Update: Training and Events

It's 80% `time' and 20% 'cheap Scot.' 

I've just had to bite the bullet and recognize that I'm not willing to take the time away from other areas of my life for the purposeof training for the spring schedule of events I've lined up. 

I prepared a spreadsheet of cycling training, events, miles travelled, time spent driving, cost of food, etc., for the 6 weeks of training and events from April 17 to May 22nd and came up with a cost of $ 1,427, 2,823 miles travelled, consuming 62.1 hours of driving time and 249 hours of time training and racing on the bike.  None of this includes the many, many hours of reduced energy and sharpness I need for my family and work. 

So, I'm going to ride from my house in Chicago on the least dangerous roads as often as possible.  I may participate in the Balltown Classic. 

With the rest of my time I'll devote to family, my work, getting the house ready to sell, showing the house to prospective buyers, packing up to move to AZ no later than July 15th, and finalizing the renovation plans for our house in AZ. 

Better to do important things well than to do them poorly.

  

Talktalktalktalktalktalktalk. And more talk.

I used to belong to several bike listserve discussion groups.  I quit a few and got kicked off a few.  From one precious list I both quit and was later banned.  Sort of proud of myself for that.

Its been months since I surfed these groups so I just finished checking them out again. 

Vapid. 

Empty. 

Nothing there. 

The same few guys arguing the dimensions of the head of a pin and willing to sell their mothers to prove it. 

I was bored, I guess. 

I guess they are, too.

Angry

After a long cold winter, and committed to not making things even more depressing with insane indoor training ... along comes the slow start of spring's warm and agreeable weather. 

Last September I rode 360 miles in 24 hours and felt great afterwords.  Today I rode 61 miles in 4:40 and feel twitchy, deeply fatigued and ... angry.  Angry that I have to climb this painful wall of getting fit again.  Takes months just to approximate the fitness I had last year.

City - Silvio

Getting out of Chicago, the grim isolation of winters.

Anger is a good source of motivation.

I'm very, very motivated!

Pacing, restraint, planning, no-small-goals ...

This blog is called the `Training Blog' for a reason.  I'm fortunate to be associated with a group of cyclists known as the Big Dogs Ultra Cycling, who, in turn, are part of the Ultra Midwest, LLC.  Ultramidwest Link.

If you've gone to the websites above you'll note a member log of daily mileage, etc.  You'll see names of some of the worlds most accomplished and motivated cyclists.  At the Ultra Midwest website you'll note the impressive series of endurance and racing events organized and directed by Joe Jamison and Dave Parker (and many, many volunteers). 

Many of us Big Dogs are `aspirational.'  That is, we aspire to accomplish our best results while we balance life's other demands and passions.  Many of us are `inspirational.'  That is, we've individually accomplished exceptional cycling feats.  And then the majority of us keep a healthy discipline of doing our best to stay fit and use Joe and Dave's Ultra Midwest events as goals and benchmarks. 

Ultracycling is an addiction.  Certainly there are articles and psychological profiles that describe the `driven' commonalities of ultracyclists.  As a psychologist the best I can come up with is `they're very different, one from another; and they're very similar in that they are kind of crazy.' 

I am ramping up my training now that the weather has broken and returned home today after a windy 40 miles in 2 hours and 40 minutes.  Entering my home my wife said "And how was it?"  I was aware of a sense of grave mischief in my response, with a restrained intense smile "Very, very real!" 

And I think that that sense of `real' is the source of our driven motivation to ride for hour after hour, in all sorts of weather, alone most of the time, aware of fatigue, pain, and myriad other perfectly good reasons to stop! 

All day and every day, just beneath my focus on work, finances and family, there is that smoldering consciousness of the bike, the road, training.   These are anchors around which I allocate my energy, my daily chronology.  Everything becomes linear as I move the pieces of the `plan' for this or that cycling event and challenge. 

• Three months and counting before I can ride the bike out my front door and into mountains, deserts and plateaus. 
• Three months and counting before I can schedule a typical training day as being 60 miles and 6,000 feet of climbing. 
• Three months and counting before the `Training Blog' spawns a `Performance Blog.'

15% grades, bright blue sky and standard upright bike faults

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

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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

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

How many times does it take me to learn this?

Although my life's work and my profession has been in the `helping' professions I keep having to learn the difference between my public self and my private self.  RADICALLY different. 

I can be very, very social, sociable and, in most cases, even likable.  It's sort of like being born tall, or with brown eyes, or with a birthmark.  Not something I had to work at: it just is. 

At the job I fit in and am often considered a valued member of the group, team, or, in my current incarnation, Professional Practice.  It's damned hard work, too.  My desire to `help' and make things better is genuine and meaningful to me.  But at the end of the day I'm pretty emptied out.  Maybe not physically, but certainly emotionally.  I have barely enough `social' energy to pet the friggin' dog.  I'm not mean, but I am mute!

In my personal, or private, life I'm quite different.  I'm not in the `helping' mode.  I'm just an average citizen.  In fact, there is a part of me that wants to keep a civil distance from all but close family.  My natural temperament.  I'm sort of uncomfortable in social situations.  Strange, isn't it.  Contradictory.  But pretty common among the species. 

Now, how does this relate to cycling?  In past experience it has gotten me mixed up and confused. 

I cycle to achieve and accomplish difficult things.  It's pretty serious with me, if not actually grave.  I show up to race and/or endure and finish.  Pretty two dimensional.  Not much of a social thing.  In fact, I don't and have never felt like I `fit in.'  Proof of that is that I don't even `try' to fit in.  I sort of put my social skills in a nice little box and leave them there.  And leave them there.  Did I say `leave them there?!' 

When another cyclist says something with which I disagree I typically don't respond (anymore).  I've learned that most of the cyclists I've known aren't interested in questions, they're anxious to opine, offer their one-and-true conclusions.  If I question, or even disagree, it becomes a basis for more emotional arguing or dismissal.  Social coexistence requires being brain dead. 

In the recent few months I initiated some intended dialogue about bicycle design and performance on a few bike email discussion lists.  In some cases there was civil dialogue.  In most, however, there was crude ridicule, baseless dismissal, and insult.  My initial response was to assume that I just didn't `say' it right, so I attempted to be deliberately delicate and tactful, complimentary of responders, and ... just tried to get my point across with fewer big words, (uncomfortable) humility, etc....  It went nowhere.  More ridicule, more soapboxing. 

When someone is not rational, has no evidence to support their argument, uncivil, caustic or even hostile I've had two responses: fight or withdraw. Sometimes I've recognized the futility and I'd just withdraw. Other times I'd get really pissed off and let them have it right back ... in spades!

The fighting has always gotten me gummed up with self-reproach, asking myself: "Now why did you have to rip them up like that?!" (I have learned exquisite surgical verbal dismemberment skills.) So, I hope I've learned this better this time.

I hope I now recognize what I've not learned many times in the past:  don't talk to a wall expecting the wall to dialogue. 

Don't expect much.  Be surprised and happy to get more when it occurs.   Really, that's a better description of my personality dynamic and temperament.

It's actually going to be easier and more fun for me to do cycling. I can show up for the race, be civil and a good `neighbor,' do the race and go home.

Admittedly, I'm inclined to express my (precious) hurt feelings and resentment by wanting to beat my competition.  Productive outlet.

What a difference

Looking at my Garmin data I noted that on the same date last year (2010) I rode on the indoor trainer for 5 hours and 18 minutes.  It was a `loping' training session as the performance goal (RAW 2010) was long distance endurance and not speed. 

This year I'm finding it soooooo depressing to spend hours on the indoor trainer.  Though, when I do get on the bike I'm pushing intensity and not loping.  Different performance goals this year.  Some well informed sports trainers say that short intensity is better than long loping.  I partially accept this because there is just no way to know what your body will do after 12+ hours of racing -- unless you do it in training.  I don't think you can train short and expect to race long. 

I decided to `trick' myself into finding ways to put in more time on the indoor trainer.  I take my Garmin 705 unit off the bike mount and situate it near different training machines.  Since, of course, it is meaningless to measure `miles' when training indoors I'm only measuring heart rate. 

Today I started out on the Concept 2 rowing machine for 30 minutes, moved over to the Sole elliptical for another 30 minutes, and finished off on the recumbent bike LeMond Revolution wind/flywheel trainer.  Looking at my heart rate data there is a steady rise in BPM from the rower, to the elliptical to the bike.  Which is the way I like it.

I have a Racermate CompuTrainer but I haven't put it to much use this year.  The advantage I would have with the CompuTrainer is that I could measure watts on the bike.   But last year was quite a pain in the tail with the C'trainer for two reasons. 

First, it requires a rear wheel to be pressed down on a electromagnetic load generator.  At least once a week I'd blow a tire and tube in the midst of a full-on power session.  There is nothing more frustrating than having to interrupt an intense training session to change a tire.  It is especially problematic when there are other demands on my time, e.g., work, family, sleep, etc....  Most times I'd just end the training session and change the tire later. 

Second, the C'trainer requires attaching several electric cords and power sensors to the bike.  This takes time.  Another problem I had last year along these lines was when I wanted to take the bike for weekend outdoor training sessions.  I'd have to undo all the cords and connections only to put them all back on the bike for weekday indoor training. 

Frustrating

Winter months keep me stuck indoors.  Can't keep much of a consistent training program when it is all grim suffering on the indoor equipment.  Even snow-shoeing requires getting in the truck and driving miles and miles to a `forest preserve.' 

I used not to mind putting on 10 - 15 lbs in the winter because, as a casual cyclist, I could count on taking it all off by May or June.  As a competitive cyclist I need to be race ready by March.  City winters retard fitness and performance capability.

These last few months in Chicago ... are very, very frustrating.

It's Official

Mother nature set an historical February record for snowfall in Chicago. 

Snowing now. 

Two days of February to go.

That is, if you don't count the Pleistocene.  A gaggle of millenia ago I'd be tapping this out under a mile thick of ice. 

Grim choice

Even though I've long ago reached my psychological limit of indoor training this year it looks like I'll be pushing that limit as far back as the national debt.  The plan was, over the next three days, to load up the bike in the pickup and drive the 90 mile round trip west to Burlington, IL, and do 3 hours of outdoor training. 

Two to three inches of snow fell last night. Temperature in the high 20's. Steady winds of 10 - 15 mph. Flat, prairie expanses easily double the predicted `steady winds' to double the force. Thirty percent possibility of more snow or freezing sleet/rain.

I've got the bike all `wintered' up with packs of tools, extra clothing, lights, etc.  I've got my winter clothing gear carefully selected to withstand zero windchill and wind.  I've got the 15 or 20 chemical foot and hand warmers. I've got the liquids and solid food stashed and ready. 

But, though it appeals to my heart ("get the hell out of the friggin' basement!") it doesn't pass the "effective training" test in my head.  Not to mention the 6+ hours I'd spend commuting over three days, the gas, money and tolls I'd waste in driving close to 300 miles of round trips, or the additional 3+ hours I'd waste getting dressed and undressed, the sopping wet clothes washed and dried again for the next day's training.  And then there is the virtual abandonment of my wife and family. I'm not even gonna think about what would happen if I had a mechanical problem on the bike! 

So, for the next three days I'll be spending 9am to noon pushing watts on the indoor trainer in the basement.

Another point: some people consider it `training' when they pedal their bike indoors while watching TV or a DVD movie.  That's not training.  That's exercise. 

When I train I watch (when I open my eyes) nothing but the heart rate and the clock, with goals for each.  In otherwords, my indoor training is not mitigated by a deflating distraction.  It is just grim grim grim business.  It's a chance to think too much (analysis) or to recognize how little I think for such a long time (dissociation). 

Here's how I rationalize this: one only knows real pleasure when one has grim pain against which to compare it.  (If you think too long and hard on that idea it could get us into a whale of trouble!)

Drafting in a race of solo cyclists = NOT a race!

This past weekend there was a bike race that did not involve teams in Sebring, Florida.  In otherwords, the only racers were solo racers. 

There were several race events and formats.  There was a 12 hour race that allowed drafting and two 24 hour race events.  One 24 hour race allowed cyclists to draft one another, the other did not. 

Solo Racing:

It is an oxymoron to do a solo race and then allow the racers to draft behind one another.  It is not a race.  It's a group ride. 

In this race there was an intentional plan by some to form a group to make it easier for the racers.  As stated by one of the group: "We'll have several ladies tucked into this pack so we will be accommodating (sic) the ladies."

First, what's the point?!!  If it is a solo race the first person behind the lead racer gets a 15% reduction in wind resistance.  And the percentage reduction of wind resistance can increase for each person drafting behind the other. 

I remember being in a group of about 20 riders 2 or 3 wide and 10 deep.  I was about 5 rows back and I sat up in the saddle, stopped pedaling and took my hands off the handlebars.  I was being sucked along at 24 miles per hour while carrying on a very casual chat with the rider beside me. 

Solo racers drafting one another eliminates any `racing.'  Instead, what you have is a group ride.  . 

Some may argue that if every racer shares taking the lead and every racer shares being tucked into a pack for precisely the same amount of time it will all work in the end.  Bad argument.  It's impossible to `time' such actions.  There is no way to assure compliance.  And sometimes the paceline/pack is heading into the wind, sometimes it has a tailwind.  Sometimes the racers are riding uphill; sometimes downhill.

Perhaps race organizers that perpetuate this myth benefit from increased attendance and turnout. 

But solo racers drafting one another are not `racing.'  Any conclusion that persons crossing the finish line represents relevant ranking of skill, stamina or performance is a falsehood. 

Second, wasn't it somewhat condescending for a group of guys to `accomodate' the female racers?

Teams:

Team racing is an entirely different thing.  Strategy and tactic must be implemented to take advantage of myriad factors in a race.

Local Training Routes - Northern Illinois

Though I live in the thick of Chicago I typically drive about 60 miles northwest to the rural farmland roads to put on the miles without many intersections and very little traffic.  All the routes have a start and end point at Burlington, IL. 

Below I'm posting DeLorme Distance pics of my typical training routes.  Sadly, because it is Illinois there are literally no climbing routes.  But the open prairie makes for some significant winds.  Whatever the weather service predicts for wind I simply double it  (Confirmed by Paul Carpenter.)

This is my 14.5 mile route.  Sleepy, smooth roads with nothing but right turns, allowing me to not have to navigate crossing roads. 

This is my 25 mile route.  I have to ride for about 3 miles on a fairly heavily traveled road (Burlington Road) but the rest of the roads are smooth and very, very safe.  

This is my 35 mile route. 
A few busy roads I have to cross but otherwise populated with cows and hay wagons. 

And this is the 36.22 mile route. 

It is the most dangerous of the four because I spend about a total of 10 miles on fairly heavily travelled roads.  I don't use it often because of that reason.

Should I train outdoors today?

-16.8F degrees in my training course in Burlington, IL with a windchill of -17F.  If I were to ride in this temp at 15 mph it would be -39F degrees.  Indoor training today.

Bummer

I've had to cancel participation in the February 19th Bike Sebring 24 hour RAAM Qualifying race.  A family obligation that cannot be rescheduled has come up.  I'm less bummed that I won't be at Sebring and more bummed that I will miss the chance to ride `outside' in February. 

As I type this there is 20 inches of snow outside and the temp is around 18F.   Certainly `riding' in this weather would be a challenge.  But it would be a wasteful and inefficient use of training time and energy.  Back to the grim dark cellar to push watts and time. 

Radical changes to my Bacchetta Ti Aero

Over the past half year I've made a number of significant changes to my Bacchetta Ti Aero.

• Swapped out the `gooseneck' riser for a 10.75" straight pipe riser with a 130 mm road bike stem;
• Swapped out the stock tweener handlebars (18" wide) for a `extra parts' set of Musashi handlebars that have 2.5" longer reach on each side but are 1.5" wider;
• Drilled an extra hole in the CF hard shell seat and moved it up, closer to the riser, by 1";
• Reclined the CF hard shell seat as far back as it will go;
• Sawed off the front 2.25" of the CF hard shell seat;
• Sawing off the CF hard shell allowed me to further file and `shape' the end of the CF hard shell, making it narrower, more rounded. 

Why?

• The gooseneck riser was too tall to see past when in a reclined position. It was also too `spongey' when I pulled hard on it when accelerating;
• The goosneck riser was too close in when steeply reclined resulting in my knees hitting the handlebars. This reduced my power significantly;
• Adding the 130 mm road bike stem pushed the handlebars out enough so that my knees didn't hit it;
• When I pushed the handlebars out with that long road stem and reclined the seat as far back as wanted I couldn't reach the handlebars so I installed the longer Musashi handlebars; Pulling the CF hard shell seat further close to the riser allowed me to reduce the leg extension from the seat to the pedals and increase what, for me, is a major source of watt / power generation (I'm fortunate to have peasant farmer knees so I feel no pain or extra stress to the knees in a tightly bent position);
• The ADEM headrest perfectly suits the radically reclined CF seat, allowing my head to be almost a right angle to the plane of the ground;
• Sawing off the front of the CF hard shell seat reduced the unnecessary `upcurve' that made my butt feel like it was in a bucket;
• Narrowing and rounding the end of the CF hard shell seat allows my thighs to fit more comfotably on the seat.

1. I still have a problem with the riser interfering with my ability to see the road ahead of me.
2. I still have a problem with feeling like I'm going to crack off the riser when I pull on the handlebars for steep/fast hill climbing and sudden high watt accelerations.
3. I don't see an advantage to going from a riser to a tiller steering mechanism. Too much of a power / watt trade-off

These changes accomodate the changed goals for my riding from last year to this year. Last year I wanted to `endure, last and finish' long events (RAW, etc). This year the events I have lined up have power and speed, i.e., `racing,' as the goal.

The changed goals have meant that I have radically altered my indoor training program during the off season.

Garmin and Intensity

I'm using the Garmin 705 with all functions except time and HR turned off. These data below illustrate the Maximum Sustained Power efforts and the overall HR through the training session.

Like I said a while back I have a hard time restraining myself on the indoor training.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/63637127
 

Ammo

And then there was the time, as a teenager, I planned to ride my Schwinn Varsity 10 speed around both Lake Michigan and Lake Superior in 1964. I had never ridden the bike more than 40 miles.

I discovered that, outside of Chicago, there were farms. And on every farm there were dogs. And dogs love to chase guys on bikes. Never knew that.

After getting about 120 miles out of Chicago I found myself being chased, relay fashion, from one farm to the next farm by the family dogs.

So, in Whitewater, Wisconsin, I pulled up to a hardware store, leaned my bike against the window and went in. I asked the clerk if he had a gun. I needed protection "...for the road." He said `sure!' and I bought a 22 calibre nine-shot pistol. Just like that. As I'm walking out the door the clerk says to me ... "Hey. Want some ammo?" I turned to him: "What's `ammo?'"

And then I rode another 30 or 40 miles with a loaded pistol in my right hand. The palm of my hand was resting on the handlebar.

Occasionally I'd fire off a round at a road sign. Once I shot down a farm driveway when a dog came charging out. Dog turned around literally in mid-air when the rocks in front of it kicked up from the bullet.

Later, I decided to ride a highway that was ristricted to motor vehicles. A state cop pulled me over, pistol in my hand. He told me to get off the restricted hiway and go back to the farm roads. !! He completely ignored the pistol that was conspicuous as could be.

The picture tells the rest of the story. http://picasaweb.google.com/psychling/Ammo#

Adolescent ignorance knows no limits.

Happy trails.

Time to drop the weight ...

From September to last night I purposely ignored watching what I ate or drank. Fortunately, I'm not excessive by nature. But it was nice to `get off the treadmill' of that.

Today is January 1st and not a bad time to begin exercising some restraint and judgment.

• I'm going to miss my eggs and bacon.
• Goodbye to a nice shot of single malt every now and then.
• Two of things instead of just one of them.
• Getting up in the middle of the night and happily noshing while I check email.

Goodbye, old friends.

• A conscious mental calculation of caloric intake v outgo.
• Down one or two lbs per week ... MAX.
• More discipline across several domains in my life.

It will probably cause me to delude myself into thinking I'm pushing back the pale of morbidity and mortality.

I'll probably get hit by an 18 wheeler and decorate the front grill of a Mack truck. BUT ... the upside is that such a fate is better than a nursing home.

And I feel like I've contributed to one of my favorite interests: archaeology. I have two titanium teeth. I can't wait to be discovered a few millions years from now. But ... of course, I'll have to wait.

Down, now, to the `cellar to spank igor'.

Ninety minutes of fat burning aerobics.

Denial and aging...

This is a hard one. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/opinion/31jacoby.html?hp

Few things scare us more than being trapped with no hope of getting out. 

Choosing to be a psychologist is the natural result of a tendency to make my mind go places that are typically too frightening.  Trying to take the `sting' out of our darkest fears.  We use the term `functional denial' to describe the process of `just not thinking about' things we can't change but are likely to be unpleasant. 

I often wonder about why I spend so much time in solitary cycling.  Am I pursuing something?  Or am I fleeing something?  It is both.  But what a difference!

I love to challenge myself to do something beyond hard.  So that I can then take private or public credit for exceptional accomplishment.  I feel good about myself and gain a temporary sense of hope. 

But I also need frequent confirmation that I'm successfully escaping calamity or failure.  Fleeing powerlessness and, in my case,  the sense of `shame' that accompanies just being `still.'  The everpresent `ghost' in the shadows. 

On a professional level I `can relate' to that fear and suffering in others.  It helps me to help others.  Sort of selfish, isn't it. 

On a personal level I'm really critical of myself and others.  I tend to not be `good company' for an extended period of time. 

I'm not afraid of oblivion.  Which is what I perceive as being dead. 

I'm terrified of being trapped in a painful body while being clear headed and conscious of the inevitable worsening until death.  And anything or anybody causing me to be exposed to my decline ... I struggle with. 

Very contradictory.  Hard to think about for long.  And maybe the long hours of `zoning' while cycling keep me adequately distracted.  An addiction?  A dependency?