Thursday, December 29, 2011

Bootstrapping the Fitness

A steady endurance pace ride is the order for today. I do five minutes of alternating 15-second fast cadence spins, and 15-seconds of easy pedaling. Easy gear. It's just to get the muscle memory rebooted. It's surprising how these open up the body. Especially the hip joint and flexors.

The colors this year have been spectacular...

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... not sure if it's due to the drought, or timing of the rain/cold? Or?

Looking at the data, it confirms my test data pretty close. Almost done with planning the first major training bloc. More on that later.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

It's Not Pass/Fail. Thankfully.

First performance test is in the bag. You know it really is a maximal effort when you rush to hover over the toilet after each battery; just in case.

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I've done some not-so-nice things to my body over the last few months. The headlines... the body fat %-age is up. A lot. The functional power is down. A lot. The maximal burst power is down. A lot. I could go on. Quantifying regret isn't the purpose, however. Assessment and use in drawing the plan going into 2012 is the mission for the day.

Many unknowns for next year's racing efforts. I have no idea what races, or even what type I want to do. But today I got a dose of knowlege that specific efforts aren't going to matter for quite a while. I've got to rehab the basic fitness and get the weight down before specificity needs consideration.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Waiting.

Monday was to be test day. Body had different ideas. Stuffy nose and a fever put things on hold. Despite the fever, and even chill shivers I cooked some chicken soup...

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... because healing doesn't come from a can.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Favorites of 2011


What a year!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Cannot Stay Away


Changing seasons. Four consecutive days of cold, drizzly, and windy weather hearld winter's arrival. This fall has been an exceptional time. Large changes to my personal life and my professional career. Chaos, stress, and fatigue perculated too deeply into life. Time on the bike has suffered.

My stubborn focus on cycling has been somewhat puzzling. I've failed to race much this year. Yet I continue to train for races unknown. The past weeks without structured training plans or goal have been tough to endure. I've tried to ride "just for fitness" but that hasn't fulfilled my desire for purposeful activity. Time arrived to make room for cycling once again.

I've come to realize that I ride because I have to. With a challanging career, I need the balance. I need the structure. I observe many seemingly dedicated workers devote long hours to their career not out of some sense of purpose or higher calling. They simply have no where else to go, and nothing else to do. It's an easy trap to fall into. I still bear scars from falling into that trap years ago.

Cycling keeps me safely from menial labors' ensaring jaws. Let's face it... few are lucky to have a soul fulfilling job. In my field taking one's job too seriously can only lead unhealthy levels of stress that border on self abuse. Training gives purpose. Something to do after work. A reason to leave on time. A reason to take care of my body; and my mind too. A reason to go outdoors and have fun! When work lays on the stress, or I'm stuck in a boring meeting... it is a invaluable asset.

An analysist might call it escapism. Probably. But cycling beats booze, drugs, and materialism many turn to. At it's worst, cycling makes me healthier. I prefer to call it self-maintenance.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

They Don't Call it Rebirth for Nothing

No better way to recharge the soul than a set of Rebirth ...

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... followed by a couple of days on the trail. Fall colors are coming out. Looks like Thanksgiving out here!

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Thankful today I've stuck with mountain biking. It hasn't always been easy. There have been falls. And spills. Leaning trail skills has been a constant focus. But the dividends pay often. There is a peacefulness, a playfulness, and a purity of cycling that comes only on a the trail.

Serentity inducing vignettes like this simply are not availible while dodging congested, aggressive, urban traffic in the twilight hours.



This day I rode until dark. Reminiscent of younger days when trying to stay out as long as possible, until your mom would start calling you back.

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Rebirth... indeed.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Cycles of Life

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It's that time of year. While the weather has turned favorable, the days are getting shorter and shorter with each passing day. These seasonable days are precious in our area. Soon it will be winter. Cold. Rainy. Dark. But for now... the dwindling days present great riding opportunity.

Today it's a race. A race to beat the sun before it sinks below the horizon. It has a head start. Here it is sinking over the Eureka Rail Yard.

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I get to the trail just in time to ride without lights. Barely. The trail has started it's seasonal change as well. Recent rains have the trail tacky in spots. The moon dust has washed away. Lowering the trail. Lines that worked a week ago, don't now. As winter goes on the trail will erode and lower in spots. And fill in others. More changes ahead.

The trees are changing too. A lot of this going on...

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Crews are clearing out the deadfall and deadstand in Mem Park. The drought has been devastating. Over 50% of the trees are dead, and slated for removal over the next few months.

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The final season for many trees has come. Their cycle has ended. But the opened cover will allow sunlight to filter through and grow during the upcoming spring.

Cycle of life.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Twice Bitten.

I love my XTR Trail (M988) brakes. They are true one-finger brakes. Great power AND modulation. Now... Shimano's hoses... I have no use for. My original hoses leaked. I replaced them with stock Shimano hoses. They leaked too. Same failure mode, as well. I could warranty these through Shimano. But... Since I'd rather ride my bike, than work on my bike, I cut my losses and went a different direction this time.

The failure occurs right here.

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The crimp between the banjo fitting and the hose. It isn't a huge catastrophic leak. More of a seep. But it contaminates the pads. Braking power goes away, and they squeal. Left long enough the lever will get low. I didn't let it go on that long this time.

Off with the Shimano hose.

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And on with a Goodridge replacement hose. The Goodridge #107 kit is listed as compatible with the older version XTR brakes (M-966/965). Those brakes used two banjo fittings. The Goodridge catalog does not list any kit as compatible with the newer M-985/988 XTR Brakes. But, the kit includes both two banjos and a straght fitting, and it should fit.

The fittings are of excellent quality. I've used Goodridge hoses on race cars before, so that was expected.

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These are neat. Miniature Aeroquip fittings! If you've ever built up Aeroquip hoses, installing the hoses is a cinch. If not... it's still a easy. Here is how it goes. Start by trimming back the outer casing, but not the braid.

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Use a sharp blade. The casing is tough. Push the outer fitting on, and make sure the ends are clean, square, and fully inserted.

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I threaded the male fitting into the master cylinder to hold it. You can do this in a vice, too. But remember, the fitting doesn't swivel, so you'll have to turn the fitting with the hose anyway. The threaded end simply goes into the hose side fitting into the center of the hose. Screw it on until the fitting flows onto the shoulder of the outer fitting, and snug it with a spanner.

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Tada! A nice tight fitting.

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Next route the hose. Cut it to length. And repeat with a banjo fitting on the caliper end. Now since the kit isn't specifically designed for M-985/988 XTR brakes, you have to re-use the stock thru-bolt in the banjo fitting. Works just fine. Don't forget the O-rings.

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You can use an allen wrench or the like to clock the fitting in the correct orientation. Then snug the fittings.

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Repeat for the rear brake. Bleed the air out (worst part of the job) and that's it.

Also keep in mind the Goodridge fittings are reusable if for some reason you need to replace hoses. They can be tightened if they leak, unlike the Shimano factory crimps. Leak free. But so were the Shimano at the start! If these also leak... it's me! Hope this helps, because leaky XTR hosese seems common.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Knee Warmers!

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Just cold enough for long sleeves and leg warmers today. Felt great! Indeed fall is here. Days are getting shorter. The goal for the next couple of weeks is squeeze in as much riding as possible. Soon sadness and darkness of winter will be upon us. And albino training will begin. Ick.

For now... its spend as much time outside as possible having fun. It's the most important time of the year!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Progress

Twenty-ish pain free miles. I talked over my bum issue with my fitting 'consultant'. The puzzler has been that a saddle so comfortable on the road bike was unbareable on the MTB. She pointed out, that with the more upright position, I probably needed a wider saddle. Here's what the sit bones look like.

Ramus of the Ischium

As one can see, they clearly get wider as you move back. The more upright the pelvis the wider the contact point. And that would explain how I kept wanting to point the front of the saddle evermore upward. But that put me sliding off the back.

We tried this saddle, in 155mm width...

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Drastic improvement. Not perfect. But I can tell the extra width is where it's at. Unfortunately this saddle creeks and rattles. Too chushy too. I can see this one chafing real bad on a longer ride. It'll go back to the shop to exchange for a wider version of my beloved Romin.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Almost done.

Tomorrow's ride isn't a given. But it should be do-able on some very tired legs. I did shuffle the rest day, though, to align the back-to-back rides over the weekend. I did some saddle experimentation on the Highball. To do it. I laid out a short lap route. This would allow me to dump the Highball if any pain developed and swap over to the rhoadie bike. The route...

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... bring a variety of surfaces. It includes the Green, Purple, and Triangle trails as well as a healthy does of tarmac. This is a great training loop. With enough sample of each surface to get a lot of tempo work on the tarmac portions and some trail on the trail portions.

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Saturday I tried adjusting the pitch of my existing saddle. By mile 20... I was in the same painful position. Swap bikes, and finish.

Sunday I put a redundant Toupe' on the Highball. The thought here was that the sway-back of the Romin may be causing some of the problem with the more upright mountain bike position. The Romin works fine on the rhoad bike. The flatter profile of the Toupe' would give me another data point.

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The weather this weekend has been ideal. Recent rains have helped pack the trails, which are in better shape.

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As I hit CallOut today, my front brake is screaming! Sounds like contaminated pads. When I get out of Purple trail powerline section and back on the sidewalk... I try a good test...



... uh-oh. A swipe with the finger and... Another brake line leak. That's it for me and Shimano hydraulic lines. Warrantied or not, I simply don't want to fool with another go-round.

As I finish the first lap, the bum is hurting pretty bad. Not quite as bad as before, but still it's rough. All is not lost though, as I have a better idea on what I need to look for in a replacement saddle.

So... a few lingering problems. But I've shocked the body with some good volume. After a day or two of recovery I'll be able to evaluate where my fitness is, and where I want to go with next year. Overall, I'd call the last week a success.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Stage 1A: 30 Miles, Much Butter

Couple of days off the rump. I'm recycling my seven-day "shock" plan. Tonight, like last week... 30 miles of self-paced riding. All was good, except for mosquites which are the worst since Hurricane Ike. Every person I saw outside was swatting. Joggers have developed this odd sort of arm swing coupled with swatting mosquites off their bodies. One 'speed walker' on the Height's running path had it down pat. Thank goodness for Doctor Tischeners!

By the light of the Lupine...

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Confident I'll make it through the cycle this time. I'm staying away from the HighBall until I get the saddle issue sorted. Legs felt great last go round, and no reason to think they won't this time, too.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Stage 3: Buddhertz

Today dawns with legs that feel good. Excited and hopeful for a long ride today. Target is 60.miles, self-paced.

I set out, and instantly I'm reminded of yesterday's ride. My butt hurts. Bad. It's not chaffed. No saddle sores. But it feels bruised. Turrible. I was a bit worried yesterday I was setting myself up for some real pain as my butt ached on the ride. I hoped it would 'heal' quickly. It hasn't. I carry on. Often aches and pains are present at the start of a ride. And often as the blood gets flowing and kinks work out things improve. I'm still hopeful.

Things do get better, but never comfortable. What is usually a comfy saddle, today is torture. I'm determined so I carry on. I stand. I shift my position. Nothing is helping. By mile fifteen it's too much. The spontaneous and unstoppable tears are a clear indicator enough-is-enough.

Stopping short sucks. Legs feel great. Capable. So I need to take a day or two off the saddle. Then I'll recycle through (without riding on the HighBall!). Now it's a personal challange!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Stage 2: 20 Miles

Day two of shocking the body. I hop on the HighBall today. This isn't a long ride. Only a 20.mile goal. Today I pack the DSLR camera. Wanted to check out how it packs on the bike and to take some photos. I take the MKT trail all the way to downtown. After some wandering I find how to get on the opposite side of the bayou across from UHD.

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There is an old pump station here. I stop for some photos...

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The break is good. I'm about eight miles in, but my butt is starting to hurt. I reverse my path and head to the northwest up the White Oak Bayou trail. I turn around at Ella. My butt is absolutely screaming at this point. This is the longest I've ridden the HighBall on the road. On the trial, where I spend significant time out-of-the saddle I've not had any pain. But this long seated and I'm dying. I ride the last three miles home standing as much as possible. OOOuch.

I make my goal for today. Barely. Painfully. Proud that I didn't give up despite the painful arse.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Stage 1: 30 Miles

Being back on the bike feels good. First day went acceptably well.

I really like Prolog bar tape. But their bar plugs suck. They catch on everything and tend to come dislodged.

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Here's a tip. As you are riding and you notice the bar plug is loose... do not reach down and smack it with the heel of your hand to drive it home. ; )


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Shock and Awe

With almost a month of little riding, and no structured training... my motor needs jumpstarting. Seven days, seven rides. Designed to shock the system back into life.

Stage 1: 30.miles
Stage 2: 20.miles
Stage 3: 60.miles
Stage 4: 60.miles
Stage 5: Rest day
Stage 6: 60 miles
Stage 7: 40 miles

Re-evaluate where I'm at when done. Not a tremendous amount of miles. But starting from slackerd condition... it won't be a cakewalk either. All rides are self-paced. Whatever speed I'm comfortable at. However long it takes. One of the few times I'll ever use a mileage goal.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Remember Your Manners

It's not nice to laugh at other's pain...



... I can't stop watching this. And laughing every time..

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Good Lights

A long, but un-hurried ride on the trail in the dark. Nothing special. Just glad to be on the bike. Here is why it pays to have good lights...

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That white speck in the middle... is a huge spider busily setting up shop along the trail right before a root drop. Saw him just in time. A swipe with a branch and I was on my way.

Lupine lights are the beez kneez.

And no ride would be complete without a call to 9-1-1. As I neared my house I smelled something burning. My first thought was "hey someone's lit their fireplaces". Wait a second, it's in the 80s. With the drought, no fires are allowed. Why is someone burning stuff? By this time the smoke was enough to show up in my headlight. This was really strong. I glanced over and a dumpster behind a nieghborhood church was ablaze. Surprisingly the neighboring residents weren't out. I called and the fire truck showed up nearly instantly and put the fire out.

Firetrucks are the beez kneez, too.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

13 Days

Unplanned. Unscheduled. Unwanted. Thirteen day layoff.  Uggh.

Today... back on the saddle for a wandering ride. Three hours. No goals. I just wanted to be on my bike. And it felt gooood.

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A couple of things became clear today. The better your fitness the faster you lose the peak, and stress is like a fitness eraser. I've spent longer periods away from the bike. But I lost more fitness than usual. Partly because my fitness was pretty good going into the break. But primarily I think the stress level causing the break was a strong factor.

Interestingly, there isn't much published research on the effect of stress on fitness. The other direction... the reduction in stress as physical activity increase is very well documented however. Does stress affect the ability to acquire fitness? This was the best study I located... PDF file link. This one about the effect of life events on injuries was also interesting. Athletes tend to get injured more when stressed out about life events. PDF file link.

For my n=1 sized study... stress appears to be a strong fitness antagonist. Looking at today's data... in a mere two weeks I've quantifiably lost as much fitness (%-age of specific power), and gained as much weight as I did during a four-month long (but low stress period) injury layoff. These are quantified numbers. All this has me trying to devise a research method to test this. It's not an easy experiment to design.

Stress creep from the office into personal life is always a bad thing. This is going to mean missed races. Going to set priorities a bit different for 2012.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Why?

One must wonder why a person does this to themselves. Hours of toil. Efforts so hard they approach self immolation. Physical stress that not only tires, but physically alters my heartrate long after the bout. But even that doesn't compare to the mental stress of mainining intensity and concentration for such long periods. After a full day... it leaves me totally spent. Exhausted. Wasted. Irritable. I approach anti-social status. I just want to go to sleep. Just as well. It leaves one with no time for other pursuits. No time for family. No time or energy for friends. It's all consuming. I constantly think about quitting. Forever. And doing something completely different.

Why would someone do this to themselves?

I find myself asking this question a lot. I consistantly answer it with "I shouldn't be, I should be out on my bike." Wait, what? Oh, sorry. No, I wasn't writing about training above. I was describing my high-stressor job. Unacceptable. No idea what will happen yet, but, one thing is certain. Changes are coming.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Huff and Puff

About an hour of tempo, with five (5x) 5'minute intervals at 100-120%FTP are on the docket for tonight. Designed to work the lungs as well as the legs. I roll out with a veeery easy warmup. Easy to neglect a good warmup. But I find that as fatigue accumulates, it takes longer to warm up. Oddly, if I cut the warm up short, it actually takes longer before I feel good. Fifteen minutes of high cadence, low power and I'm prepped.

Thirty minutes of tempo and I hit the work intervals with gusto. The first minute or two are easy, and I go at the top of the target range. Then... the lactate sets in... hard. The previous days' fatigue is making an appearance. This is common after a few days of riding. Intervals start easier, but holding them gets harder. The fitness gains lie in holding them as they get harder. As a friend says "80% of the gain is in the last 20% of the ride." I do my best. By the last interval power has dropped off, and I'm knocking on the bottom of my target range. Doable. But just barely. As intervals should be done.

Tomorrow is an easy one, on dirt, before some recovery on Friday. First fall race is here next week!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Boring Ride

Plan: 2:hours endurance pace.

I roll out to do my "In the loop, loop". It's roughly the West End Bicycles shop ride route with some modificaiton. It's a nice day. The ride is completely unremarkable. Other than I forgot my front light. River Oaks is daaark at night. Just causes me to take a bit more care. And absolutely do not depend on cross traffic stopping.

Careful nutrition has paid off. Despite calorie deficits. Didn't bonk yesterday or today. It's all about the afternoon snack! PB&J scarfed down between afternoon meetings was the snack of choice today.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Heat's Back.

Today's plan: 4x 7'min at 110-120%FTP with 3-5'min between.

Triple digits today. Heat index is 105°F as I roll out. Twenty+ knot wind as well. It helps with the heat some. As I ride to the Froot Loop I'm feeling weaker than expected. Maybe not unexpected. It's the heat, right? As I get closer... it's clear it's not the heat. I'm in a full blown BONK! Weak. Lightheaded. Nauseous. Shakey. Headachey. Immediately I hit the gas station. Potato chips, half of a coke, nutter butters, and aboot 15'minutes in the shade. I'm better. Not sure if I can do this today, but might as well try, right?

I barely make my power target on the first interval. Barely. It's clear... I'm not meeting my target today. That's OK. I do the best I can. I manage to keep 90%FTP or so. Not what I want, but time is more important than intensity at this point. Back to the house for some reflection on this one...

BONKs! are always a serious training mistake. I'm relieved in a way. My body is letting me know it's running at a calorie deficit. I'm not over-eating. I'm under-eating. I'm trying to do that, as I'm trying to drop a few pounds. BUT... if I don't get through my workouts... it's not worth it. Getting the training in carries much bigger benefits than losing a few pounds. It's a fine line.

Today... my food timing needed to be better. The idea is to run a deficit over the entire day, but... during training time. Skipping my afternoon snack did me in today. Will do better tomorrow...

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Leaks, Roots, Dust, Batteries

Three hours on trail at endurance to tempo pace.

Simple plan that turned more complex.

Some background. I recently developed a loud skreeeeetch on the front brake along with a loss of braking power. I swapped the brake pads front-to-back and the noise transferred with it. My suspicion was that somewhere along the way I contaminated the pads. Then this thread showed up with reports of leaking hoses on M985 XTR brakes. I carefully checked, but saw no leak. Until today.

Right as I rollout a quick glance and I see a teeny drop right at the hose crimp on the banjo fitting. I press on. Shortly before arriving at the trail... the PowerTap goes wonky. Dead batteries. Bummer. I wanted to really keep a consistant effort level today. I press on. The trail is in really bad shape. The drought's effects are showing up as stress on the trails. There are parts of the trail that have lowered six inches over the last few weeks. Unfortunately, the roots have not dropped.

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The dirt is... like baby powder, only finer. Moon dust. The stress on the trails is really showing. The fact that these are the only trails in a city of two million people doesn't help. And the crowd is thick today. I meet an oncoming rider about every 100 yards it seems. There is just no rhythm or flow today.

All together it's a frustrating day. But I do my best. And I get about two-and-a-half hours of riding in. While I don't think my effort is that good... the fatigue I feel later suggests otherwise. This is why I like the PT. It keeps me honest.

The day ends with some maintenence items to be done and some rest for tomorrow.


Friday, September 9, 2011

Rebounding

POD. Approx 1:hour ride not exceeding reocvery power level. Keep cadence high today. Light, but fast pedal stroks. Concentrate on keeping cadence greater than 90RPM.

With tight and somewhat sore legs from yesterday's ride, going for another ride today seems counterintuitive. But following up a hard ride with an easy ride really speeds the recovery, releases the soreness, and helps flexibiliity.

Rolling out... keeping the low power goal -easy. Keeping the cadence up -hard. I do my best. Sure enough as the ride continues, the cadence comes easier. The legs start to come alive again. Before I know it, it's time to go home. Short ride. But not before swining by Freebirds for a monster burrito. Yum.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Today... the plan is a 2:hour Tempo paced ride. I'm feeling pretty frisky today. I think I'll pin it to the top of the Tempo power range. As the ride proceeds... indeed I'm keeping this ride pinned. I constantly nibble at the bottom of the threshold zone. The legs feel greeeeeeat. The lungs are clear, and the heart rate seems pretty normal (not sky high like yesterday).

Today's ride is under an unusual atmosphere. Tons of nearby wild fires. Blowing smoke abounds. The sky is gray, but not with clouds. Can't really smell the smoke. But... from time to time invisible particulates waft into my eyes. It makes them tear up. Burns. But it isn't gritty like when sand blows at the beach. The ambient light is sooper warm. A photographers dream. In fact, I saw two out shooting architecture photos. This is a rare event, to have rich light like this. So rare, I paused to take a few snaps with the P&S myself...

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...would have like to taken some better set up shots with the DSLR.

Some time on the foam roller completes the day's training.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

A Fresh Start

I lost my computer. Left it in my suitcase. Sitting on the street. Where I placed it while I loaded my bike in the rack. I drove off without putting it in the truck. Also in suitcase... my thumbdrive with all of my training data. Four years worth. Because of the likelihood of losing a thumbdrive... I *did* keep a back up of the information on it. On the laptop. That was in the suitcase.

So... I've been busy rebuilding my training spreadsheet. My training log has evolved over the years. It is designed to minimize the time spent typing in stuff. I'd rather do other things than type stuff in to a computer. I like the presentation of the data. It's simple. And mostly graphical. Because I'd rather ride my bike rather than pour over numbers. I was tempted to chunk it. I use WKO+. But several times I've discovered trends, or patterns, or diagnosed training mistakes with it more easily than I ever could with WKO+ or Training Peaks. So reconstruct... I shall. And make a few improvements along the way.

Back to regular business... the weather is also off to a fresh start. After weeks of record heat... we are challenging overnight low... yes low... temperature records. As I set out on my ride tonight... I'm feeling... different. Not run down. Not beat up. It's a mere 88°F. It feels wonderful.

Nothing special tonight. Just a simple 4x 5'min set at 90-110%FTP. Not sure why but my heartrate is sooper high tonight. I hit my (theoretical age-based) maximum tonight. The intervals don't feel that hard. It may be dehydration. I didn't drink much water today. The air is dry too. We'll see what happens over the next few days...

Today's trace.. isn't a 'pretty' as those done on rollers...

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... but a heck of a lot more fun!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Historic Heat

Oh enough! This summer has been epic. We're breaking records from the summer of 1980. Though I was young... I remember that summer. I played outside constantly. But returned inside each day at lunch to watch the weather with Rob Robin on KPLC. to see if we'd broken a record. I remember him talking about the extensive drought in Texas, which seem so far away. This summer was the exact same weather pattern, exact same results.

I'm officially tired of it. Today I simply don't feel like fighting it. Just as well, as there is work to be done. The HighBall is filthy. Gritty. With the dry weather, comes dusty trails, leads to gritty bikes. It's been a while...

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...there is Colorado dirt, Houston silty moon dust, and Texas hill country lime powder on there.


The cleaning goes well. With some additional steps. I've had the freehub not, errr, free a few times on the trail. Not consistantly, but every now and again I'd stop pedaling but the chain would keep going. Given that this rear (PowerTap) hub is a couple of years old, investigating is in order.

I'm a bit nervous about this. I generally avoid freehub internals. Throwback to childhood, when my dad once warned never to take that apart or I'd never get it back together. Naturally, I took it apart. And quickly discovered my father (like most things in life) was right.

Freehubs are much simpler today. So before I wrap a brand new XTR derailler around my spokes and take out a seat stay... I dig in. As I put the cone wrench on the axle... it's loose. Not even finger tight. Hmmm. It all comes apart easy. Here's the culprit...

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Some cleaing, degritting, regreasing and all appears mostly well. The pawl seems to 'catch' a bit. Maybe replace soon? Reassembly is easy. Just crew on the axle flat, preload the bearings, ready to go. It's a lot quieter now too. We'll see how it holds together.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sunday on Trail

Sunday's plan is a 2-3:hour tempo ride out at WCP. I got some solid rest in on Saturday and an ready to go as I roll out. Things are great on trail...

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Whether at night or by day, smiles are everywhere if you look closely...

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It's unbearably hot. I can fell the heat of the air filling my lungs. No cooling even in the shade. I cut things off just shy of my time goal. The thermometer tells all...

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Still a good day on trail. The end of my day, however...