get me in better shape? Yup.

There’s a silver lining in there somewhere….

I’m going to try to do this on Tuesdays and Thursdays, ride and run. I need to add another run in sometime over the weekends, not sure how I’m gonna do that. I’d like to run 3 times a week and bike 6 days, mimimum 5.  We’ll see how my body holds out, I’d like to do PIR on Mondays too. That is a logistical problem for me though, long drive both ways. Both from work and then home. It could happen, just how motivated can I get? I know Hinkley is racing PIR, and he has always handed me my ass. I’ve only beat him once……..

Anyway, that’s it for now as I’m beat. Keep the faith and fight the good fight.

Cheers!

HammerHeads…

Greetings Readers,

Today, I had the good fortune of riding with two Hammaheads, Ken and Marcelo (Speedy). Ken and I have done tons of rides together over the years, Speedy I met through commuting and I had my 1st ride with Marcelo last weekend. Both of these guys are really good guys AND very gifted athletes. When you ride with one of them, they graciously wait for you, stopping ahead frequently to let the old man catch up. This morning however I had both of them. I might as well have been riding with Tonkin and Decker.

My wife and daughter were heading out in the car to run some errands and my 9 year old having seen Speedy and Ken both in front of our house said “Hey Dad, did I ever tell you about the two Hares and the Turtle that went for a bike ride” Witty little shit, she nailed it. Even the kids know who the fast guys are.

We set out to ride the west hills of Skyline and right away, I knew I was in trouble. “go ahead guys, don’t wait for me” I called out. I was not interested in the pressure of having to chase. I figured if they went after each other, I could ride off the back and climb at my own pace. Just as I had hoped once we hit Thompson, they were off. It was like watching two heavy hitters, they were gone. Those two opened up a gap on me big time and after the 1st turn in the road they were lost to sight. I would be damn near to Germantown before I would see them again.

Now you’d think that I could relax, the pressure was off, the hammaheads were long gone up the road. Nope, I told my old arsk that the gap to those two would be mimimal as my old (did I mention old) heart would allow. I climbed Thompson so hard that by the time I hit Miller Rd I was spent and cracking. I felt like a sprinter trying to get over the mountian inside the time limit so I could stay in the race.  By the time I hit Skyline I was in need of some recovery. I soft pedaled for a few hundred feet, trying to get back the oxygen debt I put myself in and clear the lactic acid from my legs. Then up ahead I spotted someone to chase and I was off, trying to find my own challenger. I caught him and rode with him for awhile, before finally relenting unable to stay with him any longer. Legs were toast I tell ya.

I finally met up again with Ken and Speedy at Newberry and we turned around to come home. I tried, I tried to stay with them on the way back to Thompson but the legs just wouldn’t have it. Oh well, whatever. I rode hard, my heart, lungs, and legs told me so. Confirmation from body to Mind: “yep your killing me, too old for this” Anyway, as with all that goes up, it must come down. The reward of my efforts, the Thompson downhill. What a great descent! Fast, curvy, with a flat out chester the cheetah grin all the way.

My frigging arms hurt. Yes, my forearms. I spent so much time in the drops, hammering that my hands and the inside of my forearms hurt from cranking on the bars. Told ya I rode hard. When was the last time your forearms were sore after repeated full on attacks from the drops? That’s good though, one of my goals for cross this year is just that: spend more time in the drops, and hamma. (Insert MC Hammer song here)

Nothing has changed, I’m still slow. I don’t have it, nor do I feel like I’ve turned the corner fitness wise. It’s age I tell ya, it’s like I’m working just as hard as I ever did, even adding running, and I’m still wretchedly slow. Again, whatever. I’m not mailing it in, I’ll ride, climb, run, and do everything else so that come Sept I can race and have no regrets.

I’ll be bringing “it” come cross season. I just don’t think that “it” is going to be enough. I’ll live, hell it ain’t the end of the world. I’ve just got to shift my focus to consistency, attendance, and having good solid racing. That’s were my satisfaction has to come from, not from the results page. Hell, at least I get to race cross, think of all the poor people who don’t.

Miles ridden today, 38

Miles ridden 2009, 1550.

Cheers!

why do I suck so?

Why do I suck so?

Oh sure, I’ve got my theories but the one that is standing out in my mind? Age. I believe that my age is finally catching up with me. I can tell you folks, having been there that there’s not a big difference between 35 and 40. There is however, a huge difference between 41 and 46.

Usually, every year during the spring I enjoy a 5 to 8 week period where I really struggle to gain my form. I hit this plateau that I have to claw my  way out of every year. In years past I break out of it eventually and fitness comes around. This year it’s ongoing. I have in fact stepped up my training this year with running, something I haven’t done in the past and yet I still suck.

I’m beginning to understand that my age is just getting the better of me. It’s far more difficult to recover than it used to be and I’m suffering from symptoms and body changes that I’ve not gone through before. @ 46 years of age I’m beginning to wonder, it just gets harder and harder every year. Sheesh, what is it going to be like when I’m 60?

I’m seriously questioning the goal of racing in the Mster B’s, or SS. Right now I would cower to the back of the field, not wanting to get in anyone’s way, sucking my way through a race in survival mode. I don’t think, at this point, that I could even match my results from last year in the Mstr’s C, let alone move up in class.

I was supposed to have had raced some road races this spring. I was supposed to be racing the track starting in June. I’ve done no races, nor do I feel like I’m up physically to race in any race, period. Why? Getting shelled out the back and being embarrassed is something I have experienced in the past and have no desire to relive again.

I’ve kept away from posting as I’ve had nothing to post, other than my struggles and that’s not entertaining reading. I’ve had a few bright spots, where I thought I was turning the corner, only to fall back down into struggle mode. Marcelo thoroughly, and I do mean thoroughly, kicked my ass good on Saturday. I got my ass handed to me and It was embarrassing. Marcelo is in good form, give that guy some tubulars and let him go.

My ambitions for cross this year, at the moment are in the toilet. It’s hard to get motivated to race, (and I like to race, not participate) when you know what’s going to happen when you get out there. I’ll blow up half way through the 1^st lap and then I’ll be done, suffering in survival mode until its over. Then I’ll see the results, and I’ll be sick to my stomach at how bad I sucked. It’s an emotional rollercoaster.

I know damn well, that Devin, Marcelo, Hinkley, my pal Ken (if he races) and all my old nemesis, along with everybody else are going to kick my sorry ass and I’m not excited about living that reality.

Maybe I’d feel better if there was a 45+ class in cross, but there’s not. Masters are 35+ and the next division is 50+. So guys like me who are 46 threw 49 are racing against guys 10 years our junior. Let me tell you, that is hard to do. The guys who are in the front of the field? Lots closer to 35 than they are to 45. Just sayin’

Maybe I should shift my emphasis to the SS class. There are so many heavy hitters in that field that I’d be expected to get shelled. At least there would be no surprises there.

I dunno. I guess I’ll keep trying, training, and try to enjoy riding for the sake of riding. I’ll go into cross with a different perspective: consistency. I’ll try to do a bunch of races and I’ll worry more about being able to entertain a whole season and lots of racing. Rather than stressing about results that frankly: I’m not going to get.

Part of the problem is psychological; my mind still believes that my body can perform at a level that it did back when I was under 40 years of age. I suspect that is what drives most past there prime athletes to continue to play, or in our sport, ride. They believe that they still can produce, when age makes exceptions for no one. No 46 year old guy has ever one the Tour De France. This is most of my problem; my body is no longer capable of delivering what my mind thinks it can. Thus I am in this constant state of denial, and ultimately disappointed and demoralized in my alleged lack of fitness.

I constantly find myself trying to compare my fitness to other athletes that are much younger than me. That’s a lose, lose situation. I give up 8 years to Devin, and Ken, 6 years to Marcelo. When I race I am comparing my results to guys whom are in some cases a decade younger than I am.

I find that the recovery takes longer, and motivation suffers as its such an uphill battle to get in shape, for every 2 steps forward, I take one and a half back. Progress is slow. Mo is low. I’m going to have to come to grips with reality, do the best I can, train as hard as I can and be satisfied with how ever I do. Because, that’s all I can do, that’s the reality. The conflict is: I’m so competitive, I hate to lose and I beat myself up when my body won’t cash in on the expectations of my mind. I come in mid pack in the C’s and there’s no living with me until I redeem myself.

I’ll accept it, I’ve no choice. It’s going to take me a while, but I will. All athletes, whether amateur or pro have to come to grips with the same thing at some point. I’m trying to recognize it early, in hopes that I’ll be much easier on myself and can get off the emotional rollercoaster that comes with constant disappointment.

I’m going to have to take participation and consistency seriously, remind myself that I love cross and race for the sake of racing. I’m going to have to shift my thinking, and be happy for a good race, regardless of how I place. That is way easier said, than done.

Cheers!

best time..

Greetings readers,

I had a great workout tonight. I turned in my fastest time over a 3 mile run. I followed the run up with 150 various abdominal crunches and then some upper body work mostly to strengthen my back. Amazing what tight abs does. I’ve already noticed the differance in my running after doing consistent ab work for a few weeks. Wow, I can only imagine what racing cross will be like without my trusty boiler along for the ride. I would really like to get down to 145 and sport a washboard core for cross season.

I kinda have this shark like mentality, when food is scarce I kinda swim around indifferant. But when there’s blood in the water I go into a feeding frenzy. Anytime I get any kind of good result or sign of improvement in my fitness, I get all jacked up and super disiplined to get some more. I literally feed on it. Conversly when I’m struggling, I’m struggling.  Right now I’m chomping at the bit, I can’t wait to work out tomorrow.

It felt really good to crank out that run tonight with authority. I’m no triathlete, lets not kid ourselves. But running is something I’ve never done and I’m thinking payoff is coming…..

As summer approaches its getting more and more paramount that I get me good workouts in on the weekends, Tough hard climbs and days in the saddle. Interval training, Plus adding some running on top of that. I’ve some duathlon days planned with my SS at Forest Park. I need more powah!  Who says old guys can’t kill it?

for now..

Cheers!

Thrashed…

Greetings Readers,

My legs are thrashed! What gives? I’m pedaling home from work and somebody decided to turn up the typhoon type winds and pointed them right at me. WTH? You know the kind, swirling winds that pound you no matter which direction your riding. Deep pain in the legs I’m tellin ya. You know the kind, I’m not talking about the lactic acid flush. Nope I’m talking about that deep muscle pain that goes right down to your femur. Bone pain. Feels like your legs are gonna crack. That was what I had all the way home. That and my screaming stomach muscles from pulling on the bars into the wind.

I don’t know what hurts worse, my legs or my abs? It hurts to laugh for pete’s sake. I’ve been blasting them every night, 150 various nasty abdominal torture type crunches, or TTC’s.  Upper’s, lower’s, oblique’s, I’ve thrashed them all. I sure as hell hope these TTC’s get a little easier as time goes on or this is gonna suck! And I have to do these for how long? I may be slow but maybe I’ll at least have a flat gut, I hope.

My back is still slow to come around. Morale is a little low right now. It’s quickly approaching May and my fitness is nowhere near where I expected it to be. I’ve yet to do a race, which I’m not fit enough to do. I”m way behind on mileage, and the cross countdown is not waiting on me. Had today been race day my cross pals Devin and Marcelo would have spanked me good, I might’ve even got lapped. Both those guys are training for Triathlons and are in great shape. Hell, they probably would beat me regardless but I’d like to be able to put up a fight at least, make um earn it, compete. I don’t just want to wave at them as they go by me and tell um to have a nice damn day. There’s a mere 4 months to the first dirt crit and around 15 weeks to the first cross race.

Don’t know what to tell ya readers, all I can do is keep riding, training, working the abs and running. Hopefully things will come around. There’s got to be some reward out there in fitnessville for persistance. Some good karma for the relentless pursuit?

BTW, I’m still hovering around 155lbs. I need to be at around 145 come cross season. Minimum 149. It’s been way more difficult this year to lose the winter weight gain than in years past.

Anyway, whatever. I’ll keep pluggin’ away. What else am I gonna do? Take up golf?

Miles ridden today, 20

Miles ridden 2009, 1150

Cheers!

pedalin’ again

Greetings Readers,

Yesterday, after being off the bike for an eternity (10 days) I got back in the saddle. I was tenative, vowing to only do 25 miles relatively easy. No need to harbor my recovery, hell I can do that bending over to tie my shoes. So out I went. Hard to ride in the drops, I sat up mostly and just enjoyed being out, despite having to fight the wind all by myself. Today, after surviving yesterday I set out for a longer ride and upped the pace a little.

10 days off the bike wreaks havoc on your fitness, I struggled and was minus the power I usually count on. Plus its still very sore riding in the drops and I’ve some residual nerve pain shooting down my leg. The left of which is far less powahful than the right. When I get out of the saddle, my left side is very stiff and my back just won’t let me dance on the pedals while outta the saddle.

Oh well, whatever. I knew that this was coming, it’s not like I’m going to spend 36 hours on a heating pad unable to move with back spasms and then one week later win Amstel Gold. Besides, as aspiring athletes were never satisfied anyway. Hell If I had rocked the house I still would have wanted to go longer and faster. So there’s that.

I’ve been working the abs overtime and it hurts to laugh. If the dock says washboard, then abs I’ll have. I’m not interested in having to go through that back drama again, fitness is challenging enough. I hope to keep these back episodes to a minimum. I’ll be commuting this week to work as were enjoying stunning weather here in the good old PNW, and by next weekend I hope to be feeling much better.

At the begining of the year I had penciled in some races I wanted to do, Piece of Cake and Eugene Roubaix. The later was today, which I thought about while out riding, I’m way behind the 8 ball. I was supposed to be racing today, instead of nursing a sore back. I was supposed to be about 500 miles ahead of my current 2009 mileage. I was supposed to have a solid base built so I could really start climbing, doing some more intensity rides andrace some crits.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda. It’s all hindsight now. All I can do is start from my current status and move forward. It’s all good though, I’m motivated and come Sept, I’ll be ready. I can’t wait for cross.

Cheers!

Triple D

Greetings Readers!

No, I’m not talking about Diners, Drive ins, and Dives from the food network. I’m talking about Degenerative Disc Disease. Finally, I’ve a diagnosis from the MRI that I had yesterday. Apparently this is quite common and is the result of the normal aging process. Repeated heavy lifting can accelerate this process, and I’ve done plenty of that.

The good news is no surgery (for now) and I have a clear understanding of what’s my problem. I hope to keep these severe back attacks at bay with knowledge and a formidable ally, my abs. Yes folks bring over your laundry cuz washboard service is coming to my gut.

My physician explained how the lower lumbar is held straight by tight abs, with no washboard the stomach allows the lumbar to curve, thus compounding the problem I have.  My L4 and L5 vertebra are touching in the back, setting off nerves that are spasming my back muscles. With rock hard abs, the vertebra will be held apart naturally. In short, take two aspirin, do 90 situps a day and call me in the morning.

I’m feeling great, well not exactly, by back is very sore. However, I’m not spasming any longer and I’ll be back on the bike in a couple of days. Running on the treadmill will commence shortly thereafter and I’ll be investing in a new commitment to my abs.

Since I’m chosing to adopt the “half full” approach, there’s a silver lining in this whole scenerio. Yes, I’ll be forced to take my abs seriously and the sum of that effort will certainly help me as a cyclist. Yes stronger abs will make me faster.

If it gets progressively worse I’ll need surgery, in short they heat the disc to deadin the nerves. Or, they just remove the disc altogether and fuse the two vertebra together. Niether appeal to me, Jimbo your now on the abs allert. Strengthen that core pal and all will be fine.

I am just chomping at the bit to get back on the bike, I’ve been off for a week already and it’s killin’ me.

I’ve still got plenty of time to get in shape, and be ready for cross season. This go round however with out my trusty gut racin’ with me.

Cheers!

from San Diego

Greetings Readers,

I’ve a real soft spot for single speeds, and specifically cyclocross single speeds. When I first saw a SpeedVagen from the Vanilla Workshop I soiled myself.  I LOVE integrated seat masts, unfortunately for me though with my short little legs it just wouldn’t look right on a frame built for me. An ISP requires a fair amount of saddle to bar drop, that which I do not have.

I wanted to share my two favorite bikes from the San Diego show, both single speeds, the 1st a SS cross bike built by Paul from Rock lobster. This bike is loaded with super cool features including:

• a badass steel crown fork
• a custom stem with canti cable routing
• internal cable routing for the rear canti that comes out of the monostay
• an integrated seat mast
• Pauls “Racer” brakes
• Chris Kings new “inset” headset.

Absolutely bitchin’ I love it.

Next up is a bike built by Jim Kish of Kish Fab, it’s a cross between a 29er hardtail and a cyclocross bike.  this beauty is loaded also, including;

• Titanium frame and fork
• Slider dropouts
• disc brakes
• 29er wheels

The only thing I would change on Jim’s bike is the bars, drop bars would just make this bike perfect. My pal Timmy, who covets a SS CX with disc’s will love this…..

Anyway, beauties like these make me salivate to see my own Jimmy special in the works, and I’m almost as jacked (if not more) to see Devin’s new creation Lugged steel SS racer.

Love the one gear folks……

Cheers!

down but not out…

Greetings Readers,

I threw my back out, again. It’s been exactly 4 months since the last time my back sidelined me from my beloved cycling.  The hard thing is not the complete boredom from lying on a heating pad for days, but the interuption of progressing fittness I was enjoying.

I made my quarterly quota of a thousand miles on April 7th, during Tour De Hagg, granted it was a week late but it’s always a challenge to get that 1st thousand in with the weather we have in the winter months. I was enjoying some good form, taking some good pulls and feeling strong for all of the 62 miles including the blooming fern climb. The following Sunday I put in another 40 up Dairy Creek, again feeling good for a strong 100 mile weekend.  The following days commutes proved my fitness again as I stayed seated on the climbs while grinding out 42×16 on my single speed.

So the difficulty is not in the pain, the lack of mobility, or the misery of a siezed up lumbar. It’s knowing that it will take me a solid month to recover from this, and all my fitness I can say goodbye too. All the while Devin and Marcelo are training for there triathlons and enjoying good form. That’s what really kills me, knowing I’ll have to start all over again. And that I’m now very far behind them in training.

Today I’m having an MRI to find out exactly whats going on, then I’ll do what needs be done. Because at my current rate of reoccurance, this will happen again smack in the middle of cross season, and that my friends just will not do.

My pal Ken once told me: “everything starts from where you are right now” I’ll be back, and I’ll be stronger then before. I’ll drop some weight, strengthen my core, including my back and I’ll be formidable come cross season. I’m determined.

Right now I’m off the bike, but I’ve a goal to be pedaling again by this weekend.  Stay tuned…..

cheers!

homage….

Greetings Readers,

I’ve posted a few track bikes here in this blog, mostly because aesthetically there is no bike that can match the beauty of a track bike or single speed. Stripped of gears and all things non-essential, the fixed gear is beautiful in it’s simplicity.

I found this while trolling, it’s the bike piloted by the Cannibal himself to the 1972 hour record.

Absolutely beautiful, Molteni orange…..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EddyMerckxHourRecordBike.jpg

cheers!