Race Across the Sky 2010

Posted on by
Reply

Bruce’s birthday was back in February, and since he’s possibly the most difficult person in the world to buy gifts for, I had to work a little harder to find him a birthday present.  I decided to just go ahead and order him a copy of Race Across the Sky 2010, the DVD that every Leadville racer should watch but we had been unable to get our hands on in Canada.

I.  Am.  So.  Fuuuuuuuucked.

Anyway, we couldn’t find a copy in Canada because Amazon.ca doesn’t carry it and none of the libraries in our province own it.  I ended up ordering a Blue-ray copy from Citizen Pictures.  About a month later, this is what arrived.

We’d like to thank the US Postal Service for getting our $50 DVD stuck in a machine for two weeks.  But, at least we know they care.

Luckily, the disc wasn’t damaged and we were able to watch the movie last night.  I’m glad we saw it.  I think it will be useful when it comes to race day to have seen what the race is like in this amount of detail.

Most people do suffer in this race, but many manage to finish anyway.  I still have no idea what to expect from myself.  I could easily be pulled out at Twin Lakes or another cut-off point.  Or maybe I’ll squeak through and get to cross the finish line.

An important factor is going to be course familiarity.  There are guys like Fat Cyclist who have done this race umpteen times and know the route really well, which has to be a huge advantage.  Then there are people like us.  We won’t know what’s around the next corner or whether we’ve conquered the hardest part of the climb yet.  That’s going to slow us down, and for me, it might mean not finishing.

And don’t get me started on the altitude issue.  We live very low.

Fortunately, I have now seen on film what it is like to be pulled out, and I think I can handle it.  There’s nice lady who hugs you and cuts off your wristband.  And it’s OK to cry.

Plus, I’ve now learned that if I somehow manage to make it through the cut-offs and cross the finish line, I’ll still get a medal for finishing in over 12 hours.  It’s not a buckle, true. But it’s something.

I still find it crazy to be sitting here comparing myself to all of the amazing cyclists who race in Leadville.  How can I possibly think that I might finish when so many others fail?  Well, I’ve got age on my side, for one thing.  It may just have been the slant of the movie, but if it was in any way representative of the actual riders in Leadville, Bruce and I are far below the average age.  That has to be an advantage, right?  RIGHT?

We’ll take every advantage we can get.

My First Ride to Work of 2012

Posted on by
Reply

Last week I bit the bullet and rode my bike to work.

The ride in was great.  There was ice in some places, but since I mostly stuck to the main roads, I managed to avoid slipping.

Riding on the roads was something a bit new for me.  The route used to involve using the sidewalk until I made it to where the side street started, but since it was a slow Saturday morning (and because I was inspired by Bike Snob‘s recent discussion of vehicular cycling), I risked riding in traffic.  I’m glad I made this decision.  It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

So, I made it to work in about 20 minutes.

My Trek 3-Series parked outside the Library

Blue Bike parked at the Library

The ride home was another story.  March weather being what it is, my dry ride in was not repeated in the afternoon.  I got SOAKED.  There were puddles everywhere, and pretty big ones, too.  Maybe I should look into fenders after all.

OH!  And some asshole was dry-shifting my gears while I was inside, working.  Unbelievable.

A Run. (?)

Posted on by
Reply

It actually came to this. A run. Anybody that knows me knows that I think that running is one of the worst sports there is.  I don’t even know if it’s really a sport. If you’re running away from a tiger, it’s not exactly a sport is it? If you’re running away from a vicious knife wielding attacker, not exactly a sport.  Sport or not, I don’t like it. But today, I had to do it.

As winter continues to take its SFT (think about it, you’ll get it) to get out of here, I woke up this morning to a fantastic message on the Twitter. (Follow me @livingwideopen)This could not have ruined my day anymore. Although I expected today to not be that great of weather, I was hoping to put some road miles in. Worst of all, that Tweet was followed up by this one: For some reason I took the bait and committed myself to running hills. I know hill training is one of my favourite things to do on road bikes, but I don’t know what I was thinking today. It ended up not being as bad as I had anticipated, but it’s just so much less fun.

I personally have many problems with running. It hurts my feet. And my calves. And my back. And always hurts my right knee. So I just don’t do it.  The biggest problem I see with running is that runners always look so fucking miserable while they are running. If I was always that pissed off while biking, I’d just stop the sport entirely and take up knitting. Maybe it’s because runners realize what kind of long term damage they are doing to their body from repeated impact. Or the fact that in 30 minutes they have barely gone far enough to change the scenery. If you do want to appreciate cycling more, go for a run.

 

Back on Track?

Posted on by
Reply

Last week I talked about the Two Week Test, and about how it sure didn’t last two weeks.  I forgot to mention that I did lose around 6 pounds, and got my weight under 190 for the first time since last June. Obviously for Leadville it is crucial that I get my weight down, as every extra pound over those 103 miles makes a big difference.

My binging habit I talked about lasted a couple more days, culminating last night in what I like to refer to as Bacon-A-Palooza. It started out as friends wanting to go out for supper, which I countered by saying I would make dinner. I enjoy making meals, having people over and saving money, so everything came together well.  Chicken and steaks seemed like healthy options for a fine tuned athlete such as myself. However, the wheels fell off the whole meal when I stumbled upon a 5kg box of bacon at the butcher shop. I then realized I must insert the chicken breasts into an Epic Bacon Weave.

I don’t know how many pounds of meat we had for 6 people, but it was a lot. Chicken wrapped inside bacon is a beautiful thing. Not overly healthy though. Neither was the Death By Chocolate for dessert. Or the variety of craft beer “sipped” upon.

One of these things doesn’t belong

When I awoke, I did not feel good. This was not a beer hangover though, it was clearly a bacon hangover. Symptoms: very (very) dry mouth, very (very) distinct lingering taste of salt, and guts that were imitating a Six Flags roller coaster. And I had a bike ride pre-arranged that I was definitely not feeling like doing.

I stumbled out of bed and into a shower, then jumped onto the scale.  All 6 pounds lost during the Two Week Test were back. Shit. I realized things must change. To do this, I realized I need three of my oldest friends, ephedrine, caffeine, and aspirin. Stacked. A light breakfast and one of those amazing little red pills and I hit the road.

I pulled off 70+km, riding with several different riding partners, and had plans to go 100, but the mercury in the thermometer didn’t rise like it was supposed to, leaving me to abandon and hop into Colby’s Navigator with heated seats for the ride home. The friendly red pill did their part on the road by keeping me energized, and most importantly, not hungry. Thanks to the generous amount of ephedrine in the red pills, I didn’t get home and feel like binging either. In fact it was late into the evening before I felt like eating something.

If I could take the stack everyday I would, but I won’t for two reasons: 1. I don’t have many left, 2. I once had an insurance medical while I was taking it, and it was said my blood pressure was high, which was probably caused by the ephedrine. Maybe the nurse didn’t actually know anything, or maybe she was right, I don’t know, so now I usually only take them for a couple days in a row. I do however know (after 14 years of on-and-off taking ephies) that I don’t sleep well after taking them for consecutive days, so that is also a large factor in not making them a daily routine. It’s obviously going to take real effort and dedication to lose the weight again (crap), not a magic pill.

I hope I got back on track today (pleeeease), but we’ll see what kind of cravings tomorrow brings. May end up having to pop a red one to get through.

The (Not Quite) 2 Week Test

Posted on by
Reply

The test began great. How could something that banned fruit but allowed bacon be anything but good?  We ate quite well, making nice salads, and great steaks grilled on the BBQ.  Then day three hit.

Serena apparently had a junk food fetish that I was acutely aware of, as she can be found once or twice a week eating from a bag of chips while reading or watching TV.  What I wasn’t informed of was the junk food while at work.  So night three hits, and she starts having serious cravings, perhaps even shaking. She decides the test is stupid. There’s no talking her out of it, she’s out. I forge on ahead, solo.

The one thing about the two week test is how much more time it takes out of your day than eating regularly. For example, in the morning I almost always make a smoothie. One cup of milk, scoop of protein powder, and berries.  I’m out the door about 10 minutes after I step out of the shower.  However, on the test, I had to wake up 30 minutes before, get some eggs out, beat them up, fry them and figure out what I was going to put on top to make this worthwhile. In the evening, same thing getting ingredients together, making sure they agreed with the test and then cooking them up just right. No quick stops at McD’s or the Bad Ass Jacks for a wrap, every meal had to be prepared.

To follow the rules of blogging, a gratuitous bacon shot.

After about day 4 I realized I hadn’t napped since I started, and I had more energy than before with my carb diet. And I was dropping weight. All good things. Everything was going quite well (except for shitty tasting coffee, no creamer remember), until day 8. Then my cravings started. Once they started, they didn’t stop.

Day 8. Not only was I experiencing intense cravings for carbs, I noticed that to make up for those cravings, I was binging on other foods like carrots and hummus. Turns out I was eating far in excess of a regular day’s intake of calories just trying to fend off this wolf. And I had a nap. Same with day 9. So on day 10, Serena came home, and seen a casserole I made with rice in it and she was happy. It was over.

In the couple days since the test I’ve been really (really) weak at avoiding bad food.  I have been scooping cookie dough straight out of a container in our freezer. And I ate about a half pound of M&M’s I had previously been able to ignore. I need to get back on track soon, otherwise I risk gaining weight again, which is something I really don’t want to do. So I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I need to figure it out fast!

The Grande Fondo

Posted on by
Reply

Earlier this week, Bruce and I attended a meeting to plan our city’s first ever “Bike Take-Over” event, called The Grande Fondo.  This is exciting for a couple of reasons:

  1. We do not live in a bike-friendly town.  Out town is a town full of large, noisy, smelly trucks driven by rednecks who think only homosexuals wear lycra.  It’s wonderful to see the bike culture begin to grow to the point where we can consider having such an event.
  2. It’s going to be SUPER fun!

It’s going to be a grass-roots event, so we’ll be promoting primarily through social media and word-of-mouth.  There is a small fund of money that we can use to buy t-shirts and food for the participants.

The point is simple: to draw attention to people on bikes.  Whether it be parents with kids in carts, bike commuters, or serious road cyclists, we want motorists to notice us and respect us.  We also just want to celebrate the simple awesomeness of bike-riding.  This truly is a sport for everyone, even in the redneck far-north.

More updates to come as our plans develop!

On The Road Again

Posted on by
Reply

Well there’s a sight I’ve been waiting for all winter.  I usually prefer to just leave out my own door, but that pesky white stuff in the picture makes proper road selection critical. And the road outside my door is full of that, so travel is the only way. We’ve been watching the forecast for days, hoping for an opportunity to get on the road, and this morning it finally presented itself.

The temperature was above freezing by a smidge, so we loaded up just in time for the wind to whip into a frenzy. We battled one of the strongest headwinds I’ve ever ridden in for 17km before I blew up (no I didn’t miss a 0), my legs apparently still sore from a hard ride a couple nights before on the singlespeed. Robert pulled me the last 3km, then we turned around…

I love a good strong tailwind.

The first 20km was so hard, and I was just having a terrible day. But being able to cruise back at 50km/h or better while taking it easy makes it all worth it. Having a day off also helps, as a bad day on the bike is better than a great day at work.

Also, yesterday was day 10 for the Two Week Test, and it was also the last day. Serena blogged about it on her site earlier in the week. Basically, The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing by Phil Maffetone says that some athletes will be suffering from carbohydrate intolerance. He proceeds to give a vague list of everything that could every be wrong with you could in fact be caused by carbs.

Normally Serena is an the most critical skeptic, so when she suggested that we give the Two Week Test a try, I was totally game for it. I thought it would be a good way to see if what we intake as fuel is the primary source for me need a nap every noon hour (and after work even.) So we loaded up on the most expensive types of food where we live, fresh meat, veggies and cheese, and proceeded on our Two Week Test…

Cut Off

Posted on by
Reply

As previously announced on Too Many Bikes, I have been effectively cut off from purchasing new bikes/gear/carbon accessories. “Why would you want everything to be carbon?”, you’re not asking yourself. And I never had either, until Friday night. And with the help of my wife, I came to the realization that I might be a Fred.

When I really fell in love with biking (second time), around 2008, I managed to avoid upgrade fever. I was still rocking my 1997 Specialized S-works MTB and it managed quite well for the next few years. So that leaves me to believe that road biking is definitely the culprit to my downfall to Fredness.

I bought my first ro-ad bike in the summer of 2010, because I felt my life didn’t really involve wearing enough Lycra. So I tried out a couple lower end bikes, and ended up on a Trek Madone 4.5 that I felt worked well. I put a few hundred kilometers (metric miles) on it, quite content. Then I got a raise at work. A big one. One that needed to be spent quickly.

Let the spiral begin.

My LBS, being very awesome, took my bike back for full credit to put towards a new Trek Madone 6.5 Project One that I spent hours and hours “building” on their website. It was now perfect. I even paid over 400 bucks to get a black paint job with no decals. The trip to Fredville was fully secured when I upgraded the light carbon handlebars, for the “lighter” carbon handlebars.

Costs took off almost as fast as I imagined that I would be now that I owned a super fast, super stiff, custom paint job bike. When I took it out for the first time, I was impressed, it was quite fast, it was very stiff and did have a custom paint job. Bonus: almost 2km/h faster up a hill, for only several thousand dollars, what a deal!

Ever since the day the light bars became lighter bars, I became quite cognisant of what every part weighed and how much lighter this part is than that part. I’ve spent hours pouring over specs for different stems, or wheels. That spring I rode my old ’97 Specialized off road, while riding my Madone on road. All of a sudden that trusty old bike wasn’t enough, and in short, we end up with what you read on Saturday.

I love bikes, but I love biking more. I don’t go an hour without thinking about it, and if I don’t get to go once every couple days I start getting cranky. Biking is my crutch. Not carbon fiber accessories. Sure it’s great, but a great book I read once said “It’s not about the bike.” It just took me some time to remember that.

Budget Cuts Approved

Posted on by
Reply

Last night was time for a serious sit-down discussion about spending.  In particular, it was time to face up to the face that having “Too Many Bikes” was costing us too much money (but don’t worry, none of our bikes will be turned out onto the street).

It didn’t take us very long to agree that continuing to spend this much on our hobby (albeit our much-loved hobby) was not sustainable.  As such, we will have to cut back on the amount we spend on new bikes, bike parts, and biking accessories.  This is particularly hard for Bruce, as he takes the Leadville 100 very seriously, and he would like to spend a lot more money upgrading his bike and equipping himself for a sub-12 hour finish.

I’m going to feel the crunch too, as it’s only recently that I have become interested in high-performance athletic wear like Icebreaker, Pearl Izumi, and Troy Lee.  Plus, I was hoping to totally re-outfit myself to match my new bike!  Matching is super important, after all.

Video: Sh*t Mountain Biker Girls Say

I think the most important thing to remember is that we love biking more than we love bikes.  After all, bikes, jerseys, and carbon seatposts are just objects.  I think it’s totally possible to enjoy riding my bike without gloves that match my decals.

Plus, it will all be worth it when we’re 60 years old and not living in a cardboard box, right?

Fresh Treads

Aside

Reply

Since we’re hoping spring is around the corner, and I always to purchase new gear, especially new carbon fiber gear, you can bet I was excited today when I got this text from my friends at Ernie’s. Beauty Just one more reason I love those guys.

When we got our ticket to Leadville, it took me minutes to realize I could use this as an excuse needed to upgrade some of my gear, because extra grams make all the difference when you’re racing 103 miles. At least that’s how I sold it to the wife. Everything needed to be swapped/replaced/upgraded. Light needs to be lighter. Aluminum needs to be carbon. Carbon needs to be stiffer carbon, so obviously stiffer carbon fiber shoes were in order.

Specialized shoes have been my only cycling kicks since sometime around the year Justin Bieber was created to destroy humanity. My fine 1997 model is shown stage right (still in working order), so obviously it was a no brainer on who was going to fulfill my carbon fiber intake.

I hurriedly unwrapped the box at the store and slipped my feet in.  The dual Boa system was better than imagined. The soles stiffer than I’d had dreams about. And the murdered out black looked better in person than on the site. Perfect.

As I left the store I got another text telling me to turn around.  The (carbon fiber) bars I ordered were in. And so were the tires (unfortunately not carbon fiber).

Because weight weenie in me sometimes rears it’s ugly head, I went home and did this… And then I did this…

And I quite possibly weighed the bars.

And the (not carbon fiber) bar it replaced. I was elated to find out that I saved ounces, at a mere cost of several hours of work.

Losing weight on the bike is so much easier than losing it on the body.