It's been a rough week...we had crashes on both our Tuesday and Thursday night rides, and that's a rare thing. Hitting the deck is something that doesn't happen much on our training rides. Tuesday, Joe hit a hole or something as we were riding in the rain, and as he went down he took Jimi with him. They both got some road rash...maybe sliding on the wet road took out some of the sting. They were both riding tonight. But tonight Don took a tumble and got dinged up pretty good. It seems a big rock (or something) was kicked up by a passing car and hit Don's front wheel. He went down like a ton of bricks, luckily not taking anyone else with him...I was in the front of the group on both crashes....I never saw either one. Don will be fine but quite a bit sore when he wakes up Friday morning. All of our crashees are over 50 and it's something to bite the road at that age....takes a bit longer to recover sometimes.
Not much paying work going on right now so I have spent a lot of time working on the kitchen, patching up the remaining holes and trying my hand at plastering the walls. I'm doing pretty good so far but we've run into a hassle with Lowe's about our countertops. Seems they underquoted the price by 8 square feet! That's a tad more than the counters on both sides of our stove! How did they miss that? I'll drop in on them Friday and see what the deal is. This entire episode with Lowe's is turning into one big unbelievable joke.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Wow, busy weekend...I think
Tuesday Night Worlds came to Saturday morning last weekend during the "Seize the Road" fundraising bike tour for epilepsy. Pulling out of the Stoner Park and heading north on the 62-mile ride, about 15 members of LaS'port pulled away early on from the rest of the tour riders. Mat stayed at the front pulling our little group for the first 8 miles or so, usually keeping the pace around the 23+ mph range. Things eased up a bit, which was good for us mere mortals, but the pace never really slowed down. It was at near race pace (for a normal Category 3 road race) and people took their pulls, although some of us, like me, sat out a few rotations for some "rest".
I was on my old steel bike, the Bradley, custom built for me back in August 1986. Except for using it in a few time trials, I had not been on it as a pure road bike since 2001 when I got the K2. Well, I decided last week that it would be my off-season bike and I got it put together last Friday for its shakedown ride on Saturday. I'll keep the K2 as a TT bike for now and maybe I'll get to use it for duathlons this winter. Everything on the Bradley is old school....skinny steel fork, some of the original Campagnolo components and a lot of old Shimano 105 parts. I got a relatively new 105 front derailleur for $15 (way cheap) to install Friday and Scooter put the whole thing together (I try to spread the wealth between the two bike shops - LBS's - in Shreveport). The Brad is, of course, comfortable since it's made of steel with its only drawback being a bit heavier due to that same steel. Saturday's ride allowed me to get used to it again and stretch its legs. It was nice.
Anyways, there were parts of the ride where we were stroking along at 30+ mph, mostly in frantic attempts to keep the pack together when Mat, Patrick, Russ or Jason would put the pedal to the metal. I remember seeing 35 mph a number of times through my blurry vision! Then Jimi and I got off the front for a small distance going through a quick left-right series of turns. Then he dropped off and I found myself off the front by myself...totally unexpected. When I realized the pack wasn't chasing me very hard I decided to give it a go and pushed. After a half mile I couldn't see the guys (and gal...Lindsay was there) at all so I kept it up with only the lead deputy vehicle for company. I knew it wouldn't last long but I was going to have some fun. After about 3-4 miles the pack finally chased me down (I knew Mat wouldn't be able to stand having me that far down the road!) and I latched into the back, managing to hang on as they zoomed down the road.
The last nine weeks I trained solely for time trials and rarely were my rides over 30 miles in distance, so my long ride endurance was lacking. As we left the town of Blanchard, about 29 miles into the ride, after all that hard riding, I cratered and had to let the pack go. It was down to about nine riders at this point and within a couple of miles they were two minutes ahead of me. That was the last time I saw them and I spent the next twenty miles or so riding by myself at a gentle pace...I was getting in my saddle time now. With about ten miles to go a nice little group caught me and I settled in with them for the remainder of the ride. Mike, Mark, Jon, and I did most of the work dragging the rest of the pack in and the 62 miles was done in under three hours. It was a good ride but I was totally wracked from the earlier hard efforts and lost about six pounds...and I drank pretty often! Jonnene also did the longer distance and she came in with the bike club group about a half hour after I did. She was tired, too, but she was handling the post-ride exhaustion better than I was. I was down and out for most of the afternoon, slept a lot of it off while she was washing clothes, washing the dog, and other chores that I had no energy for.
We checked out a local Thai restaurant out on Youree Drive on Saturday night and it was great. I consider Jonnene the Thai expert and the place passed with her approval. We'll be back.
Sunday morning we drove down to Natchitoches, LA to watch some of our triathlete friends do the Meat Pie Triathlon. It was fun to be an observer to the race and cheer on the folks we knew. Sunrise Tri Club managed to grab up four medals in the various age groups. After brunch with Jamie, Bridget, and John, we headed down to the brother's house in Alexandria to drop off an old doghouse of ours (one of those domed igloo things) for his dogs to use. Nobody was there but I put it out in the backyard for the dogs to investigate.
After we got back home I made a quick trip to Mom's house to install a new curved shower curtain rod. The rest of the night was just prepping for the coming week...not much was on TV...just as well, hey?
I was on my old steel bike, the Bradley, custom built for me back in August 1986. Except for using it in a few time trials, I had not been on it as a pure road bike since 2001 when I got the K2. Well, I decided last week that it would be my off-season bike and I got it put together last Friday for its shakedown ride on Saturday. I'll keep the K2 as a TT bike for now and maybe I'll get to use it for duathlons this winter. Everything on the Bradley is old school....skinny steel fork, some of the original Campagnolo components and a lot of old Shimano 105 parts. I got a relatively new 105 front derailleur for $15 (way cheap) to install Friday and Scooter put the whole thing together (I try to spread the wealth between the two bike shops - LBS's - in Shreveport). The Brad is, of course, comfortable since it's made of steel with its only drawback being a bit heavier due to that same steel. Saturday's ride allowed me to get used to it again and stretch its legs. It was nice.
Anyways, there were parts of the ride where we were stroking along at 30+ mph, mostly in frantic attempts to keep the pack together when Mat, Patrick, Russ or Jason would put the pedal to the metal. I remember seeing 35 mph a number of times through my blurry vision! Then Jimi and I got off the front for a small distance going through a quick left-right series of turns. Then he dropped off and I found myself off the front by myself...totally unexpected. When I realized the pack wasn't chasing me very hard I decided to give it a go and pushed. After a half mile I couldn't see the guys (and gal...Lindsay was there) at all so I kept it up with only the lead deputy vehicle for company. I knew it wouldn't last long but I was going to have some fun. After about 3-4 miles the pack finally chased me down (I knew Mat wouldn't be able to stand having me that far down the road!) and I latched into the back, managing to hang on as they zoomed down the road.
The last nine weeks I trained solely for time trials and rarely were my rides over 30 miles in distance, so my long ride endurance was lacking. As we left the town of Blanchard, about 29 miles into the ride, after all that hard riding, I cratered and had to let the pack go. It was down to about nine riders at this point and within a couple of miles they were two minutes ahead of me. That was the last time I saw them and I spent the next twenty miles or so riding by myself at a gentle pace...I was getting in my saddle time now. With about ten miles to go a nice little group caught me and I settled in with them for the remainder of the ride. Mike, Mark, Jon, and I did most of the work dragging the rest of the pack in and the 62 miles was done in under three hours. It was a good ride but I was totally wracked from the earlier hard efforts and lost about six pounds...and I drank pretty often! Jonnene also did the longer distance and she came in with the bike club group about a half hour after I did. She was tired, too, but she was handling the post-ride exhaustion better than I was. I was down and out for most of the afternoon, slept a lot of it off while she was washing clothes, washing the dog, and other chores that I had no energy for.
We checked out a local Thai restaurant out on Youree Drive on Saturday night and it was great. I consider Jonnene the Thai expert and the place passed with her approval. We'll be back.
Sunday morning we drove down to Natchitoches, LA to watch some of our triathlete friends do the Meat Pie Triathlon. It was fun to be an observer to the race and cheer on the folks we knew. Sunrise Tri Club managed to grab up four medals in the various age groups. After brunch with Jamie, Bridget, and John, we headed down to the brother's house in Alexandria to drop off an old doghouse of ours (one of those domed igloo things) for his dogs to use. Nobody was there but I put it out in the backyard for the dogs to investigate.
After we got back home I made a quick trip to Mom's house to install a new curved shower curtain rod. The rest of the night was just prepping for the coming week...not much was on TV...just as well, hey?
Friday, September 21, 2007
The Jena 6
Here's what I sent to the Shreveport Times regarding the protest marches in Jena, Louisiana yesterday and the coverage of the event:
"We are told that it is a good thing to treat people as we would like to be treated. So I do that, treat those I meet with good humour, be they white, black or whatever. I do my part, I hope, to make the world a better place. Then I'm told by a newspaper columnist or editorial writer that the world hasn't changed...what I've done has been for naught, or seemingly so.
"But I don't think so. The events in Jena yesterday are nothing like the civil rights movements of the 60's. It doesn't even begin to approach a semblance of that time. People in Jena have cable/satellite TV and internet...they know what the world and the country is like...they're not stuck in the 60's. Jena is a small, simple town but it isn't ignorant. 95% of the people there are good folks and they treat each other quite well. You'll always have the dumb ones, the bad apples in the barrel, and every town around the world has those. America doesn't have a monopoly on that. There's racism in every country and many of them still have slavery. We just make a bigger deal of it here because we Americans are so absorbed with self-guilt that we continually foist on ourselves.
"Here's the real question: When will we know that equality has been achieved in the United States? Here's the simple answer: We never will know. No bar of accomplishment has been established for us to aim at. As long as we have race baiters like Jackson and Sharpton, there will never be a claim of equality. They'll find something wrong somewhere and we, as a nation, will be trapped in these webs forever. Somebody will be insulted or offended or treated ill, usually by a very small representation of mankind that will reflect on everyone else who's trying to do the right thing. Did ANYBODY notice how well the protesters were treated in Jena? Sharpton wanted water cannons and he didn't get them, and that's because Jena's not like that. Jackson wanted whites throwing rocks at the protesters and he didn't get that either. It was actually a dull day in many ways.
"America has accomplished more than any other nation in the area of equal rights within our own borders...I dare anyone to prove otherwise...yet there are so many who can't see that and still want to live in the 60's. Well, I don't live there anymore. I live here and now, and I'm doing my best to make the world better within my sphere of influence. It'd help if some of these media opinionators would try to do the same thing and actually make the world better instead of only telling us how bad things are."
"We are told that it is a good thing to treat people as we would like to be treated. So I do that, treat those I meet with good humour, be they white, black or whatever. I do my part, I hope, to make the world a better place. Then I'm told by a newspaper columnist or editorial writer that the world hasn't changed...what I've done has been for naught, or seemingly so.
"But I don't think so. The events in Jena yesterday are nothing like the civil rights movements of the 60's. It doesn't even begin to approach a semblance of that time. People in Jena have cable/satellite TV and internet...they know what the world and the country is like...they're not stuck in the 60's. Jena is a small, simple town but it isn't ignorant. 95% of the people there are good folks and they treat each other quite well. You'll always have the dumb ones, the bad apples in the barrel, and every town around the world has those. America doesn't have a monopoly on that. There's racism in every country and many of them still have slavery. We just make a bigger deal of it here because we Americans are so absorbed with self-guilt that we continually foist on ourselves.
"Here's the real question: When will we know that equality has been achieved in the United States? Here's the simple answer: We never will know. No bar of accomplishment has been established for us to aim at. As long as we have race baiters like Jackson and Sharpton, there will never be a claim of equality. They'll find something wrong somewhere and we, as a nation, will be trapped in these webs forever. Somebody will be insulted or offended or treated ill, usually by a very small representation of mankind that will reflect on everyone else who's trying to do the right thing. Did ANYBODY notice how well the protesters were treated in Jena? Sharpton wanted water cannons and he didn't get them, and that's because Jena's not like that. Jackson wanted whites throwing rocks at the protesters and he didn't get that either. It was actually a dull day in many ways.
"America has accomplished more than any other nation in the area of equal rights within our own borders...I dare anyone to prove otherwise...yet there are so many who can't see that and still want to live in the 60's. Well, I don't live there anymore. I live here and now, and I'm doing my best to make the world better within my sphere of influence. It'd help if some of these media opinionators would try to do the same thing and actually make the world better instead of only telling us how bad things are."
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Mid-Week...Non-energized
Wow, now that I've done the district time trial I don't have any cycling goals in front of me. I realized that this morning during the 5:50 ride and how my energy levels are a bit different than they've been the last 8 weeks while I was training. I still like to ride but the enthusiasm level is definitely lower. I'll start running soon after the "Seize the Road" bike tour this Saturday, my last "big" ride...it'll be my longest ride...100Km...since the first of September. Then I take the entire month of October off the bike and will be running to prepare for the 10Km Autumn Breeze race toward the end of that month. If I can find a couple of duathlons later in the year I'll be motivated to get some quality winter bike time in.
The kitchen is coming along...slowly...but it's happening. I spent most of yesterday evening working on the kitchen/back door, resizing it a bit to fit better in the door jab after I put in a new threshold. I'm going to take off the old paint and repaint the entire door eventually. The countertops have been sized for templates and we might have those installed as soon as the end of next week. Before that happens we have to get the walls replastered and painted. AND I have to remove the old countertops and sink...we'll use the same sink since it's still in pretty good shape. It should be a hoot.
The kitchen is coming along...slowly...but it's happening. I spent most of yesterday evening working on the kitchen/back door, resizing it a bit to fit better in the door jab after I put in a new threshold. I'm going to take off the old paint and repaint the entire door eventually. The countertops have been sized for templates and we might have those installed as soon as the end of next week. Before that happens we have to get the walls replastered and painted. AND I have to remove the old countertops and sink...we'll use the same sink since it's still in pretty good shape. It should be a hoot.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Analysis of a Time Trial
Well, it didn't happen. I didn't break an hour in the 40K nor set a new PR for the distance. I'm not disappointed because I'm generally happy with my effort. The final time was 1:04:03. There were two main causes for the time: one was the wind which I'll explain later and the other was when I dropped my chain with 10 kilometers to go...I had to dismount and reset the chain which dinged my time tremendously.
I was very pleased with my pre-race activities. I thought I got a good warmup although next time I'll do at least 15 more minutes on the trainer with a few more hard efforts. I wasn't rushed like I was at Monroe a week ago and I felt totally ready to go by the time I got to the start line with three minutes to spare. All my equipment was working, especially the disc wheel, and I decided to carry a small gel flask filled with an energy drink in case I needed a drink without carrying a regular water bottle. Turns out I wouldn't need it since I was already well hydrated.
The wind was blowing out of the NE at anywhere from 5 to 11 mph which meant I'd have a headwind on the outbound half of the course. Randy rode past me during the warmups and mentioned that this wasn't going to be pretty! My start was good, not as good as in Monroe, but I was surprised to be cruising at 27 mph into the wind so soon (the guy holding the riders up was pushing us off which was unexpected and a little disconcerting...he's not supposed to do that). That wouldn't last long and soon I would be struggling to stay over 22 mph into the wind. The first 10K took me 16:20 to cover. Not good but I knew I was pushing as hard as I could, the effort was good. Turnaround time was 32:40 (I did 30:22 last weekend for 20K in Monroe but there wasn't any wind). After the turn, I could feel the tailwind somewhat...that NE wind was swirling and sometimes became a sidewind on the return...and I was able to increase my speed. For a while I stayed around 26 mph but soon I got it over 27 mph and was able to stay there. I was hopeful and really pushing it. When I passed the 30K mark, my time was around 46 minutes and I realized that if I could keep up this speed I might break an hour! So I shifted into a harder gear.....
.....and my chain popped off the chainring! "Nooo," I said, "you've gotta be kidding me!" I had just touched 28 mph and now I'm coasting with my chain dangling off the crankarm. As I continued to roll, I reached down and twice tried to put the chain back on the ring but it kept popping off. I realize now that if I had shifted my cogset back in the other direction about 5-6 gears the chain might have stayed in place after I put it on, but I didn't do that. I was now rolling at 14 mph and I hit the brakes. I knew I'd have to get off the bike to get the chain on. When I dismounted I looked back real quick and couldn't see the guy who started behind me at all...I had put a big gap on him but I knew he was gaining on me now! I'm surprised at how calm I was in putting the chain back on the chainring. I spun the cranks backward and forward to make sure it'd stay in place. I put the bike down and looked back again...I could see the guy coming but he was still a small dot in the distance. I have no idea how much time had passed but I swung my left leg over the saddle and my lower calf went into a full fledged cramp! I mounted my bike anyway and started pedaling through the pain...which was tremendous, as Bill Cosby would say....and I knew it had to take a full minute to get up to a decent speed before the cramp went away.
With the pain gone, I got back up to 27 mph but I knew my losses were big so I tried not to think much about it. When I passed the 5K To Go sign, I thought I had a chance to at least get a PR for the distance so I pushed again, being careful when I shifted my gears. About 100 meters later a huge headwind hit me and stayed with me. Now I was demoralized and knew I couldn't push through this wind. Now I hoped to beat my time from last year but I was about 40 seconds too slow as I crossed the line.
Despite all that happened there were a number of good things in the ride. I was comfortable on the bike the whole time, unlike past 40K's where my butt would hurt and my shoulders would ache. Adjusting my position over the last few weeks was the best thing I could have done. Switching to my K2 bike was a good move, too.
It took me 32:40 to go the first 12.4 miles against the wind. Remember that I did the same distance in Monroe in 30:22 last weekend without a disc wheel or influencing wind.
It took me 31:23 to cover the final 12.4 miles and that's WITH my chain troubles including getting off the bike! I have no idea how much time I lost but I knew I had a chance at breaking the hour at 10K to go before the chain came off.
I have reason to be optimistic that I could have broken an hour with better weather conditions (like maybe a tailwind BOTH ways!). Next year I will put in even more effort to do it. I learned a lot in preparing for this TT and I appreciate all the help I got from Jonnene, Tim F, Jason W, RW1, and others.
Watch out for next year! I'm excited!
I was very pleased with my pre-race activities. I thought I got a good warmup although next time I'll do at least 15 more minutes on the trainer with a few more hard efforts. I wasn't rushed like I was at Monroe a week ago and I felt totally ready to go by the time I got to the start line with three minutes to spare. All my equipment was working, especially the disc wheel, and I decided to carry a small gel flask filled with an energy drink in case I needed a drink without carrying a regular water bottle. Turns out I wouldn't need it since I was already well hydrated.
The wind was blowing out of the NE at anywhere from 5 to 11 mph which meant I'd have a headwind on the outbound half of the course. Randy rode past me during the warmups and mentioned that this wasn't going to be pretty! My start was good, not as good as in Monroe, but I was surprised to be cruising at 27 mph into the wind so soon (the guy holding the riders up was pushing us off which was unexpected and a little disconcerting...he's not supposed to do that). That wouldn't last long and soon I would be struggling to stay over 22 mph into the wind. The first 10K took me 16:20 to cover. Not good but I knew I was pushing as hard as I could, the effort was good. Turnaround time was 32:40 (I did 30:22 last weekend for 20K in Monroe but there wasn't any wind). After the turn, I could feel the tailwind somewhat...that NE wind was swirling and sometimes became a sidewind on the return...and I was able to increase my speed. For a while I stayed around 26 mph but soon I got it over 27 mph and was able to stay there. I was hopeful and really pushing it. When I passed the 30K mark, my time was around 46 minutes and I realized that if I could keep up this speed I might break an hour! So I shifted into a harder gear.....
.....and my chain popped off the chainring! "Nooo," I said, "you've gotta be kidding me!" I had just touched 28 mph and now I'm coasting with my chain dangling off the crankarm. As I continued to roll, I reached down and twice tried to put the chain back on the ring but it kept popping off. I realize now that if I had shifted my cogset back in the other direction about 5-6 gears the chain might have stayed in place after I put it on, but I didn't do that. I was now rolling at 14 mph and I hit the brakes. I knew I'd have to get off the bike to get the chain on. When I dismounted I looked back real quick and couldn't see the guy who started behind me at all...I had put a big gap on him but I knew he was gaining on me now! I'm surprised at how calm I was in putting the chain back on the chainring. I spun the cranks backward and forward to make sure it'd stay in place. I put the bike down and looked back again...I could see the guy coming but he was still a small dot in the distance. I have no idea how much time had passed but I swung my left leg over the saddle and my lower calf went into a full fledged cramp! I mounted my bike anyway and started pedaling through the pain...which was tremendous, as Bill Cosby would say....and I knew it had to take a full minute to get up to a decent speed before the cramp went away.
With the pain gone, I got back up to 27 mph but I knew my losses were big so I tried not to think much about it. When I passed the 5K To Go sign, I thought I had a chance to at least get a PR for the distance so I pushed again, being careful when I shifted my gears. About 100 meters later a huge headwind hit me and stayed with me. Now I was demoralized and knew I couldn't push through this wind. Now I hoped to beat my time from last year but I was about 40 seconds too slow as I crossed the line.
Despite all that happened there were a number of good things in the ride. I was comfortable on the bike the whole time, unlike past 40K's where my butt would hurt and my shoulders would ache. Adjusting my position over the last few weeks was the best thing I could have done. Switching to my K2 bike was a good move, too.
It took me 32:40 to go the first 12.4 miles against the wind. Remember that I did the same distance in Monroe in 30:22 last weekend without a disc wheel or influencing wind.
It took me 31:23 to cover the final 12.4 miles and that's WITH my chain troubles including getting off the bike! I have no idea how much time I lost but I knew I had a chance at breaking the hour at 10K to go before the chain came off.
I have reason to be optimistic that I could have broken an hour with better weather conditions (like maybe a tailwind BOTH ways!). Next year I will put in even more effort to do it. I learned a lot in preparing for this TT and I appreciate all the help I got from Jonnene, Tim F, Jason W, RW1, and others.
Watch out for next year! I'm excited!
Friday, September 14, 2007
Early Party
When I rode to downtown Shreveport this morning to meet up with the 5:50 ride group, I wondered if an all-night party had been going on. I saw several well-dressed people on the sidewalks near the downtown bus terminal like they had left a party or work. I joined up with the other 8 riders and reversed the path I had taken to meet them (it's the best way to make sure I don't miss them). We passed by an old warehouse that has been converted to studio apartments and there were several folks standing outside, well dressed. One of the females said, "Good morning, bikers!" and raised a glass to us. We laughed and said good morning back to them. With our flashing lights we probably looked like a mini-Mardi Gras parade to them. I wish I had been to that party if it lasted all night in downtown. Not something you see very often.
There are 110 riders, including me, pre-registered for the district time trial championships this Sunday down in LaPlace, Louisiana. There are eight in my age group. There should be at least 150 riders for this event but I guess it's getting late in the season for most of the racers in Louisiana and Mississippi, and I guess late season burnout is taking hold. Plus most of the entrants are serious TT guys or, like me, are aiming at personal goals. If you don't fall into those two categories then why make the time and effort to do it? Time trialing is hard work...you ride by yourself for 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) against the clock....if you're trying your best then you should be in a world of hurt by the time you cross the finish line. It should not be pleasant but you should be proud of your efforts. The difficulty this time is that the weather forecast says there will be 10-11 mph winds from the northeast during the ride. In other words, there'll be a headwind going out but a tailwind coming back. I'm not looking forward to the first half of the time trial since I'm not that good riding into the wind. I'll have to really push it on the way out the best I can, then use the resulting tailwind on the way back to offset my losses. Should be interesting at the least. As I've said before, I have two goals....first, to set a new personal best (currently it's 1:02:31 set in 1998) and the second is to break an hour for the distance. I should get that first one but I really want that second goal!
I've spent some of today working on the kitchen. We got the electrical work done a couple of days ago and now the place has been nudged a little closer to the 21st century. We have plenty of outlets now and a dedicated line for the computer. Yay!
There are 110 riders, including me, pre-registered for the district time trial championships this Sunday down in LaPlace, Louisiana. There are eight in my age group. There should be at least 150 riders for this event but I guess it's getting late in the season for most of the racers in Louisiana and Mississippi, and I guess late season burnout is taking hold. Plus most of the entrants are serious TT guys or, like me, are aiming at personal goals. If you don't fall into those two categories then why make the time and effort to do it? Time trialing is hard work...you ride by yourself for 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) against the clock....if you're trying your best then you should be in a world of hurt by the time you cross the finish line. It should not be pleasant but you should be proud of your efforts. The difficulty this time is that the weather forecast says there will be 10-11 mph winds from the northeast during the ride. In other words, there'll be a headwind going out but a tailwind coming back. I'm not looking forward to the first half of the time trial since I'm not that good riding into the wind. I'll have to really push it on the way out the best I can, then use the resulting tailwind on the way back to offset my losses. Should be interesting at the least. As I've said before, I have two goals....first, to set a new personal best (currently it's 1:02:31 set in 1998) and the second is to break an hour for the distance. I should get that first one but I really want that second goal!
I've spent some of today working on the kitchen. We got the electrical work done a couple of days ago and now the place has been nudged a little closer to the 21st century. We have plenty of outlets now and a dedicated line for the computer. Yay!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
30:22
I didn't realize I hadn't posted in so long! The Monroe time trial was last Sunday and I did okay for the panic I went through before I zoom-zoom'ed down the course. I cranked out a 30:22 for the 12.4 mile distance which is about a 24.8 mph average, and I'm actually okay with that considering everything.
Jonnene and I left town about 5:15 Sunday morning for the drive to Monroe and we got to the race site around 7 am or so. We signed up when registration opened and got on our bikes to recon the course. Outside of an old smelly deer carcass laying across part of the lane on the return side of the course, everything seemed fine out there. We got back to the car with about 20 minutes to go before the first rider was sent off (but we had our warmup done!). I switched out wheels on my bike, aired them up, and got prepped up....but I forgot to do some things I always do before I do a TT and that should have been my first clue that things weren't going right. Then, as I started to ride off, I discovered my freewheel wasn't freewheeling...it was acting as a fixed gear and it hung up when I stopped pedaling and would force itself off the front chainring! That was unbelievable and as I was trying to find a way to fix it, I heard my name being called to the start line. I yelled to Ricky, the official, that I was having a mechanical problem and I requested a later restart. An official does not have to grant a restart but good ones do try to find a way to help out the rider. Ricky said he had an opening in ten minutes that I could have. Get it fixed or get a new wheel, he said.
I got back to the car, telling Jonnene that her name was being called out to the line and to get herself out there. She was surprised that it was so soon and she told me later that she got there with about 30 seconds to spare...no worries! Meantime, I pulled off the disc wheel I was hoping to use and put on my regular road rear wheel...not as aerodynamic as the disc by a long shot but it would have to do. Jason saw I was having trouble and he calmed me down a bit by telling me that it did no good to think about this....just go do the ride. No thinking.
It helped. I was less rattled when I got to the line and finally started. It was a good start, I popped up to 27 mph in about 100 meters and held that for a mile before I started feeling the effort and the speed began to drop bit by bit. My goal was to keep the average speed above 25 miles per hour and that worked all the way out to the turnaround. My turn was slower than I'd have liked but it wasn't bad...however, getting up to speed afterward took some effort. There was a slight headwind at this point and picking up the speed was starting to be a chore. I had wanted to beat 30 minutes on this course and I ended up with a 30:22. It was the second fastest 20K I'd ever done and I had to remember that I did it without the disc wheel. I was told later that I would have knocked about 30 seconds off my time if I had the wheel. So I was encouraged to get the time I had with the regular wheel I ended up using.
Jonnene turned in a 35:03 time, good enough for 5th in the women's division. It was not bad since she had spent little time preparing for this time trial. Overall, it was an interesting day...the Wife and I got to talk about things and that was good. I hope I'm halfway ready for the district 40K TT championships this weekend! I fixed the problem I had with the disc and the freewheel is freewheelin' now.
Our kitchen renovation isn't going near as fast as I want it to...probably typical for most everyone who does this, I guess. The electrician is coming over tomorrow to relocate some plugs and light switches for us, about two days after we thought he was first coming over. Long story but that's life. We're also being delayed on getting the final order done for our countertops. I think I could almost build them faster myself during all this time! But it'll get done...we still need to find a plasterer for the walls as well as a few other things.
Jonnene and I left town about 5:15 Sunday morning for the drive to Monroe and we got to the race site around 7 am or so. We signed up when registration opened and got on our bikes to recon the course. Outside of an old smelly deer carcass laying across part of the lane on the return side of the course, everything seemed fine out there. We got back to the car with about 20 minutes to go before the first rider was sent off (but we had our warmup done!). I switched out wheels on my bike, aired them up, and got prepped up....but I forgot to do some things I always do before I do a TT and that should have been my first clue that things weren't going right. Then, as I started to ride off, I discovered my freewheel wasn't freewheeling...it was acting as a fixed gear and it hung up when I stopped pedaling and would force itself off the front chainring! That was unbelievable and as I was trying to find a way to fix it, I heard my name being called to the start line. I yelled to Ricky, the official, that I was having a mechanical problem and I requested a later restart. An official does not have to grant a restart but good ones do try to find a way to help out the rider. Ricky said he had an opening in ten minutes that I could have. Get it fixed or get a new wheel, he said.
I got back to the car, telling Jonnene that her name was being called out to the line and to get herself out there. She was surprised that it was so soon and she told me later that she got there with about 30 seconds to spare...no worries! Meantime, I pulled off the disc wheel I was hoping to use and put on my regular road rear wheel...not as aerodynamic as the disc by a long shot but it would have to do. Jason saw I was having trouble and he calmed me down a bit by telling me that it did no good to think about this....just go do the ride. No thinking.
It helped. I was less rattled when I got to the line and finally started. It was a good start, I popped up to 27 mph in about 100 meters and held that for a mile before I started feeling the effort and the speed began to drop bit by bit. My goal was to keep the average speed above 25 miles per hour and that worked all the way out to the turnaround. My turn was slower than I'd have liked but it wasn't bad...however, getting up to speed afterward took some effort. There was a slight headwind at this point and picking up the speed was starting to be a chore. I had wanted to beat 30 minutes on this course and I ended up with a 30:22. It was the second fastest 20K I'd ever done and I had to remember that I did it without the disc wheel. I was told later that I would have knocked about 30 seconds off my time if I had the wheel. So I was encouraged to get the time I had with the regular wheel I ended up using.
Jonnene turned in a 35:03 time, good enough for 5th in the women's division. It was not bad since she had spent little time preparing for this time trial. Overall, it was an interesting day...the Wife and I got to talk about things and that was good. I hope I'm halfway ready for the district 40K TT championships this weekend! I fixed the problem I had with the disc and the freewheel is freewheelin' now.
Our kitchen renovation isn't going near as fast as I want it to...probably typical for most everyone who does this, I guess. The electrician is coming over tomorrow to relocate some plugs and light switches for us, about two days after we thought he was first coming over. Long story but that's life. We're also being delayed on getting the final order done for our countertops. I think I could almost build them faster myself during all this time! But it'll get done...we still need to find a plasterer for the walls as well as a few other things.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Black Bean & Jalapeno
I never really honestly thought I'd ever find myself zooming down Highland Street on my bike at 31 mph...on my aerobars....zipping through intersections with GREEN lights to boot! Got to do that today at the end of Mike's annual Labor Day ride. I was chasing Jason and another guy back to St. Vincent's Mall where we were parked after 46 miles of hills and other types of road conditions around Cross Lake. It was a fast-paced ride most of the time, the high point being about 12 miles in on South Lakeshore Drive...a curvy, rolling hill stretch of road....where I jumped from the pack at the end of a short uphill to chase down Jason and Lindsay who had gapped us a couple of miles earlier. As I chased I saw that Lindsay was starting to drop off Jason's wheel and I blew by her at 33 mph eventually catching Jason. Of course, with a powerhouse like him it's like catching a shark...now that I'm got him, what do I do with him? Basically it's a matter of just hanging on for dear life! Ian had bridged across with me...pretty damn alert of him, I should say on his behalf...and he had not been riding a lot recently. I let him get between Jason and me, then Jason started upping the pace a bit...Ian realized he couldn't hang on any longer and was trying to help me pull up behind Jason....only I wasn't able to close the gap! It was getting funny...Ian looking back and waving me through, and me just smiling and shrugging my shoulders at him. He finally pulled out and I gave it one last effort to grab the wheel. Finally able to do it when Jason eased back a bit. For the next 4-5 miles we team-time-trialed it away from the rest of the group, finding ourselves out there all by ourselves. Jason waited for me the two times I found myself falling off his wheel but mostly I hung on, going about 26-28 mph the whole way. It was tough but, as always, there's something fun about it all. The group caught up to us at a regrouping point and the rest of the ride was all about chasing, some funny moments, and just enjoying the company of a good group of riders.
In the first three days of September I have about 130 miles on the bike, all relatively short rides (the longest was the 46 miles today) concentrating on speed work for the time trials in Monroe and LaPlace the next two weekends. Sunday was a slow, easy spin day that still covered 44 miles. I think I could be sore tomorrow! I hope the last few weeks of effort on the bike will show itself on those TT's...I just want to stay above 25 mph on average without totally dying of exhaustion!
Jonnene had to work today but she got out early in the afternoon and went off to get in a session of pilates with a co-worker. I spent most of the afternoon continuing the demolition work in the kitchen, getting rid of the rest of the feaux brick fascade and seeing if I could match up the old cabinet hinges for replacement (not a lot of luck there...close but not as close as I'd like). I have a lot of small jobs to do in the kitchen and outdoors. All manly stuff, of course!
In the first three days of September I have about 130 miles on the bike, all relatively short rides (the longest was the 46 miles today) concentrating on speed work for the time trials in Monroe and LaPlace the next two weekends. Sunday was a slow, easy spin day that still covered 44 miles. I think I could be sore tomorrow! I hope the last few weeks of effort on the bike will show itself on those TT's...I just want to stay above 25 mph on average without totally dying of exhaustion!
Jonnene had to work today but she got out early in the afternoon and went off to get in a session of pilates with a co-worker. I spent most of the afternoon continuing the demolition work in the kitchen, getting rid of the rest of the feaux brick fascade and seeing if I could match up the old cabinet hinges for replacement (not a lot of luck there...close but not as close as I'd like). I have a lot of small jobs to do in the kitchen and outdoors. All manly stuff, of course!
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