I got our ride patch!

Today. I got our long ride FLETC to Washington DC patch(es)! One of the organizers actually sent us all four of the patches for our jerseys, coats and/or jackets. They are pretty sweet! Check 'em out:

Going to look good on our PUT kit:


I got another decent ride in on Thur, the weather was actually much nicer than Wed! It got up to 50 deg and little winds, with a tail wind on the way back in.

1hr 53m 22s
32.5 miles
17.2 mph avg/28.3 mph max
1,494 kcals
HR 144 avg/167 max
cad 88 avg/106 max

My ride #s were very similar to Wed's ride of 40 miles. So 72.5 miles in 2 days at the same avg speed, and I'm happy with that. Today was my first of four back at work, I'm shot tonight, got so tired I fell asleep on the couch during our family movie night. A day or two off, then I'll get back at it.

Ramping up the training.

I got an email from a fellow rider who will be riding the 1,000 mile route with our small group, starting May 1st; 35 DAYS TO GO! Wow,it was almost a slap in the face, a wake up call. It's coming fast now. I got the hotel list emailed to me today, and most of the details are in place. Before you know, I'll be shipping my bike out, picking out my gear to bring with, and trying to figure what 3 or 4 street clothes outfits to bring with. I've got a lot of detail to go over yet, and time is starting to slide by!

Well, on that slap in the face note, I feel like I'm right where I need to be training wise. I rode again today, and the weather was worse than predicted by the weather gurus. Here are today's #s:

40.0 miles
2hr 19m 18s
2,000 kcals burned
152/168 HR avg/max
17.2/28/5 mph avg/max
weather: cloudy/cold, 42 degrees but only 35 degrees with wind chill. Winds, SSW 15 mph constant, gusts to 25 mph.

Total road miles YTD: 185.20

This was a non-stop ride, except for about hopping off at a stop sign for about 2 minutes at Interstate I94 on Hwy K, waiting for traffic to move out so I could cross the underpass. I wasn't too bad off, as I've got the cold weather gear to make this ride pretty doable. But, I opted not to wear my neoprene shoe covers, yeah, that was a mistake. My feet were NUMB when I hopped off the bike at home. Considering the initial ride was about 18.8 miles either directly into the headwind, or with a stiff crosswind, no wonder it took 20 minutes to regain the feeling in my toes! Other than my toes, I felt very good. I even wore my summer riding gloves. It was nice heading back into town on Hwy K, with a (partial) tailwind, I was able to put the hammer down and ride along at 24+ mph with even getting close to blowing up the HR. Had a bite to eat, a Chocolate Cliff Builder Bar and some Powerade and, yeah, water.

Tomorrow, I will drop the kids at school and head out for about 20-25 miles. My legs are feeling better already; I'm sure the 3 glasses of Aussie Cab/Merlot blend hasn't hurt (though it might hurt my head tomorrow AM a bit). We had a nice dinner of home-made spaghetti (well, the sauce was home-made at least) with corn mixed in to sweeten it up a bit, also twisty bread sticks and salads. I love being able to eat the high carb dinners after a workout like I had today, I mean, blowing out almost as many calories as I normally consume is the bomb! Wait until the long ride starts; each day will see me blowing up about 3,500-4,000 calories (or more on the really long days, maybe as much as 4,500 kcals on the longest days). The pasta and carbs will get old quickly, but it won't be an option to eat like I'm on a diet. It will be a matter of keeping in the ride or riding in the SAG wagon!

This weekend will see me do another 30-40 miler; the next pair of days off ( 3/31 and 4/1) will see me doing at least one-50 mile ride. My training plans, as they stand now, are to ramp up to maximum mileage during the week of Easter, from 4/12-4/19. I'm scheduling at least one century ride that week, possibly two, if I can get off work one day during the week and the weather cooperates. I want to log a minimum of 500-700 miles before I head out, and I feel I'm right in line with getting there based in how my rides are going so far. Remember, much of the long races or rides is a mental thing. Today's ride was a definite "HTFU" mental points earned ride! If I can suffer thru that, I can handle anything the Carolinas, Virginia or DC can throw my way. Yeah. Well, I will let you know about Day #5 or so, when the ride miles are taking their toll!

As far as bike choice for the long FLETC ride, I am strongly leaning towards taking my CF Giant with. I want to have the best components, least amount of weight and not have any significant mechanicals on the ride. The new Aksium wheels and Conti tires are working good so far. I want to get a new headset installed; I've noticed the steering tends to be a bit stiff or binds a little. It's the cheap-o stock headset on the bike with over 3,600 miles, so changing it won't be a big deal, I just need to figure out what I want to order. And I want to take the crankset and pedals apart, clean and grease them up before heading out.

Update the blog.

Man, it's been awhile since I've even been on blogger, let alone posted something new. Think I lost some motivation for a few weeks, bad weather, bad moods, not training enough, etc etc. Then I get busy with work, a few long distance training classes so another few weeks go by, still no posts or even visits to some of my favorite blogs. I can imagine how pathetic this will get in the summer months! WOW.

So, training update; I've been training hard, longer sessions than '08, and my March '09 totals so far this month are equaling my entire March '08 totals. I've started doing some hill drills on the trainer, man, those are leg blasters! Good article from the April '09 Triathlete Magazine, the 300th Issue. The main focus of the article was training for extended out of saddle time and even seated, lower cadence training. The last trainer session consisted of a 2+ hr ride, with out of saddle "intervals", starting at 1 minute, rest, up to 2 minutes, rest, up to 6 minutes continuos out of saddle pounding in a big gear, like 14, 15 or 16t. Legs were blown up after this session. The article also plans out how to train for low cadence, hammer training or a mix of out of saddle then seated hammering. This seated and combo training requires you to block the front wheel up, simulating elevation. I have not tried the seated/standing combo drills yet, but I will next week one night, when the weather is supposed to go to crap again. But, did these drills help in the real world?

Yeah, I'd say. A buddy of mine and I went on my 17.6 mile out and back the other day; now there are a few rolling hills on this route, and normally I'll get out of the saddle and pound on those pedals. This time, I could stay seated on one of the last tough uphill sections, and I had one gear left to spare. The legs feel much stronger, and it is early in the year yet.

Today, I got out for a 2hr 3min ride. Did 35+ miles, averaged 17.2 mph and felt good, despite the cold (it was about 33 deg when I got home, with a WC of 25!). I also ran the new front Aksium wheel with the new Conti 4000 tire for the 1st time-not the rear wheel, as I haven't swapped out the cassette from old to new rim (yet). I got the new tools I need for this today, and will do so over this weekend. I also reserved my bike shipping box at the LBS, next pricing out how much it will cost to send there and back! I've also got to figure a good way to send about a case of beer (bottles) from the local brew houses to my buddies' place in VA, we need to have a few and give a few to his local garage that is letting him use a van/trailer to haul us and our bikes/gear to Charleston SC.

YTD totals: So far, so good. I am down to T minus 6 weeks until I fly out and get ready for the 1,000 miles. So here we are:

25 rides
time in saddle-30 hr 6m 53s
21,000+ kcals
HR- 142 avg 172 max
speed 17.14 avg 37 mph max
117 road miles

I'll try to shoot some pics on one of these rides and post some here. I'm working on getting a Milwaukee news outlet to do a story on our ride, and we will need to gear up for the interviews and scene shots anyways.

A quick review.

Well, I looked quickly at my YTD stats from bikejournal.com from 2008 and thus far this year. With three days to go until the end of Feb, I will be right there for number of rides/hours/calories so far compared to last year. Here are the totals, comparing last year this time versus 2009:

2008:
21 rides
60 road miles
21 hr 35 min
16,936 kcalories

2009:
18 rides
51.7 road miles
20 hr 24 min
14,000 kcalories

So if I ride the next three days, I will have the same number of rides in, with more actual hours in the saddle for 2009. Most of my trainer rides this year have been at least 75-90 minutes, which has helped.

I got out today for a quick Wind point loop ride, it was really nice weather. Temps were around 48 degrees, light winds, sunny. I was able to get the loop done in 25:24 and averaged 18.1 mph. Legs felt good, I could've rode all night, but had to fly home and help with dinner. The weather is supposed to get bad again tomorrow, so more trainer time is in my future. I'm hoping this weekend, the weather will improve again and I can get out for at least a 2 hour ride on Sunday. I'm going to try and drag Dennis with me, and finally get him started on his training for the PUT in May. I will bring the camera with for any weekends rides I can squeeze in.

A night out.

No bike post today. Friday night, I went to a Father and Daughter Dance at Meadowbrook Country Club with my six year old. It was a very nice night, good dinner, coffee, DJ and dancing for everyone, and the kids got to have a blast. It was a very nice event and well run, at nice facility, even had some arts and crafts for the kids. The kids were just loving it! Here are a few pics of the night:

Wind and the death wobble.

Well, I got out for that ride today, instead of being stuck inside on the trainer. It was a bit cold, 37 degrees but feeling about 28 deg with the wind chill. The wind, yeah, that's something you don't get on the trainer, unless you've got the fan blowing on you. There was plenty of wind to go around today, that is for sure. I rode the Giant, first time she's been on the road this year too.

The wind was blowing strong from about due west 17 mph gusting to 20+. That made for a tough ride out about 10 miles; I even had to shift down to the 39t chain ring for some of the hills. On some of the hills, I looked down at my Polar CS200 and saw I was going about 9 mph, that is sad. I made the last climb into the wind on Hwy G and did not spot my nemisis, the little dog (a tale for another day!). After making the turn to head north on 43rd St, the cross winds were bad, but not as bad as the head wind.

I crested the grade on 43rd St and started the descent towards the county line and Root River, which forms a valley in the area. I picked up some speed on the decent and hit about 27 mph, just coasting, when a cross wind almost blew me off my bike. Time to slow down a bit, little too hard to control in that wind. Past the river in the low lying areas, looking at the flooding of the Root, wow, it's bad, all the snow melt off and rain from yesterday did the area in but good. I turn right and head about due east, heading up a steep hill I call "Big Dump Hill" on 8 mile rd. Why Big Dump Hill? 'Cause it's a big hill, next to the dump in Raymond, nothing more elaborate. It's short and steep, and you've got to get out of the saddle to climb it, and you can peg your HR at 168+ easy if you jam all the way up.

A short grade up on 27th St, then east on Oakwood Rd. This is where the tail winds kick in wholesale, and I'm cruising at 22, 23, 25 mph easy. A ways up, looking at the wetlands and flooding along a flat section, I see I'm doing 27 mph and the HR is at 146. Nice. I turn south on Hwy 32, and more wicked crosswind to deal with. More traffic here too, but not that bad. Roads are pretty decent too, not too much road crap today.

So I've talked about the wind, lets talk about the death wobble. I've read about the dreaded death wobble, where your front wheel gets a crazy shimmy, making the front end go all over the place. I've never had it happen before today. I had turned east again on 6 mile rd, and I'm in the home stretch of my ride, only 3 or 4 miles to go. The tail winds are blowing, stronger than before maybe. I crank hard down a grade towards the rail trestle that passes overhead, a route I've ridden many times before. Just as I get under the overpass, I look at my speedo, I'm over 35 mph! Wow, that's fast for this stretch, never done that fast here before. All of a sudden, I hear this hideous squealing noise coming from the front end of my bike; the front wheel starts to wobble, just a little at first, then wildly. Luckily, I've got both hands on the controls, and I remember to get off the saddle and clamp my knees on the top tube. I coast for a few meters, not braking, for fear I'd go down hard. The front end is still shaking but I ease the speed down and can brake back to 17 mph, then it disappears. No more death wobble. I've read that something causes the death wobble, a certain speed, road vibration, wind, a combination of several things, I don't know for certain, but the results are a vibration in the bike that produces the wobbling front end and feeling like you're going to hit the deck. Not fun, I don't want to see it again!

All in all, a great ride, despite the death wobble and killer headwinds for 10+ miles. Here are the totals:

1hr 35m 11s
HR 142/162 avg/max
1100 kcal
26.5 miles
16.7 mph avg
37 mph max
cad 86/118 avg/max

Here is a post ride pic of me, I should title it, "How we roll in Wisconsin winter!"




Ah, it's going to be a great year of riding! And riding my TCR, well, it reminds me of what I love about that bike and just riding in general, despite the less than desirable weather.

It also reminds me that I need a new front tire on this ride, that Michelin Pro Race 2 has 3,500+ miles on it (the rear was worn flat, threads showing, so it was tossed last fall). I think I'm going to order a 6600 cassette for the new Aksiums, and will run the new black wheelset on my Giant. The old Aksiums you see on the Giant now (the silvers) will get the Conti 4 Seasons and will be relegated to the Trek. The Bonty wheels are getting sent down to 3rd string duty, or will serve as back-ups for my wife's bike.

Crazy weather.

I seem to talk a lot about the extremes in Wisconsin, how bad the winters have been the past two years, strong winds most days (at least it seems like it to me, when I'm riding). The temperatures go up and down quite a bit at times, take yesterday for instance. We hit record highs of 63 degrees, bright sunny weather, with strong south winds. Of course, I worked during the day yesterday, and today I was off.

Yeah, today the temps had dropped to 39 degrees with a brisk N/NE wind and misty rain. Yeah, I went running in this today. I just did not feel like sitting on the trainer today, and to be honest, it wasn't that bad to run in (biking would have been another story; wet roads, strong winds, cold, no thanks). And one of my favorite sayings is, "I've run (or biked) in worse conditions than this!". I don't really remember what the worst day of weather I've ever biked or run in. I can probably go through my bikejournal.com log and pull up a top three (or five) list, and kind of narrow it that way. There will be many more bad weather day rides and runs, I'm sure of that, as long as I live in WI. And I'm not moving until at least when I retire, and thats a good number of years off. So, for the time being, I just have to say another one of my favorite sayings for training in the crappy weather, I just need to HTFU!

The run: 5k in 26:09, HR 163/168, 395 kcal.

I felt good, legs were fresh, felt like I could have done a 10k, easy. I was warm enough, no issues there (I wore my Pearl Izumi Zephyr high vis yellow bike coat, it blocks the wind and rain nicely). Tomorrow will be a road ride (depending on wind and cold), or a trainer spin. I like the road ride idea much better!