Enjoying the Road...Love Boat Style

Yeah, I know; there was a time when I thought that I would rather sit and watch re-runs of the Love Boat while eating snail turds and farting razor blades than wasting time on a road bike. Well, I still enjoy re-runs of the Love Boat and farting razor blades and have been really having fun out on the open road.

It is just so nice to suit up and leave from the front door and not have to clean anything afterwards. I wish that I looked as cool as Isaac with that awesome stache. I think I would gain more respect, too.

Anyway, the nice thing about the road thing is that you can structure your workouts with more constancy. Being on the MTB doesnt allow for smoother rpms and allows for more consistent hill repeats...yay-hills baby! It has definetely helped me-well at least last year and earlier this year with my endurance as well. Now, these are no secrets to anyone; at least to people that know the secret to mtb success. As the song says "promises something for everyone." You dont have to go full out for a road bike either; head down to your LBS and check out used bikes first-especially this time of year. While your at it, hook up with a local club ride, too; you will get faster by default. I know this because the Love Boat doesnt lie-"Love, exciting and new
Come Aboard. We're expecting you. Love, life's sweetest reward. Let it flow, it floats back to you."

Dont be afraid of the road-just stay safe and have fun and  if you can wear a fro like Isaac, you will forever have my respect-stay single!

Feeling da Powa!

I have to admit, it was rough going there for a while; not sure if this nonsense would ever go away or get worse. I struggled from time to time deciding if I should take a hiatus from the bike. Every ride seemed to point to that direction. I saw a handful of doctors that told me I should take a byeak-I sorta did. Dizzy spells, headaches, weakness and just plain depression. What I learned from this whole thing leads me to my favorite quote; Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. Harriet Beecher Stowe.
My race season ended in may which looking back now, was a good thing. I took it easy- even if not by choice and really had a chance to lay back and enjoy riding for what it is. Now, that certainly didnt mean that I hit the rails to trails and took pictures of wildlife, I rode hard, but without structure and meaning; I just rode hard, but fun. I know it doesnt make sense, but it is my blog and I will not make sense when time allows. 

Now, one thing that I have been doing more of (hate to admit it) and that is hitting the road more. No, I am not changing my blog to Road Bike Moron or Gears are Great Moron, this has just allowed me to rest up a bit more and still get in 125+ miles a week. This past week is the first week since may that I felt almost back to my old self. I have been moving up the KOM board and reclaiming some others as well on a lot of the climbs that even when I was feeling good, could maintain the power to the top. 

Tuesday was the first hills workout since april and it was great. 1100ft in 9.4 miles. Four climbs were 11% grades or more and was loving my 53/19 setup again. Jeff (Bike Doctor boss guy) and I have been riding together 3 times a week and it has helped both of us. He hasnt been riding much at all and he is starting to push harder and really feels the bug again.  Me, it allows me to ride at different paces and still push him as well.

So, there is a lot to look forward to this coming year. My enthusiasm has returned and as long as you have enthusiasm, everything else follows right along. 

New and Tasty...and Less Filling

No, I have not starting drinking; nor will I ever. I have not opened a Twinky with malicious intent and removed the filling and left an empty carcass of sponge cake. I have landed myself a sparkling new set of Bontrager Race XXX Lite carbon wheels. Mmmmmm, yummy indeed.

I have to admit, I was laying off these for a long time. Carbon hubs (drive side flange is aluminum), carbon rims just didnt seem like a good idea. Rim wear was also a big concern-especially for a 2k wheelset.

My opinion was completely changed due to my teammate and friend Bruce. He has had these on his Madone for 3 years and has amassed 22k on his. 22k! Now granted he is 150 lbs and I am 186, but he is a gear masher as well and is in love with his 53t chainring as am I. So I figure, if his held up, these will too. There is no noticeable rim wear on his sidewalls either; albeit a little shinier than before.

I loaded up on my Salsa today and these things are amazing! They are 10 ounces lighter than my RXL's! They came in at a svelte 1347 grams. I noticed an increase in acceleration; they just feel fast-and no one can leave out the "just feels" factor. I threw in my 36 star ratchet (an upgrade from the original 18 for DT Swiss 240 hubs) for some super loud and quick engagement. I use slick honey for a super smooth feel. The bike now weighs in at 16.5 lbs.; not too shabby for a steel bike. The rides soooo much smoother and crisper now. It feels as if I have a little extra under the hood. The braking is great right out da box. Who whoulda thunk that cork could stop a 186lb rider going 40+ on a decent?

Anyway, I will keep you posted in the upcoming months on how these perform.

Nice Little Gunpowder Ride

Little Gunpowder is one of those nice little out of sight out of mind type of trail systems. I say this because, it used to be that was the last place people wanted to ride. There wasnt a good loop and you couldnt achieve any decent mileage. Now, this is one of the east sides best kept secret...sorta. Over the years, the trails have been expanded to a very nice 25-30 miles or so. It is easy to get 2500-3500+ ft of elevation-technical elevation. There are quite a few 10%+ grade climbs and even a couple of 15%+ as well. Throw in some nice singletrack and views to boot and you have a super nice trail network.

Today was my first day back in a while; and the first on a mtb as well. There is a few new climbs that I was dying to test my fitness level. One of them being an 11%, 2/10 of a mile super technical climb. Riddled with leaves made it a little more difficult, especially the first time attempting this particular climb.

My legs arent in the shape they were in april, but I am not racing this year, so I can be casual with how I ride and how hard I want to push.

Tomorrow will be another hammerfest at the Bike Doctor shop ride. I think my legs are warmed up and ready to fly.

Why you should at least try a singlespeed

This is a debate that will go on until... well, until geared bikes are no more. There are a vast amount of cyclists that will never try a ss because it is too hard, or they dont see the purpose, or my wittle hiney will hurt. Then there are the rest of that know what a ss will do for you.

If anything is worth doing, it should be hard, or at least challenging. If it were easy, why do it? Sure, you are going to work hard, but no other cycling discipline delivers a more complete body workout than does the wonderful world of monocogging. There is a hidden power in your lower body-not that hidden power-it is called your quads. You will get stronger wether you want to or not-and why wouldnt you. Riding a ss will reward you with powerful quads-not the girly man quads you now adorn. Riding a ss will also build upper body strength. There is no sitting and spinning girlfriend. You have two choices; stand and overcome the pain and the 200+ bpm heart rate or walk and overcome the pain and the 200+ bpm heart rate, but with the extra pinch of humiliation and ridicule from others. There is nothing, and I mean nothing more gratifying than passing a guy on ss whilst listening to the sounds of total exhaustion and just giving a grin and a quick "keep it up, you are doing great."

If you are a woman, dont think that I will take it easy on you. I know of a few that can rock it just as well as their male counterparts. My gorgeous friend Sandie is one of those. Very consistent and a real hard ass when it comes to riding. It takes dedication and mental toughness. She approaches her rides and races with the notion of catch me if you can attitude. I have had the pleasure of racing the same courses with her and she is just a great competitor. Sigh.

You dont need a lot of money to put together a ss either. As much as I hate to suggest it, but Bikesdirect has a ss for 400 clams. You aint getting a light bike, but a good starting point to get you going. You can turn any hardtail or unified rear triangle dualie into a ss for about 80-100 clams.

So put away the excuses and challenge yourself. The worst that could happen is that you never ride your geared bike again and selling it for a nicer ss. Win win situation.

Tryin something new

Well, it has been a while, but I have decided to try some new road material-literally. I am the proud owner of a OX Platinum steel Salsa Pistola. Yes, a Salsa. Long story short; the frame was in the store since I started there and I have been dying to try it. So now it is mine. I completely stripped down the Madone; adorned with all of the lovely Sram Red parts and quickly slapped them on the Pistola. Now, I wasnt expecting the bike to be as light as the Madone nor as stiff either, but after all was said and done it came in at 17lbs even. The madone was 15 lbs. 13 oz.-a one pound difference. The frame is relatively low key-which I like, especially coming from the Trek billboard paint schemes.

I have to say, it rides sooooo nice. I havent put any epic miles on it yet, but I have put some nice climbs to see how it responded to my monocogging mentality of torque over spinning approach. I have to say, nary a whimper nor groan could be heard. I was more than surprised that it didnt have the flex that I expected it to have.

I still have some seat and bar adjustments to make, but so far, I am impressed with the ride.  This saturday it will be put to the test on our Bike Doctor shop ride, er...uh, hammerfest.

I will have a more detailed ride review later on. Until then, I will be pointin my Pistola to the sky and ridin hard and heavy.

My son just likes things that blow other things up

German Panther Tank WW II

My son is a typical boy; baseball, basketball, riding his bike and an appreciation for all things large and explosive . Today we spent the day at Aberdeen Proving Grounds; a local military base that happens to have the coolest collection of military vehicles.

They are renovating the museum and a lot of the vehicles have been moved for some cleansing before being put back on display.

They have everything from V2 rockets to a German railway gun and everything in between. It takes a good 2 hours to really go through and check everything out. The base does have a Subway when you get hungry enough.

British Mark I WWI

I remember as a kid coming here and just being overwhelmed by the size of these vehicles. I would bring my guns and pretend to play war while running in and out of the what seemed like and endless chessboard of fun. I still get all giddy inside when seeing these things. He really loves to read the history behind the tanks as well. One of the few places left that doesnt charge any admission; just walk around and enjoy.

If you get a chance to come by this way and you enjoy military history, check it out.

Sometimes you just have to say...

Needless to say, my ride time and intensity have been low for the last month. I have only been riding between 100 and 125 miles a week. Most of the rides are relatively easy, but the  body still thinks they are much harder than they should be. For the first time, I can honestly say I cant wait to get some medicine in this here 45 year old body and get back to normal.

Today was our weekly Bike Doctor group ride and as usual 12 AFC guys including myself started off at a much faster pace than I had hoped. My goal was to ride a little harder, but not try and maintain the usual 20+ mph pace. Well...that didnt quite go as planned. I did find myself moving at 22+mph for the first 15 miles; I even had a pull up one of the tougher climbing segments. I felt ok, but not anywhere near normal. I ended up at 19.9 mph for the ride and 1600ft of climbing for 28 miles.

Overall, I am ok with how I rode, but cant wait to get back to normal (physically, anyway). Tomorrow is the last CM race at Fountainhead and I am not as bummed as I thought I would be. I guess knowing I cant ride like I want makes it a little easier to not be there. Good luck to all.

Lyme Disease Sucks PT Deux

Well, quite a bit has been going on with me physically in the past 3+ months. Lets recap shall we? I have decided to give it one big long supercalifragi... kinda name-ConcusiRhabdoAppendiLymeasucks. After a series of MRI's and blood work, Lyme's is the winner; I unfortunately find myself on the short end again. I dont know what all of the numbers mean on the report, but more positives than negatives isnt good. The results also showed a low red blood cell count (limiting oxygen in the blood); which explains the whole feeling like I am gonna die when I put forth any hard efforts- kinda like anti-EPO

I was diagnosed with Lyme a few years back and was thought then that we caught it early on and all was good with the world. Needless to say ( envisioning a Jack Nicholson moment) Im baaack.

With the race season over-for me anyway-I find myself not even wanting to ride. I really have to force myself to get out and tell myself to saddle up pardner. Once I am out, all is good-mentally anyway. At least I know now what the heck is wrong now. It doesnt make my season go any smoother, but I know now what I am up against. The dizziness, fatigue, etc. now has a face; and I think it is rather ugly.

So, I am just going to go out and ride and maybe, just maybe see some things I missed before. I may try to race the last race at Fountainhead and do it for fun; for fun is a hard statement to make, but I will try.

What Race Season?

Well, this year has been a big fat ugly wash for me. What started out to be the most promising season for me has just taken a big dump in the toilet of cycling life. I have been off the bike since monday and eating crap food to boot; if I keep this up I will look like White Goodman at the end of Dodgeball.

I have decided to pull the plug on this years race season. It will be the first time I havent been in the Cranky Monkey series since 2006. CX season will be a no show either. My body just isnt responding to what my brain wants it to do...stupid body. I am going to try and do our bike shop ride tomorrow and see what happens. I havent done anything hard in over a week so this should be interesting.

My MRI results came back negative, so that is good; but the neurologist seems to be pointing to Lyme's...again. I had my blood drawn a few days ago and awaiting the results. I had that crap a few years back and was able to catch it in time with antibiotics so no harm done. I also have to go for an eye exam because of some blurriness in my left eye-should "eye" go on? That was bad. Anyway, I am thankful I can at least still ride; just not to the degree I was able to before.

Maybe with some time (steady rising horns with a touch of synth and tribal beat) I SHALL OVERCOME THESE TEMPORARY SETBACKS AND LIKE THE PHOENIX RISING FROM THE ASHES...DEFEAT THE ENEMY AND REGAIN MY RIGHTFUL POSITION AS THE SINGLESPEED MORON! Uh, what was that all about? So in a nutshell, I am coming back to ride more betterer than before.

Ah...Push it

Simply ravishing!

Oh baby baby...bababy baby... Hey, I am an 80's retro grouch and proud of it.  Some things get better with age and those two gorgeous ebony lovely's are it. They can season my turkey burgers anytime. Uh, ok...

Today I was determined to go out and hit some hills, push it a little and throw caution to the wind-like spitting but less messy and embarrassing in front of others. My power has been as consistent as a politician in office. I cant find any rhythm nor recovery after any hard efforts.

I was overall pleased with the results today and although the dizziness was there even with headwinds most of the ride; it was minimal or maybe I just decided to ignore it.  Wow, they are simply beautiful...(weird cartoon sound shaking my head-eyeyeyeyeye). Onward to the bike stuff. Most of the climbing today was relatively short, but averaged 4%-9% grades. I aended up in some places that I havent been before and found some very nice steep stuff to test the head. I was able to put down good power, but the recovery was still way too long; but I survived.

My legs are a bit rough afterwards, but I was glad that I went out and tried to hammer as best I could for now. I think the race season is done for me at this point. I may decide to go  to Fountainhead for the last race of the series, but I will wait to see how I feel.

Anyway, Salt n Pepa, you should change your names to Hot n Spicy, but they have nothing on my wife for sure.

Not hard to figure out

  

and darn tired of it!

The Hybrid

This really should have an explanation, but I think the pics are all that is needed.
The funkiest hybrid ever to grace the streets of middle river. It is missing bar ends pointed at the sky and an adjustable stem... all in good time... all in good time.

Today was the first time that this here bike has touched asphalt in over 2 years; it has been my indoor trainer bike for that time. I have to say, this is the twitchiest frame ever. Even when it had drop bars, it felt as if the bike was always going into spasms. The original flexible flyer. Just one reason that it is relegated to the trainer.

This was a hand me down from my friend Phil. So get a laugh or two from it and move on wit your bad self and dream of only having a cooler hybrid than this.

Just a Lousy Day

Ugly...just plain ugly

Well, it was bound to happen. The dreaded DNF. I havent even seen those 3 letters in quite some time. Never thought I would see them again either. Unfortunately, yesterday at the first Cranky Monkey race of the year, it came back to bite me in the... Temperatures were close to 100° and I thought I was feeling ok. 15 looney singlespeeders lined up to beat each other up to get into the singletrack first. Off we went and the pain began. Dust flying, heavy breathing and...wait a minute, that was on the Nat Geo channel last night on the mating rituals of the Rhino. BAck to reality here...focus man. Anyway, Jon took off and I was much obliged to answer his first attack. First dizzy spell. We were out in front with about a 20 second gap from 3rd. I could tell Jon was feeling the effects of the heat as I was as well. Around mile 7 I felt the dreaded feeling of passing out and dizziness again. I thought, I will get through this, I am in 2nd place right now and I will prevail...uh I didnt. I decided to call it quits at the start of the 2nd lap and still 2nd place.

I tell you what, nothing is more painful than putting out an effort only to not finish; it sucks big time. I thought about going back out, but I just didnt want to end up on the side of the trail passed out or worse yet, falling and hitting my noggin on a rock and having everyone running over my lifeless body and laughing as they did. Visions of Tom Hanks in the Money Pit as the tub fell through the floor.

So today I went for an MRI and wont know anything until wednesday. In an odd way, I hope they find something so at least I know what the heck is going on.

Now I have to decide whether or not to pull the plug on the rest of the race season.

It might be time to slow down a bit

Well, it took me 12 months to do what I have done in 8 so far this year. This is just a comparison and what can be done with a family and 3 kids.

To race or not to race...that is the question

3k in 14.4 miles

Today I hit the trails trying to get a hard ride in before Schaeffer Farm this weekend. At 9am, it was already 86° and super humid. The goal was to get as much climbing as I possibly could in a short amount of time. Merrymans is the best place for mountain bike intervals-if you are akin for that sort of thing I suppose. The first climb, which incidentally starts immediately, is a rocky, steep grinder. Now, as you may already know, I am "suffering" from a case of dizziness-no not old age, AARP dizziness-and a bit of vertigo. Everytime I put in some hard efforts, my body seems to not listen to my brain. Anyway, the heat was suppressing which didnt make todays goals any easier. Funny how some of your technical skills seem to diminish the more time spent on the road bike. It was sketchy at times trying to navigate some areas, mainly due to the fact I hadnt ridden some of the section at all or it has been a very long time.

I decided to gear down to a 16 to make the climbing that much tougher. I was pleasantly surprised at the results I got despite struggling a bit at times with the feeling of blacking out. Cant imagine having narcolepsy.

I never go out to take KOM's on purpose. If I did, my whole training...wait did I say training? Hmmm-ok, I am back. If they come as a result of my training, so be it. It does feel good though. The thing about Merrymans is that there are no "easy" climbs; you have to really work hard. Lots of rocks, roots and steep grades, some as much as 15-20%.

So back to my title. Though the results show a good ride, my body is just not recovering well right now. Not that it wasnt difficult before, but it seems I am working alot harder than I should be. I have an appointment with the neurologist on the 22nd to see if there is something going on. My vision has been taking a hit as well. Seems the left eye-which is the side I hit my noggin at Bakers-is getting blurry. Maybe he will see that I am really a moron or at least a little on the insane side.

Eh, so I will have to see how I feel the morning of the race and decide from there. Stay single and ride hard.

Rough Day in the Saddle

Ugh! Thats about it. Rough day today. No power, no endurance and an average HR of 170 with a max of 193. The max, eh I can live with, but the average of 170 is way to high. I usually hit 165 for an average, so I may need to take a break. Legs felt horrible from the start and couldnt recover on any of the climbing sections at all. I usually average 20.5 on this route, so almost a mile an hour slower isnt a good sign.

GASP!!!

What is that you say? Those wheels look... well a bit... uh... like TWENTY SIX INCHers! Why yes, yes they are. Now before you go all Bolshevik Revolution on me, hear me out. This came about by sheer chance. My cool boss Jeff needed something I had I wanted something he had-voila! Red cranks for Ferrous frame. No, I am not going back in time and ditching my 29er beliefs. Nothing could be further from reality. It was in the shop, I saw, I liked, I have.

It's sole purpose is to just play and have fun and give my other bikes a break. I outfitted it with some good and some just ok and 1 surprise. The surprise being the Sram X7 wheels mated to Disc Jockey rims. These arent the lightest wheels but man are they smooth and bomb proof. They are set up ghetto tubeless. I have a Bontrager race fork and Race X Lite stuff where needed. Comes in at 20.8 lbs, not too shabby at all.

It went out for the first real ride today. 22 miles and 2300ft of climbing. My legs werent feeling great to begin with but the smaller wheels did help a bit on some of the tougher climbs. The OX II frame-like its big brother in the garage is just splendid. Anyway, the ride went pretty good. I certainly noticed the difference on the rougher stuff; the small wheels feel as if they need walkers with little tennis balls on the ends.

There are a few 15% grade technical climbs that really tested the small hoops and they did well; not sure, but I think I would have been faster on the 29er. My tire selection isnt the best, but it is the only 26" tires I had. All in all it was fun, but just didnt have that same flowing feel the 29er has. Plus I look like a Carney in a mini car parading down main street on the small rings.

It was certainly fun, but nothing could make me switch back to the smaller wheels. Well, maybe one thing, but Joe Strummer is gone so it looks like I will be forever big, er uh favoring 29ers.

Gettin' Ready for Cranky Monkey Race 1

Well, it is that time of year again. Pigs are starting to fly; hell is freezing over and monkeys are flying...uhhhhh, onward. So, my favorite race series is upon us here on the east coast. I have to admit, I am not as excited as I usually am. This year has been a rough one for me, at least from a physical stand point. I have only raced once since my episodes with a 6th place finish at Fairhill (although I wasnt supposed to be on the bike), so I feel a bit intimidated. I did real well at last years series winning the series in the SS class...duh. I will get to catch up with some old friends like Hans and Mark Hagen.

I feel pretty good right now. I feel almost as good as I did in april. My power is almost 100% with my endurance getting close. Last week I put in some long road rides with hard efforts. I have been doing limited MTB rides to try and focus more on smooth, out of the saddle mashing, so we will see how it all plays out next weekend.

Thar be a Tarnaduh in them thar hills

Well, I am back from Cherokee and alive. I didnt get hit this year; makes for a good story, but painful. I did manage to ride into what we now know was a tornado in the Smokies? Chris and I headed up to Clingmans Dome (the highest elevation that you can ride on a bike on the east coast-6500 or so ft.). Halfway up the winds picked up and the hail ensued and we were not in a good place. 3500 ft up the mountain and 14 miles downward to any respite. Ever try to race down a mountain at 40+ mph in hail, rain and 70 mph crosswinds along with limbs and debris? I dont recommend it. http://app.strava.com/rides/12596200 We were coming down and about 300 yards in front of us a tree had just fallen. We barely missed that one! I think what saved us was the fact that we saw taillights around the corner, so we had to slow down. It was the most frightening encounter with nature to date. As we descended, we could hear trees and limbs snapping in the forest. Now, 441 is one road up and down, no shortcuts, once you are on your on. Luckily for us, we sought refuge in a bathroom at the mill near the OconalufteeVillage. after few very close lightning strikes made it too dangerous; too dangerous? 


So, for 45 minutes, two guys in bike outfits hanging out in the bathroom-nevermind.
I will catch up with other stories later, but I thought this one would get you started.