This past week of training in Prescott, AZ, was just this side of blissful. Makes returning home to Chicago feel like punishment for having done something sinful. But, if that is the equation I'm all up for a future of wanton sin and wickedness!
I"m adding links to some of the Garmin data for three of my training rides. What a delight to ride right out my front door, climbing three or four 15% grades and just as many 9% grades just to get to the open mountain and desert roads with sedate 6% - 8% grades as common.
Although I enjoyed the chance to ride the Airborne Ti Zeppelin upright road bike and confirm that I'm no less fit or capable on it than I have been for so many years in the past ... the difference between it and the recumbents was emphatic.
After two or three days of scrunching over the handlebars, craning my neck to see ahead of me, having a death grip on the handlebars lest I hit a bump and go flying off a mountain road ... no comparison. I missed my recumbents. Also, I noticed that I was slower on the upright bike. Slower going UP the hills and much, much slower going DOWN the hills.
I'm glad I can endure hours and mile after mile of pain and suffering that the road bike permits me. But my ego no longer requires proof that I have veritable world class capacity for self-abuse. Hell! I learned that countless times over the course of my life.
Agreed! Confirmed! I'm head and shoulders above all of mankind in terms of capacity for agonizing self torture. My conclusion? I'm a blockheaded slow learner who needed multiple demonstrations that I'm expert at pain and suffering and better than every other soul on earth at it. (Thank you, orthodox religious indoctrination institutions in my youth!!!)
If I lived in the middle ages I'd aspire to becoming a saint by being burned at the stake just to show others I could do it. For that matter, I'd try to survive being burned at the stake just so they'd give me a wack at the `rack.' Or, a chance to be hung upside down and shot through and through with arrows. Or, nailed to a cross and left on a hill to die a slow agonizing death. Or, ... or.... or.....
So, here are some of the Garmin links.
Just so's you all know ... if I were on the bent I could have doubled and tripled the mileage! Easily.
March 25
March 27
March 28
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Ha! And people think endurance cycling is masochistic!!
I'll tell you what is masochistic! Being a passenger on a commercial airline for 3 hours is masochistic.
I once had the opportunity to spend more time than you would believe in a maximum custody federal penitentiary (in my early 20's). (Graduate school was worse, by the way) I'd do it again do it all over again to avoid last year's commercial flights to and from Italy. On the way back I was wishing I had followed in Savonarola's footsteps in Florence!
I several times have raced on a bike for 24+ hours through the broiling southwest deserts and the teeth chattering freezing cold, up 15% grade mountains and down death-defying mountain switchbacks. I'd do FIVE such events in order to avoide being a passenger on a commercial airline for 3 hours.
The round trip this past week from Chicago and Phoenix and back had me so scrunched up that at one time I had the tray in front of me down and my legs crossed over it just to get them stretched a little ... and I'm not a short guy with skinny legs. I must have looked like Mahatma Gandhi if he had done weight training. Lucky I didn't get arrested by TSA for suspicious behavior.
In my profession I have access to the kind of pharmaceuticals that could render me the consciousness of a celery stalk for 3 or 4 hours without any long term detriment. For THAT I don't have the (choose one:) a) courage; b) stupidity; c) self-hatred; d) intelligence; e) forgiving self-love.
I guess I could write myself a `letter from a doctor' that informs the airline staff that I have an `anxiety disorder' about flying so that they assign me a spacier bulkhead seat lest I erupt into an extended panic-induced screaming jag at 35,000 feet. But ...
I guess I could pop to pay for a first class seat. Though I'm certain that my blue collar class consciousness would probably have me eating a few cans of beans and a box of prunes a few hours before the flight just to make my fellow first class aristocrats gag every time they take a breath for 3 hours. It'd almost be worth the criminally high airfare just to commit a high altitude revolutionary act. WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT A FEW HOURS OF SLEEP WHILE LAUGHING YOUR ASS OFF.
I once had the opportunity to spend more time than you would believe in a maximum custody federal penitentiary (in my early 20's). (Graduate school was worse, by the way) I'd do it again do it all over again to avoid last year's commercial flights to and from Italy. On the way back I was wishing I had followed in Savonarola's footsteps in Florence!
I several times have raced on a bike for 24+ hours through the broiling southwest deserts and the teeth chattering freezing cold, up 15% grade mountains and down death-defying mountain switchbacks. I'd do FIVE such events in order to avoide being a passenger on a commercial airline for 3 hours.
The round trip this past week from Chicago and Phoenix and back had me so scrunched up that at one time I had the tray in front of me down and my legs crossed over it just to get them stretched a little ... and I'm not a short guy with skinny legs. I must have looked like Mahatma Gandhi if he had done weight training. Lucky I didn't get arrested by TSA for suspicious behavior.
In my profession I have access to the kind of pharmaceuticals that could render me the consciousness of a celery stalk for 3 or 4 hours without any long term detriment. For THAT I don't have the (choose one:) a) courage; b) stupidity; c) self-hatred; d) intelligence; e) forgiving self-love.
I guess I could write myself a `letter from a doctor' that informs the airline staff that I have an `anxiety disorder' about flying so that they assign me a spacier bulkhead seat lest I erupt into an extended panic-induced screaming jag at 35,000 feet. But ...
I guess I could pop to pay for a first class seat. Though I'm certain that my blue collar class consciousness would probably have me eating a few cans of beans and a box of prunes a few hours before the flight just to make my fellow first class aristocrats gag every time they take a breath for 3 hours. It'd almost be worth the criminally high airfare just to commit a high altitude revolutionary act. WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT A FEW HOURS OF SLEEP WHILE LAUGHING YOUR ASS OFF.
Friday, March 25, 2011
pleasant surprise
Out in Prescott, AZ, for the past few days. Though it is a bit on the chilly side for Prescott the 60 degree daytime temps are perfect for cycling. I have two bikes here. One is a somewhat bizarre road bike frame that I bought from Nashbar about 4 years ago. Aluminum with odd dimensions. Outfitted it with Ultegra gruppo and some good cyclocross wheels. Brooks saddle. The other I just shipped out here. Airborne Ti Zeppelin with similar Ultegra setup. Compact crank (39/50) upfront with a 9 ring 11/34 cogset in the back. Mavic Kysirium Equipe wheels.
I haven't ridden a road bike in about 2 years. But I've put many miles on the road bikes in this area in the past. So yesterday I assembled the Airborne and took off for a mighty hilly 20 miles in the mountain roads south of Prescott. 20 miles and 1800 feet of climbing.
At first I felt unsure and lacking in confidence for two reasons. First, because I've not put in a lot of miles on the indoor trainer this winter (attending to other matters). Second, I've been focused on recumbent platforms in the past two years and have pretty much let the upright road bikes collect dust.
To my pleasant surprise I found my riding power and road bike handling skills have not diminished much, if any. Certainly the endurance is not there, but that is to be expected.
Today, on my second 20 miler I returned feeling the old road bike rocking and out of the saddle accelerations come back to me with a vengeance. I still had to feather the brakes on some of the more exciting downhills, but I recognized the old realization that climbing hills requires leg strength and power ... which I am happy to accept continues to be with me.
Looking forward to some good training over the next few days. Tomorrow an early morning 20 - 30 miles and then a trip to Jerome, AZ, for a get together over mid-day dinner with lots of good AZ friends.
All in all it's nice to feel better than competent on the several platforms I enjoy: upright road bike, rear wheel drive recumbent, front wheel drive recumbent. I feel, happily, `at home' on the bike and am looking forward to much more performance related accomplishments and lots of variety.
I haven't ridden a road bike in about 2 years. But I've put many miles on the road bikes in this area in the past. So yesterday I assembled the Airborne and took off for a mighty hilly 20 miles in the mountain roads south of Prescott. 20 miles and 1800 feet of climbing.
At first I felt unsure and lacking in confidence for two reasons. First, because I've not put in a lot of miles on the indoor trainer this winter (attending to other matters). Second, I've been focused on recumbent platforms in the past two years and have pretty much let the upright road bikes collect dust.
To my pleasant surprise I found my riding power and road bike handling skills have not diminished much, if any. Certainly the endurance is not there, but that is to be expected.
Today, on my second 20 miler I returned feeling the old road bike rocking and out of the saddle accelerations come back to me with a vengeance. I still had to feather the brakes on some of the more exciting downhills, but I recognized the old realization that climbing hills requires leg strength and power ... which I am happy to accept continues to be with me.
Looking forward to some good training over the next few days. Tomorrow an early morning 20 - 30 miles and then a trip to Jerome, AZ, for a get together over mid-day dinner with lots of good AZ friends.
All in all it's nice to feel better than competent on the several platforms I enjoy: upright road bike, rear wheel drive recumbent, front wheel drive recumbent. I feel, happily, `at home' on the bike and am looking forward to much more performance related accomplishments and lots of variety.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Extinction is in my future
Honestly! If the baby jeezuz offered me the option of choosing between eternal hell or eternal life in Chicago in perpetual winter it would be a no brainer: HELL!!
The winter of 09/10 saw me spending enormous amounts of time and money to train outdoors no matter what the weather. Crazy insane preparation for RAW 2010. I seriously neglected many other areas in my life to get ready for RAW.
This past winter, though, I have been compelled to attend to other priorities. Though I did do some indoor training of moderate quality it was not something to be proud of. And I'm o.k. with that. I did very well with the other priorities.
So today was a sunny Saturday. Temp was in the 40's. Prairie winds always in the high teens. Drove the 107.5 round trip distance to train on the open prairie farm roads.
Though I did fine I'm not remotely in as good a fitness (endurance, strength) as I was this time last year. And THAT is what has really got me irritated.
Living in the frigging tundra where you have to dress like the Michelin man, drive for hours, spend $30 on gas and tolls just to attempt a quality outdoor training experience ... and THEN contend with the loss of fitness due to the cold and snow!
Climbing the late winter, early spring training wall ... year after year after year after year. Anybody ever heard of Sisyphus?!!!
G'bye Chicago!! G'bye tundra!!
And good riddance.
BTW: oftentimes the reason a species goes extinct has to do with that species' inability to accomodate climate change. Hence my reference to becoming extinct. If I had to stay in Chicago I'd take up single malt sport drinking.
The winter of 09/10 saw me spending enormous amounts of time and money to train outdoors no matter what the weather. Crazy insane preparation for RAW 2010. I seriously neglected many other areas in my life to get ready for RAW.
This past winter, though, I have been compelled to attend to other priorities. Though I did do some indoor training of moderate quality it was not something to be proud of. And I'm o.k. with that. I did very well with the other priorities.
So today was a sunny Saturday. Temp was in the 40's. Prairie winds always in the high teens. Drove the 107.5 round trip distance to train on the open prairie farm roads.
Though I did fine I'm not remotely in as good a fitness (endurance, strength) as I was this time last year. And THAT is what has really got me irritated.
Living in the frigging tundra where you have to dress like the Michelin man, drive for hours, spend $30 on gas and tolls just to attempt a quality outdoor training experience ... and THEN contend with the loss of fitness due to the cold and snow!
Climbing the late winter, early spring training wall ... year after year after year after year. Anybody ever heard of Sisyphus?!!!
G'bye Chicago!! G'bye tundra!!
And good riddance.
BTW: oftentimes the reason a species goes extinct has to do with that species' inability to accomodate climate change. Hence my reference to becoming extinct. If I had to stay in Chicago I'd take up single malt sport drinking.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Work, love and play
Freud. One of the few things he got right. Notice Freud didn't include `job.'
How immensely fortunate I am to be able to have a life where I have the luxury of even considering these distinctions. Succinctly, why am I not devoting my life to the poor and the desperate in the streets of Calcutta?! Equally succinctly, I should be. But I'm too selfish. I'm not afraid. Just selfish.
But that's another story.
Now that I'm transitioning to being a `welfare queen,' living off savings and the largesse of other institutions I have the indecency to admit to my derision for `jobs.' I needed the job to make the money.
Oftentimes I was simply stealing some of the money I was being paid for the ostensible `labor.' I'd be physically present but always with an eye on the clock.
But far more often I was putting into my work four or five times the `worth' than what I was being paid for.
No complaints. I had choices.
The years in the pokey taught me how to `generate' tons of money if and when I wanted to. Could have boosted truck loads of the electronic crap that people buy to entertain themselves. Could have been a shyster lawyer. Could have been an investment banker. Just chose against those options. The money isn't worth it.
I guess I have a conscience.
I've done a lot of work in my life that I loved doing because it felt like play. TRIPLE SLAM!!
But I usually pissed somebody off doing it. Viet Nam and draft resistance. Union organizing. Disassembling a viciously destructive `child care' organization. I'd do them all again but better this time.
I like work. Jobs suck!
I found myself taking jobs out of fear of not having the money to take care of things that money requires. But in the last twenty or so years I've had wonderful work to do that, coincidentally, provided me with money. A big `plus' sign on that end.
It's hard for me to actually believe that there are really wonderful people in my life who actually love me ... but I believe it enough to accept it.
I think I've been a self-absorbed over-focused jerk most of my life. But my wife, sons and grandkids have forgiven me. I think its because they know that I have sacrificed a lot in the `micro' for the interests of mankind in the `macro.' I think its because they know I wasn't actually mean to them.
As for love ... I'm short on showing it and long on getting it. More a sin of `omission' than a sin of `commission.' A coward's way, actually. I am trying to do better and I suspect I will. But kind of late in the game to start paying attention to giving back what's been so often and long given to me.
Pretty much a wuss when it comes to one on one intimacy. People generally scare me. And, like too many kids growing up where family discipline meant blood and teeth on the floor, my survival response was to `fight' instead of take `flight.' "Ready! FIRE! Aim!" Pretty indiscriminate. Scares people back. (Sounds like the psychological profile of a hermit.)
A shrink once told me that I was `counterphobic.' That is, I would attack anything that scared me. That works sometimes. But there are A LOT of people and things out there that are so big and tough that they can squeeze and crunch me into a little wad of snot. As I have too often discovered.
It was what it was. And I'm still alive.
And all the threads in life now seem to be winding round one another (in the near term) to create a decent prospect: `retirement.'
I'll probably be a lot more sociable to people who fear/think I have just one speed: crude, conflictual and confrontational. That's an easy one, frankly. Should be pleasant surprise for them.
------------------------------------
So why have I rattled on about all this stuff on a blog entitled `Training.'
That is where `work' enters the focus of this blog. Given that work, love and play have always inhabited the same place in my life ... cycling is now going to be my work.
My wife described me as having been `uber focused' all my life. I have described myself as having an `Attention EXCESS Disorder.' I'm really, really organized. (Organizational ability can often be a great substitute for real intelligence.) And when I believe something is worthwhile I'm really, really focused and disciplined.
I'm going to put all of that focus, energy, discipline and organizational talent into my cycling.
Work. Love. Play.
How immensely fortunate I am to be able to have a life where I have the luxury of even considering these distinctions. Succinctly, why am I not devoting my life to the poor and the desperate in the streets of Calcutta?! Equally succinctly, I should be. But I'm too selfish. I'm not afraid. Just selfish.
But that's another story.
Now that I'm transitioning to being a `welfare queen,' living off savings and the largesse of other institutions I have the indecency to admit to my derision for `jobs.' I needed the job to make the money.
Oftentimes I was simply stealing some of the money I was being paid for the ostensible `labor.' I'd be physically present but always with an eye on the clock.
But far more often I was putting into my work four or five times the `worth' than what I was being paid for.
No complaints. I had choices.
The years in the pokey taught me how to `generate' tons of money if and when I wanted to. Could have boosted truck loads of the electronic crap that people buy to entertain themselves. Could have been a shyster lawyer. Could have been an investment banker. Just chose against those options. The money isn't worth it.
I guess I have a conscience.
I've done a lot of work in my life that I loved doing because it felt like play. TRIPLE SLAM!!
But I usually pissed somebody off doing it. Viet Nam and draft resistance. Union organizing. Disassembling a viciously destructive `child care' organization. I'd do them all again but better this time.
I like work. Jobs suck!
I found myself taking jobs out of fear of not having the money to take care of things that money requires. But in the last twenty or so years I've had wonderful work to do that, coincidentally, provided me with money. A big `plus' sign on that end.
It's hard for me to actually believe that there are really wonderful people in my life who actually love me ... but I believe it enough to accept it.
I think I've been a self-absorbed over-focused jerk most of my life. But my wife, sons and grandkids have forgiven me. I think its because they know that I have sacrificed a lot in the `micro' for the interests of mankind in the `macro.' I think its because they know I wasn't actually mean to them.
As for love ... I'm short on showing it and long on getting it. More a sin of `omission' than a sin of `commission.' A coward's way, actually. I am trying to do better and I suspect I will. But kind of late in the game to start paying attention to giving back what's been so often and long given to me.
Pretty much a wuss when it comes to one on one intimacy. People generally scare me. And, like too many kids growing up where family discipline meant blood and teeth on the floor, my survival response was to `fight' instead of take `flight.' "Ready! FIRE! Aim!" Pretty indiscriminate. Scares people back. (Sounds like the psychological profile of a hermit.)
A shrink once told me that I was `counterphobic.' That is, I would attack anything that scared me. That works sometimes. But there are A LOT of people and things out there that are so big and tough that they can squeeze and crunch me into a little wad of snot. As I have too often discovered.
It was what it was. And I'm still alive.
And all the threads in life now seem to be winding round one another (in the near term) to create a decent prospect: `retirement.'
I'll probably be a lot more sociable to people who fear/think I have just one speed: crude, conflictual and confrontational. That's an easy one, frankly. Should be pleasant surprise for them.
------------------------------------
So why have I rattled on about all this stuff on a blog entitled `Training.'
That is where `work' enters the focus of this blog. Given that work, love and play have always inhabited the same place in my life ... cycling is now going to be my work.
My wife described me as having been `uber focused' all my life. I have described myself as having an `Attention EXCESS Disorder.' I'm really, really organized. (Organizational ability can often be a great substitute for real intelligence.) And when I believe something is worthwhile I'm really, really focused and disciplined.
I'm going to put all of that focus, energy, discipline and organizational talent into my cycling.
Work. Love. Play.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Back from the Dead
Sunny, windy and in the 40's in the prairie flatlands of Illinois today. First time out in about 5 months. I feel like I came out of a cave into a bright blue new day. The link says it all. Link -> Garmin
Sunday, March 6, 2011
I'm gettin' desperate to be intense!
Indoor work. If I had steel discipline I would know just what to do every day, every workout. Heck, I've got more than a few ruthless training spreadsheets I could follow. But I don't feel guilty or obsessed with the need to suffer for five or six months of the year.
So, in the interest of spicing things up in the basement today I pulled out an old steel Battaglin road bike frame (damn good frame! - Indurain won the TdF on it a few times) that I bought about 15 years ago. Popped on a rear derailleur, seatpost and saddle. Threw on some pedals, a few wheels, tubes and tires.
Then I took the CompuTrainer equipment out of a storage box, fired up the computer and monitor.
Put the CompuTrainer, computer, monitor and Battaglin together. Tightened up all the working parts, set a 20 mile course with mostly inclines, plugged everything in and `started' to race the metal man on the monitor.
I didn't calibrate the C'trainer but wound up recording steadily in the 180 watt range after a few minutes. I think my cadence was lower (85) than in the past (95) and don't know what that is all about.
Did that for 30 minutes and was flooded with some of the joy of the road bikes (the body is freer to move around, rock the bike back and forth) and much of the reason I've switched away from road bikes to recumbents (scrunched up shoulders, sore wrists and neck strain).
The heart rate (Garmin 705) accelerated to the 150 BPM range almost immediately. Much faster elevation than on the recumbent. This is because, on the `upright' bike the body is vertical and the heart has to push against gravity. Felt some `weak spots' in my legs (specific to road bike positioning). And I got a good lesson on the benefits/deficits of riding the road bikes. I wore a set of shorts with a chamois expecting to get some mild saddle soreness or tissue abrasion. Apparently thirty minutes on the bike isn't enough to do that. Thankfully.
After the 30 minutes on the Battaglin and Computrainer I switched over to the recumbent Bacchetta and the Lemond Revolution windtrainer with the inertial flywheel. I immediately felt more `comfortable.' That is, shoulders, wrists and neck ... I felt the stress just completely `not' there. Without those distractions I found I could put more power in my legs.
On the recumbent the body is mostly parallel to the ground. There is almost no verticality and gravity that the heart has to push against. Therefore, I find that I can generate more `power' for every heart beat.
I made a commitment to myself to keep the BPMs on the recumbent as close as possible to the BPMs on the upright. It took a lot more effort but I was able to get the heart steadily into the 140's with a few flourishes into the 150 and 160 BPM range at the end.
Did the recumbent for 60 minutes. The sweat was pouring off me again.
All in all a nicely consuming intense workout that didn't see me climbing a wall of dreaded boredom in the basement.
Here's the heart rate data from the Garmin. You can see how things changed after the first 30 minutes on the road bike, with the last 60 minutes on the recumbent.
Garmin Data - 90 Mins on March 6th - Heart Rate Only
So, in the interest of spicing things up in the basement today I pulled out an old steel Battaglin road bike frame (damn good frame! - Indurain won the TdF on it a few times) that I bought about 15 years ago. Popped on a rear derailleur, seatpost and saddle. Threw on some pedals, a few wheels, tubes and tires.
Then I took the CompuTrainer equipment out of a storage box, fired up the computer and monitor.
Put the CompuTrainer, computer, monitor and Battaglin together. Tightened up all the working parts, set a 20 mile course with mostly inclines, plugged everything in and `started' to race the metal man on the monitor.
I didn't calibrate the C'trainer but wound up recording steadily in the 180 watt range after a few minutes. I think my cadence was lower (85) than in the past (95) and don't know what that is all about.
Did that for 30 minutes and was flooded with some of the joy of the road bikes (the body is freer to move around, rock the bike back and forth) and much of the reason I've switched away from road bikes to recumbents (scrunched up shoulders, sore wrists and neck strain).
The heart rate (Garmin 705) accelerated to the 150 BPM range almost immediately. Much faster elevation than on the recumbent. This is because, on the `upright' bike the body is vertical and the heart has to push against gravity. Felt some `weak spots' in my legs (specific to road bike positioning). And I got a good lesson on the benefits/deficits of riding the road bikes. I wore a set of shorts with a chamois expecting to get some mild saddle soreness or tissue abrasion. Apparently thirty minutes on the bike isn't enough to do that. Thankfully.
After the 30 minutes on the Battaglin and Computrainer I switched over to the recumbent Bacchetta and the Lemond Revolution windtrainer with the inertial flywheel. I immediately felt more `comfortable.' That is, shoulders, wrists and neck ... I felt the stress just completely `not' there. Without those distractions I found I could put more power in my legs.
On the recumbent the body is mostly parallel to the ground. There is almost no verticality and gravity that the heart has to push against. Therefore, I find that I can generate more `power' for every heart beat.
I made a commitment to myself to keep the BPMs on the recumbent as close as possible to the BPMs on the upright. It took a lot more effort but I was able to get the heart steadily into the 140's with a few flourishes into the 150 and 160 BPM range at the end.
Did the recumbent for 60 minutes. The sweat was pouring off me again.
All in all a nicely consuming intense workout that didn't see me climbing a wall of dreaded boredom in the basement.
Here's the heart rate data from the Garmin. You can see how things changed after the first 30 minutes on the road bike, with the last 60 minutes on the recumbent.
Garmin Data - 90 Mins on March 6th - Heart Rate Only
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