Hurry Up! Throw Up!

This past weekend's Auto-Cross event was not one worthy of remembering. Diana, John, BK, and I went to Cordelle to race in the heat and it was another edition of FUBAR as far as the "organization" of the event went. If Drunken Master was performing a fire drill, it would be WAY more organized than this event. We finally began racing around 1pm, it was hot as hell, and we had one person lose control of his new RX-8 and crash into a parked race car which caused a 45 minute delay in racing. Stupid is as stupid does and I think this guy just thought he could steer out of the situation. Whoops!

On a brighter note, Diana is getting much better and aggressive behind the wheel. She finally spun the car in a fast section and did right to put both feet in and let the car slide to a stop. Eventually she'll learn to feather her way through those situations and get much faster.

Oh, we won't be back to Cordelle anytime soon unless they get their sh#* bunched-up.

Lately I've been having good days and bad days, make that really bad days, on the bike with Tuesday's ride being on the negative side. And, rumor is that "a girl's pull at the front of the group" made me toss my cookies. Well, I tossed my cookies alright and it wouldn't have mattered who was up front. I think what the other riders should be happy about is that I wasn't on the front when it happened. Not sure why it happened, but it is the first time I have not been able to complete a bike ride.

"Funny, I don't remember eating Tofu........"

Santos is this coming weekend and I'm getting pumped up anticipating a fun weekend with friends mountain biking. Some 17+ riders from central Georgia are making the journey this weekend and will be competing against each other and whomever else is unlucky enough to be in the same classification. I plan to ride a bit, help support anyone from our group that wants it, and maybe drink a beer or twelve....... Hopefully, I won't be doing any cookie-tossing.

Beyond the Outer Limits

If you don't push yourself once in a while, you'll never get better. Finding the outer limit of your fitness level is an endeavor that can be difficult to endure unless you have a strong riding partner, or partners, to help you through it. I found my limit on Saturday's ride and was lucky enough to have BK with me to pull me back to the truck for the last 8 miles.

I'd planned an 80+ mile ride starting at 7am to beat the heat, but for the second weekend in a row I've broken a valve core on a tube when inflating the tires. That set the start back until almost 7:30, and since it was just BK and I we decided to do the 65 mile loop instead and push the pace a bit. Well, we pushed it alright. Last week's ride averaged 19.8 but took nearly4.5 hours due to a flat tire and a long store stop, but the group started with nearly 11 people. That makes of a nice day of saving energy while in the pack of riders. With only 2 riders, it is definitely a lot harder to keep the pace high while managing energy. We pushed the tempo from the start but I really wasn't feeling like riding until about 20 miles into the ride. It normally takes anywhere from 3-8 miles for me to get comfortably warmed-up, so the acid was building up early in my legs. Once we hit Hwy-329 heading towards Unadilla, it felt like I had no chain. I love that smooth zone when the endorphins are kicking, the cadence is feeling just right, and the cardio is grooving like Otis Redding singing Dock of the Bay. We passed a fairly large group of our regular riders at some cross road on 329. I was pulling hard up a rolling hill, so I wasn't concerned about what road it was. They started with Steve from the Perry Welcome Center at 8am. I honestly don't think a single one was sweating, but I got to say almost all of them were smiling and I love to see that! Social rides are great but Saturday I'm glad it was BK and me. We've done a lot of rides together this year and always seem to work well together.

After the store stop in Unadilla, we hit Elko and the legs were starting to talk to me a bit. But as usual the aching went away after a few miles and it was grooving time again on Klondike. I pushed a bit too hard before we hit Pits and the hills, and I soon paid the piper before reaching Grovania Rd. There was my limit. How long could I stay on the edge and dance on the pedals? I stayed hydrated the entire ride, but it was the extra effort BK and I were doing that started the twitching and burning in my right thigh muscles. I haven't felt this kind of constant aching since riding with the guys in Macon this past winter, and in a sick kind of way I actually like the burn. We were at roughly 53 miles with 11 to go and were avering over 21mph. I didn't want to be the one to sit-up and sure as hell didn't want the burn to end. The legs had different ideas.

Backing down the pace just 2 miles per hour may not seem like much, but today it made the difference between severe cramping and being able to stay on the bike. BK was on the front blocking the wind for me and we trickled back to the PWC at about 20mph. A few others have had to do that for me lately and I hope to re-pay their consideration soon.

One thing is for sure, I feel stronger than ever since surgery and I'm almost back to where I was in March. My endurance is down a bit as far as being able to push hard for more than 3 hours, but its getting better. I will be raring to go come November when the training rides start up again.

I ain't skeered of the dark, just what I can't see...

The macabre humor of Monte Python episodes kept me smiling on the trails the last few days, and in this heat any "happy thoughts" keep you rolling. The "Thin Mint" episode where the guy explodes was especially relevant. The waiter offers the man a mint after he eats nearly everything not tied down, but the man says he "couldn't eat another bite." The waiter says, "but its just a thin mint." The man agrees, and just as he consumes his mint --> BOOM!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDlSlwqNcmY

Now, consider how hot it is, you're in the woods mountain biking, you're pushing yourself into a slobbering baby immitation with wobble-head as well, your body is ready to revolt from the self-inflicted punishment, and hopefully you get the idea. And, we do this because we love it? It's also a lot less messy when you detonate on a bike.

This past Saturday's ride was outstanding with cooler (slightly) temps., lower humidity, and a great crowd of folks as usual. We did the previous Saturday's route in reverse this time and it seemed to be a lot easier having the hills at the end instead of the beginning. Others may disagree, but it helped keep the group together since it was fairly flat and the pace was not too difficult since the group stayed together until just past Unadilla. Mark "Diesel" Duffus sat on the front of the group as usual pulling like a locomotive for many miles, and we got a little pace-line work in the last 20+ miles with Eddie Hudspeth discussing topics of interest the entire way. I think he has 3 lungs or something. My totals were 64.5 miles at 19.8mph for the ride and that is much better than the bonking display I put on last week. I also went back out to join Diana, Steve, and Deb on their way in on Hwy-41. That gave me another 12.5 miles on the day.

I've been riding at Thomson every evening this week, but Wednesday night was a 1-lap day due to some stomach issues. Apparently, eating Zaxby's hottest sauce on the Cajun Club is not compatible with exercising in 100+ degree temps. Who knew?!


Its pronounced "Doo-moss."


Tuesday night was especially fun since it was the first night-laps I've done since this past winter at Thomson. I got in 2 quick laps before dark, then turned on the lights for a night lap. I felt as if I was pushing a lap time of 24 minutes, which is hauling ass for me, but when I got out of the woods my odometer said 33 minutes. Riding at Thomson is treacherous during the day, but at night it can be fatal. I didn't hit anything (hard), but it was the fact that my focus was very narrow and I was extremely tense on the bike that made me very slow and very tired at the end. Even if you know each root, bush, and sandy turn by heart, it means nothing when you think everything is going smoothly and suddenly the trail goes to the right while you're going left like Bugs and Left Turn At Albuquerque. That'll make the pucker factor increase exponentially. Plus, I was riding alone, at Thomson Trails..........at night.

Again, Its pronounced "Doo-moss."

The legs are coming around like I expected, but this heat is literally hell on my cardio. I won't be caught up to pre-surgery fitness level by Santos, but that's ok. I plan to ride as much as I want, stay hydrated like a water-buffalo, help support the other 16+ riders from our area that will be racing as well, and enjoy the weekend among friends. I might even see the occassional "Expert Rider!!" (what a dumb-ass) fly by me on the trail. I hope that guy stays away from Mark this year.

The coyote buys from Acme

That damn Road Runner is elusive as ever! Ole Wil-E Coyote goes out, gets a Super-Stretch rubber band from Acme, straps it up, and launches in an effort to catch Road Runner. Alas, the poor bastard goes too fast, misses his opportunity, and crashes miserably into the rut of life he is accustomed to. That is how I feel of late since I'm lacking motivation to do anything.

I've gotten behind on a few things recently so I've had to catch another gear. Like the Coyote, I build up a fierce determination, go rushing headlong trying to attain my goals, but in my haste I overlook a few important details and miss some excellent opportunities. When I do slow down, I crash back into the Ruts of Acedia. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth, so I guess its shit or get off the pot time.

Catching up a bit...

Since my last post, I've only ridden a few times and the heat has been the biggest enemy since I need to regain some cardio as well as endurance. Not happening in 100+ temps! We did have a great ride this past Saturday, however, and yes the heat got to me at the end. The fact that I ate rare prime rib the night before and it didn't get fully digested didn't help matters. My body was busy with that beef and wasn't too concerned that my muscles were screaming for water and nutrients.

Class, today's word is BONK. Can you say "BONK"?
B-brutal
O-over exersion
N-not gonna make it
K-kill me please, so the suffering will end

For last Saturday's ride, I chose a route of some familiar roads as well as a few new ones that would give us roughly 65 miles and a hair over 3,400 ft. total of climbing. I'm not sure if it was the heat, but several of our regular riders were not keeping up with the 18 mph pace we were doing on the flats. We weren't hauling-the-mail so it puzzled me as to why they couldn't stay in the pack. These particular riders can easily do a 19mph average over similar distances and tougher climbs. Mark and I would be talking while we were climbing the small hills of the gently rolling farmland roads, but when we'd glance back the rest of the pack would be several hundred yards back and struggling to catch up. Like Mark stated, "steady pace means different things to different riders." Mark is 100% on that, and it is the same story with our group: a few of the strong riders will be on the front, in the wind, putting down a steady but fairly moderate pace that all can handle, but when one person in the pack slows the rest are either too lazy to come around and take up the pace making to help that weaker rider or they pass by the ones struggling in an effort to catch the leaders. Either way, people only want to "wheel suck" others and then blow the pack away at the end. In racing, that will work once but you'll earn an asshole status quickly just like you do in our group rides. Training rides on Tuesday and Thursday are different because everyone knows that we're going to keep the group together until we reach a certain point and then the attacks begin, and everyone becomes pirates.


At the start of tomorrow's ride, I plan to discuss the particulars on pace line etiquette as well as what we should be doing on our Saturday and Sunday group rides to help each other keep pace. These are not training rides, or hammerfests, but we ride to get a good workout and enjoy the company of other riders. Anyone wanting to piddle along should announce such intentions at the beginning of the ride so we don't waste time waiting unnecessarily. I think that's fair.

I attended an avionics training course in New York this week at CES Laboratories. It was more intense than I expected....way more intense! It was also a very humbling experience for me since I thought I had a good grip on avionics systems. Well, I used to have a decent grip on the fundamentals apparently and this course was motivation for me to study up regularly to keep sharp. Reading binary codes when troubleshooting modern avionics systems will put a hurtin' on the gray matter for sure. My instructor, who is an Electrical Engineer, was able to do the "cut-off frequency" formula in his head, while poor me took 10+ minutes to work it out on paper (without a calculator of course). Scary stuff to see someone that good do it not once but five times with me picking the inductors and capacitors at random. I would build the circuit, find the voltages and frequency using an ocilliscope, and then do the math to confirm the frequency reading. Perry, my instructor, would simply ask what components I would be utilizing, think for less than 10 seconds, write something on a piece of paper, flip the paper over so I couldn't read it, and he'd walk away while I began building the circuits. After 20 minutes of working to build, test, and confirm my readings working the formula out, Perry and I would discuss what I did. He would then ask me to flip the paper over to reveal the same answer I worked so hard to achieve. Damn this guy is smart! Got to be magic or something............


Tonight, Diana and I will be going to a local campsite to set up the new camper as a dry run before Santos. We hope to get the routine down, make notes of what is needed and wanted, and see what kind of time we need to do specific items. I'm building a couple of pre, during, and post camp checklists to ensure we don't do something stupid. Well, at least not dangerous. Its me afterall and I put the "A" in accident prone!

Riding in "The Bonk"

There's no fine line between using the correct eating habits and training hard. It's a self-imposed divided highway for me at the moment. I'm doing everything wrong in order to do some things right. Confused I may seem, but it works for me and my body's chemistry.

I want to get my weight down to 160 lbs before January and that is 27 lbs away as of last Thursday morning. Gone are the beer, salsa and chips snacking in the evenings. The rigid diet I used last year to lose 18 lbs in 3 months is back, but with a slight modification: I'm riding in "The Bonk" every afternoon on our training rides and trail rides at Thomson instead of fueling up prior to riding. I do, however, hydrate with H2O hours before. Know that draining, cold chill, stomach wanting to turn over empty feeling that is your body saying, "feed me now or I'll start eating the meat off 'ya backbone!" ?? That is what I'm feeling from 3pm until I get home and eat a cup of fruit for supper. Throw in a 40 mile training ride with some very fast riders in our club and you've got 2 hours of the worst suffering a cyclists can experience. But it makes your body dig into that Done-lap, Dicky-Do, Spare Tire, Swimming Floaty, Table Muscle, Shed for The Tool fat storage that is so damn hard to rid yourself of.

I knew that last night would be rougher than most since all I've had to eat the last couple of days was cereal, a little yogurt, and morning coffee.


"All I had for breakfast was a bagel.................and a grape!!"



Sure enough after the long climb up Hayneville, I ease up a bit to wait on a few riders, got stuck behind a truck, and couldn't ride myself back to the group that had 200 yards on me up the road. They really turned it on as I was attempting to catch, but they didn't know that. Or, maybe they did. It goes without saying that if a group is running 25mph and you're trying to catch running all out at 27 it just ain't gonna happen since a group is more aerodynamically efficient spending less energy for the same speed. After chasing for 5 miles and watching them slip over the horizon, it put a huge damper on my efforts and I did what I've been trying not to do: I sat up. Still determined to ride the entire route, I kept a comfortable pace around 21 and was happy to see after a few more miles that a group was along side the road fixing a flat. Not happy about the flat mind you ~ just happy to have a group to draft off.

I felt bad that I could for one not keep up at the pace these guys were setting, but also that I could not pull worth a plug nickel to do my share. My self induced suffering is gonna piss these guys off pretty soon since they are used to me doing my share, but also pushing them sometimes at a higher pace. So, I'm probably gonna do some solo work from here on out. Not to be un-social, but to toughen up mentally and physically by not relying on others to draft off. Also, I plan to leave a half-hour earlier to get some more miles in each ride.

Ride a little, do a little trail maintenance

Tuesday night's ride was uneventful except for the fact our entire group dropped a rider early and no-one seemed to see that she was no longer with the pack ~ myself included. Two of us turned back a few miles later when we realized she had been dropped, but by then she'd already taken a different route solo. I'm planning to make a concerted effort to keep our packs either together in respect to paces being set or ensure that no-one is dropped or riding alone even if it means giving up my own training ride.

Everyone seems to be in survival mode this year rather than looking out for one another, and I have to accept partial responsibility for that mode of cycling. I've been going 70-85% since March due to my knee problems. They have, however, caught up speed wise due no doubt to each one's natural progression and my inability to ride at a higher training level to keep the fitness level I gained over the winter. Since my surgery to fix the knee, I have been relatively pain free except for some moderate stiffness and soreness after riding. That should go away by November when I'll really pick up the effort. Until then, it is just ride and enjoy myself at the upcoming races at Santos and Dauset, and perhaps do 3-GAP this year again if I'm able. I can do it, but it won't be any fun this year since I'll struggle up the easiest climbs and possibly bonk on the harder switchbacks of Wolf Pen.

Yesterday was the monthly OMBA meeting at Thomson after the ride. I chose to do some trail maintenance instead of riding since the trail has gotten very sandy in spots and only a few of us have done anything to maintain riding conditions over the past few months. Dan's Bastard and the loop past the Spider Web is now clean in the turns, and I hope to get a ride in before the next storms change that.



The "SS" Pyramid building crew:



My "diet" is not going so well this year and not even relevant the last few weeks. Beer, salsa and chips, pizza, and Mexican dishes have been the daily regimen instead of the strict cereal, boneless/skinless chicken breast, yogurt, fruit for supper, and water to drink daily ritual. Instead of burning 3K-5K calories on the weekend rides, I'm consuming that much each day it seems. My weight is now up to 183 and fluctuating according to how much beer I consume and exercise I do. My plan is to ride fairly hard tonight and keep up with the Wolfpack, rest tomorrow, and then do the Rolling to Roberta ride Saturday morning. Sunday is the Pigtrail race that I'm only course marshalling and not riding, so no riding then either. I have to ride 6 days a week from now until Santos or I'll suffer like last year again and take 3 weeks to recover.