The Quest

To get back my mojo has been going on all d-mn week. Crap.
Sooooo, I got back from spending all day in Nashville giving my deposition (whatever, you get the point - lawyers, you're under oath, blah, blah, blah); seems like somebody wants to get rich the old fashion way, sue my company & I for $1M due to the accident that I was in 2 years ago. That's done and I guess I didn't screw that up too bad.
So I got up this morning and figured what the heck, I'll pretend that I'm going to ride to work this morning (which is interesting since I work from my home office) just like my buddies John, Jim & Gary do (I know there are more of you out there also). So I get the poor neglected Ritchey Ti Cross bike out and head out to Valley View in my Mario Cipollini kit (I look just like him, eh? NOT). Heck, I shouldn't get hit by a car in this getup. Thanks to the iPod and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park, etc....the 29.6 miles went by pretty quickly and helped start the day on a more positive note. Still don't have the mojo back but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel I think. So, 4 rides in this week and roughly 140 miles....sweet, not the best week I've had "mentally", but at least my weight is holding steady at 154-5 so I got that working for me. :-)
My stats:
1:41:20
29.6 miles
HR - 139 avg, 168 max
speed - 17.5 avg, 47.2* (hmmmm, Gary, this bike seems plenty fast on a downhill) max
CAD - 97 avg, 118 max
1119' of climbing
temp went from 76' up to 88'F

Thanks for reading,
Rick

Westlake Crit Race B Group.....

Well, I've had a shitty last couple of days mood wise; you know, in a funk. I resigned from the Velodrome Board/Committee today....so I felt like blowing off tonight's race. Thanks to Jen K & John E for telling me to get off my a$$ and race tonight.
I've been working on the Velodrome Foundation's new computer to get it going (I hate VISTA) and ran tearing out of the house to try to get to the race in time. I arrived and John, Ray, Tom, Ian, Jim, Dave, Jason & Matt were all there...thanks Tom & John for helping me get ready. I sign the paperwork for Bridgette, get on my bike and off the B group goes, so much for any warm up and I now realize that it's cold. Shoot, I should have put on my knee warmers, thank goodness I grabbed my arm warmers and put them on. Well Jim warns me about this guy from Summitt who should be riding up with the As....I see why, we start going 24-25 right away with him pulling, we see the As after the first lap and Dave & Bob decide it would be cool to lap the A field. I spent the rest of the race covering moves, doing some pulling, trying my legs out in half a$$ sprints for primes....at one point Jason and the Summitt guy are off the front and gapping us and then they come into the sharp turn and Jason goes down with the Summitt guy right on top of him; we sit up to see if the guys are ok and then resume the pace.
I felt like my head was definitely not in the race....just a lot of pedaling....so when I was in a shitty position for the final sprint and was only able to get a 4th, I was like oh well.
Well it beats sitting around being bummed....Spin Ride is tomorrow, hopefully I'll have more game then.
My crappy stats:
1:44:14.9
38.9 miles
HR - 147 avg, 171 max
speed - 22.4 avg, 35.3 max
CAD - 97 avg, 124 max
watts - 233 avg, 959 max
temp - hmmmmm, cold

Thanks for reading,
Rick

last week in review

So, a great week for me riding wise....139 miles in three days of riding. Took the weekend off, 'cept for a thunder storm shortened 15 mile ride. Did my allergies get to me on this ride in a bad way or what; it was terrible.
It seems like it is re-grouping time training/race wise. So I'll need to refocus and start on new goals.
The stats for my Sunday late ride:
46:55.5
14.5 miles
HR - 136 avg, 168 max
Speed - 18.5 avg, 43.4 max
CAD - 94 avg, 139 max
Watts - 241 avg, 1057 max *when i looked at the chart, the highest shown was 710 watts
860 ' of climbing
temp dropped from 79' to 64'F

Thanks for reading,
Rick

Westlake Crit Race or the Tuesday Night World Championship Training Crit*

So, another week and another Crit. Had to run around like crazy; getting Gary's stuff and picking him up, getting out to the parking lot so we could get a warm up in. NP.
Ian, Jim (the new guy), Gary & I (Bob still hasn't gotten his Spin kit yet...which is cool) in the B's along with Tony from Lake Effect. Tom is riding in the A's. Yeah, Gary and I are going to need to move up to take a beating in the A's soon. Dave is recovering from walking pneumonia....but showed up to cheer us on and help with the race.

Oh, the Killer B's (Brent Evans & Brett Davis*) rode to the race, raced A's & then rode home....98 miles and 20.3 avg speed.....damn, I'm not worthy!

I think we had 25 or so "guys".....so off we go....the pace is at like 14mph so I go to the front to at least get the pace up a little bit and stay there for a couple of laps to warm up. We don't have a plan for today...Gary & I just want to see how we feel after riding 60+ miles on Monday. Jim does well by taking a couple of primes and then makes the mistake of jumping too soon after the A's go by us...he was riding really strong. We (SBR) end up taking all, 'cept one prime (congrats Ian!) Gary got a couple and I had one in a little sprint with Tony (he is going to be something if he keeps improving like he has been). We worked pretty hard and finished with a 4 & 5th place (Gary & I). It was a good workout.

The Stats:
1:34:43
35 miles
HR - 146 avg, 169 max
Speed - 22.2 avg, 34.9 max*
CAD - 96 avg, 138 max
Watts - 240 avg, 1038 max
starting temp - 76' ended at 73'F

Tonight is the Spin Group ride......

Thanks for reading,
Rick

Monday, Monday

What a great weekend. Monday rolls around and Gary and I take off at 1:10 PM and were looking to ride to Lakewood and back at an easy pace; Westlake crit is on Tuesday(s). We kept things pretty much under control until around 18 miles into it when we saw two people going the other way & one was wearing a Snakebite kit. So we take off back the other way at 25 mph to catch up to them and see who it is. Hey, it's Michelle and Christa! We chit chat and find out that they are going to Brecksville and back so we figure what the heck we'll tag along and ride with them to B-ville and back and then head back to B-ville again. On one of the trips down Ridge hill, a Harley rider comes up next to me and starts calling out my speed as I go down the hill and he seems to be having as much fun as I am descending! The weather is perfect; we discuss the merits of different power systems and computers among other things and have a nice ride. After Christa splits off, we head back to Michelle's house for a refill of water. Gary's wanting to keep going longer towards Lakewood; I'm thinking that we can add to the mileage once we get back to the b-ville area. Right before the Ridge road hill Jason rides up to us in his SBR kit; it's good to see him & we talk for a couple of minutes and get back at it. Good thing we didn't go waaaaaaay long, the 63.7 miles by the time we were back at my place were enough miles for me that day!

The stats:
4:35:29 (includes the break)
63.7 miles
HR - 129 avg, 170 max
Speed - 17.9 avg, 47.3 max
CAD - 92 avg, 133 max
Watts - 218 avg, 946 max
Climbing - 2300' F
Temp started at 85' and ended at 83'F

Just a brief note;
The Polar Power sensor can't be calibrated; the only way to test for accuracy is to have it directly compared to a Powertap or other system to see how close it is. If anyone wants to loan me their system, I'll check it out and report the difference. :-)
Again, I'm looking for consistency of the readings and if the actual wattage is off that's ok. The power option cost me around $200.00.....so I'm pretty happy with it so far.

A review of the Titus Modena is be out shortly.

Thanks for reading,
Rick

a friday nooner

well, that's what I wanted to do, it became a 1:30 pm ride by the time I finished up some quotes and a couple of conference calls. I jumped on the bike and headed out on my old stand by ride....my house to Valley View and back for a "quick" 20+. The weather looked great with just a few clouds and around 83'F. I met a Tri woman on a training ride....told her to check out the Snakebite Racing website for info and opened up the pace a bit. I'm feeling better but not great, but riding along with the iPod on and in the sun.......mmmmmm, yes. Oh, weight is at 156 now. :-)
I wanted to get in 25 or more so I kept going, noticing that the clouds were now rolling in, no worries, I'll get back in time. Well at the turn-a-round it started to sprinkle. Normally that would mean a bad ride....with the temps up, it was actually pretty nice so I rode the rest of the way back in the rain and didn't even mind that much. Now if it had been the typical 50'of earlier in the season......yuck.
Got home dirty but a smile on my face; ready for the long weekend with my son and relaxing. Hopefully a nice long ride for Monday afternoon is planned.

The stats:
1:29:10
26.6 miles
HR - 149 avg, 172 max
Speed - 17.9 avg, 45.1 max
CAD - 94 avg, 121 max
Watts - 255 avg, 913 max (This is a Polar system, and yes it is not as accurate as a $1000.00 powertap, but it is consistent) :-p
1220' of climbing
start temp 83', ending 75'F.

Just a side note...I agree with Brett; the doping needs to stop; you hate to think the only way these guys are winning is because of chemistry....

Thanks for reading and have a great Holiday weekend.
Rick

Getting back at it?

Well, after the Chip disaster, I was looking forward to getting back from the Chicago conference and getting back on the bike again. Getting back late Tuesday night left the Spin group ride Wednesday a possibility. Late as always, the only ride I was going to be able to do (and I almost missed this) was the C group ride. I bolted down to the park to beat the group there...dang it, still missed them & now I was going to have to go w/no warm up and go hard just to catch them. I did so and didn't feel too bad....cool!
I'm not anywhere close to 100%, but I had fun riding and doing the couple of climbs, sooooooooooo, we'll see how I feel after taking it easy this weekend.
The stats:
1:35:44.7
28.9 miles
HR - 147 avg, 171 max
speed - 18.1 avg, 36.3 max
CAD - 91 avg, 125 max
Watts - 255 avg, 909 max
Temp started at 89' max and cooled to 76'F

It was real nice to just ride and be in nice warm, dry weather!

Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!
Rick