Oh Shoot

I finally had a chance to sit down and plan out a training plan at lunch today. If I'm going to do 100 in Palm Springs I need to really get going. 50 Miles already this Sunday.

Need to get going. Hope it doesn't get too cold this winter.

Season Recap

Ok the cycling season is pretty much over now. My last big ride was last week, the Tour de Poway, and now work really kicks into high gear through xmas, so I really don't have time to train for anything until next year.

I'll just briefly recap each ride from the most recent back to my last post.

TOUR DE POWAY CENTURY. This was a tough one. This is a 100 miles loop of North County, going from Poway to Ramona, back though Escondido, though Vista to the Coast, then south to Del Mar and then back east to Poway. It's not a particularly hard Century, there is not a lot of climbing, but it's not easy either.

This was the first century I ever tried last year, and had to pull up after about 55 miles last year due to an injury.

I was feeling pretty good through the first 60 miles or so. The next 10 were tough, and miles 70-80 just sucked... I was hating life so bad. If I could have quit, I might have, but I had no other way to get back to my car, but to ride there. I stopped twice just to catch my breath and get a breather, and I usually never stop. After about 85 miles I noticed my bike felt a little shaky. I got off and spun my back wheel and it spun twice and stopped. One of my spokes came loose again and the wheel was totally rubbing on the brake. So I was riding with my brakes on for how long I have no idea, but I would guess for most of that time that I was really struggling.

Anyway, I am glad I finished, I knew I could, but it tends to be one of those mind over matter things when you go for that long (7 hours and 10 minutes in the saddle). Lotus was there at the finish with Fia and a few friends, but the battery on the camera was dead. Gotta love that!!! Well get that crossing the finishline picture eventually.

CYCLE EASTLAKE - this was a metric century (100K - 62 miles) around the 20th of September. This was a nice little ride that mainly went down and back on the SB Fwy, then went out Otay Lakes to the 94, then southeast on the 94 to Barrat Junction and back. There is a freaking big hill out there at Barrat Junction. But besides that one hill, it was not too bad. There were a lot more riders than I thought there would be (probably about 300), so for a local ride, it was not too bad.

AMTRAK CENTURY - This was a full 100 miles from Irvine to Downtown San Diego. This was a real nice ride, fairly flat, not too hard, but I had a few small problems with the directions. It's called the Amtrak Century because you have the option to return to Irvine on the train. Usually most rides are an out and back or a big loop, so this one being one way was more unique, thus the return trip on the train.

Because I travel with my own support team we went up to Irvine the day before and they met me half way down with new water bottles and gels, then picked me up at the end. I gotta say I have the best support team on the century circuit. I would do this ride again, it was a good course, mostly good road conditions and fairly fast.

COOL BREEZE CENTURY - This ride was a blast. It was very well supported, the course was gorgeous, it was harder than I was expecting, but not overwhelming. The only part I did not like was a stretch you ride on old Hwy 1 along the ocean front. The road is below the new Hwy 101 and so they don't maintain the old Hwy 1 anymore. The road condition sucks on that stretch, but besides that this ride rocks. I will definitely do this ride again. The ride goes from Ventura up the coast to Santa Barbara. Does a big loop around Santa Barbara into the foothill, up to Goleta and back down along the waterfront.

One interesting thing I noticed on this ride was a building a little south of Carpinteria. It said CKE with a star on it. Only because I freaking eat there 2 or 3 times a week, did I know it was Carls Jr HQ. Who would of thought the HQ of a big fast food chain would be in a nice looking 2 story bldg on the coast about 20 minutes south of Santa Barbara. It was weird because really it's not that close to anything commercial, like an airport, or a real major city, etc. But then again, do you really need that these days???

That's a real quick recap of my rides. I really like my new bike. Full carbon is the way to go if you can afford it. Smooths out the ride a lot. I've lost a few more pounds and my body fat has gone down a bit, but I've still got a way to go. During the winter I am going to work as much as I can on intelligent training as far as intervals and strengh and core training, so when I pick up the mileage in the Spring I should be in a better starting place.

Ok need to stop typing and do some exercises.

So Far So Good

Only 2 weeks left until I head off to Ventura for the Cool Breeze. Remarkably everything is going ok. Last weekend I planned to do about 75-80 miles as my training ride and ended up doing 83. I felt real good at the end also. I probably could have done 100 that day if I had the time.

I have a little soreness in the knees from time to time, but nothing really painful. I was thinking about raising my seat a hair since most of the pain is in the front of my knee, which usually indicates your seat is too low. So I raised it a bit this morning on my short ride around here before I went to work and that pain sort of went away. I'll keep it there and see how the ride on Sunday goes (planning to do about 85).

Couple of short rides during the week, 60 next weekend, one or two short ones again the following week, then the Century.

The only other things I am experimenting with are my shorts. I'm really favoring my bib shorts, espeically for these long rides. I'm going to try the performance bib's I bought a few weeks ago this sunday and see how they go. I haven't gone more than 35ish with them so far, so we'll see. I have another pair of bib's from descente (team CSC) which are comfy, but the pad isn't as cushy as some others, so that's always a consideration with these extreme distances.

I also sent my Garmin back to Garmin for service. It just kept turning off for no reason and they said that they would fix it for free since it was a known problem. They said I should have it back in 7-10 days from when they get it. They got it on Tuesday and I included a note in it that asked them to please try to have it back to me in time for my ride, but we'll see.

Other than that, So Far, So Good!!!

Cool Breeze

Lotus says this is going to be my new nickname for a while.

While I was out of town this week I was listening to the Fredcast and he had an interview with a bike shop owner in Ventura. During the interview the host of the Fredcast had mentioned that he has done the Cool Breeze Century before and he really liked it. The Cool Breeze is a Century that goes from Ventura to Santa Barbara and then back. They have a few distances available, but of course I am still looking for my first Century, so I'm going there.

The course is fairly flat, nothing higher than 800 ft, so the Coastal winds will be the biggest obstacle. I may actually change my training to do more into the wind riding and cross wind riding and less hills for the next month. Silver Strand here I come (a lot). I did 75 miles last weekend and included the strand in my ride, so I feel the 100 should be doable (my longest ride has been 92 miles with 6,000 feet of climbing, so this Century should be easier than that, but things can happen).

Need a new Goal

There really are not any more long distance rides in San Diego until October. I think I need an interim goal until then, otherwise I may be even more lazy than I am now.

So I think I'm going to work my way upto a 100 Mile the weekend of July 4th. I did 45 today and will try to do 1o more each Saturday until then. I think I can work in 1 to 2 rides during the week also since it's getting to be light out pretty late now.

At least this is my plan.

Updates

The Solvang Century did not go well. I went about 55-60 miles before calling it a day. We had a real rough night the night before with Sofia, so I did not sleep much, did not eat well the night before and just really had no energy or enthusiam for the ride. It was a realy nice ride, good rest stops and lots and lots of riders. I might actually try it again, but it is pretty far to get there. I would probably go up 2 days before just to make sure I was not so stressed out the dat before.

Then I started to ride with the Trek group again before the San Diego Century (which is tomorrow). BUT.... I really hurt my knee about a month ago on a training ride to Alpine and beyond. My guess is that I just over stressed my knee, becuase I have not had much time (really any) to do any rides during the week, so I just think I overstressed my knee.

After resting it for about a week or two I have started to get back in the saddle. But I'm only upto about 30 miles so far. I might go 35 this weekend. The knees still hurt a bit, so I'm for sure taking is cautiously for now.

I cancelled my entry in the San Diego Century since I knew there was no way I would be able to complete it. But I don't think there is going to be a Poway Century this year, so I'm not sure what is going to be my next goal.

Frackin A

Just like they say on Galactica.

I'm out of town and I brought Thunder with me (YES I NAME MY BIKE, WANT TO FIGHT ABOUT IT!!!) and I was just giving it a quick once over before I put it in my van and noticed the rear wheel was rubbing a lot on the brake. One of the spokes had apparently become very loose and caused the wheel to go WAY out of true.

This is a total pisser, I can't imagine how much more effort I put in to cover that distance. Thinking back I was noticing that it felt a little wobbly going down some of the descents to Alpine. It shouldn't have since I just took it in, but I did not think anything of it at the time. They actually have mechanics at all the stops who could have fixed this for me right there if I would have thought to check it.

ANOTHER VALUABLE LESSON LEARNED....for whatever that's worth...

I'm stronger for it now??? Yea that's it...

DNF

Yes again on my second try to complete a Century I got another DNF as my result. I enjoyed the ride and it was pretty tough and hot. Most of the climbing was done in the East Country Mountains and it was about 90 out there. I felt like I was struggling, but when I looked back at my splits and time on my garmin I was actually doing ok.

I made a huge rookie mistake and wore a new pair of gloves. I had bought them a few months ago and figured the new fresh padding would be a benefit on this long ride.

DON'T EVER WEAR OR EAT ANYTHING NEW ON A CENTURY.

After about 30 miles my hand really started hurting, I could feel a blister developing. It hurt to grab the handlebar. Around mile 45 it was real bad. I took off the glove then, which helped, but it still hurt. At the rest stop at mile 59 I had pretty much decided to call it a day as to not agrevate the blister. I have another century in 2 weeks in Solvang, which is more important of the 2 to finish since I could do the Granfondo anyday myself since it's in my backyard.

I knew not to do anything new on a ride, I've heard this from other people, but the gloves were the same as my current gloves, so I figured it would be ok.... wrong...

Anyway I did go 77 miles, burned 5800 calories and lost about 5 pounds, and climbed 5500 feet accorind to my Garmin. I also tweaked my back going up Fury Lane, a freaking steep climb after youv'e already gone about 76 miles. I went a lot harder than I normally would have, since I thought I was going to have Lotus pick me up on the park at the top of the hill... Again a rookie mistake.

Lesson learned (and I guess reinforced) and now to prep for the Solvang Century. I'm actually going up in there this week for work, so I may scout out a bit of the course. It really helps if you know what's coming to you can pace out your effort.

SUNDAY.SUNDAY..SUNDAY....!!!!

Ok the Granfondo is this Sunday. I went for a short ride this afternoon just to see how everything felt. I am very worried about the leg, but everything felt fine.

I did not really push it for obvious reasons, but so far, so good. I'm just worried that I'll go out too slow, but I guess if I have energy towards the end I can always crank it up in the last 20 since it's flat to down hill more or less.

I think I have to also remember not to kill myself Sunday since I have the Solvang Century just 2 weeks later.

They changed the course a bit from the initial layout, probably to accomodate the rest stops. So becuase of this the course actually goes right by my house on Medical Center (my ETA about 8am) and then goes within a block of another friends house in Rancho San Diego (have not figured out my ETA there yet).

Did I mention my bike is in sweet condition though. I took it to Trek to get a few things done to it (new chain, new front deraileur cable, true back wheel) and man does it feel good. The best thing was the cable, that was way overdue. Shifts like a champ now, almost seems like it's electric (yes they make those now if you got the $$$).

Well here we go!!!

NOT AGAIN!!!!

I went for a ride on Saturday, my last long ride before the Granfondo on Sunday the 1st. I was hoping to do about 65-70 miles.

My first 40 miles were great. I felt that I was going slow, but my avg MPH were pretty good for me. I went home, refilled the water bottle and headed out for the last 30 miles.

I think I cooled down too much, I was really tired leaving my house, but I pushed on. After about 8 miles I started to feel a lot better, got out to the lake and then it reared it's ugly head. That fricking pain on the side of my leg came back. It has totally been gone for almost two months now and now decides to come back the week before my ride WTF.

All I can do is try to do my PT exercises, ice it and take lots of aleve. There is a 50 mile option on the Granfondo, so I have that, but I was ready (more or less) for the hills and the challenge of the 100 miles. But I have the Solvang Century on the 15th, so I guess it's better not to push it in the Granfondo, so I can have a good go of it in Solvang.

Man this sucks...

5,000 Miles

Rode my 5,000th mile on Thunder last week. It was a very hard ride last week, so I did not even realize I hit that milestone until later in the week when I was reviewing the ride in my head. I dis all of the hills in the Granfondo, so I know I can do those. It's just the endurance to get through the rest of the ride that concerns me.

I went out for a ride on Sunday hoping to do 72 miles, but only ended up doing 42 becuase of the weather conditions. It wasn't raining, but it was pretty cold and windy. Wind is a bitch on a bike. I was riding accross the bridge on the SBFwy and felt like I was going to get blown over the side. Also riding into a head wind sucks. Normally I would do about 25 mph on certain parts, but was only doing about 16mph.

More rain and cold scheduled for this weekend, soooo....

I'm committed now

Ok I paid my money, so now I'm committed to the 3 events on the right. We'll see what happens. Only 4 weeks until the first one now. Luckily that one is basically in my back yard, so I can train on big chunks of the course a head of time. This weekend I'll do a lot of climbing (up Honey Springs and then maybe half of the rest of the climbs), then next weekend a longer ride with medium hills, the following weekend a real long ride covering most of the century, then following week an easier ride, then the century...

It just better not rain on any of these weekends, or I'm going be screwed.

Training Sir

What kind of training????

Army Training Sir...

Just had that going through my head all day saturday on my training ride around here. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just ask any guy who went to high school in the mid 80's.

Chuckles like that help a lot to keep you going. The distract from the pains you inevitably feel after doing any physical activity for 3-4 hours.

Cycling Training Sir...

I was going to ride with the Trek group yesterday, they are starting their training series for the San Diego Century which is in May, so they are only at 25 miles today (wow I said only). But if I rode with them I would only really have time to do that milage since I would also have to add in travel time to get to the site of the ride and other inevitable delays.

So I chose to ride myself around here, hoping to do about 65 miles. Couple of loops near the lake, maybe once or twice on the SB Fwy, about 5 hours in the saddle, maybe 6 in total including pit stops, waterbottle refills, etc.

I actually only did 49.4 miles, but I'm glad i did ride here. At least I got twice the milage in. It was pretty cold and I now pretty much have come to the conclusion that I am not good in cold weather. I started at 9am and it was about 60 at that time. That isn't really that cold, but you have to bundle up for various reasons.

But whenever it has been cold I have not riden well. I usually end up going 1-1.5mph slower when it is cold out, vs. when it is warmer and sunny. Plus I usually go for longer distances when it is warmer. When I rode with the Trek group we mostly started at about 7:30am and I was always at the back for the first hour or two. But at the end 12-2pm I was always on the lead. I just pick up as it warms up.

It's not just a starting thing though, becuase when I ride in the afternoon, I am full power right out the door.

So I am a bit concerned about my ride in Solvang (which is about a hour North on Santa Barabara, but still on the Coast. It's going to be freaking cold there. I was looking at pictures of riders on their website and they were all pretty bundled up. I guess we'll see. I'll actually be in that area the week before on business, so I'll be able to get a better idea about the weather conditions, but I'm still a little (actually a lot) concerned.

So Far So Good

I've been able to get in a few rides since Christmas and everything seems to be going well so far. I've done Honey Springs twice now, which is a 50 mile round trip, so I'm optimistic. There are 3 rides I'm thinking about for this Spring. The first is Mar 1 which will actually go right by my house and up Honey Springs Road.

The others are linked to the right. I'm a bit worried about trying the Granfondo followed by the Solvang Century 2 weeks later, but I figure if I don't ride too much in between the 2 rides I should be able to complete the second.

This weekend I will try to go 60 miles around here. If I can do that I think my leg problems will be finally be behind me.

Now I just need to work on my speed.

Learning how to walk again

So since the last post, I've been to a sports specialist, had Xrays taken, had an MRI done and now been to Physical Therapy. AND I'm still not exactly sure what is wrong yet. I meet the sports doc again next Friday to go over the MRI's and then also talk about my shoulder (whole other story).

Frankly I think my knees are fine and the tendons for the most part. My physical therapist says my problems stem from my Mother (not....)

Ok, what we think is really wrong is that I never did heal correctly from when I sprained my ankle a few years back. It looks like I have been favoring it and over-rotating out my foot outward to reduce the amount of pressure that is put on it. That in turn though puts more pressure and stress on other parts of my leg since I am stressing those parts more by a more unnatural gate. The stress of that 90 mile ride to Julian was what tipped me over and caused the rupture/stress/pull whatever it is that actually happened to the side of my knee (because being clipped into the pedals causes my legs to bend (or just work) correctly, but since my leg was not accustomed to working correctly it said WTF and here we are).

So my doc will look at healing the knee and my physical therapist will now work on teaching me how to walk right.

Atleast I think that is where we are at today. We'll see what the doc says on Friday and go from there.

I did go for a 15 mile ride on Monday with absolutely no pain, but quite often the pain does not start until about 20 miles into it. Every seems to be surprised though when I tell them the pain doesn't start for 20 miles. I think they look at me and say, "you can go 20 miles????" And I think to myself, Oh no you di ent...

Holding Pattern

Cycling is in a total holding pattern right now.

My injury unfortuneatly did not heal itself. I went riding about 2 weeks ago, about a 25 mile ride and I felt ok. It did not hurt as bad as it did during the Century, so I was pretty hopeful. But I went for a ride last weekend and it was bad, real bad.

I did my normal route up Olympic, then Hunte to Proctor Vly road. But even going up Olympic at Chick Filet it start to hurt, and got progressively worse. By the time I got to Hawkeye Park it was pretty bad. I called Lotus, but she was out with Fia shopping in PB. So I figured I could make it home, since it's mostly downhill.

IT HURT SO BAD!!!!

If you saw me, you probably got a good laugh. Here was a big guy on a bike pedaling with one leg, the other just hanging loose, staying clear of the pedals. So going down most of of Olympic I was using my right leg as little as possible because I knew I would need it to go up Sensai hill.

I got home, but it hurt real bad. It actually hurt more than after the century and hurt longer.

I called to finally make an appt with my regular doctor. He could see me on Dec 15th. Are you kidding me A MONTH.... I know what I need to do is just get to a physical therapist, but I don't want to wait a month to do it. I'd like to try to ride the Solvang Century which is in March, so I need to start my rehab ASAP.

I called back and none of the other doctors in that faciltiy could see me any sooner than that either....

The next day I thought that maybe it would be better to go to a Sports Specialist anyway, so I called and made an appt with one in Eastlake and he can see me next week!!!! Yeah!!! So I think this will probably work out for the best.

I don't have anytime to ride right now anyway, work is crazy this time of year, so as long as I can hopefully be able to start riding again in January, I should be able to try to do the Solvang Century.

DNF

Yup, that's the result of my first Century, big fat Did Not Finish.

I've been experiencing some knee pain these last few weeks and it reared it's ugly head up big time during the century.

I got through all the real tough riding no problem (all the climbing was in the first part of the ride). But then around mile 40 it got real bad. I felt it starting around mile 15 or so, but as the day wore on it just got worse and worse. Like I said at about mile 40 I knew I was not going to finish the ride. Every pedal stroke just hurt worse than the one before it.

Two guys I was riding with helped me get to the end by pulling for me (letting me draft off of them). It actually helped a lot. Those last two miles were really bad.

Lotus was waiting for me at the 3rd check point (mile 53) with the monkey to cheer me on. Luckily she actually had my van with her, so my bike actually fit inside along with the car seat.

Oh well, what are ya gonna do. It sucks because I totally could have done it and I spent a LOT of time training for it, so not to complete it is a downer. But stuff happens, you just need to accept it and move on.

Almost There

The Century is almost here. It's next Sunday, Oct 5th. I feel I'm pretty ready for it. We actually did a ride last week, which I feel was actually harder than the Century will be. That ride was 92 miles and went from near the 56 to Alpine, via Ramona and Santa Isabel. That ride had a lot of climbing in it, about 3 times more than the actual Century, so I feel I should be able to handle the 102 miles of the century.

I went riding today and struggled to do 50, but that was mainly due to a new pain I'm getting in my right knee. Hopefully this was just a today problem, not one that will persist, since I have not really had this problem in the past.

Silence is Golden

I feel like I had one of my most enjoyable rides ever today. I went riding this afternoon after hustling through what I had to get done at Pendleton today. I was going to go ride in the morning, but I just wasn't feeling it dog...

Anyway, My bike had recently developed a clicking sound. Upon each revolution of the cranks it would go "click". When there is a lot of other noise around you, you don't notice it much. But when you are strugling up a hill at 6MPH you hear nothing but that damn clicking!!!!!!

I had just taken my bike into Trek about 2-3 weeks ago and they put on a new chain and cleaned the gears. The sound started right after that. So of course it was their fault (of couse I am wrong again).

It was just a coincidence. My actual hub was dirty, in that there was sand or dirt in it. So the mechanic told me he would take it apart and clean it and that should make the clicking go away.

I am happy to report it did!!!!

When I started my ride I could not believe how quiet my bike was. All I could hear was the whiring of my wheels. for a cyclist it's almost nirvana like. If you ever watch a time trial it's the sound you hear there. just one guy pedaling; whir,whir,whir. It was fantastic.

My First Century

Last Saturday I did my first Century!!!

I didn't even realize I had done it until Dave (one of the ride leaders) had mentioned it to me at mile 63.

Wait for it.......

Yes we did a metric century, 100 kilometers!!!!

5 hours in the saddle...

Ohhh I hurt.

I went out and bought some new shorts this week. Hopefully that will help.