Training Summary for the week of: 1/7/2008

Had some struggles this week, but managed to complete my 5th straight week over 60 miles. I had a hard time with Tuesday’s hill run, then rode way harder than I should have on my first ride of the year on Wednesday. That set me up with some pretty good fatigue that I’m still dealing with.

Year-end Stats

	2007
Total Time	488:10
Bike	1197.8 mi
Run	2072.9 mi
Walk	85.3 mi

	2006
Total Time	354:01
Bike	5194.8 mi
Run	93.6 mi
Walk	49.5 mi

	2005
Total Time	363:52
Bike	5589.3 mi
Run	0 mi
Walk	0 mi

Fun Saturday

I met my cycling team for a ride this morning, it was kind of a shake-out event for some new recruits. We had a good turnout with a group of almost 30 rolling out in the cold, damp air. My head wasn’t in the ride at all, and I was regretting my decision to even go for about the first 20 minutes. Then I broke out of my shell a bit (not always the easiest thing for me) and started making conversation with some new faces. Turned my whole day around. Ended up having really good conversation, and by the time we hit the hills I was feeling great and climbing comfortably with the front group. Over the top and down a long descent I sped up to let the leaders know which way to turn ahead, then dropped back and yelled at a couple of stragglers to get on my wheel. I thought I would make short work of towing them back up to the group, but it became a very long grind. I sat in the wind for miles dangling 100 yards off the group with a couple of guys counting on me to get them up there. I felt like I could make a huge push and get on myself, but it would pop the riders off my wheel to do so. Man, that was tough duty for a while. One of the guys with me finally took a pull and my legs were relieved to have the break.

We got lucky when the group of 11 ahead got confused about a turn and slowed just enough for us to latch on. Then we hit some really tough climbs and I was happy - it was every man for himself now. I dug super deep and went over the top in the front group of 4. We finally pulled over and waited several minutes for everyone to show up, then rode back into town. It was great, I was really glad to have gone. I met some cool guys and had my best ride in months.

After that, it was lunch time with the family. We did some shopping, picked up some videos and pizza, and then Malcolm and I went for a 5 mile run just as the rain that had been threatening all day began to fall. We ran a really fun trail that parallels the South Platte River through a state park near our house. I shot some video with my cell phone just for fun.

Fun Weekend

The kids were all out of school on Friday, so I took the day off from work and we went to the Zoo. It was a really nice day, not nearly as hot as it usually is when we go. We were all dragging by the afternoon and were definitely ready to get back home. It’s hard work having fun!!

On Saturday we put a decent effort into weeding and yard work before lunch. Then I took the kids over to the canyon for a little ride. It’s so nice to have such a great place to ride close by. People drive from all over the Denver area to ride in our neck of the woods.

This was the maiden voyage of Natalie’s new birthday bike. It’s on the big side, but she’s growing like crazy! I didn’t dare go with anything smaller (this was basically the smallest ‘adult’ size). She rode so great today! I was very happy, and so was she. It was great weather and we all had a super time. As I was riding along with her, she said “I’m sure glad I have an athletic dad like you, or else I would be home right now instead of riding bikes.” Made me laugh.

More pictures here.

It’s just like riding a bike

January 2006, I rode 610 miles. Including two 70+ rides in shorts and jersey weather.

January 2007, I rode ZERO miles. Bitter cold, snowy roads. No thanks. I didn’t even ride the trainer in the basement. I did run 120 miles, though.

I went on my first ride of ‘07 today, and it was great. Did 30 miles at lunch with the crew. I rode very hard and was amazed at how good I felt. Especially coming off of the treadmill marathon 3 days ago. It was the first pedaling I’ve done in 7 weeks, and I felt like I picked up right where I left off. Other than my butt being sore…

RACE REPORT #2006-1Criteriums @ StazioCAT 4

We got our new uniforms last Thursday - 3 days later I was pinning a number on the back of my brand new jersey and lining up with 70 other guys to go for the glory. I felt the typical mix of excitement and nerves that come on when you’re waiting at the line for the official to yell ‘go!’. It was a little intimidating to drive up to Boulder for the first race of the year. It’s like the cycling motherland. Lots of strong riders… Worse yet, it was a criterium - historically my worst event (did 2 last year - didn’t finish with the group in either one). This year things are going to be different. It was so easy to come up with reasons not to go, but I made myself do it. I knew I needed to get in there and face my reservations and doubts.

While we were staging for the start, I felt pretty relaxed. I lined up about 5 feet off the back row, just doing my own thing. Deep down inside, I knew that my fitness was good, I had worked hard over the winter, and that I could handle this.

I surfed the back of the pack for most of the race, counting on my strength to get me across any gaps that formed ahead. Definitely NOT the most efficient way to race, but it worked for me to get acclimated and as the race went on I felt more and more comfortable in the group. I must say, everyone was pretty well behaved in the corners and I never had any real problems - nice…

I had never been on this course before, but thanks to Google Earth (way cool) I was able to get a preview the night before. It’s a 1.1 mile rectangle with a hill at the far end (finish line at the top). Great course for me, not too many corners and a good power climb.

The start was fast, and by the third trip up the climb I could hear a lot of guys really hurting. I felt fine. Not great, but never under any real pressure. At one point about halfway through, I got a little lazy at the back and a group of 15 of us got detached from the leaders on the hill. I saw it happening and was able to jump across without any problem at all. We consolidated down to a group of 25-30 for most of the race and started lapping riders, making it very difficult to tell what was going on. I stretched my legs on the climb a little and led the group over the line with 3 laps to go. While I was still in the lead on the descent, a guy took off and got the best gap I had seen all day. I kept it steady for a while, and much to my surprise, no one chased. I jumped off the front and took off after him, catching him on the flat before the climb. I shouted at him to get on my wheel as I went by, but he just freewheeled over to the side of the road looking spent. Dang! I thought we might have been able to do something there. I took one look over my shoulder, realized that I still had a good gap and said - screw it, I’m going. It was too early for me to go solo, and I would probably be throwing away a chance at a good placing, but I was already committed.

I put my head down and motored the best I could, trying to measure my effort. The wind was a bit much for me and took its toll eventually. I spent two laps off the front but just couldn’t quite make it stick for good, so I sat up after I heard the bell signaling the final lap and the group swallowed me up. From there, I had about 60 seconds of recovery before it was time to jam up the climb for the last time. I was last place in the group going around the final corner and went outside and tried to slingshot past as many riders as I could. I got quite a few and ended up getting 12th or so. Not as high of a place as I would have liked, but all things considered, I was pleased.

My group averaged 25mph for the race - the pros did 28+. They had some pretty heavy hitters show up including Scott Moninger (won) and Tyler Hamilton. This is a pic of the breakaway in their race.

I went out for another 2.5 hours of riding after the race to really cook the legs. It was a nice day and I was a little behind on my training time for the week. I decided to tackle a climb outside of Boulder called Flagstaff. I had heard a lot about it, but had never done it before. It ended up being 9 miles of climbing, including some really steep sections. On one part I was standing up and cranking as hard as I could when I looked down to see my computer say 3.5mph. My cadence was 28 rpm. That was a slooow climb, but I made it and felt pretty good on the parts that weren’t quite so steep. The legs are now officially cooked, it was a good training day.

Let the season begin!

Wow, it’s been almost 6 months since my last race. A lot has changed since then, the main thing was moving to a new team - Rocky Mountain Spine & Sport. The main sponsor is a physical therapy clinic, and I go back a few years with the owner. When he called last September and invited me to join the team, I really had to give it some thought. I enjoyed my time with SEAR and made a lot of good friends there. We fought hard together all season long and won the Best All-Around Team competition in our category. With my teammates support, I was able to come in 5th place in the Rocky Mountain Road Cup (points series) despite not competing in a couple of events. But… after going for a couple of rides with the RMSS guys I could tell they had something good going and decided to make the leap. It’s turned out great! They’re a super bunch of guys that are very supportive of one and all. We each have to fulfill a 15 race commitment, so we’re all fairly serious about racing and suffering together. It’s a lot smaller group than my last team (35 vs. 100+). The attitude of the team is outstanding, and it’s really cool to have such close contact with our sponsor - it feels like we can really make a difference for their business. Much different than the faceless corporation that donates a few bucks to geeks on bikes.

Anyway, tomorrow is the first race of the 2006 season. I started my training year on November 1st, and have put in about 2000 miles since then. I’m anxious to put those miles to use…

Monthly Stats - December (+ 2005 totals)

Miles - 379
Hours - 39:09

And the grand totals for 2005…
Miles - 6226
Hours - 412:50

All in all, a very good year on the bike.

Monthy Stats - November

Miles - 254
Hours - 26:53

YTD:
Miles - 5847
Hours - 373:41

Gobble, gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! It’s been a great day so far (unless you’re one of these…). Liz has been busy cooking all morning, and we just finished stuffing ourselves. Yum! The girls got a front-row seat to the action, and have been learning a lot about cooking from their mother. She even taught them how to make turkeys out of napkins. Dinner was great, we all enjoyed the FEAST.

Jessica especially liked the olives.

The day started off pretty cold, down in the 30’s, but by mid-morning it warmed up a bit. So Malcolm and I took off for a short ride up to Roxborough State Park. What a pretty day, the air was really clear and we had a great view into downtown Denver (you can kind of see the skyline to the right of us in the picture). It’s almost spooky riding with him, he looks and acts so much like me on the bike… He even attacked me on a steep hill! Just like I would have if I was him :-).

We sure wish we could be with our families, but at the same time appreciate being able to spend time together on our own. I’m so thankful for my family and for what I have.

Now it’s off to digest. Good thing we burned off some calories beforehand. Here are the rest of the pics from our ride:

bike1 bike2 bike3 bike4 bike5 bike6
bike7 bike8 bike9 bike10 bike11 bike12