Nice Job SBR!

This is what happens when a TEAM works together. Great job winning RATL today John and for the team effort Jason, Chris.....I'll let John tell the whole story. Dave rode CAT5 and Tom was riding Masters. Picture by Gary Burkholder (who was going to race but had car issues).

I ran 4 miles today for my "big effort". :-(

Thanks for reading,
Rick

My loaner 'Cross bike

I came across this picture of the Steel Ritchey BreakAway that was loaned to me at N/C while they were getting my Ti one for me last Oct. Man, that is one sweet looking & riding bike. Brent Evans just picked one up. Mind you, the Ti rules, but the Steel Ritcheys (both road & "cross) ride really sweet!

Ok, back to work.

Thanks for reading,
Rick

Selling Stuff for the Titus Modena

I have decided to sell my 54cm Ritchey BreakAway Steel Road bike. It has a custom paint job on it and is equipped with older 105 components and wheels. I have two different cases for it; a soft backpack style and a hardcase both from S & S. Please note that the picture of the Ritchey shows different components/wheels on it.

I'll also be selling the frame/fork of my 2003 Specialized Pro. The frame/fork is in very good condition and is very light.

Last but not least, I have a Rhode Gear Pro two bike rack for either a 1-1/4" or 2" receiver hitch. It has a built-in lock and new straps.

Contact me if you are interested.

UPDATE; RITCHEY HAS BEEN SOLD (Thanks, Brett) and I have sold my Specialized Langster to Matt. (Thanks, Matt). The Specialized Allez will be converted into a track bike (fixie) in the near future.

Thanks for reading,
Rick

New Stead Coming

After looking at my budget (none) but still wanting a race bike that wouldn't kill my old bod.....hopefully this baby should do the trick. A Titus Modena 54cm with Reynolds Ouzo Comp fork. Not as light as the boys I was looking at but way lighter on the wallet. I'll not get it until until May 4th or so.....

Now back to work.....

Thanks for reading,
Rick

First Race - Covered Bridge

OK, let's get to the facts; I was "over served" on the last night of business meetings Friday, so Saturday was a travel and get over the effects of Friday. Not the best pre-race training, but what the heck.
I haven't completed the Covered Bridge race yet. Last year, was the knee operation & the year before that was when I blew my knee out again during the race. My goal(s) for the race were:
- finish the dang thing in the pack at least
- see if I could help out any of my team mates get on the podium
- if not the above, then get into position to challenge for the sprint if I felt good.
The course is roughly 5 miles long,five laps of flats/rolling hills and only one tricky turn at the covered bridge. I was riding in the CAT 4, 5/Masters & Citizen field; 25 miles total. I started the race in the back of the pack and then worked my way up to the front 1/3 of the field once my legs got loosened up. We had Jason, Dave, Gary, Jeff, Peter and Pat wearing an old PDQ kit. We wanted to get the group together on the last lap and help put Peter on the podium. Jason went off the front like 4 times, Peter kept himself in great position and I watched for any breaks to make sure that Peter or I was in them. One break looked good, we had two guys in it (Jeff & Peter?), I sat up and tried to block, but soon felt like I was in a F1 race with people passing me by. At the bell lap I put myself in the position I wanted, Gary joined me, but I didn't see Peter and once I got to the front and was hitting 30 mph, felt like it was too early and I was only helping out Jared (Oct. Lake Effect), so I sat up and drifted back. Maybe too far back and by the time we got to the long final stretch, I was in horrid position to to anything; help Peter/Jeff/Gary or contest the sprint. I did sprint up to the lead group and break into the top 15 or so....most of us finished in that group.
Stats are: (roughly - I didn't turn on/off the Polar exactly at the start/finish)
1:13:43.9, 27.1 miles, HR avg - 142, max HR - 166, avg spd - 22.1, max spd - 35.1, avg CAD - 99, max CAD - 138, avg wattage - 270, max watts - 764, 1060 ft of climbing total and temp went from 66'F at the start to 79'F at the finish.
I'll not be doing next week's race due to parenting responsibilities.

Thanks for reading,
Rick

FL Part Duex

Believe it or not, I was able to get up at 4:30am again this morning and be on-the-road at 5:10am! Heck the numbers even look better; 1:25:07.3, 25 miles, 17.6 avg mph, 133 avg HR, 99 avg CAD, 61'F. The Ritchey is getting packed up tonight and I'm just hanging out at the beach tomorrow....race is Sunday.

FL trip

Wait a minute....you were just down in FL, right? Yup. This is a work related trip and instead of Tampa, I'm south of Jacksonville. Meetings start at 8am and doesn't stop til 8-9pm. Soooooooo, the only time I can ride is gawd awful, what the heck am I doing up early! The alarm went off at 4:30 am this morning and I stumbled out on the bike at around 5:25 and headed off in the darkness on Route A1A going north. I didn't even realize that I was headed into the wind (too tired to tell) until I turned around at the halfway point. Do I looked tired as hell or what?
It was a nice 21.6 mile ride, avg spd 16, avg HR 125, and avg temperature 59'F; thanks to U2 on the iPod, it wasn't too bad. Now let's see if I can do that tomorrow?

Thanks for reading,
Rick

back to the meetings.....

the week in review

If you look at the number of days and hours I put in and still worked at my job...I'm not feeling too bad. I put in five efforts (six if you count testing three bikes - which is good for me); 5:30 and 90 miles. For the crappy weather and getting my butt on the trainer twice this week....that's not too bad, I just need to do this consistently.

bike porn part duex

OK, after the team ride this morning (that's on a separate post) I looked at the new Colonago CLX (nice) and then went and rode the Cannondale System Six (54), the Orbea Orca (54) and the Cervelo Soloist Carbon. All tasty bikes, but the C-Dale seemed too big, the Orbea was very, very nice and the damn Cervelo just wanted to go baby go! So, we'll see how things go; more details later.

bike porn

I don't think there is any freak'n way for me to get the tastey Scott Addict CR1, the Cervelo R3, the Orbea Orca or the Specialized S-WORKS ROUBAIX SL, but a guy's gotta dream. I am looking for a light, non-punishing, responsive frame to replace the fantastic Specialized Allez Pro....in a 54cm. Actually, I'll be fitted at our team sponsor to determine the exact sizing I should be looking for. I'll let you know how that comes out. The fitting (1st part of it) was painless and gave me the info on what to look for spec wise on a bike. It did cost to do it, but will be worth it in helping choose the right bike, geometry & size (52-54); thanks Bike Authority!

Plus it's SBR bike camp this weekend & my first race.

Thanks for reading,
Rick

It's the best I can do....

Was to get in a quick ride in yesterday's "nice" weather with Gary - after riding in FL....it wasn't nearly as much fun.
20.5 miles, 1:15:39.4, avg HR 139, max HR 176, avg speed 16.2, max 44.5 mph, avg CAD 88, max CAD 121, avg watts 222, max watts 644, temp ended at 39'F and 1280' of climbing. I'm not even saying what my weight is right now.

Week in Review

Ok, where to start? I did sneak in a ride while I was in Chattanooga on business; 43:22.0, 149 avg heart rate, max 166, 11.8 miles, 16.4 avg speed, 41.2 max, cad avg 90, started at 665' and climbed to 1790' with get this - a temp of 58-83'F. I can say the climb that Bicycle Magazine talks about in Chattanooga is a climb not to miss. The view is great, the road condition is very good & the traffic wasn't too bad. I didn't have enough time to climb the whole thing, but I'm glad I tried to get in as much as I did. The decent was great.....it's funny to have different parts of your body cramping on a really long descent. I can't believe the long drops the pros do.
This snow that I came back home to is enough to make a grown man cry. So much for continuing my workouts; just like my buddy Donny, I'm waaaaaaay over what weight I should be at; 162 right now vs 155. Damn, double damn. No excuses though, I'm just a weak excuse for rider right now.

Happy Easter to all.
Thanks for reading,
Rick

Bike Camp Day 5

As much as I wanted to get more miles in....today is an "off" day. Hung out at the beach and then packed....I should be able to get a ride in Chattanooga between business calls. Oh, gotta luv the parting shot from Gary. More later...go OSU! Oh, brother, that wasn't fun to watch.
I've been up since 4:20AM and just got into the hotel. Looks like I'll see how the weather & appointments firm up for tomorrow's ride.

Thanks for reading,
Rick

Bike Camp Day Four

I gotta tell you that as a pure "put the miles on" trip....I'm not real happy. However, the weather has been great, it's been fun hanging out with Gary, my brother, Pat and in general, just having some fun.
Enough on that...we got up and drove my brother and his roommate to downtown Tampa early & were going to meet Pat on the Pinelas Trail that Pat wanted to do. So I'm thinking some good tempo work and around 50+, right? Well, we screw around trying to find the place and meet up with Pat...at least we are starting more on time and the weather is great again.
OK, the stats; 41.7 miles, 3:04:39.7, avg speed 13.5 & max 28.4 mph, heart rate avg 116, max 169, CAD avg 89 & max 114. Temperature went from 78' to 87'F with no climbing except for the overpass(s). Actually it was good interval work with all of the stop-n-starts and overpass "climbs".

Thanks for reading,
Rick

Bike Camp Day Three

I'm all fired up about what is to go on today; the 60 mile hill ride in San Antonio, FL. Hill ride in FL, right....well it was 1440' in 38 miles, so while it's no Alpe d'Huez :), it does get you out of the saddle once in awhile. So, wait a minute you're thinking; you're going on a 60 mile ride and you just talk about the climbing for 38, what gives? Well, traffic for starters. The ride is only 18 miles away from the house I'm staying at, but I75 decides that it will take 1.5 hours to go that distance. Talk about wanting to go postal. So the start time for the ride moved from 8:30AM to 10:30AM. Not good; we keep seeing people that are ending their ride as we are going out. So around 30 miles into the ride Gary has a flat and learns that the tire is a wire bead and has fun playing with that for the next 30 minutes. Pat is cramping, didn't bring enough food and I'm realizing that my wonderful long ride made have to be shortened. DAMN.
Anyway; 38.3 miles, 2:59:32.1, avg heart rate 119, max 160, speed 12.8 (OMG that's slow) & max 36 mph. Temperature went from 84 to 89'F. CAD avg was 90 & max was 118.

Thanks for reading,
Rick