Cycling

The BIG Bonk

tedr — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:04:26 -0600

So today was a humbling day. I have had a pretty good summer so far. Feeling strong for the most part and racing well enough. Two weeks ago, I did Vineman in Santa Rosa, CA and had a strong race: 4:28. Biking being my strong point. I have tried to focus more on it this year for a couple of reasons: I did Ironman AZ in April, so I just had to get some distance in, and it has helped my fitness without focusing on the run, thus preventing those nagging injuries I would push myself and get running. But today.............Going up Mt Lemmon, I did not feel that bike fitness I have enjoyed all year.............Today, I bonked BIG time going up to ski valley!! The kind of bonk, when you feel like you should get off and walk........because that would be faster!! The kind of bonk, when you start sweating that cold (oh crap!) this is the last of it, sweat!! The kind of bonk, when I accepted a push on my sweaty ass from a girl (no offense to the girl...she is an awesome cyclist) to help keep me going forward!! So I thought about it and came to a couple of conclusions. One is, I need to eat more than a banana for a ride like Lemmon. Stupid me. Even in good shape, you need to do the right things. No one is invincible!! Secondly, I have not ridden since Vineman, and I think the consistant riding that we do that is followed by the consistant refueling is key to a hard day or race. Without keeping the glycogen stores in the muscles, from consistant replenishment, we empty our tank and are more prone to bonk. Even pre-race, I make a habit of doing short, race pace workouts followed by good nutrition replenishment. With muscle specific exercises, our blood flow is at peak during and post workouts. This is the BEST time to feed that muscle the energy it wants. I failed to do this over the last two weeks and a tough climb like Mt Lemmon, demands better. Oh well, LIVE and LEARN. In training or in life, there are these great reminders and yes humbling days..................

Collegiate Triathlon

4 Peak Tucson Holiday

tedr — Tue, 27 May 2008 22:37:38 -0600

Well, I had a goal. And it was good to be done with it. I must say it proved more difficult than I thought it would be! I had some necessary help from some friends. Saturday was an aggressive beginning. I ran Wasson Peak on the west side with my friend Joe. It was a great morning run, but harder than I had expected. And this was the smallest one! After a fruit shake at Joe's house, I went to Mt Wrightson on the south side. I was already a bit sore but started to make my way up. On the way, my right quad cramped and I had to fast walk on a lot of the steep trail. On top of the mountain there was some snow and it was super windy. Freekin cold! But I got there and made a quick decent. Very sore and rethinking this whole plan. Sunday, I had planned an early bike ride up Mt Lemmon, but opted to sleep in a bit and reconsider. Luckily, another friend, Chris, was willing to start a little later and by 9am I fealt good enough to go. We climbed well enough and the weather was perfect. But by Palisades at mile 20, I was spent! Thank god the gift store at the visitors center had prickly pear candy. It saved me! We then made it to the peak. Chris dropped the bike off at the ski valley and ran up the ski slopes 20+% grade! I rode the service road that tipped up to 14%. After, we had great food at the alpine restaurant in ski valley. It's amazing how GOOD food can taste sometimes! On the way down, I froze my @#%$ off! The wind picked up and we had to actually pedal down hill! Finished the day sore and tired and rethinking again.... Monday, Chris saved my goal by doing some research and telling me the highest peak in the Rincons, was NOT Rincon Peak, but Mica Peak. So at 7am we set off to conquer it! Yes, he got hooked on the goal of 4 peaks as well! A bit of bush waking to find the trail, but overall it was easy to find. It was steep and very exposed. I was sweating like a madman! My camelback, unfortunately, had a hole and we were left to share a 32oz bottle of gatorade for the 18 mile trip with almost 5,000 ft of climbing. Not enough...........The trail was awesome though and the dirty snow at the top tasted oh so good. The way down started fast until, we realized we had gone a long way! It took forever. And at the end, I was so tired, I almost puked. But the goal was accomplished........Maybe a silly goal, but an epic and fun way to spend the holiday weekend. Chris jsut called a bit ago and had tried to get up Wrightson, but ran into a bear on the trail that wouldn't move! Crazy! So another weekend of insane workouts at another time I guess. But one heck of a story to tell!! Yes cross training can be fun.................

Triathlon

10:21:57

tedr — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:43:40 -0600

10:21:57 in Ironman Arizona, after a long day of Hot and Windy weather. Honestly, I had a great day. My swim was solid in the 65 degree dirty water of Tempe Town Lake. I wore a sleevless wetsuit and fealt good. Not too cold, not too warm. It was a bumper car ride the entire 2.4 miles though. I really thought things would separate out a bit more, but I guess 2000 people in the water at the same time doesn't leave much room for space. Nothing too bad though. One heel kick to the left eye. But the goggle lens took most of the hit. I have a few more finger nail scratches on my wetsuit! After the swim, the T1 tent was awesome! The volunteers are great at an ironman event, and I took a little more time to make sure I had it all together. After getting on the bike, I realized the wind that was supposed to go away, DIDN"T! There was some hang on moments, since I stayed with my decision to ride with a Zipp disc in the back and a Zipp 808 in the front. The three loop mostly out and back course started right into the headwind. And at times, I found myself going only 13mph. I thought, "this is going to be a suck day!" But at the turn around, I realized why others were smiling on their way back. The wind was helping to carry me back to transition at up to 35mph!! It was awesome, and it gave me motivation to keep grinding into the wind on the other two loops out. I got to the run and fealt great. I had to force myself to slowdown, after I split the first 2 miles under a 7 minute pace. Through the first and a half of the 3 lap course, I fealt great. I, of course knew, that unknown territory was coming (my long run of only 13 miles, and persistant calf muscle cramps/pull). And at about 15-16miles, I hit a wall. No cramps, but just ran out of mojo. I found out that chicken broth, even warm chicken broth, on a 96 degree day, tastes great! I managed to go through many emotions during the next 10 miles.......walking, taking up a new sport, jumping off the bridge into the filthy water of the lake (would anyone notice?). But in the end, decided to stick with the forward motion and finished a slow overall marathon, 3:54, but a great overall day. The finish of Ironman, is enough to make any crazy thoughts go away and made me immediately start to wonder what I could have done (besides train longer and more!!!) that would have given me a sub 10 hour time and a slot to Hawaii (12th in my division, with only 9 going...). It was a great experience

Collegiate Triathlon

The night before Ironman

tedr — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:31:40 -0600

Well, tomorrow is a long day coming.........so it will be, a long day. Here in Ironman village and hotel, there is an interesting energy combined with a calmness. All different walks of life have led to this path. From all corners of the world. Some to win, some to dive into a personal agenda. Some unfinished turmoil that needs to be let go through the exhaustion and intensity of a day of Ironman. You can see the different stories in people's eyes as they walk, talk and stare.......... I have been a triathlete for over 18 years. Truly dedicated to the sport. I love the competition, the people, and the well roundedness of the sport. Maybe the Libra in me! THIS will be my first Ironman, though. And with it comes a new feeling. There is a definite thoughtfulness and respect for the race I will do tomorrow. Maybe not so much "the race" but the distance. Whether it takes me 9 hours or 13 hours I will be going much slower than what my brain typically considers racing. I will try to set my body like a metronome and just cruise. And hopefully set the count right! There are families here. Support systems that only they can describe. There are friends from clubs, and there are lone rangers. All have a familiear stare and look in their eyes. You do not have to ask who is doing the race tomorrow, it shows in their face. I wish my kids were here to sense this energy and learn from it. And to know what the training that they have seen me do, ultimately turns into. But.............. I have been fortunate to have many friends and family that have called me to wish me luck and to have a good race. It reminds me that with the everyday life we live, people notice.........And with that, it gives me a greater humility and sense of being. Because it is not just with Ironman training, or any race training, it is with life that people notice and are in a way influenced. We all notice the good people do..........We all notice the bad people do....... Inbetween is a lot of life that we think goes unnoticed. But is it? Our children notice, our friends and family notice. Work colleagues notice. How we live matters......... We are an example as individuals. The evening news is full of dread and doom and gloom. But here at Ironman, and maybe in everybody's everday life, we can strive to do good. To make our own good news. I hope the first good news to share is a good race tomorrow. Thanks, to all my friends and family

Triathlon

One more week down

tedr — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:18:42 -0600

Last week was a run focus week. And I ended up a little short of my goals in the swim and bike. Overall for the week, I had 7250 for the swim (goal was 8-9k), and only 80 for the bike (goal was 120). For the run I was just wanting to get total of 26-27 with a couple of quality runs and a long run of atleast 13. I did some pick-ups on the track on Tuesday. Not much, but a couple of mile efforts: One at a 6:40 pace and one at a 5:50 pace. They fealt good but my calves were feeling it the next day. No cramping though.........WOOHOOO!! On Sunday, I did a 13 miler with my brother in northern California. We were visiting my Granpa, who is turning 90, and celebrating a birthday with him. The run fealt good and I ran it in a 1:35 total. No issues and thismorning getting up, I did not feel the run at all..........So now it is just putting it all together in two weeks. Hoping that my tapered and rested and trained body can do twice that after swimming and biking. I do not plan to run that pace of course!! If I do manage to I will go ahead and apply for my pro card!! The next two weeks will be all about keeping my edge and NOT overdoing it. About a true taper. Days off. And short days with good post exercise refueling and keeping hydrated. Ironman is a race of unknowns, even to those who have done it many times. A matter of science, discipline, rest, tapering and good old fashioned luck!! I hope that I can manage to put it all together and have a successful race. I will pray to the Gods and have peace within (Mark Allen would be proud!). If everybody in the world took life as sereiously as we do training and racing, what a world it would be...................

Triathlon

Good week

tedr — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:06:54 -0600

Well last week was a good week for training. For a rare time, I exceeded my plan! 11,000 in the pool, 242 miles on the bike, and 14.5 running. The last and big workout was a 112 bike with headwinds and sun from 10:30 to 4:20. I did a weigh in before and after and kept track of my fluids to help manage myself for the race in 3 weeks. I drank 120 oz of gatorade over 5 hours and 50 minutes and came home still down 9.5 pounds!! So race day I have calculated that I need to drink, in similar weather, about 18-20oz every 20 minutes to keep up fluid management. My salt content is another thing. I was encrusted after the ride, but quickly recovered over the first two hours and felt fine. My power output dropped only slightly and I did not BONK. So I think my calorie intake was close to good. Besides the gatorade, which I mixed and had a total of about 720 calories, I had two Odwalla bars and a small snickers. That was another 710 calories. This will all help me have the best race I can with the training I have done. Fluid and caloric management are just as important in an Ironman event as the miles you put in. I have experienced this with some of the adventure racing I have done. So I hope all will be put to good use and I have a kick ass exeriencein Tempe!

Collegiate Triathlon

4 weeks to IM AZ

tedr — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:26:44 -0600

The last few weeks have been busy. Work, life, and fortunately some working out. I think the surgeons have run a special on procedures this last month, making my life busy as an anesthesiologist! But with Ironman AZ only weeks away, I have sensed the urgency of getting mileage in. So sleep has given way to the risk of injury. And I am happy to say that SO FAR, SO GOOD! Although not doing "classic" Ironman training, I am getting in enough to feel like I can finish. My run has started coming around, without my dreaded calf cramp/pull being a problem. Yes, I am up to 21 miles this last week. For the last 3 weeks, here are my totals: Swim 6500/8000/66350, Bike 176/40/176, Run 14/19/21 My goal for the next 2 weeks is: Swim 9000/8000 Bike 220/120 Run 13/26.2 So if I can stay healthy for this two week run up, it is taper time and on my way to hopefully a "fun" Ironman AZ on April 13th. No more weekends at work to get in the way and a couple of vacation days to catch up on sleep. Hopefully cooperative weather.........however at this point, I will get out in anything. High of 54 and rain in the forcast for my 60 mile ride tomorow!!! WHooHoo!! Happy to be feeling healthy.

Triathlon

24 Hours of Biking

tedr — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:40:18 -0700

This past weekend was the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo........A great event that takes a scrappy piece of desert and turns it into a bike city of 3,000 plus people every winter outside of Tucson! RVs, tents, expo, entertainment and lots of just plain good people. For those that do not know, the race is a 24 hour non-stop affair........A 17 mile loop course and you and or your team making it around the course as many times as you can from 12 noon Saturday to 12 noon on Sunday. I was in a duo team. Our goal was 16 laps total..............We were doing well until late in the night Saturday, both of us started to experience BAAAD stomach cramps!! We both were using Accelerade and think the protein and the bouncing around on our bikes caused some gasseous cramping. So we laid off and took some sleep and when we felt better headed out for some more laps..........Only 11!! 6 for me and 5 for him. But our laps were good and fast and competitive, so all was not lost! AND.........I will never use Accelerade in a competition again! I have used it plenty post exercise and I think it is great for that, but not during mountain biking!! So like every race, even though not on the podium, lessons learned for better racing in the future. The good thing is...........no crashes, no injuries, and my calf felt good! I even ran 3.5 miles yesterday. So Ironman AZ watch out!! Ok not really ready, but still going to do it..........................

Triathlon

New Mountain Biking

tedr — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:29:47 -0700

The last couple of days I have been feeling better. Still a nagging cough, but my body feels good. I have been able to get out on the mountain bike and was shown by a friend of mine, some BRAND NEW trails on the west side of Tucson. Tucson has been very pro-active in improving the cycling community; more bike lanes, and advertising for bicycle safety. It is always ranked as one of the best cycling communities in the country for a reason. But mountain biking has gotten a great boost here in the Old Pueblo. The state has purchased massive amounts of acreage around the skirts of Tucson. For one reason: improve the natural paths of the desert animal life. Tucson is in the Sonoran Desert and is very unique in its flora and fauna. But the other wildlife......................Mountain bikers are going to get the huge benefit! Because not only is the state setting land aside to always be protected, they are paying mountain bikers to cut tons of new trails! The ones I rode the last two days, I do not yet know the name of, but they can be accessed off of the end of Sweetwater Road in the Tucson Mountains. There currently are three loops of pristine rollers through the saguero forests out there. With enough of rocky technical riding to make for about an hour (depending on your level of expertise of course). I spoke with one of the guys planning and cutting the trails and he let me know plans of about 60 miles of trails to be cut over the next few years. So no longer is Fantasy Island, way out on the east side, the only designated mountain biking haven in Tucson. The reasons to love this place just keep growing!

Triathlon

Back again!?

Jimmy — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:29:53 -0700

I know I said I was back about a month ago. However, a fierce bout with pneumonia (left lung) kept me off the roads From Nov. 7 until the week of Thanksgiving. In my past life I would've trained right through the fits of coughing and massive chunks of phlegm and probably be spritzing my keyboard with spittle, this very moment, as a result (although it did take a month of coaxing to get me to even see the Doc). I must say - it's amazing how much more quickly you heal when you get a little bit of rest. Too bad it took me this long to admit to this obvious fact.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my "training" since I've been back (again). The month of October featured 2-3 days/week of swimming - 2-3k/workout, mostly drills. This is significant, as I've not been in the water, except during my Multisports.com camps, for the better part of 3 years. I also ran 2-3 days/week, 4 miles each day. I rode 2 or 3 times (period) in October. I know this does not seem like much, but it's a start for me, in terms of resuming "consistant" training.
As I mentioned above, Nov. started with good intentions, and ended up with nothing to brag about until Saturday, Nov. 17. I rode the 31 mile El Tour with some old friends. It took 3 hours. That's a long ride for me . . . just not very far. I ran 4 miles Sunday. I ran 5 miles Monday to get in shape for the T-Day X/C race. I ran 7 miles Tuesday in hopes that the 5k X/C race on Thursday would feel a little shorter. I rode 2 hours with my brother and a buddy on Wednesday (to give my running legs a little taper for the big X/C T-Day race). Thursday, I sprinted my ass off for 5km in the T-Day X/C race, ran faster than I thought I'd run, but didn't run very fast. And it felt like the course was 10km, even though I know it wasn't. However, it was very fun to push myself again. Friday I hung out with the family. Saturday I rode up to mile post 7 (easy) of Mt. Lemmon with Teri Albertazzi, I woman I coach (3 hours total). Sunday I rode 3.5 hours with Teri, Marco (guy I coach), and Wang (best buddy).
I'll fill in the blanks for this week in a couple days. I'll try to include a more interesting content in future entries. For now you'll have to be bored with my pathetic workout "log."

Triathlon

volume vs. intensity

carothers — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:27:13 -0700

Right before Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to have my LT tested. There are two local Docs (one is an ex WebCor rider) that have formed a company in which you can have your LT, Vo2 Max, Body fat, etc. tested. I have never focused a huge amount of energy towards understanding why or how my body works, quite frankly I have mostly trained on feel and past results. But as the old story goes...my time spent training has gone from 20 - 25 hours a week to 8 - 12 hours a week. With this said I really felt like I needed to get an idea of how to gain the most of my time on the bike.

The test was actually fairly difficult (100w + 40w / 4 minutes). Basically they give you as much time as you need to warm-up, then the test begins. Starting at 100 watts you maintain an 85 or greater RPM for 4 minutes. During this 4 minute interval, they prick your ear lobe and draw blood to measure the amount on lactate, have you rate the amount of effort you think you are giving, and record your HR. Then they increase the wattage by 40. Take all the above mentioned tests again, and raise you again by 40. You continue to raise the wattage by 40 unitl you have complete failure or you can no longer maintain a RPM above 70. My test went as follows:

Male 175 lbs. age 38 height 71 Sport Cyclist

4 minutes @ 100w = felt easy / HR @ 116 / lactate = 1.2mMol

4 minutes @ 140w = felt easy / HR @ 128 / lactate = 1.2mMol

4 minutes @ 180w = felt good / HR @ 146 / lactate = 2.6mMol

4 minutes @ 220w = starting to give some effort / HR @ 153 / lactate = 2.4mMol

4 minutes @ 260w = feeling good / hr @ 159 / lactate = 3.9mMol

4 minutes @ 300w = WOW big jump in effort / HR @ 168 / lactate = 4.3mMol

4 minutes @ 340w = Not much left in the tank / HR @ 174 / lactate = 5.7mMol

- 2 minutes @ 380w = DONE! / HR @ 188 / lactate = 10 mMol

Test results: LT(e) = HR @ 178 / power at peak 330w /

So, I said to the Docs "How can this help me, how can I apply this test to my basic understanding of how my body works and make my training more efficient?". Basically this is what they said, I have a basic problem many, many master athletes have. That is.... we (master athletes) tend to think that lack of time should be "made up" by more intensity. While this formula might work in the short term, most master athletes will experience longer periods of being "flat" with this approach. So if I am spending the majority of my time training at / above or near "tempo" (for me this would be HR above 159) that I would "empty the fridge to fast" and never have time to replace "the groceries". They suggested that I needed to put effort / time into riding endurance (for me HR @ 130 to 148) in order to keep sufficient "stock in the fridge". While they said this may sound easy, it actually can be difficult because of the limited time I had and the nature of group rides / riding with the fellas around the area. I was thinking "cool they are telling me I should take it easier, I can sit in with the best of them", when they added you also need to increase your effort on interval days (for me 340w @ 170 +). OOOCH! The docs told me that most master athletes go too hard on their recovery easy days, and not hard enough on the interval / hard days. So basically they said you now have a really solid baseline (the LT test) in which you can measure your efforts while training, and oh yeah the best thing is that your LT is the most "plastic" measure you have. Meaning that we as master athletes can change our LT dramatically if we train with a level of intelligence and not just ego and muscle.

I have been training with the "test results" for two weeks now and have some races coming up, I will let you know how it's going.

Carothers

Triathlon

El Tour

liz Khoury — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:40:27 -0700

This crazy weekend started Friday with a carbfest dinner at Glen's house. Thanks to Glen and his family for a great dinner...

Saturday morning we met at the flagpole at 4:30 and rode over to TCC where the start of the race was at. Seemed kinda silly to ride over there when we were already going to be riding 109 miles that day, but whatever. Once we got there, we lined our bikes up. We had two hours until the start of the race and it was F'n freezing. Thanks to Nick, Matt, Sean, Andy, Alan, Glen, Christina, and Phal for making the time fly by. We got great spots in the gold section. Wound up only being less than 5 minutes off of the top riders.

Around 6:55 they sang the national anthem and then counted down the seconds until the gun went off. I dont even know if there really was a gun?!?!?! I was too nervous to hear it if there was one. I kept thinking I am going to be on this damn bike for the next 6 or seven hours and I hope I dont crash.

The top riders were off and the rest of us just waited until the crowd dispersed. Right away I saw two riders go down. One was my teammate and the other guy fell into the fence, sucks..

The first eight miles went very fast. I was in a pace line with Nick and Matt and we were averaging over 20MPH. Within those first eight miles, a fire truck went by with it lights on and sure enough it was for a group of cyclists up the street. Didnt look too good. We finally got to the river crossing. No point in trying to run. Too many people, but if felt good to get off the bike for a couple of minutes.

Ok, back on the bike. Saw two more accidents. One, this little kid was weaving in and out of pace lines and wound up hitting this guy's, in front of me, handle bars and went flying and skidding on the pavement. Pretty scary. We managed to avoid hitting the bike as it slide underneath this other ladies bike. Stupid kid...

Coming up on 36 miles in about 1.5 hrs, we meet our teammates (Andy and Quack) for a water bottle trade off. Thanks guys. Some more riding. Ok, lots of it and then came up to the Sabino Canyon River crossing. Perfect timing because my A@@ was really starting to hurt. After pouring a pound of sand out of our shoes we were back on the bikes.

Still in pace line with Nick and Matt, Nick and I got stopped at the La encantada light for traffic. Freaking sucked. There went our teammate and our pace line. After a couple minutes, the cop let us go. Of course, I had trouble clipping in and Nick and the other cyclists flew by me. O, and to make it even worse FLAT TIRE. F_*@!!! I pulled over onto the sidewalk to change my tire and just my luck it was the back tire. I am trying to hurry, yet keep my cool as all these cyclists go flying by me. I got this little kid standing next to me asking me where I got my bike at? and what is this? and what is that? SHUT UP!!! I got my new tube on, but could not get my tire back on my bike for the life of me!!! There goes Phal and Christina.... Finally after throwing a tantrum, I got the damn thing back on!!! The spectators cheered me on as I got back on my bike. It was really hard to stay motivated since I lost my teammates and knew that I was in this by myself now.

Heading north on Oracle. You know, where that bitch-ass hill is at, I got another flat on my back tire. What a great spot. Nowhere to pull off, except for the ditch and on the damn hill. So now I have really given up all hopes for this damn race. My teammates are prob a good 20 miles ahead of me right now. I changed my tire and got back on my bike, which was pretty entertaining on that hill. Now WTF was wrong with my bike!!! I am peddling my hardest and only going 8 mph. Bent chain?? Prob from me throwing my tantrum. Pull off again to take a look at it. I dont know what the hell I am doing. Thank God it wasnt bent. I would have no idea how to fix it. My tire was rubbing on my frame. Fix that and back on the road again...

Riding by myself, sucks. Trying to catch any pace line that I could, but I kept getting dropped. About an hour or so later someone rides up behind me and says, " Go Tricats". It was Petter :) :). I was sooo happy to see someone that I knew. I drafted off of Petter for the rest of the race, which was still 30+ miles. We caught a pace line with these big guys that were cranking!!! Petter kept checking to make sure that I was still with him and if it looked like I was going to get dropped he would slow down a little and wait for me, then we would get back into the pace line.

About 5 miles away from the finish, we caught up to Nick. I thought he had already finished. He had some bad luck too :( and the three of us helped each other out and crossed the finish line together at 6 hours and 24 min!!!

It is amazing how much difference riding with a team makes. Thanks everyone... Glen, Alan, Andy, Christina, Phal, Andy W, Quack, Sean, Matt, Nick and Petter

Liz

P.S. I dont know why the first word is in its own paragraph. Whatever....

Cycling

Cycling Across The Country

heidemak — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:53:44 -0700

So this coming summer of 2008, I am going to cycle across the country for charity. The Journey of Hope is a 4,000 mile, 71 day trek from the West coast to Washington, D.C. to raise funds and awareness on behalf of people with disabilities. My route is eaving from Seattleand two others from San Fran. This past summer I drove along with the team as part of the support crew (92 men raised $525,000!) documenting their trip in over 7,000 amazing photos.

So I still need a road bike to start training. Looking somewhere under $1000 price range, but the cheaper the better. I was looking at the Trek 1500 and 2100 series when I was at their store the other day. Any other ideas?

Also I was looking to join some cycling groups around Tucson, AZ.

Lastly, I have pledged to raise $5,500 for the sponsoring organization, Push America. The tax deductible donation goes to programs of the organization and we will be giving out grants along the way to those organizations who help people with disabilities. In addition, we get to meet those with disabilities and interact through various sports and dinners, seeing where this money goes. On of our main missions every summer is to spread awareness of the abilities of those who are considered disabled.

If you'd like to learn more, or help sponsor me if this great cause...

http://www.karlsjourney.com

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Collegiate Triathlon

Chicago cyclocross

carothers — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:36:53 -0700

Just got back from racing a cyclocross in Chicago. I have been racing (multi, cycling, running) on and off for the past 15 years and this was my first attempt to race my bike outside the Western States (CA., NV., AZ.,UT., WA.). Needless to say I learned ALOT. First, my stress level of packing my new wheel set / new bike in a "soft case" which I borrowed from my local shop was very high. I usually pride myself in being a low stress guy, but after flying 4 hours thinking about my bike being tossed around like a "buck ten" guy in a mosh pit, I was freaked. The bike made it safe & sound, but I blame my stress level in the decision to re-assemble late that night. This decision would prove to my downfall.

Got up the next morning to do race prep and also check out Chicago via bike. I just recently finished "Devil in the White City" and I wanted to check out Jackson Park etc. The ride turned out to be very cool, but race prep took a very back seat to sight seeing and pretending to be a bike messenger in the big city. Needless to say my late night re assembly did not show it's ugly head...yet. Next morning my wife (I love having a cool wife that drives you around to do silly bike races) my daughter and some relatives took a long 2 hour drive to the race venue (thought it would be nice to show off to the relatives how cool cyclocross is). I arrived at the race venue with about an hour to register, warm up and take the nervous bathroom crap. My ego was stroked when the register guy announced that I was from district 5 (N Cal. N Nev) and maybe guys should take some notice. Feeling pretty good about myself I took my 2 open laps with the other Cat 3 - 4 guys explaining to them that what they were calling a hill, we would call a bump. The course actually set up for me rather well. Two barrier sections not very technical, the "hill" and alot of long straight grass sections. I was convinced that I could do the whole course in my big chain ring. At the start line the "love" I was getting from the fellas stopped and I found myself basically in the back row of 10 deep 7 to 9 wide. SHIT. We all know w/o a good start in cross it will be sooo hard to place. Sure enough in the first section there was some "yahoo" who got stuck dismounting over the barrier and held the rest of the group up. I found myself in about 50th place. We got to the hill and whamm.... Guys were shifting so fast to their little chain ring that it sounded like a nudest colony stuck in zippered suits. I bridged to the lead pack and realized that there were 5- 6 guys who had around 15 to 20 seconds. Lap two I bridged to the lead group and realized there were two guys who took a flyer and had again 15 to 25 seconds. One guy had some great technique and was "hopping" one section of barriers, I realized quickly he would be the one to beat. Next few laps we all settled in taking some pulls, but "technique guy" stayed away maybe getting 30 seconds max. Lap 6 came quick, which gave me alot of motivation, because if you do cross and laps are going slow..... man o man does it hurt, but if the laps are coming quickly you usually have a shot at placing. I decided to try to bridge to "technique guy" and was caught in "no-man's land" when that little "oh shit" bell in my head went off. I realized that through the last corner my fucking handlebars were coming lose. You see... my late night re-assembly was about to ruin my whole race. Yep... Handle bars basically came off at the next barrier. I shouldered my bike ran the next 1/4 of lap to the pits and pleaded with someone to produce an allen wrench. Again, " no love" for the Reno guy! Finally, some guy threw a cheap leatherman to me, in which I had to try to pull the correct size allen (freakn' bastard) from the cluster of cork screws etc. and I tighten my stem. Got back on and figured out that I was now somewhere back in 60th place. To add some salt to my wounds.... "technique guy" came up behind me and tried to lap me. I had spent some much time (shouldering / fixing) my bike that he was about to LAP ME! FUCK THAT! He tried to get me on the barrier before the "hill" and even said something like "move over"! I put the hammer down on the "hill" and gapped him. Please place your ear muffs on........FUCK, SHIT, FUCK of all the times to have a mechanical, I just gapped the first place guy by 15 seconds (granted, I just had about a 5 1/2 minute break in the pits) but...... I ended up finsihing and looked back to see I had kept my 10 to 15 second gap on "technique guy". I think I could have battled him for 1st.

Lesson learned:

1. Check your bike carefully before each freakn' race

2. It is hard to travel and race

3. Those guys (we all know them) that can always put together top / solid performances anywhere they are at, have tremendous talent

4. Living at altitude with lots of hills and really fast local races, makes you feel really good in the midwest

5. Competition brings out the "NO LOVE" clause in all of us.

I'm now ready to jump back into the local scene with the "fellas" and continue to tell them stories of how fast I was and how I should have won in Chicago.

Cycling

More Doping "Incredible"

jmluetke — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:43:25 -0600

I cannot bleieve what I just read about Vinokourov!!! What a devastating blow to the tour. With the new UCI rules and signed pack prior to the tour, I was excited to see a "clean" race. This is just awful. We can only hope for the best from here on out.

Cycling