Cyclist Translations -- Humor

tee hee hee - saw this elsewhere:

Cyclists are the biggest sandbaggers and secret trainers around. They'll say anything to soften you up for the kill. Don't let this happen to you. Study this handy rider's phrasebook to find out what they really mean when they say:

"I'm out of shape"
Translation: I ride 400 miles a week and haven't missed a day since the Ford administration. I replace my 11-tooth cog more often than you wash your shorts. My body fat percentage is lower than your mortgage rate.

"I'm not into competition. I'm just riding to stay in shape"
Translation: I will attack until you collapse in the gutter, babbling and whimpering. I will win the line sprint if I have to force you into oncoming traffic. I will crest this hill first if I have to grab your seat post, and spray energy drink in your eyes.

"I'm on my beater bike"
Translation: I had this baby custom-made in Tuscany using titanium blessed by the Pope. I took it to a wind tunnel and it disappeared. It weighs less than a fart and costs more than a divorce.

"It's not that hilly"
Translation: This climb lasts longer than a presidential campaign. Be careful on the steep sections or you'll fall over -- backward. You have a 39x23 low gear? Here's the name of my knee surgeon.

"You're doing great, honey"
Translation: Yo, lard ass, I'd like to get home before midnight. This is what you get for spending the winter decorating and eating chocolate. I shoulda married that cute Cat 1 racer when I had the chance.

"This is a no-drop ride"
Translation: I'll need an article of your clothing for the search-and-rescue dogs.

"It's not that far"
Translation: Bring your passport.

No Soup Fo You!! -- log

Oh Billy.... Just had them most brutal. race. evar.

First up tonite was a scratch race, nothing fancy, at the final sprint i felt like i was spinning out for some reason, legs a little sluggish, came in 4th or 5th...

The other race was a nice 54 lap Points race..my favorite! =)

The first bell was about to ring, and i thought i'd have some fun, so i went up high in the banking, and sprinted around, and went for the gold! A few others caught me at the line, no prob, i still got points.

Then Chunky Calves looks back at Kirby and says 'let's go'.

Oh. Shit.

Of course, i just sprinted long, and had nothing else in the tank for the moment... (I'd also done a fairly hard ride yesterday, plus all the racing on the weekend)....i was just not ready for a counter-attack..... Bart wheeled by me, and he managed to catch them. I just watched them slowly getting away.

I decided then that i simply would not let them lap me, so i gritted my teeth, and put 'er in high gear.

And i did this for about 30 laps. Yes, 30.

I figured i missed the Time Trial on Tuesday, so i'd make it up tonite...

Over those 30 laps, they started off about half a lap ahead of me, and i slowly brought that down...then during a sprint, and they started to get disturbingly close..me no likey!!!

I finally looked behind me, and i saw that there were about five other B's sitting on my wheel. (This was a mixed race, A's and B's in the same race.) I saw that sometimes the lead group would have a B in their group (four of them...as i'm huffing away solo), so i decided to let these guys do some work for me...

I let them by, and sat on for a round.. Got back at the front, and picked-up the pace a good bit. I felt a lot stronger after a short rest (now able to maintain over 45kph vs 41kph) and we started to close the gap on the front pack!

Now, you might ask, why did i pull for so long? I figure some of these guys were on my wheel a good 10-20 laps.... Technically, in a Points race, lapped riders cannot work for you... But since the group ahead of me was doing it, i finally let up and let them do some of the work.

It was great - i was cheering them on, pushing them, telling them to go harder -- and they did!! I make a good slave driver..heh..

Come the final bell, we were perhaps 5 bike lengths behind the leaders, and that was the race!!

Had there been another six laps, i would have easily caught those guys...... For me, this is a glorious result! Not only did i not allow them (3 A riders with a 1/2 lap lead) to lap me, but i nearly caught them!

It's funny how my training has paid off... Due to all the miles (and not much Sprint training), i got dropped fairly easily at the beginning...but over time, i could outride 3 other riders. Not too shabby. =)

Of course, my legs are now fried. It's like there are little fires in my legs...ouchey.. I dunno what kinda ride i'll do tomorrow...maybe an RR would be appropriate!

On Wed i went for a 2.5hr EM ride, actually took Tuesday off (first day in over two weeks), and Monday noodled out to the track to help with timing.

Gonna do some type of ride tomorrow, then a couple group rides on the weekend, should be good!

Keep on rollin'!

Interview With Brendan Brazier -- Articles

If you don't know Brendan Brazier, he's a vegan triathlete from Vancouver, and quite an accomplished one at that!

Here's a really great interview with him, especially interesting for those who are interested in veganism and training:

http://www.brendanbrazier.com/articles/bazier.final.pdf

Enjoy! (Thanks Dag!!)

Video - Bike Courier Race -- Fun

haha - this is great!

http://www.digave.com/videos/

Go there and check out the first video, of a bike courier race...it'll get your blood flowing! (Note: 50mb MPG video.)

I wouldn't run red lights like that back when i delivered, but most of the other stuff was pretty common-place.

The Madison on Saturday was like this in many ways...!

Provincials - Day 3 -- Log

Woohoo! I've survived two days, and one left to go!

Felt quite crunchy getting out of bed, and more slow-moving than usual...but i had a nice big breakie, and rode out to the track!

Got a nice warm-up on the way there, and felt pretty good, once i started rolling. Only two events for the day:

Keirin - i enjoy this race, tho i don't really have the legs to get myself to the front... This is the only event i changed my gears for...went up to a 92 (48x14.) Otherwise i rode the weekend in a 47x14.

In the first heat, Stephen Alfred, Matt Chader and Keith Bruneau carried through...all very strong riders/sprinters. I came in 5th behind Scott Allen. I got on a good wheel (the Keirin winner actually), but Keith started butting with me, and i didn't really want to compete for it, so i gave it to him and sat on his wheel.

In the repechage, five minutes later(!!), Scott also carried through, and i came in 6th..not too bad since i pulled an 8 (out of 9) and ended up a vegan caboose on this train during the motorpaced section.

30km Points - ahh..the last race, and my favorite race on the track. I knew i didn't have much of a chance of beating many of these guys for points, so my #1 goal was to simply finish the race, and conserve as much energy as possible.

13 guys started, with a decent number of Dr. Walker riders.. I mainly worked in the race to try and defend these guys (Clarkie and Vinko)...slowing down attacks, and blocking when they were in a break-away, including helping Clarkie lap the pack.

Other than the two groups who lapped the pack, i only got lapped by the pack once about halfway through, which is quite an accomplishment for me! Most of the guys are gold-medal champs, incredibly strong and fast, and the pace was very high (almost entirely above 45kph, and much of it above 50kph.) Quite grueling over 30km, let me tell ya...

No real highlights for me...there was one sprint where i just about had enough juice in me to nab a point, but i decided to play conservatively and just finish the race...being a lap down, and risking taking points from Clarkie and Vinko wasn't worth it.

It was an total honour to ride with these guys, and next year, i hope to be much closer to the front. =)

Final event of the day was a Flying Lap attempt..i had next to nothing left in my legs, and came in a little slower than my last attempt..no surprise there. ;)

That's my 2005 Provincial Track Championships experience in a nutshell! I think in future i'll drop the 200m and Kilo, and opt for Pursuits. (Considering after a year of training, my 200m time has only dropped 0.2 seconds, i think that says something about my pure sprinting ability..and the Kilo is absolutely brutal....took me considerably longer to recover from than than anything else..)

Sarah Kirby did absolutely AMAZING. She completely dominated, including getting a gold in the Women's Sprints, Keirin, Points, and Scratch races (along with two silvers), and simply cleaning up in the Omnium. Great work Sarah!!!! (Sarah and i go way back...we both grew up in the Owen Sound area, went to the same high school, started road riding together, and started on the track at the same time as well..! We've always competed for events, having close 200m times, and until i started piling on the miles, we'd always have to battle it out in the distance races. You rock Sarah, hope you stay in Victoria!!)

I believe my next big competition will be at the beginning of December, there's a 6 Day event planned in Burnaby i believe, and i'll probably try and make it over for that. Until then, i'll continue to train hard, and get some more points in the local league...maybe i can get closer to the #2 position....!

A couple more pics:


I selected '42' as my number.
As some of you might know, it's the answer..
...but of course we don't know what the question is. ;)


My trusty Kona track bike,
thanks for carrying me over these races!!

Provincials - Day 2 -- Log

It's very late, and was racing until after 8pm, but what a great day!

As usual, warm and sunny (not too hot), slight cooling breeze..

Highlight of the day was the Madison; Tony Z (Zarsadias, very well-known racer from these parts!) asked me if i had a partner for the race, which is what i needed - woohoo! He's got National medals and Provincial gold in this event, so it was rather humbling to be asked by him...!!

He tosses me a Symmetrics jersey and says 'not many people get to wear one of these!' - no shit! If this were the US, it'd be like getting a Team Discovery jersey handed to ya! (Symmetrics, based in Vancouver, holds a great deal of Canada's top riders and is usually considered the 'best' road team. Scott Laliberte is sitting behind me, as usual, funny to see him in Coastal colors!) What a treat. So, while i've got the chance, there's me in a Symmetrics jersey..haha (Thanks again Tony!!)

Anyway, i'll recall the race below, let's go through the other events....

200m Sprint - i arrived at the track just as they were about to get ready, and due to all the set-up (including switching a pedal over) i got about 4 laps of warm-up...so my 200m was a disappointing 13.384 (ooh - thousandths of a digit shown!), which left me in 10th place. I'd hoped to crack 13 today..or at least 13:20.

Unfortunately, they only went 8 deep for the Matched Sprints, which i was really hoping to get a chance to do. Kinda sucks, because two of the guys aren't even BC residents..so aren't even in contention, and i would have had a chance being in the top eight. Ahh well..

The sprints were quite exciting to watch, and our local guys did very well!

20km Scratch Race - not a great race for me, they started off pretty hard..then, Vinko was at the front, with me on his wheel. There was one guy off the front, and Vinko picked-up speed to catch him. He peeled off, and i decided to maintain the speed..and that was a very stupid move, as i didn't have it in me to catch back on to the pack (another attack as soon as i pulled off), so i caught on with a couple riders further back, which wasn't very good.... They both dropped out about 15 laps in, and i worked my ass off to stay in the race, over half a lap down, until lap 30, where i was caught by the pack (and thus eliminated..) I think i did pretty well, staying ahead.. If i were to re-race that, i would have peeled with Vinko, and raced very conservatively....in that field, with the training i've had, i just need to sit-in at this point..

One funny moment was with Matt, as he just about took another guy to the rail during a slow section of the race. Matt's just going uptrack, but a guy is just on his wheel, and all you hear is 'Dude....dude..DUDE....DUDE!!!...DUDEDUDEDUDEDUDEDUDE!!!!' Very funny. =)

The ending was amazing -- Scott and Matt both got off the front, and actually lapped the group! They stuck back in, and the crowd was wowwed with a victory from Scott!! He took Matt long and hard (dropping the pack a second time!) and completely succeeded in shutting him down - i don't think i've seen anyone do that to Matt before, amazing!!

Talking to Scott afterwards, he said 'i think i was the only person that believed in me' - that's so damned important in this, or any sport: You really need to believe in yourself!!

Point taken, thank-you Scott!

Team Sprint - Rode this with Marcus and, amazingly, Scott! Team sprint is three laps, and they're timed (not head-to-head.) Each lap, the rider in front peels off, so the 2nd guy does 2laps, and the third does 3 total laps.

I'm the #1 guy, i have a good kick off the start, and can get up to speed pretty quickly.

We line up, and the guy asks if we're ready, but seems to ignore me, as i say 'no'.. He waves, and the gun goes! Damn! Somehow we get a false start..not really sure what happened.

We line back up, and get ready again... Clean start this time! I gun it, and get us off to a good start! I sit down, and Marcus yells 'GO! GO! GO!' - and so i push even harder!!

(This was another interesting lesson.. He pointed out that i normally get myself up to a speed, and then just maintain it...sort of a 'road' habit. But, he knows i can go even faster....so he pushed me! When he yelled, i jumped about another 5kph faster, which is pretty cool. I've got some fairly decent speed in my legs...just a matter of getting my brain to work with it!)

We came in 5th overall, out of 9 teams, and 3rd in the Elite category. Woot!!

Matt Barlee, Matt Chater(really cool, fast guy from Van) and Keith, stormed to a stunning 1:06.018 time, and Andrew, Clarkie and Vinko came in at 1:11.939, our time was 1:13.157.

Not too bad for our team, Marcus is the only guy who's even close to being a sprinter! Three strong, steady riders can do okay in this event it seems...

30km Madison - luckily, they dropped it by 10km! This is the race with Tony - what a pleasure to race with him!

He hasn't been training, but was still incredibly fast!

One goofy thing happened to me in the break before the Madison. It was open track, and as i'm riding by the infield, Tony asks if i have gloves. I turn back and yell 'yep...ohhhh..lookout!!'

Suddenly there was a guy in front of me, and i bumped him from the side, and took a spill!! I believe this is the first time i've lost skin to the track..!! I'm pretty sure i've never fallen before. I lost a little skin on my elbow and knee, but no big deal. Stephen, whom i ran into, was fine.

'Twas a little embarassing....especially while Tony was asking me a Q relating to our upcoming Madison..hahahaha.. Glad i showed him i'm no clutz!

The exchanges (riders sling their teammate into the race every lap or so, here's a description of a previous Madison race) were a little sketchy intially, it's a very technical race, probably the most technical of any bike race short of trials. I ended up down on the apron once to avoid exchanges, and another close call where i sped between two pairs of teams, but otherwise nothing nasty happened.

With 7 teams on there, initially, it was a pretty busy place, you had to be watching everywhere!! Also, keep in mind we're maintaining speeds of over 50kph!!

Tony and i got lapped a couple times, we weren't chasing too hard, and decided to just fall back and try and steal some points.

I'm not sure if he ever got any, but for a number of laps we were riding on a break-away with Scott, and i came in right behind him for 3pts...my moment of glory in the race. =)

A very fun race, we finished 6th (Clarkie and Vinko dropped out.) Oddly enough, the only Victoria riders to finish were Chris Reid and myself. (I believe Tony is living in Vancouver..if not, three cheers for Team Victoria!)

Tony told me i rode very well, which was quite encouraging. Very nice to hear that from a champ like him.

This is a great thing about cycling - you can actually compete with the 'big guys'. Not sure if something like the above would occur in many other sports...

Below are some pics, and i gotta sign-off - getting late! Hope you've been enjoying my Provincials debriefings!



Tony and me again during the warm-up.
Pretty sweet jersey, eh?


Here we are, about to make an exchange.
Note Clarkie's wild zebra-stripped shorts!!
They were definitely the best-dressed team.


Shot of me in the Madison..new shoes..pttt..


This was my best pic of the day!
Women's Keirin Finals, Sarah (top) surged to get 2nd (and BC gold!!!)
in a fantast race! She also completely DOMINATED in the
Points race. Kick ass, Sarah!!

Provincials - Day 1 -- Log

Hey there race fans - i am beat....a very intense first day at the Provincials!

Felt great, rode well(for myself!), tho most weren't my events...

First up was the Pursuit. For Elite Men it's 4km/12 laps... I hadn't ridden that distance before, but i guess for me i prefer it to 3km, to allow me to use whatever strengths i do have..haha..

I was racing a guy from Vancouver, i believe his name is Glenn, seems like a decent fellow!

We were set up, on each side of the track (it *is* a pursuit!) and the gun goes, and i begin sprinting out of the saddle..and one stroke in my shoe comes flying out of my pedal!! I do a crazy little dance, and come to a stop in the infield. (All day, people complimented me on my recovery! Andre might have gotten it on film as well, i'll post a note if i do. ;)

Anyway, that's very weird for me, i almost *never* clip out.....i just figured i pulled too hard on my upstroke.

We set up again, and we're off! 4km to go... I started off a little too hard, which at least looked good! For the first three laps (1km) i'm neck and neck with Glenn, but then the reality of me not being a pursuiter kicks in, and i start to slow... I hold him off for all but the last lap and a half, and then keep him within a decent distance. Finished with a 5:40 time, he was about 5:23 i believe. The fastest time of the day was down around 5 even...wow... In that event i came in 5th out of 6 riders (plus one DNS.) Managed to beat Mike by a whopping three seconds! (He's been training for sprints tho, so this was his longest race in a long time..haha..)

Next up was the Kilo... I was first, since i have the slowest time. We go to set up, and i simply couldn't clip *in* now...!

I get off (other riders go instead) and take a look...and it turns out the bold that tightens/loosens the cleat had somehow cracked the metal supporting it, and basically started sliding into the pedal..!!

It isn't the end of the world, i have a second pair from my road bike, but it's pretty annoying. I'm planning on upgrading when i can afford it, but that wasn't supposed to be for a while still.. I can prolly wait until the spring, since i'll only need one pair after Sept. (Track closes then..)

I swap my pedals, and ride after Matt, who rides at a blistering speed, winning the event by a handful of seconds. My attempt was a success for me, a total new PB by two seconds: 1:19.94 - woohoo! Used aero bars for this, which probably helped, as well as my stiff new shoes. (They've been *great*!!) Clarkie came in 5th, ahead of me, at about 1:17. I'm in good company. =)

For those of you unfamiliar with bike racing, the Kilo is by-far the most dreaded event. The next shortest is the 200m, which is intense, but not very long (10-14 seconds for most racers.)

Then there's the Pursuit, which allows you to get into a nice rhythm, and just ride it out.

The Kilo is *everything* you've got, for 1000m. (Or 0.621 miles.) Go try it some time! Find yourself a nice, flat stretch of road this distance, and ride it as hard as you possibly can!!! (And ride it like a track bike, don't change gears!)

You'll find it goes something like this:

FIRST THIRD: Feels pretty good! You're flying along at, say, 53kph - woohoo!
SECOND THIRD: Oh...legs are starting to slow down...lungs are starting to work hard...suddenly not feeling so good, all knowing that there's still the..:
FINAL THIRD: You want to die. Or fall. It would be less painful. You're swimming in lactate. Your eyes have gone cross. You can feel your lungs in your throat. Your legs are seizing up..you feel like you're pushing squares with your legs.

It's always fun to watch this event, to see just how long someone can keep their strength up, because they *always* slow at the end. It's a total ride of attrition...against your body.

So i did my Kilo, broke my previous PB by 2 seconds..and i was left a hurtin' unit. I *really* shouldn't have done that.....

Final race for me was the Miss'N'Out, which i usually enjoy.. There were about 11 riders, and i was maybe the 5th to be tossed out the back-end...i just had nothing in my legs to give. I believe i finished 8th (7th for Provincial purposes...there are non-BC riders participating.)

That was my day! Below are a couple more pics, i need to sleeeeeep!! HUGE day for me tomorrow..yikes..


Me, waiting for the start of the Miss'n'Out.
Directly behind me is Scott Laliberte, who won the race,
lapping the final racers!
He also had a hole in his shorts
and we could totally see his butt crack...classy, Scott! ;)


Dudes from my team - Dr. Clarkie, Officer Vinko, Sgt. Keith and..uh..Matt!

Provincials - Day 0 -- Log

The 2005 BC Provincial Track Championships start tomorrow...i'm quite excited!!

Raced at the track tonite, didn't excert myself much, but i felt nice and strong.....woot!! Ready for the weekend..my 'taper week' was barely that, but considering the miles i've been putting on, staying off the bike would have been a baaad idea.

I also finally picked-up a much-needed new pair of shoes.. (Old ones had my feet sliding in them, straps barely holding, and sole flexing..pretty sad..) I went to just about every bike shop in town, and ended up with the shoes i was really hoping to get: the Specialized Comp Road shoes.

I tried them on, and i knew they were the ones. They fit *so* nicely..and they ride incredibly well too....very comfortable, and i can feel the power being transferred directly to the pedals...soooo nice. I'm sure my sprint times will improve just from the shoes. And, of course, they're vegan!

Been a fairly busy bee since last Sat, and haven't spent a day off the bike since the 3rd..eeep!

Sun - met up with a bunch of guys from the Team, and were recorded by a local TV channel to promote the team, sport, and event. Got a bunch of emails from people who saw me..hehe.. Will post a link to the clip if i get a copy.

Afterwards did an hr+ ride, and then went to the track that evening to practice sprints and standing starts. Went quite well, until the infield was taken over by about 100 field hockey players!

Mon - back to the track, did more sprints, times a little slower than usual..tried a bigger gear (48x14) but didn't seem to help..will stick with the 47x14 stand-by tomorrow. I'll prolly ride everything in that gear..heh..

Tue - another Sydney TT, it was a windier night, came in about 10sec slower than the last couple, 26:14 or so. Really hammered on the last kilo, felt i rode it pretty well. My buddy Kevin got a great time, breaking 25mins - woot!!

Wed - did a 2hr recovery ride with Pat, took it nice and easy

Thu - Mystery Night at the track! Unknown Distance Scratch came in 6th, and wheeled my way to 3rd for the Mystery Points (which laps have the bell is unknown, fun!) I didn't push myself in either, mainly sitting in. For the Scratch i forgot to change back from my warm-up gear, and at the sprint at the end, i spun out my 47x15, and watched everyone pass...pretty funny. =)

I really fear Saturday...it's going to extremely intense....... (See previous entry for day-to-day breakdown...)

Send positive thoughts to my quads!! =)

Vegan-Powered Immune System -- Log

I've noticed a weird thing since i've started training significant amounts of time.. My immune system is now quite strong.

For example -- i don't know when i'm sick. I may have a bug of some kind, but i have *no* symptoms of it....until i start to do a hard effort. My day-to-day activities go along normally, as if i weren't even sick...but when i get on the bike and get my HR up, *then* i start to feel it.

How strange is that..?

Anyway, i was 'sick' for a few days last week, and i didn't even really realize it until Friday...heh.. I just thought i was pushing myself a bit too much, or was suffering from some sort of energy low. How strange.

Anyway, here's what i've been up to:

Tue - my second ITT! I felt i rode much 'harder', my HR was in the 180's, and i averaged 180bpm, but i came in 6 seconds slower than my previous time - 26:09. My split was 13:03 or so...so i was pretty consistant both laps. I think i must have been under the effects of my cold, i could hardly believe my HR..i was riding at 184, and wasn't breathing too heavily..which is quite weird for me. It wasn't particularly hot either. (Was wearing knee-warmers, actually.)

Kevin came out too, and he came in a full minute faster than me! He started behind me, and caught me a couple hundred meters from the finish. Good job, dude! I'll most likely head out for the final TT of the year next Tuesday...give it one more shot. That should be lots of time to recover for the Provincials.

Wed - rest day, oh yeah!

Thu - Sprints at the track, didn't do very well at all. Started with the Miss'n'Out, came in about 8th, got boxed in......unfortunately i was actually feeling pretty good for this race, and was about to make a move when i was canned!

Chariot wasn't anything special...can't compete with sprinters..heh.. And didn't have any pep for the Keirin. I got in a good position, but i couldn't stay on the wheel in front of me and got dropped. Chad and i were bumping elbows, pretty funny.

Fri - did six Ob repeats - first ones in a while! They felt really good, i missed that workout. On the way out there, i started to feel a tickle in my throat, and my HR jumped too quickly on hills...that was the final clue to the presence of my bug.

I considered turning around, and just going home to rest, but i was just about there, and thought i'd do one just to see how i felt. Glad i did!

I do a very specific workout on the Observatory hill -- very low cadence (40-55rpm), and keep my HR lower as well (aim for 162-166bpm) - the idea is to stress the legs, not my cardio. It isn't supposed to be an 'intensity' workout. I find that despite being somewhat sick, if i keep the intensity level down, i can ride just fine, so that's what i did, and had a fine workout. Rode an extra hour afterwards, felt great the rest of the day.

Sat - over 3hr EM ride with a few trackies. Felt great, bug feels like it might be gone..had some pep back again! I was starting to worry that i might have been in some sort of slump, and right before Provincials, but i'm feeling pretty good now, and feeling much more positive.

The next few days will be pretty specific.. Tomorrow (Sun) going to practice standing starts, and do a bunch of sprints.. Gotta get my sprint legs kickin'. More sprints on Monday. Tues, will be the ITT. Wed will likely be an off day, and Thu will go to the track, and take it easy in the races.

Friday is the first day of Provincials, more info here. Wish me luck! The schedule will look something like this:

Fri: Individual Pursuit, Kilo, Miss'n'Out
Sat: 200m, Matched Sprints semi's, 20km Scratch, Sprint Finals (yeah right!), Team Sprint, 40km Madison (ouch)
Sun: Keirin Qualifiers (will unlikely pass), 30km Points Race (my most likely successful race..)

Not too bad... Saturday will be a bit harsh, i'm prolly insane for doing the Madison, but what the hey! I've signed up for all events.. The Kilo, Pursuit and Keirin are near-pointless for me and the training i've been doing, but it'll be fun to get some experience.. My times will suck, relatively speaking however. Looking forward to the longer races tho....woohoo!

Buh Baaah, This Is The Sound Of Settling -- Log

Round and round they go...where they stop...who wants to know?

Been riding tons still (over 550km last week), tho i gotta back off, i'm feeling a little burnt-out. Resting pulse in the morning is waaay too high, so will be backing off a bit a little until it subsides..

The last few days have looked something like:

Wed - rest day!

Thu - races at the track....was still hurting from the TT, esp. lungs! The scratch race didn't go very well, and i didn't race very smart, chasing down attacks too many times, and had nothing for the final lap...watched everyone go ahead of me. =)

The Points race went much better tho, i got points in almost every sprint, and finished one point behind Smitz, which gave me 4th. I raced this much better, and didn't try to pull when i was trying to recover, and kept my wits about me. Jumped in one good attack/break, and we held it for a sprint. The pack caught us after that tho. Sarah raced really well tonite, it's gotta be hard and frustrating racing with guys all the time. I wish there were more women to balance things out.

Fri - noodled to the track in the evening, logged an easy 50km for the day.

Sat - nice, long steady 120km/4hr+ ride with Sarah and Kevin. Up and over the Malahat, over to Shawnigan again, and out a ways. Kevin continued north to Nanaimo, and Sarah and i rode back in.

You know, i really like hills. I feel like i could ride up hills forever. Very strange, especially coming from a trackie. Tho, everyone at the track is calling me a roadie now. Mebbe it's a sign?

Sun - i forced myself to do my first recovery ride!! I started with the BSide group, who kept things nice and easy, and i turned off after 45mins, and rode another hour back into town. Kept my HR below 130bpm...harder than it seems...

It was really nice tho, several guys asked me to stick with the group, but i *really* needed to take it easy...my resting pulse that morning was waaay too high. I can feel i'm not recovering entirely, so gotta back off.

Mon - sprints at the track, it was a slower night, so no PB's. My times are consistant tho. Did a 200m and 500m. Felt really good on the 500m for some reason, usually the legs feel deadish in the final corner, but i was flying.. I went down to a 46x14 tho, so maybe it was the spin. ;)

Also, picked-up that 46 tooth front and 17 tooth rear cog tonite from Andre..suddenly i have a bunch of cogs and cassettes.. 46-48 and 14-17. That'll let me ride an 73-93 now..lots to work with.

Doing another TT tomorrow...eeep...!! Kinda weird, now that i have a time to beat.

Will likely do a light ride on Wed, race at the track on Thu (short races, thank Jeebus!!) Maybe noodle to the track again Fri, and hopefully a log ride on Sat...then recovery again Sun.

Provincials are the 19th-21st...not certain if i will enter... It'll be $110 for me ($60 plus $50 day license to race.) That's a little steep...like a new pair of shoes or shorts...both of which i could really use. Still, it would probably be smart to do, especially if i get some results..will look a lot more impressive on my racing resume. Decisions.... (On top of that, do i do the Kilo, or Individual Pursuit? Neither are particularly strong for me...)

Keep on truckin'!

(Entry title is a Death Cab for Cutie song.)

Recipes! -- Feature

I'm happy to announce i've started my own recipe page! Now you too can enjoy healthy, nutritious high-carb vegan snacks and meals! (Of course, you probably were anyway. Maybe you'll find something new and helpful tho!)

The link is here:

http://cycling.thenoisies.com/fud/

Feel free to comment on any recipes here. =)

Legs Vs Clock -- Log

TT's (Time Trials) are something i hadn't really experienced...short of the shorter events on the track (200m, Kilo, 3km), but now i can add an 18km road TT to my list of experiences.

And what was my experience you might be asking? Well, let me tell you:

Pain.

Not sure if it hurt more during or after.

So here you are, on your bike alone. There are people ahead of you, and people behind you. Typically, you want to try and catch the people in front, and stay ahead of those behind. People are let out at 1min intervals...so you have at least a minute of safety from the person behind you...

I'm #20, so i'm let loose at the 20min mark...i don't go out too hard, didn't do much of an immediate warm-up (besides riding 25km there), so i took about 30 seconds to get up to speed.

Got there, and sunk into the aero bars (thanks for the loan Andy!) This is also my first real use of aerobars.. These ones are a bit too long, so not the most comfortable, but not too bad either. They definitely helped.

I'm aiming to keep my legspeed high, ~105rpm cadence. My HR clunking between 171 and 178. I'm pushing pretty hard. Wiggling a little. It's weird riding like that.

The first little hill approaches, and i get out of the saddle, and suddenly my bike feels very unfamiliar! Sitting with my arms tucked in makes the hoods on my bars feel really wide.. Plus, i didn't have a lot in my legs for standing up.. Luckily it's barely a hill, so that experience doesn't last long.

By that point, i'd passed a couple riders (on their second loop), and hit the first corner. There i saw Sarah up ahead (she was released a minute ahead of me.) Of course, she was ~100m ahead, and riding in the same direction... It's weird chasing down someone like that..gaining so slowly.. I'd say it took about 3km to actually close the gap, and pass her.

By then, i'd passed the halfway mark (two laps of the course total), and my time at that point was around 12:30 i believe. (Not bad at all, if this pace could be maintained! That would give me a 25min time, which is pretty good for a local rider on this course...esp. sans any aero-gear.)

Now let me describe the experience of a time trial.... Again - it's just you and the bike and the clock. In other races, there's drafting and attacks, lotsa stuff to keep you occupied. You can be riding 95% of your max, but not notice it as much since there are other distractions.

In a TT, it's just you. You feel each stroke. Your muscles aching each time you push the pedal down. They're asking you to stop each time too. Excuses start to flood your mind: "What's the purpose? Isn't this supposed to be an easy week? You've already ridden 80km today, why do this? Wouldn't it be nice to just lay down right now? Overtraining! You're overtraining!!"

At times the heavy breathing suffices as a distraction..but not a very good one. At this point tho, i'm not familiar with how it feels *afterwards*, so i keep the pressure on.

I'm now on the second half of the second and final lap..only another 3km to go or so.. I've been chasing down another rider for a few minutes...inching closer. Chad, who started a minute after me, catches me...drat!! I was expecting it anyway, i fended him off pretty well.

Having him in front worked as further motivation tho, and i picked up my pace a little..passed the rider that i'd been chasing.

Got to the final corner, and several vehicles were turning, and one very nearly pulled all the way over on the road into the bike lane, and i was forced to near-stop. Damn!!

Went back to the hoods, and sprinted to pick up my speed...another 400m to the line.. Again, there was that weird feeling, like i was hugging a big tree. Chad was even further ahead, he didn't have a mini-van to contend with..bastard..

300m to go, and i dropped the hammer, putting everything i had into the pedals.

100m, and i debated getting out of the saddle to sprint.....but i knew i had nothing to give, so i stayed seated and kept hammering....and finished!!

Oh, sweet frogs and porpoises...it was over.

Somehow ended up with a time of 26:03. That tied me for 5th for the night. (What were the 1000ths of a second?? Slackers! I'm *sure* i got him!) I averaged 41.19kph over the 18km course, and i'm pretty happy with my results. I'd done a hilly ride earlier in the day, and was a bit munched.

Afterwards was the worst tho...very achey legs...felt like they'd been run over by a truck! I guess that's what i get for logging 130km for the day, total..d'oh.

Today is very much a rest day....hahaha

Will be going out again next week, plan to get below 26 for sure...let's see how close to 25 i can get....

That was Tuesday, Monday was sprint nite at the track, didn't really do anything too exciting, was a bit tired from the weekend. Fun matched sprint with Sarah.

Looking forward to the track race tomorrow night, long scratch and points - yippee!