Training Week December 22 - 28, 2008

Monday - Off (YMCA Closed)

Tuesday - PM - Intervals at the polo field - no one else showed up.  1 x 6 mi Z1 (15:52), 1 x 12 mi Z2 (15:31, 15:18 - 30:49), 1 x 6 mi Z3, last lap Z4 (14:51) - 1:45 total ride.

Wednesday - office closed at 3 - only able to ride 45 min after work.

Thursday - Christmas morning - raining - single speed ride in GG Park - 1 Hr.

Friday - Rode to SportsBasement, met Pete & Ramon, ro

de to San Bruno Mtn.  Did 2 x hill - 18:45, 17:20.  3:15 total ride.

Saturday - 1:45 Zone 1 ride in GG Park

Sunday - Lyman's Napa ride - Great group, 10 completed the whole.  Not too cold, just a little rain, only a couple flats for the whole group, 3 big climbs (glad Lucas didn't go hard).  4:45 total ride. 

After the ride we were all tired and hungry and very pleasantly surprised to see the awesome buffet Carm had laid out for us.  Here Hans really piles it on.

Weekly total 13:15 riding.

Training Week December 15 - 21, 2008

Monday - Spin class at lunch 45 min
Tuesday - Back to back spin classes after work 1:45 total
Wednesday - Spin class at lunch 45 min
Thursday - Sick of spin classes, rode bike in rain after work - did a few sprints - 1 hr ride, 1 hr cleaning crap off bike.
Friday - Happy birthday to me (39) - It was raining and I didn't feel like getting my Tarmac dirty, so I rode the single speed up twin peaks 3 times. - 1:15 total. - Office Holiday Party - drank too much.
Saturday - Yea, no rain!! - Rode to Marshall with Drywall - lots of Zone 2 & 3 stuff & I won the 7-11 sprint - 6.5 hour total ride.
Sunday - Dang it, rain again - tooled aroung GG park on the single speed for 1 hour, then watched 8 episodes of Lost on DVD. Only 22 more episodes before I'm all caught up and ready to watch season 5 when it starts next month.

Weekly totals - 3:15 on spin bike, 9:45 on real bike. 13:00 total.
Gained a pound back this week.

Training Week December 8 - 14, 2008

Monday - Off

Tuesday - Evening Polo field ride - 3 x 6 mile tempo Zone 1, 2, 3.  16:15, 15:33, 15:01 - 90 min total ride.

Wednesday - 50 min spin class

Thursday - Evening polo field ride - Sprints - 10 x 30 sec sprint with 5 min recovery - 90 min total ride

Friday - 50 min spin class

Saturday - 5 hour ride to Pt. Reyes Station & back on Hwy. 1 - mostly with Zteam guys - felt much better than last week & week before.

Sunday - Rain - I'm no pro, so I took the day off and walked to the Academy of Sciences with K.  Finally saw the really cool new Planetarium show.

Weekly Total - 1:40 spin class, 8:00 riding - 9:40 total.

Sunday waking weight - 141.5 - Yea, I can start eating dessert again!

Training Week December 1 - 7, 2008

Monday - Spin class full of people trying to work off Thanksgiving dinner.  I had to wait until class was over   - 50 min ride on spin bike low resistance, high cadence.

Tuesday - Evening intervals at the polo field.  3 x 4 mile tempo (10:29, 10:15, 9:51) - 90 min total

Wednesday - Spin class - 45 min high resistance, low cadence.

Thursday - Evening intervals at the polo field - 8 x 30 sec sprint with 5 min recovery. 90 min total

Friday - 45 min spin class

Saturday - Rode to San Bruno Mtn. - 3 Hr total ride

3 x climb with descent recovery. 18:33, 17:35, 17:09

Felt harder than I thought it would.  Hope to do them each 1 min faster next time.

Sunday - long easy ride to Pt. Reyes Station & back - 5 hrs, mostly Zone 1.  Solo on way out.  Rode most of the way back with Doug from the OC.

Weekly Totals: 2:20 spin class, 11:00 riding.  13:20 total.

Weight: Monday AM - 146.5, Sunday AM - 1:42.5

Cookies = training setback

I was making good progress getting down to my New Year's Day goal weight of 139, but then we received 3 big boxes of cookies in the office today. I just can't resist them and will grab one every time I go by until they're all gone.

They all appear to be from legitimate vendors of ours. Haven't received a box from Anderson, Metcalfe, Innes & Roemer Consulting yet.

Training Week November 24 - 30, 2008 - No More Running!

Monday - Easy 25 min lunch run
Tuesday - Off
Wednesday - Easy 25 min lunch run - Office closed early went out for a (3) beer (s) with Village crew.
Thursday - HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Crystal Springs Turkey Trot - 19th year straight. Felt worse than ever before and ran my slowest time since my first year of high school (18:49). Worst finish ever 21st, and lost to Jeremy (on the left, ran about 17:30) for only the 2nd time ever, so mow I'm 17-2 against him. We have a bet to see who will keep showing up the longest. We've both been there 19 straight, but our CSM coach Bob Rush (center) has been there for over 40 years without missing one and is still running strong. Way to go coach rush!
This was also the first time I ever saw the winner (Paul Wellman 14:57 - awesome time!) finish while I still had over 1K to go. After the race I had a nice easy cooldown run with many old friends, then it was over to coach Rush's for bloody Marys. 40 min total running.

Friday - Post turkey day ride in GG Park (I noticed that about 1 million people decided to go to the Academy of Sciences today since no one else would be doing that on the day after Thanksgiving. Longest lines I ever saw there). Riding around the CX course I hit a wet root and went over the handlebars and tweaked my shoulder pretty good. Decided to do laps on the polo field track and caught and passed some guy on a Pista who was too cool to wear a helmet or say hello when I greeted him. 1:15 riding.

Saturday - Long ride in Marin - 1st time on the road bike in about 2 weeks - Rode to Roasters to meet Paul, Hans, Eric, Chris and a few others. Went to Pt. Reyes & up Limantour then south on 1. I was feeling pretty sapped all day, then bonked on final climb on Hwy 1. Everyone dropped me on the final climb today - enjoy it while you can fellas. 5:15 riding.

Sunday - I decided that it was not a good day to try my first cyclocross race and just rode the single speed to the Cow Palace to check out the bike swap. Lots of great deals on stuff I really don't need. Resisted the temptation to buy the Red brake calipers, cassette, wheels and lots of other things and ended up just getting a pair of new winter gloves for $20. - 1:15 total ride.

Weighed myself after dinner and was 148, so I started drinking water until I hit 150. It was the first time I've been at 150 in many years. I better get back down to under 140 by January 1st.

This month is so tough too since the goodie baskets from our vendors start coming in this week.

Weekly totals - Running 1:30, 7:45 riding - 9:15 total.

Training Week November 17-23, 2008

Monday - 50 min spin class - moderate/hard effort

Tuesday - 20 min lunch run - easy

Wednesday - Off

Thursday - 45 min lunch run - moderate.  Eve - polo field ride 1:30 (2 x 10 min moderate tempo)

Friday - 50 min spin class - moderate/hard

Saturday - 1:30 park ride on single speed

Sunday - lead bike for PA champs XC race - 2:30 easy/moderate riding.

Weekly Totals: 1:05 running, 7:10 riding/spinning 8:15 total.

This week it's back to Crystal Springs to race the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot, then on Sunday I think I'll try the CX race in GG Park.

Training Week November 10 - 16, 2008

Monday - 35 min lunch run
Tuesday - PM polo field ride - 1:30 with 5 x 30 sec sprint.
Wednesday - PM ride in San Mateo (8-11 PM) with bikeforums group - 3 hours with lots of hard hills
Thursday - 35 min lunch run - felt like crap
Friday - Off
Saturday - 3:30 solo ride to Stinson & back - very warm for November (80 deg)
Sunday - Off

Weekly total: 8 hrs riding, 1:10 running.

Only 45 days left to train for the San Bruno Hill Climb

Sea Otter 2009

Let me be the first to complain…

I really love the Sea Otter road and circuit courses, but the tweaking of the schedule has me wondering what they were thinking.

When I looked at the original 2009 schedule about a month ago, the 35+ 1/2/3 road race was on Thursday afternoon and the circuit race was late Friday morning. That would have been great to get in 2 races and only have to stay in a hotel Thursday night, and still have the weekend free for a couple long rides near home.

But now, they’ve added a flat crit for those who don't go uphill as well and I guess what I’d call a “rest day” on Saturday to the schedule. The crit is on Thursday, the circuit race is on Friday and the road race has been moved to 7:30 AM on Sunday, so no going home after the circuit race and coming back Sunday morning unless I want to wake up at 3:30.

Hey, why not just add a TT on Saturday and make it a 4 day 4 stage race? Nor Cal could really use a stage race with some hills.

Training Week November 3 - 9, 2008

Monday – 45 min run (6.5 miles)
Tuesday – Voting – 1 Hr 15 minutes – it was worth the wait.
Wednesday – 35 min run (5 miles)
Thursday – 1:15 easy polo field ride
Friday – Off
Saturday – 50 min run (7 miles)
Sunday – Off

Weekly total – 2:10 (18.5 miles) running. 1:15 cycling.

Only 50 days until the San Bruno Hill Climb, I better get to work!

Training Week October 27 - November 2, 2008

Monday - 35 min run.
Tuesday - 1:15 Polo field ride easy
Wednesday - 25 min run
Thursday - off
Friday - 35 min run with mile on track (5:27)
Saturday - off
Sunday - Morgan Stanley east bay training ride - Rockridge to Diablo junstion & back. About 5.5 hours riding including ride to BART & back.

Weekly Totals - 1:35 running, 6:45 cycling - 8:20 total.

How fast can I run a mile?

If the individual time trial is the race of truth in cycling, then the track is the place of truth in running.  You can be in any city and in any country, but a 400M track is a 400M track no matter where you are.  Before I started cycling I used to go to the Kezar track at least 2 times a week for interval workouts, but I had not been there in nearly 2 years when I showed up today.

Since I began running again during the off season, I've only been doing lunch runs twice a week along the Embarcadero with no sense pace, but I guess that I've been running between 7 min and 7:30 miles.  

This morning I was going to go for a ride, but it was raining, so I decided to go for a run instead and ended up at Kezar.  I was reluctant to step inside the gates, but it looked pretty deserted except for the groundskeeper getting the field ready for the next HS football game, so I went in and jogged down to the track.  The plan was to try and run a 6 min mile, starting with a 90 and if I felt good I would pick it up on the last lap.  I was sure to start on the mile start line that is about 9.5M behind the start line since this is a 400M track.

On the first lap I surprised myself and ran a 79, but about 200M later really started to tighten up and I could feel myself slowing down.  I came through the half mile in 2:42, then slowed down a little more, coming through 3/4 in 4:06.  The last lap really hurt.  I hadn't felt this flavor of pain in quite some time and just pushed on through the line in 5:27.  

Not as far from Sub 5 shape as I thought, I think I can get back there with a few interval workouts.

After my run, Karin and I finally went to the Academy of Sciences and had a lot of fun.

USA DOMINATES WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!!

of baseball.

Yes, the baseball world championships (aka the World Series) is over and the USA has once again dominated!

1st - Philadelphia (USA)

2nd - Tampa Bay (USA)

3rd - Boston (USA)

4th - Los Angeles (USA)

5th - Chicago (USA)

Way to go USA!

I believe that's 31 in a row for the USA and 105 of the last 106!

Training Week October 20 - 26, 2008

On the Chileno Valley Loop

Monday – 35 min run
Tuesday – 1:10 Polo field ride
Wednesday – 25 min run
Thursday – Noon – 45 min run (6.5M), PM – 1:20 Polo field ride with tempo
Friday – Off
Saturday – 6.5 hrs (about 112 miles) SF to Chileno Valley loop & back
Sunday – 1 Hr easy ride

Total – 11:45 (10 hrs cycling, 1:45 running)

Training Week October 13 - 19, 2008

Monday - Easy 35 min run w/ Dan to Aquatic Park (a little smoky from Angel Island fire)
Tuesday - Park ride - Polo fields - 1:10
Wednesday - Easy 30 min run
Thursday - Park ride - Polo fields - 1:15
Friday - 30 min spin class
Satuday - Bikes for Tots Ride - around 3:30 total ride - 16:25 up Ink Grade.

It was a really great ride for a great cause with lots of friends.

Though, unfortunately not without incident. Luckily Dan is doing much better than his bike and I hear Roger is healing up well too.

After the ride there was lots of good food and wine (and one too many Klondike bars - thanks Craig!)

Paul, you gonna eat that?

Sunday - OFF

Weekly Total: 7.5 hours

You Knew it Would Happen!

http://palinandplumber2012.com/

Talk about scary! Just in time for Halloween!

Training Week October 6 - 13, 2008

Monday - 30 min lunch run
Tuesday - Off
Wednesday - 30 min easy ride
Thursday - 30 min lunch run
Friday - Off
Saturday - South bay ride with John & Eric 3:30
Sunday - Nephew Christopher's 11th birthday party. Why is this squid not wearing pants?

Weekly total: 5 hours

Mt. Diablo Challenge

Today was the Mt. Diablo Challenge, a non USAC race up to the summit.  They get about 1,000 riders and it's a very well run event.  It didn't take long for things to sort out with Zteam's Nate English putting the hammer down early.  His teammate Justin Laue and I were only able to stay on his wheel for about 8 minutes before we had to let him go and settle into our own pace.  Justin and I traded pulls until we were abut 15 minutes from the top when I ran out of steam and had to let him go too.  I slowed to my own pace and was able to hold off yet another Zteamer, Steve O'Mara for 3rd.  At least I was the first somewhat old guy.

Nate rode 43:33, and destroyed Greg Drake's course record by 1:25.   Someone has already made the change on Wikipedia!  Way to go Nate!

Also, congratulations to Jody & Steve Archer for destroying the tandem record, riding 55 min and change!

I downloaded a neat little app for my iPhone called trailguru that tracks distance, speed, route & elevation.  Maybe not as accurate or as detailed as the Garmin or other similar devices, but it's not bad for something on a phone that I carry anyway.

Here's the link.

I started it a few minutes early and stopped it a few minutes late, so the time is off by 6 minutes.

Now it really is the off season.  Nothing hard for a while, at least until I have to race Hutch up Ink Grade at the Bikes for Tots ride on October 18.

Training Week September 29 - October 5, 2008

Monday - Off

Tuesday - Polo field ride, a few short intervals - 1:30

Wednesday - 35 min run

Thursday - Polo field ride easy - 1 Hr

Friday - Off

Saturday -  1:45 ride over to rodeo beach & back.

Sunday - Mt. Diablo Challenge - 47:07 up. About 1:10 total riding

Weekly total - 6 hours

Time for a few more easy weeks

Running Hurts!

I ran almost every day from July of 1985 until July 2005 when I bought a road bike. After a couple rides I thought, "dang, this is a much better way to get around". I just about quit running cold turkey, but still do a few runs in the off season to remind myself how much it hurts. Also, I have to get back in running shape for the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot at Crystal Springs, a race I've been going to for 18 years straight on that classic XC course that I've raced on over 50 times.

I went for a 35 minute run yesterday, my first real run this year. I felt great for the first 10 minutes, then a little less great for the next 15 minutes, then pretty crappy for the last 10 minutes. But the worst thing about it is how I feel today. My quads, calves, shins, and hamstrings are totally sore!

Running is evil!

I think I'll go 2 or 3 times next week.

If I stop hurting so much I may even try a duathlon.

Training Week September 22 - 28, 2008

Monday – Off
Tuesday – GG Park Ride – 20 minutes tempo followed by a few hills – 1:45 total
Wednesday – 45 min spin class
Thursday – GG Park Ride – 1:15
Friday – 45 min spin class
Saturday – Tam – 1 hr w/u, race, ride back, cool down on trainer: 2:30 total
Sunday – Joined Zteam for Road 2 Recovery ride – easy out, some tempo on the way back; 2:30 total

Total: 9.5 hours

Busy day in the neighborhood & Tam

For people who have a lot of money to donate to the California Academy of Sciences they had a special preview night on Thursday with one valet parker for every patron.

It was quite a different scene today as it was the opening day for the public and admission was free.  I've lived in this neighborhood for 12 years and never seen this many people here.  Driving home from Tam (report below), I decided to go an extra few blocks south on 19th Ave to try and circumvent the gridlock, but virtually every street in the neighborhood (Judah, Kirkham, Lawton, Moraga, etc) was packed with cars, which I've never seen happen.  I had to park up on Noriega, which is the farthest that I've ever had to park.  At least I had my bike with me to ride home.

I had to post the above picture to show how stupid some people are.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen people park on this corner with the front of their car crossing the dotted line on the pavement marking the outside line of the path of muni light rail line.  The muni driver will just sit there and honk his horn, while traffic backs up behind, until the idiot comes back to his car.  I think the muni trains should have cattle guards on the front and they should be allowed to push cars illegally parked in their way off the road.

Anyway, getting back to Tam.  It was as hard a race as ever.  The 20 of us in the P/1/2 race couldn't really get organized on the Hwy.  There were no designated workers for the flat first 4 miles, so Nate English pulled for about the first mile, then Doug Merrill took a long pull, then me, Paul Mach and a few other guys tried pulling through, but only about 5-6 of us were willing to take a pull, so gaps would open up, we'd slow down.  Mark Weir took a couple particularly hard pulls trying to speed things up a bit, then Nate pulled for most of the last mile and we hit the turn in 9:45, not bad, but nowhere fast enough for a course record.

Most of us were together at the start of the climb, and I was about 8 wheels back.  Then I saw Nate moving up real fast on the inside and I knew that was the wheel to go with.  I don't have a power meter, but I'd guess that Nate was putting out somewhere around 500-600 watts (maybe more) and guys were dropping left and right.  Within about 4 minutes it was just Nate Paul and me, and I only held on for another couple minutes before I had to settle into my own pace.  Nate and Paul pulled out of site quickly even though I was going about as hard as I could trying to get out of Greg Remaly's view.  I could see him behind me on the next few switchbacks before I pulled far enough ahead.  Near the top of Bo/Fax I caught sight of Paul and was about 10 seconds behind him as I hit the summit in 28:25 (18:40 split), Nate was still out if site.

I basically just TT'd the 7 sisters.  I caught Paul on the 2nd climb and he rode with me until the 4th where I was able to pull away.  I didn't want to ease up at all since I was fearful that Greg may have been closing in on the rolling terrain, but I was able to hold on to 2nd finishing 56 seconds behind Nate (39:42) in 40:38 (12:13 split).  Paul held on for 3rd with Greg in 4th.

Congratulations Nate, that's faster than Euser rode the last 2 years!

Just in time for Tam!

Training Week September 15 - 21, 2008

Monday – 45 min spin class
Tuesday – Eve ride GG Park + some hills 1:30 total
Wednesday – Off
Thursday – Eve ride – polo fields, nothing hard – 1:30
Friday – 45 min spin class
Saturday – Tam practice ride. Easy ride from SF to Stinson. Hwy - 11:00; Climb – 20:30; 7 Sisters – 13:45 – Total of 45:15. Weather was cool and foggy – road was wet. The climb felt hard. Last year I did the practice ride with Nate E. and we were 1 min faster to the top and 2 min faster overall, so I hope it’s just a lack of competition. Still looking for a PR next Saturday. 4 Hour total ride.
Sunday – More climbing, several 4-5 minute steep climbs in the Sunset. 1:30 total.

Weekly Total: 10 Hours

Euser on USA World road team

Congratulations Lucas!

http://www.velonews.com/article/83306

I'll miss you at Mt. Tam.

Really.

Training Week September 8 - 14, 2008

Monday - 45 min spin class

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - GG Park - Polo field ride with a few fast intervals - 1:30 total

Thursday - Easy 1 hr park ride

Friday - Day off work - 1:30 evening ride

Saturday - SF Twilight Crit - 1 HR wu, 1:15 race - 2:15 total - Fast race - scary but fun - finished safely behind the carnage.

Sunday - Off

Weekly Total - 7 hours

I guess Lance really is coming back

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/09/armstrong200809?printable=true&currentPage=all

Training Week September 1 - 7, 2008

Monday – Giro di SF – 4 hours
Tuesday – GG Park ride – Started hard, but legs were dead so did an easy spin – 1:15
Wednesday – Off
Thursday – Polo field ride with some good intervals – 1:30
Friday – 45 min spin class
Saturday – Long ride in Napa with Chris & Shawn. SF was only 85 degrees so I decided to drive up to Napa and start a ride at 10AM. Oakville grade at 1:30 PM in 100 degree heat was most unpleasant – 4:00 total ride
Sunday – Easy GG Park ride, much cooler than yesterday, probably under 60 degrees in the fog– 1:30 total

Weekly total: 12.5 hours

Giro - a long day in the chamois

Slept in until 9, put on the kit at 10 for the 25 min ride downtown for the Metromint Giro di SF.   It was one of those rare warm days in the city  so I didn't need arm or leg warmers or a wind vest.  After picking up my 2 numbers and pinning them on separate jerseys I hung out at the Roaring Mouse tent for a bit then spun around a while for a warm-up.

35+ 1/2/3 - shortened to 22 laps (16.5 miles) - I got in a few breaks and won a prime when off solo, but it came down to a pack sprint.  Bosch won.  For us, Caldwell was 8th, Rich was 11th and I was 17th, 2 spots behind Scott Cole.  We were tied for 2nd in Cal Cup points, so he won the tie breaker.

A few hours and 5 Metromint waters later was the P/1/2 race with somewhere around 125 riders for 55 laps (40 miles).  I spent about 15 laps in the last 4 or 5 places, then decided to move up.  It took a few laps, but once I got there I got in a couple breaks and even went solo for a couple laps, but it was too early and I couldn't maintain it so I spent the rest of the race hanging in the main pack while a breakaway got within 30 seconds of lapping us.  AJM beat Wohlberg for the win, I was way back in the pack and finished 52nd.

Nice and easy cool-down ride home - got home around 6:30 completely exhausted and sat around drinking beer and eating Kettle Chips for about 1 hour before taking off the kit and hopping in the shower.

Daily total - 80+ miles and 4+ hours of riding. 9.5 hours in the chamois.

Training Week August 25 - 31, 2008

Monday - off

Tuesday - GG Park ride - usual route closed, so did a few hill repeats on Twin Peaks - 1:45 total

Wednesday - worked late - no ride

Thursday - Polo field ride, easy - 1:15 total.

Friday - Spin class - 45 minutes

Saturday - Challenge - 15 min w/u - 2:45 race - 3 Hr total

Sunday - Easy 2:15 city ride - a few laps of Giro course and along Embarcadero to 3rd street.  Closed to traffic for car free Sunday's - Yea!

Total:  9 Hours

Challenge

I wasn't planning on doing another long drive/overnight trip especially on a holiday weekend, but Paul wanted to go up and volunteered to drive and K was busy with finishing up a bridal gown, so I was good to go.  

We drove up to Oroville on Friday night and after a few wrong turns made it to Challenge in plenty of time.  

I really love this course, it's got a little bit of everything, small climbs, big climbs, medium climbs, fast descents and no flat sections.  Due to a combination of a long drive and lots of vertical, the fields for this race have been very small and we only had 13 for the 35+ 1,2,3, but there were a few strong guys there so this wasn't going to be easy.  Scott Cole attacked on the first climb and stayed off the front for about half of the first of 2 33 mile laps.  Shortly after we caught him, the pace on the climbs had cut our pack down to 6 with Cole, Bryant, Fonseca, Levine, Foy and myself.  With the t-shirt group decided, no one really pushed the climbs on the first half of the 2nd lap and we even stopped at the top of the climb so we could all get neutral water from Nate Parks who was manning the unmanned water station. (Thanks Nate!)

Bryant was asking me why I hadn't attacked yet and I told him that there was plenty more climbing to go.  As we got to the end of the climbs, Foy fell back a bit then, just as we started the long fast descent on Marysville road (2 miles at -8% grade), I threw in a little surge and went into a tuck and managed to roll away from the group.

I can never understand the physics when that happens since I was definitely the lightest guy there by at least 10 pounds, but as the road flattened out I took a look back and had a good gap on the 4 remaining chasers.  We only had about 15 miles left to go so I decided to give it all I had.  I couldn't tell exactly, but I think I had about 10-20 seconds for the rest of the descent and on the small rollers, but Bryant was on the front and the group was closing in.  I figured I'd be safe from all but Bryant if I could just make it to the base of the long climb before the feed zone.  As I started climbing I could tell that I didn't have a lot of fuel left in the tank and Bryant had shed the other 3 and was gaining on me.  I thought it was inevitable that he would catch me since he had come by me in the last mile or less of more races than I care to remember, but I kept pressing.  Near the top of the climb I took a look back and he shouted something about working together, but I thought my chances would be better if I just kept pressing.

Dan was getting close as I made the right turn onto New York House about 4 miles from the finish and I got caught behind a slow moving SUV on the short fast descent. I was able to get around him, but I later found out that Dan actually ran into the back/side of the SUV when he unexpectedly hit the brakes, but thankfully didn't go down.  I don't know how much that slowed him down, but he never caught me, so I finally got a win over him.

After Dan, Cole beat out Fonseca for 3rd with Levine 5th and Foy 6th.

I was too wiped out to get up at 5 to go to Dunnigan today, but I can sleep in and ride to the Giro tomorrow.  Yea, no gas money!

Sorry folks, the park's closed.

Well, that gigantor concert event in GG Park really messed things up for the usual Tuesday group ride, but that was OK.  As they continued the cleanup, we decided to go do some hill repeats on the secret hill behind UCSF instead.   But.....

Luckily we have many other hills in the neighborhood to climb.  I took the group to one of my favorites, the Secretary of State climb.

I gotta get me one of those signs.

Training Week August 18 - 24, 2008

Monday – Off

Tuesday – Mt. Tam ride with Zteam. Rode to Stinson (1:45), then Tam Course (moderate - 46:30 with Lyman), back to Corte Madera. (30). 3:00 total.

Wednesday – off

Thursday – 45 min spin class - after work went to see Bullitt at the Legion of Honor with K, pretty cool to see that one on a big screen.

Friday – Easy 30 min park ride

Saturday – Ride with Craig to Muir Woods & back. Checked out SF twilight crit course – too bad it doesn’t go up one more block to Green street. 3:00 ride

Sunday – University RR – I decided to sleep in and skip P/1/2 race and just do the 35+/45+ race (It was a crazy idea to even consider doing both). The race was a lot of fun (though most people may argue with that description). Hutch was in a break for most of the first half of the race. As soon as he was caught I attacked and got away solo with 7 laps to go. I thought it was probably too early to go solo, but once I was away gave it 100% and this time it worked. 1:00 warm-up, 1:44 race, not much of a cool down.
After the race I stayed to watch the women’s and Cat 4/5 races and hand out neutral water. It was getting real hot and most racers were taking a bottle every lap or 2. Good thing VeloPromo had plenty of bottle for everyone.

Weekly total: 10 hours.

Training Week August 11 - 17, 2008

Monday – Easy 30 min lunch spin on crappy upright bike at YMCA. At least it had a display of watts and I was able to watch some Olympic stuff.

Tuesday – Off

Wednesday – 30 min easy spin at lunch, 1:45 ride on polo field track with a few sprints and intervals.

Thursday – M2 spin class. After warm up did intervals of 10 min (326 watts for 1st 4 min, then 346 for 1 min, 330 for 4 min, 420 for 1 minute), then 3 x 3 minutes – 359W, 350W, 366W, then a bunch of 30 sec on, 30 sec off intervals.
1:15 total. For a guy who never trains with power, it was great to do a workout with some concrete numbers.

Friday – Easy 30 min spin.

Saturday – Bike Forums Alpine Dam ride – fun group, but lots of stopping and waiting. Ride that normally takes 4 hours took nearly 6. (4 hours riding)

Sunday – Rapha ride from Palo Alto Bicycles. Really cool ride, large group of about 60-70 riders. Rode Page Mill over Skyline, down Alpine, up Haskins, had to turn around at the top due to road closure (motorcyclist had gone over the edge on descent – haven’t heard anything about his condition), back down 84 to Stage, stopped at San Gregorio market for lunch, then hard effort up Tunitas and back down via Kings Mtn, Woodside, Whiskey Hill and Sand Hill. Total ride of about 4 hours. Ride was followed by food and showing of the new Paris Roubaix movie by the fine folks at Palo Alto Bicycles.

Weekly total. 12.5 hours.

Training Week August 4-10, 2008

Monday - off

Tuesday - GG Park Sprints - 1:45 total ride.

Wednesday - 45 min spin class

Thursday - Easy GG Park ride 1:15 total.

Friday - 45 min spin class

Saturday - Patterson Pass RR - 35+ - 69 miles.  Laps were about 1:03, 1:05 and 1:02.  Colin won with me 2nd.  Great to get a team 1-2.

3:30 total ride.  

Sunday - Slept about 12 hours - I guess I needed it.  Easy GG park ride with a few sprints at the polo field - 60 min total.

Weekly Total: 9 Hours

NBC 11 Totally Sucks!

I'm not even a huge swim fan, but I would like to see Michael Phelps 400M IM Final live (it's going on right now).   But what is my local NBC affiliate showing?  Access Hollywood!?

I hear that NBC is showing the Olympics live on the east coast, but as usual we get the 3 hour tape delayed version.

That totally sucks!

I've already sent an e-mail complaint to the station.

Training Week July 28 - August 3

Monday – Off
Tuesday – GG Park Sprints – 90 min
Wednesday – Easy 45 min Spin
Thursday – GG Park easy ride – 75 min
Friday – Spin Class at Y – 45 min esay
Saturday – District RR – 105 miles is a long way. My riding time was about 4:40 – (about 5 hrs with w/u and ride back to start) Easy at first with some really really hard parts until I got popped around 90 miles, then easy for 15 miles and finished . Reaney won for the 2nd week in a row, way to go for the semi-old guys!
I finished 27th. I thought I was DFL, but there were a couple finishers behind me in the results – and I was with Peabody & Sherman in the Wayback Machine
Sunday – Easy GG Park Ride – 90 min.

Weekly Total: 10:45

Songs I wish I had on my iPod

I used to think that these were 1 hit wonders, but I guess they're no hit wonders since these songs are not even available on iTunes and I've never seen them on any 80's compilation albums.

Peter Godwin - Images of Heaven

Belious Some - Some People

Cetu Javu - Have in Mind

I'm sure there are many others that I've long forgotten.

Training Week July 21 - 27, 2008

Monday – Off
Tuesday – GG Park Hammer Ride – 90 min
Wednesday – 30 min easy spin at Y.
Thursday – 1:15 easy GG Park ride, mostly drafting behind Harold.
Friday – 1:15 easy ride on district course – 2 laps

Saturday – District 35+ race – Reaney, Hernandez & LaBerge rolled off on the first lap while I was watching Innes, Martin & Bryant. I tried attacking about 50 times (about 47 times too many). A lot of us stayed together after we caught a dropped LaBerge we had a sprint for 3rd. I rolled in the back for 11th. race was about 2:50, 3:30 total riding.

Sunday – District 35+ Crit – About 90 min before the race I realized that I didn’t have my shoes. I was able to borrow a pair of shoes & pedals from Dan’s wife Andy. I only attacked about 40 times, but again it came down to a pack sprint, so I rolled across in the back. – 90 min total

Weekly total: 9.5 Hours

Alpe night at the Mouse

Roaring Mouse Cycles threw a little party tonight in honor of the queen stage of this year's tour.  Beer, pizza and bike racing, what more could you ask for?  This team knows how to have a good time.

Training Week July 14-20, 2008

Monday - Off

Tuesday - GG Park Sprints - 1:45 hard

Wednesday - Off

Thursday - Polo field ride - 1 hr light tempo (~250 watts) with last 10 min hard. 1:45 total

Friday - 45 min spin class

Saturday - Easy 1:45

Sunday - Long ride with Zteam in Marin - 4.5 hours - lots of moderate/hard tempo.

Total - 10.5 Hours

Ricco just another doper

Photo: Agence France Presse

I think I am just naive, but I really thought that we would see a clean tour this year.
I just don't understand why these guys think they won't get caught.

Training Week July 7 - 13, 2008

Monday – 45 min spin class – moderate
Tuesday – easy TT ride in GG Park – 60 min
Wednesday – 30 min easy spin
Thursday – Rode over Cascade TT course. 2 x 5 min at race effort. 60 min total
Friday – AM – TT (32:30 – 3rd 35+), PM – Crit – (36:36, 34th place 35+) – 2:15 total
Saturday – Cascade Road Race – 70 miles – (2:57:20 - 3rd 35+, moved up to 2nd GC) – 3:45
Sunday – Cascade Circuit Race – 65 miles – (2:47:32 – 16th 35+, Finished 2nd GC) – 3:00 total.

Weekly Total: 12.25 hours.

Cascade

So far 571 riders have signed up for the Cascade Cycling Classic including the 2 local Astana boys. That’s over 60% more than the 350 total from last year (though there wasn’t a women’s race last year) and there’s still room for a few more women and old guys. Should be some great battles all around and I for 1 am looking forward to watching the big fields of Pro women and men take on that crit course as I sip an Oregon micro brew after the masters race.

Unfortunately I heard that my teammate Shawn crashed out of the P/1/2 race in Vacaville yesterday and may not be joining us. I haven’t heard too much about the crash or the extent of the injuries, but I hope it’s not too bad and that he heals quickly.

Training Week June 30 - July 6, 2008

Monday – 60 min spin class – moderate
Tuesday – GG Park sprints – Hard as usual – 90 min
Wednesday – 45 min spin class – moderate
Thursday – 2 hour GG park ride with some polo field intervals
Friday – Easy 45 minute ride
Saturday – Long ride over Tam cut short by a broken spoke and 3 pinch flats (probably mostly due to way out of true wheel) – 3:30 total ride. (note to self, pack a spoke wrench in the saddle bag)
Sunday – Intervals on the TT bike – painful but fast – 90 min

Weekly Total: 11 hours.

I was hoping to get in 4-5 hours on Saturday and a couple of good long climbs, but bike wasn’t cooperating. After yesterday’s ride on the TT bike I feel ready for Cascade though.

Happy Independence Day!

Ahhh, 4th of July in the Inner Sunset.  Gotta love that summer fog.

We can usually see the downtown SF fireworks from this window, but it looks like we won't be seeing too much tonight.  

I hope the big booms don't freak out the kitties too much.

Crack

Every Tuesday I use my lunch hour to go to the Farmers Market on the Embarcadero and pick up some fresh local fruits and veggies for the week. I’ve been avoiding this guy for a while, but today he caught me and pushed a “sample” of the bittersweet almond brittle into my face. What was I to do? I had to take it…. Then I had to buy a bag of it.

He knows I'm weak and I’ll be back next week for more.

Move here and root root root for the visiting team

I went to the Giants game last night because my office has season tickets and they gave me a couple. I was born and live in SF and descend from several generations of SF natives, and naturally I grew up as a fan of the Giants and 49ers. I've always been the casual type of fan who would go to a few games a year if tickets came up, but only if I had nothing else going on since I am much more interested in my own pursuits and in following the professionals in the fringe sports I participate in.

So, last night I’m at the Giants/Cubs game and the visiting Cubs may not have had quite as many fans as the Giants, but it was close and they were certainly much more vocal and excited about the game, and whenever they scored, the stadium roared.

This is not the first time I’ve seen this phenomenon in the Bay Area, just ask any A’s fan who’s ever been to a home game against the Yankees or Red Sox. Though I have no first hand knowledge, I’ve been told that this is something that you don’t see in Boston, New York or Chicago.

Here in the Bay Area we have tens if not hundreds of thousands of people who have moved here from east coast and mid west cities. They continue to remain loyal to their home cities’ sports teams but not to their home cities, otherwise why would they have moved here?

Training Week June 23-29, 2008

Monday – Easy 30 minute spin
Tuesday – GG Park Sprints – 1:45 with hard efforts
Wednesday – Off
Thursday – Lunch: 45 min spin class moderate. PM: 1:45 Park ride moderate
Friday – Off
Saturday – Easy 1:45 morning park ride with a few openers
Sunday – Burlingame Crits – 60 min w/u – 40 min 35+ race (flat in last lap – 76th), 10 min break to swap numbers and tire – 60 min P/1/2 race – sat in mostly, tried to bridge up to a break with 5 laps to go, sat up last lap – 75th. (20 min cooldown) – 3 hr day.

Weekly total – 9.5 Hours

Pulled over by the SFPD

Last night’s Tuesday GG Park hammer ride was going along just as it always does, we were about halfway through and really pushing the pace up JFK. There were about 12 of us, strung out single file and I was leading when I heard a car horn blaring behind us. The first thought that comes to my mind is “we’re going 23 and the speed limit is only 25 and this f-er wants to pass, I’ll just speed up”.

So, I attack and get up to 27 or 28 and notice that no one’s coming with me, but I keep going until I hear the police siren, so I pull over to the right side of the lane, but don’t slow down right away until I realize “Oh, sh*% he’s pulling ME over"

Man was he pissed! He thought I was trying to get away from him and demanded to see my license. As I fumbled through my pockets looking for it, then realized that I didn’t have it, the rest of our group rolls up and stops. I became all humble and apologetic, telling him that I didn’t realize he was behind us since I was in the front and couldn’t hear him and that I thought it was OK to ride in the middle of the road since I was going the speed limit. The cop was starting to calm down and was just telling us to stay to the right and that he wouldn’t site us all for blowing through the stop signs..
Then this ZteaM guy whose name reminds me of an intersection

starts arguing with the cop about how we’re like a bus and since we’re EXCEEDING the speed limit we’re not holding up traffic (I’m thinking, DUDE, don’t argue with the guy, it’s not helping!)

Luckily he let us go with a warning and we were back to our usual mayhem within 5 minutes.

Training Week June 16-22, 2008

Monday – 45 minute spin class moderate
Tuesday – 1:45 – GG Park Sprints – hard
Wednesday – 45 minute spin (class was full, so went later and did Zone 1-2)
Thursday – 1 Hr with 4 x 5 minute moderate hill reps behind UCSF
Friday – 45 minute spin class easy
Saturday – 45 min AM ride on Tour de Nez Course. 45 minute ride warm-up on course, 55 min race, 20 minute cooldown.
Sunday – 90 minute warm-up, 24:30.1 Mt. Diablo TT, 20 min cooldown.

Weekly Total: 10 hours – 2 short races and no long ride.

Two more seconds

Being on the podium is great and everything, but it gets to be a little frustrating just missing out on the win. Dan and I broke away about halfway through the Tour de Nez 35+ race and worked it pretty good togther. It came down to a sprint, something I need to work on.

Photo credit to Patrick Cummings - Reno Gazette Journal

I thought the course was a lot of fun, twisting and climbing through the North Star village. I hope to do it again next year.

Yesterday was the Mt. Diablo Hill Climb TT.

Good News - My time was 24:30, a PR by 1:15!
Bad News - I lost to Innes by 1.3 seconds, so I was 2nd again in the 35+.

The legendary Ned Overend at age 52 killed it in the P/1/2 with a time of 23:40!

Training Week June 9-15, 2008

Monday – Off
Tuesday – GG Park Sprints – 90 min with hard sprint efforts.
Wednesday – 45 min spin class at the Y - moderate.
Thursday – Easy 75 min park ride.
Friday – 45 min spin class at the Y – moderate.
Saturday – Pescadero RR – 35+ 1/2/3. Thanks to my awesome Morgan Stanley teammates for a great leadout into the final climb, but I just couldn't hold on for the win and finished 2nd to Special Agent Dan Bryant.
Race was about 3:20 for 75 miles. Total riding about 4:15.
Sunday – Off – slept in and rested – wanted to go to Nevada City but hate driving and a nap on the couch seemed like a better idea.



Weekly Total: 8.5 Hours

Big in Japan

Goodbye matabo!
Reminds me of the Alphaville song.

Cars, Parking and Gas

It's that time of day when the SF parking patrol comes by to ticket and tow those who are too dumb to realize that when a sign says no parking from 3-7 PM they mean it. The tow truck always sets of the car's alarm and it's a real distraction.








Here's the bus zone that I look down at from my cube with a view.
I'm glad I don't have to drive to work.




Those parking control vehicles kind of remind me of the Smart cars, but they're not nearly as cool.

Man if I had one of those parking would be a whole lot easier in my neighborhood.

Before I get one though I'd have to make sure I could fit a bike in the back.

I'm sure it would use a lot less gas than the Silver Bullet I currently drive, but it won't be able to take 4 guys and 4 bikes to a race. I don't really drive anywhere except to races anyway.

Speaking of gas, I got one of those e-mails trying to convince everyone that if they boycott Exxon and Mobil they'll be forced to lower their gas prices to $2 a gallon. I really don't think that would ever work, but I'll avoid Exxon and Mobil since I usually get my gas at Arco if I can anyway.

I'll be driving up to Bend next month for the Cascade Cycling Classic, so I hope gas doesn't go much above $5 a gallon by then. Not many masters enteries so far. Maybe high gas prices are keeping people away. Luckily I have a place to stay, so the gas will be the most expensive part of the trip.

If gas keeps going up I'm sure we'll see a decline in the number of racers at all the remote places we race (which is most of the races we do anyway). That's the only thing that makes me sad about high gas prices.

Training Week June 2-8, 2008

Monday - 45 minute spin class – easy
Tuesday – 3.75 hour Marin/Alpine dam/Tam ride with Zteam. Moderate/hard
Wednesday – easy 30 minute spin class
Thursday – 1:15 on TT bike, some moderate intervals
Friday – easy 30 minute spin class
Saturday – AM – Easy 1 hr park ride, PM – easy 45 min ride in Truckee on TT bike.
Sunday – Sattley TT – Didn’t feel great : 54:27 for 5th in 35-39. 2:30 total riding.

I didn't really know what to expect in the TT, but after last week in Davis I thought I could place top 3. I was disappointed to be over 2 minutes down on Bosch who won and Innes who was 2nd.

Total: 11.0 hours.

Felt kind of run down after Tuesday night.

Time to put away the TT bike until a week or so before Cascade.

Read the sign!

I see these signs all over the city, but I don't think a lot of drivers have ever taken the time to read one.  It's a pretty dang simple concept,  if a bicycle is in the right lane going slower than the auto traffic and you want to get by, then simply change lanes and pass.

Don't sit behind me and honk your flippin horn!

Sometimes I feel like deliberately riding my bike up and down one of these streets just so I can point out the sign to everyone who honks.  Maybe some of them will read the sign and figure it out.

Now back to Animal Planet.

VOTE Today

I voted at my local neighborhood Starbucks. I don't think there will be too many people voting today. I was only the 3rd person to vote in my precinct this morning. There are just a couple state propositions, 98 & 99. Prop 98 would phase out rent control and I live in a rent controlled apartment, so I voted no. There are also about 10 SF propositions, and the guy who sits next to me at work has a cousin who's running for Judge, so I voted for him.

Spin Class at the YMCA

I never get to ride a real bike on Monday, Wednesday or Friday unless it’s a holiday or I’m on vacation or something. For the last 10 years since I’ve been married Tuesday & Thursday have been my designated workout nights in GG Park and on M-W-F I do what I can at lunch downtown. As a runner I had 2 lunch runs. I’d either go east & south past SBC park or north/west toward fisherman’s wharf. If I felt like making it harder there was always the deHaro St. hill past the sweet smelling Anchor Brewing Co.

But since running and cycling don’t to mix real well (for me at least), the lunch runs have all turned into lunch spins at the YMCA.

Here Dan and I strategize attacking the rest of the class.

Yea, fun! (not really)

Training Week May 26 - June 1

Monday - easy 30 minute park ride

Tuesday - park sprints 90 minutes

Wednesday - off

Thursday - 75 minutes light intervals on TT bike

Friday - easy 60 minute park ride

Saturday - 1:45 easy ride with a few hard efforts

Sunday - 75 min w/u 41 min race 5 minute cooldown - 2 Hrs Total

Weekly Total - 8 Hours

Dunlap TT

This was my first ITT on a real TT bike, so I was anxious to see how I would fare against my usual road competition in a flat TT.  John, Eric and I arrived a good 2 hours before our noonish start times so we had plenty of time to get in a long warm-up on the trainers.

I hate riding on the trainer, and I really hate riding the TT bike on the trainer, but it had to be done, so we got in our hour plus and rolled up to the start.  

When my 1 minute man started I started my stopwatch, which is the only source of data I use when I ride.  A minute later I was rolling and waiting for that first turn at 1.4 miles.  On a course like this the only things I have to look at and motivate me are the riders ahead and the turns on the course.  I had estimated and memorized anticipated time splits for each turn based on an aggressive 28mph pace.  

After about 10 minutes I could tell I was reeling in both my 30 second and 1 minute riders and soon passed them both.  That was a real confidence boost.  When I made the 2nd turn at mile 6.9 I was hoping to be around 14:45, but looked at my watch and saw 16:00.  

Dang, how can I have lost over 1 minute yet still be catching guys!  I took a quick look over my shoulder to see if Joel (who started 30 seconds behind me) was coming, but didn't see him.  On the 3.5 mile westward leg of the course i could feel an increased headwind, so I decided to go harder.  After a while I could see another couple riders ahead, but for some reason the person wasn't pedaling.  As I approached I realized it was a woman from the 3-4 group, not one of the masters guys.  At the next turn I was about 1:25 behind my projection and was surprised that I had only lost 10 more seconds to my projection.  The next stretch of 2.5 miles felt the fastest (must have had a tailwind) and I started to gain some time.  I passed a few more women and 1 guy from my race who had started a few minutes ahead of me and then made the final turn to the finish.  I was thinking that I was going to be about 90 seconds slower than projected until finally remembered that I had started my watch 1 minute early!

Sweet, I wasn't going as slow as I thought I was and I only had about 5 minutes to go so I went as hard as I could.  The last 3K really ticked by slowly but I finally made it and crossed in 41:31 (31K - 27.8 MPH).  After I finished I waited for a minute and no one else crossed so I knew I had at least beat the 2 riders who started behind me.

I was real pleased with my race, but not sure how the time would hold up.  The results confirmed what I expected, Billy Innes won (again!!) about 38 seconds faster than I was, but I was fast enough for 2nd so I wasn't disappointed.   

Next week is the rematch at nearly a mile high, so we'll be going a little faster and breathing a little harder in the thin air.

Training Week May 19 - 26

I started the year keeping a very accurate log of all my training on an excel spreadsheet on my phone, but I never got around to backing it up and my phone crashed so I lost it all.

So I've decided to copy Mark Fennell and post my training every week.

Here's last week:

Mon - 30 min spin class at lunch
Tues - Park Sprints - 90 min - hard
Wed - 45 min spin class at lunch
Thu - 75 min park ride - moderate
Fri - 60 min easy park ride
Sat - 60 min easy ride on new bike
Sun - Mt Ham Race + Ride back to start - About 6 hours total

Weekly total 12 hours

Races of Truth

Karin and I, and our 4 kitties live in a small apartment.
This was fine when I was a runner because runners don't have a lot of stuff.
Sure, I had a lot of shoes, about 20 pairs. I had to have something for every type of terrain & condition, but they all easily fit into my closet. Then I started cycling......

It started with 1 road bike 3 years ago. Then I added a set of race wheels, a commuter bike, more race wheels and now a TT bike too. Things started getting crowded.

Karin was kind enough to install a wheel rack in the hallway above the bathroom door.

There's no room for the TT bike, so it sits unassembled in the closet most of the time. But now it's time to take it out again and set it up for the TT's I have coming up over the next 2 weekends.

I don't enjoy training on the TT bike because it doesn't feel very comfortable (and it's not like you can join your local group ride on a TT bike). I've been told though that if it feels comfortable then you're doing it wrong. I've heard that these TT's are pretty flat. Bummer, but at least I don't have to worry about sprinting.

Mt. Hamilton

The addition of a KOM prize for all divisions this year gave me extra motivation to get to the summit first, but I really wanted to get to the top solo so I could take the descent at my own speed. I think they let me go because they (and I ) knew they could catch me after the climb.

The new bike climbed and descended great and I was quite surprised that I wasn't caught on the descent and was able to leisurely ride through the neutral water zone at Isabel creek and fuel up on a couple gu's.

When the breakaway train train caught me, I was glad that it was only 5 guys and one of them was my teammate Chris D'Alusio. The others were Billy Innes and Kevin Metcalfe from Team Specialized, Dan Bryant from Sierra Nevada Specialized and Clark Foy from SJBC.

We worked well together until the small climbs after the feedzone I pushed it pretty hard to see if I could shake anyone from the group and we lost Foy, so we were down to an all Specialized group of 5. Since Bryant was the odd man out the rest of us started constantly attacking trying to wear him out. I certainly managed to wear myself out pretty good and got gapped a bit after my final attack was caught. It took me about a mile to get back on.

With just a fast descending 5K to go Metcalfe went to the front and drilled it all the way to the finish straight. With 200 to go Innes launched and took it to the line with D'Alusio finishing 2nd, and Bryant taking 3rd. I was able to go around leadout man Metcalfe for 4th.

Many thanks to SJBC for putting on a fantastic event! The spread at the finish was great and gave us enough calories to make the long cool down ride back to the start.

The black eye on the day was when I found out that my friend Brian who I had driven to the race had crashed on the descent in the Cat 3 race and had to be airlifted to a local hospital. By the time I got back to the start I found out that his wife Molly had come to pick him up and took him home. He suffered a concussion and a broken wrist, but was in good spirits when I stopped by to drop his stuff off. He may be off the bike for a while, but should be running again soon.

Just in time

I had planned to go down to Hellyer for the Ready to Race clinic, but was concerned about the smoke in the air down there.  I woke up to rain, which is just what we need to help with the fire, but not great for riding, so I decided to move all my components from my Ridley to my new Tarmac.  I had never done this before, so doing so the day before a big race probably not the best idea in the world.  My teammate John said it took him about 1.5 hours to move his components over, so how long could it take me?

It took me a lot longer than that, and longer than I expected, but I was able to get it together and get in a ride to test it out before the sun set.

Just under 15 pounds with Williams 19 clinchers.

Can't wait to race it tomorrow!

I am Specialized

Well, not quite yet, but soon.

They can have the box, I'll take what's inside.

My first sub kg frame!

Unfortunately it won't be ready to roll for Mt. Ham on Sunday but I should have it dialed in for Pescadero.

Tuesday Night GG Park Ride

The Tuesday night GG Park sprint workouts are in full swing.  

Definitely my most painful workout of the week.

This Tuesday tradition has been going on for years and years.  I remember seeing them many times over the years when I used to run in the park on Tuesdays.

About 3 years ago I decided to try joining the group for a ride.  I remember how intimidated I was those first several weeks.  I didn't know anybody, everybody had better bikes than I did and fancy team kits while I was in a generic blue jersey and black shorts.  I was afraid that they would all have attitudes and not accept some dorky newb into their clique.

 I'd just sit off to the side by myself and wait for the ride to start and stay just off the back for the first lap or so until I got dropped.  It was discouraging, but I kept coming back, and started talking to a few guys, who were much nicer than I had expected.  After a few weeks I was able to hang with the group and started feeling real comfortable on the bike.  Eventually guys started telling me that I should try racing.  I was pretty scared, but decided to give it a go.

If I hadn't found this group I'd most likely still be a runner, but I'd also probably have a lot more money in the bank.

 

In a few weeks I hope to give racing on the track on Tuesdays a try, where once again I'll be the dorky newb.

Bay to Breakers

I woke up at 8:30 this morning, just in time to watch the last mile of the Bay to Breakers on TV.  Just as the winner crossed the line, I heard some commotion outside and looked out the window to see a group of about 15 costumed revelers waiting for the N Judah streetcar to take them downtown to the starting line.  I think they're running a little late, but I'm sure they won't be the last ones there.

This used to be on of my favorite races back in my former life as a runner.  It was 20 years ago as a high school senior that I did my first B2B.  I ran it about a dozen times after that, sometimes serious (once I was the first San Francisco finisher and won a trip to Japan to represent SF in the Osaka Half Marathon), sometimes for fun (once as a "ski" team running as Ted Kaczynski with friends dressed as Monica Lewinsky, Tara Lipinski and Igor Stravinsky).

The most painful times were running with the Reebok or Microsoft centipedes since I was usually one of the 2 slowest guys.  Running in a centipede is like being in a 13 man TTT except that you're physically connected by a large nylon sheet around the neck to the other guys and once you start really hurting you literally get pulled along at a pace that your legs just can't maintain.  I was usually stuck behind a guy who was a former US 1500M champion and when he'd start sprinting the last 400M with his sub 4 mile speed I seriously thought I was going to die.  The only thing that could ease the pain was the endless supply of Gordon Biersch at the finish.

Ahhh good times.

I'm sure I'll try it again sometime, but never as the slow man in the centipede.

No longer a track virgin

I've lived in the Bay Area my whole life and even lived in San Jose for 2 years, but had never even been to Hellyer Park.  Since I wasn't road racing this weekend I decided to give it a try and went to a beginner session.  I rented a Bianchi Pista (with the bars way higher than I like) for $5 and was ready to roll.  After our group of about 14 did a 40 lap warm-up, Mark (no way he's 55!) had us do some bumping drills, and we practiced attacking solo and in 2's and 3's and even had a mock scratch race of 10 laps.  It was a good time.

I hope to make it out there next Friday to watch some real racers and maybe in a few weeks I can try a Tuesday or Wednesday night race.

I don't think track will ever by my thing, but it certainly should help my road racing, especially my lack of finishing speed.