Quality, Not Quantity.

So I've had a look at the schedule. I've looked at what I want to do, what I don't want to do and what I want out of my season.

My plan for 2007 was to go with doing more 100s. That has changed for a variety of reasons, the least of which is the complication of travel costs and time combined with racing. I mean I'm all about going to Tennessee for Cohutta, but I just don't have the mental energy to drive 10+ hours, race 100 miles with any sort of energy, turn around and drive another 10 hours. The same is to be said of The Lumberjack 100.

So I put the schedule on a portion diet whilst not loosing any of what I want to achieve. Going to try to stay local-ish, with the furthest races most likely being The 12 Hours of Lodi Farms in May.

I'm doing more of what I did in 2005. Less racing, but better races (to me). Races that my family can come to and many that friends that I've met over the years participated in. Not doing some of these races would be a kick in the motivational junk.

The fact that some of the races are considered "local big ones" is motivation too. Participating in them is what keeps the races alive and folks coming back.

Two day's from now I might have a whole new plan. I think my plan is to go out to the grand opening of Barley's & Hop's on Saturday, throw down a couple (or four) Duvel's come home, get out the charge card and start signing up! (sort of kinda kinda half kidding about that of course).

So as of Wednesday- here's what I got in the hopper:

04.21 Leesburg, Bakers Dozen 13 Hour Race, Leesburg, VA

05.06 12 Hours of Lodi Farms, Fredericksburg, VA

06.09 24 Hours of Big Bear, Hazelton, WV, Solo 24

Need 1 or 2 in July- Maybe I'll go get my Expert Vet ass kicked in some WVMBA XC action.

08.04 Wilderness 101, State College, PA 101 Mile Ultra

08.18 MASS RB Winter Marathon, Location?

09.01 24 Hour Champion Challenge, 7 Springs, PA

OR 09.02 Shenandoah Mountain 100, Harrisonburg, VA, 100 Mile Ultra

09.22 WVMBA, Big Bear Lake Ultra, Hazelton, WV

10.06 MASS God's Country Marathon, ?

So there you go. I think this is gonna be pretty close to the final. I've said many times that I would not do Big Bear due to the entry fee, but it's hard for me not to. I love the course, I love that I can shoot down and pre ride it a few times, I love that my friends and family are there, and I love that my sister lives 20 minutes from Big Bear allowing me to crash there the night before for free. Same goes for Seven Springs.

I may add 1 or two in July, which seems a bit lacking in Enduros, but it will be nice to go on vacation with B-man/Wifey, to recover a bit and focus on the rest of the summer. I may switch some stuff in mid August, but this is the schedule I'm "feeling" right now. Like I said. Check back in a day, I'll be doing ALL short track races on a unicycle or some such shit.

That's enough of that talk. Now I can just focus on preppering for the season that is about 12 weeks away.

Oh yeah, one word: Whole Wheat Penne with Red & Green Peppers, Onions, Garlic, Ground Boca Burger and Ragu... OH YEAH!

Speaking of Whole Wheat Pasta. I got a reply to an e mail today from a certain Italian Grocer in the area who say they have the Whole Wheat Pasta I lust for. Little road trip coming up this weekend! Maybe I'll go see KoKo's mom while I'm there!

Later.

A Season Clear As Mud

So dates for a variety of races and series out and I'm still not sure what the hell I'm going to do.

The M.A.S.S. folks have thrown in some Marathons, but not sure what that means right now? Is it the 6 Hour format again, XXC, or what? What is the MASS team relay and can you do it Solo?

Not to mention all races in the NUE series and the Michaux Endurance Series. I've never raced Michaux, but I hear it's a real kick in the f'ing junk!

Not sure that I'll do any 24s due to the cost, but IF I do one will probably be The Hardcore 24 or Seven Springs. I'd LOVE to do the Big Bear 24 again, but I think it may be again due to entry $$$$. And the fact that I can do TWO Ultras for the price on one 24. I thought about doing Nationals, but really don't see that happening either.

It pretty much boils down to cost vs. travel time vs. race experience/fun. The 100s are great. Cool atmosphere and I dig the format. Michigan is a lap format, and 8 hours away, but doing it would mean I could get a 4 race minimum and get a ranking in the series (how far down in the standings is any one's guess of course).

I also dig the M.A.S.S.races since I was getting to know some folks and I never felt too "alone". Not sure what this year's format will be, or the costs though. Some races like the one in Delaware would take me 5+ hour to get to too. Not good.

I'd like to get back to Lodi Farms again too, but 5+ hours to race at night, then come home right after, is a bit much with Wifey and B-Man. The format isn't conducive to me doing it all on my own either, like I might be able to do at Leesburg. I know so many good folks though, I'd hate to miss it after doing it 3 years in a row.

For my abilities etc., I just do the races as personal accomplishments. I'm not on the same talent level as the big guns. I don't go into a race with podium goals. I just do the best I can do, and enjoy pushing myself to do better than I did the last time. If I do well so be it, if I suck a big hairy one, there's always "next time".

Now here's a list of the races that are on the radar right now for 2007. Out of all of these races I'll probably only do 5 to 7 of them. With BIG races like these I need to make sure I have proper recovery time to avoid getting sick, or DNFing. Plus with all schedule conflicts, build times, recovery time, travel time and race fees it's impossible to do this many races.

04.07 MASS Team Relay Race (Solos or just team?) Format, Cost, Travel Time???
04.21 Leesburg, Bakers Dozen 13 Hour Race, Leesburg, VA, Solo/$75.00 (3+ hours away)

05.06 12 Hours of Lodi Farms, Fredericksburg, VA, Solo/$35 (5+ hours away)
05.06 Michaux Endurance Race #1, Michaux State Forest, 50 Mile Race/Cost N/A (3+ hours away)
05.21 MASS Marathon @ Granogue, DE, Format, Distance, Cost?? (5 hours away)

06.02 Mohican 100, North Central OH, 100 Mile Ultra, $125, (5 hours away)
06.09 24 Hours of Big Bear, Hazelton, WV, Solo 24/$300, (1.5 hours away)
06.09 MASS Marathon @ Rothtrock Forest State Park, PA Format, Distance, Cost?? (2+ hours away)
06.16 Hardcore24, Naples, NY, Solo 24/$175, (5 hours away)
06.16 Lumberjack 100, Manistee National Forest, MI, 100 Mile Ultra, $125 (9 hours away)

Why is this time from 6.16 to 7.15 so void of races? Do I have to do a regular XC race or what?

07.15 Michaux Endurance Race #2, Michaux State Forest, 50 Mile Race/Cost N/A (3+ hours away)
07.29 6 Hours of Power, Ellitcotville, NY, Solo 6/Cost?, (about 4 hours away)

08.04 Wilderness 101, State College, PA 101 Mile Ultra, $125, (about 2 hours away)
08.18 MASS RB Winter Marathon, Location, Cost , Format???

09.01 24 Hour Champion Challenge, 7 Springs, PA, 24/Solo, $225 (50 minutes away)
09.03 Shenandoah Mountain 100, Harrisonburg, VA, 100 Mile Ultra, $130, (4+ hours away)
09.15 Michaux Endurance Race #3, Michaux State Forest, 50 Mile Race/Cost N/A (3+ hours away)
09.22 WVMBA, Big Bear Lake Ultra, Hazelton, WV, Format, cost? (1.5 hours away)
09.29 WVMBA, Revenge of The Rattlesnake Ultra, Davis, WV, Format, Cost? (about 4 hours away)

10.06 MASS God's Country Marathon, ?????, PA, Format, Cost, Travel Time???

Wow that's a LOT of races, and I even left a few off and I'm sure more will pop up.

Oh well, not much else going down. Did an easy spin tonight for an hour.

Later.

Nut Number Monday

Holy Pete! The combo of the cheap ass bike shorts I wore tonight, the cement like Selle Italia saddle on Booger (my trainer bike) and 50 minutes in the the same basic position on the saddle put some hurt on the boyz tonight.

But having said that I was still pretty pleased with the ride tonight. A warm up, followed by a 50 minute LT/ME/HRZ4/HRZ5/BS/MF/E1/EVOO/ Interval (By the way I just made up most of that shit). It just seemed like cool training techno speak to say I did a 50 minute threshold interval and it felt good (in a damn that hurts kinda way), by the end it was kind of a mother f*ck, and I finished by spinning the legs and dreaming of pasta for 15 minutes. Yummy, whole wheat pasta, with with tasty, extra virgin olive oil and .... OK, OK, I think you get it. I was hungry.

Tonight's workout featured sweet music hosted by iPodious and featuring some of my fave Brit-pop.

In other news, today at day care, B-Man either A. put his noggin in the toilet or B. Peed on his head by accident. Either way NOT good. Funny. But not good.

Later.

Geeked!

2007 is HUGE. It's gonna be HARD do make a schedule but in late season
is gonna be cool with these "ultra" additions from WVBA. Right on!!!

2007 WV/Virginia Ultra Series (Note: most dates are on Saturday)

WVVUS #1    Sun, Jun 03   Massanutten HooHa XXC
WVVUS #2    Sat, Aug 18   Wild 100
WVVUS #3    Sun, Sep 02  Shenandoah Mountain 100
WVVUS #4    Sat, Sep 15   Cheat Mountain 100
WVVUS #5    Sat, Sep 22   Big Bear Lake MTB Ultra
WVVUS #6    Sat, Sep 29   Revenge of the Rattlesnake/Ultra Series Championship

I never thought I'd see the day that there would be SO many Enduros/Ultras.
I can't wait for ALL the info, M.A.S.S.?? To come out so I can finally make
up my mind on how to just totally destroy my body. I love this shit!!

Longer. Harder. Slower. My new anthem!

Later.

Rail Trail Snow Fest

2 hours on the trainer today was just not going to happen. I needed to be outside. So despite warming temps (in this case a bad thing) I decided to hit the rail trail for a couple hours. I'm no fan of the rail trail but it's usually a good place for me to spin along at 16 to 19 mph in zone 2 or 3. Today with about 2 to 3" of wet snow on the trail THAT was not going to happen.

What did happen was a nice, harder than usual workout outside. I think my max speed only hit about 13 mph and my average speed was about 10! The white of the snow did it's best to cover the anti-scenery that is the Boston/McKeesport leg of the rail trail.

Usually I throw the Reba in lock out and hammer pretty steadily. Today hoof prints in the melting snow from hikers, cx skiers and dogs, made it a bumpy ride and it was nice to have the Relish in my rear (eeww) and the Reba in the front to soak up the chatter.

As I expected the Rampage 29ers that I'm rolling plowed through the snow and hooked up well. Granted I wasn't exactly doing any climbing, but I still didn't want to take a snow naps.

I was most concerned about my clothing choices. I don't ride in the cold often so I don't have a ton of cold weather gear. 35+ degree temps aren't hay-noose, but I'm still no fan of chilly/cold temps. I did wear my new Craft jacket and it freaking ROCKED! I couldn't be happier with it. Granted it's a rain jacket, and I haven't tested it in rain yet, but it's also wind resistant and really kicked ass today.

I was also finally was able to use my Bikeman.com cold weather skull cap again. Kept the noggin and ears toasty and because of it's snug fit over the ears I was able to use iPodious and not have the ear buds falling out like they usually do. It's made by Champion Systems, the same folks who are doing up are team gear this year. Nice noggin warmer.

The downfall was my tootzies. A wicking sock base/wool sock outer in regular old Sidi's wasn't the best choice. Fine at first or for cool and DRY, but after about an hour of wet snow on them they were soaked and freaking cold. As I neared the end the ride they were freaking wet and FREEZING. Couldn't wait to get 'em warmed up in the Soob.

All in all a nice ride outside in the snow. Not my first choice, and I may need to work on some water proofing of the tootzies, but as my late mother used to say it's nice to get outside and "blow the stink off you".

That's it, a nice 2 hours of saddle time, so now it's me to crack open a couple and enjoy the evening.

Now here's a little photo blogging...

The Dos Niner taking a rest.

The Rampage's 2.35" tracks look like freaking MOTOcross tires!

The boring rail trail made slightly less boring with the snow.

Had I got hungry I had an XT Snow Cone at my disposal.

After a HOT shower it was time to hang with the B-Man.

Later.

Ahhhhhhh Beer.

What has seemed like the longest week in some time is finally over. Sweet!

Cracked a few Hop Devils and cooked up some Mexican.

E Mails were fruitful today and my order for the Mamsita will be placed with Big Al tonight. Sadly I may not have it before my first race, but hey I still have my sweet Dos Niner. Hell yeah!

Speaking of the Dos Niner I'd like to get it out for some snowy fun tomorrow. Either on the rail trail for some big fridged base miles or to Boyce for some snowy single track. If I know me, I'll end up doing 2 hours in the basement 'cause I hate being cold.

Hope to order up my wheels by the end of the weekend too. I waffle continuously, but must say I have to thank Bikeman.com for making it a hard decision. These are fun decisions to make.

Later.

Spent Legs And A Thank You or Two

After yesterday's trainer "junk ride" I tried to kick it up a notch tonight. Got my 10 minute warm up in, then pegged my heart rate at about 82-85% for the next 50 minutes. Did a couple minutes of "taint saving" in the middle just to let the "boys" rest. Finished with some easy spinning ending at 1:15.

Also I've been wanting to mention- When I talk about my rides or workout for the day it's in no way me saying "look at me training", 'cause lets face it folks, It's not that impressive and I'm not all that good. It's just that this blog is also kind of a personal (yet very public) training journal. I try to include plenty of other nonsense for your. Plus the more I write the less tempted I am to look at porn.

____________________________________________________

Thanks to Twin-Six or helping me hook B-Man up with some swankness for his birthday...
Much appreciated guys! He's gonna love it! No doubt.

I also got my hands on their new mobile beverage transporters. Otherwise known as the SKULL Bottle.
Thanks again guys. B Man called it a "pirate bottle" I can live with that.

Speaking of thank yous....

A Thank you shout out to Rick. My fellow blogging Bikeman.com teammate. Thanks man! Although I had planned on just having you design me a house or something. Check out Rick's blog where on any given day you're bound to see a photo him either on the shitter or taking a trail side piss. No one can pull off low brow with such panache. Keep it up Rick! You're an inspiration.

Plus I need you around so when Wifey yells at me for writing something offensive I can say "I bet Marcy doesn't yell at Rick".

Lastly thanks to Allison. I'm sure you'll like the products from Hammer Nutrition. If you have any questions drop me an a e mail or a comment. Good luck!

____________________________________________________

Did you see this on MTBR.com?? Dude from Minnesota (land of Salsa and Twin-Six!) totally stripped his Dos Niner.

I like it. I mean I dig the sweet paint jobs that Salsa has, but this looks hot too. Some sweet red HOPE hubs would make it pop!

Oh well, that's it. NOTHING on tap tomorrow except snow. Might take the Dos Niner out for some snow riding on Saturday.

Later.

Winter Funk, Going For Gold, Marathons, N'at

You know we had a sweet ass mild winter up 'till the past week or so, but it's been JUSTcold and snowy enough for me to want crawl to the bottom of a bottle or 6 of Victory Storm Kings.

February 3rd I just might do that at the grand opening of Barley's & Hop's out in Bethel Park. Gonna be sweet. Wifey and I gettin' our Wurst on.

I was gonna skip the trainer tonight, but when I got home Wifey and B-Man were going up to Papa-O's and I was in my mid week work mind funk, so rather than sit and stew about how I hate my job, I hopped on the trainer and did a spin in Zone 2 for an hour. Felt better after that of course. I'll up the intensity tomorrow so I can take Friday off to just have a beer or two.


Saw over on VeloNews.com that Euro road dog and Italian Marathon National Champion Gilberto Simoni plans to go for Olympic MOUNTAIN BIKE gold in 2008.

I wonder if Damiano Cunego will enter just to dick Gilberto off? Photo stolen from the Scott USA website.


I might go do THIS EVENT on my birthday this year. Yeah right! I'd totally dig that though. Me, Wifey and B-Man kickin' it in Bad Goisern.

Doing The Salzkammergut would be a dream. Someday I'll do it! HA!

Oh well I'm sufficiently hopped up on bike talk, and now to go toss and turn with no outlet for the energy. I'll just have to lay still and think of baseball.

Later.

A New Low

No I'm not going to talk about my vasectomy again, accidental pubic buzz cuts, post lunch top tube food riftage or any of my normal lows. Today's weigh-in had me down to 176! (Down from 185.5 on 12/4/06) Ka-Chow! Hell it might be back up tomorrow, but it was nice to see that number again. Looks like getting back down to 170/175 by the season shouldn't be that impossible.

During tonight's 1:25 on the trainer I was watching some old Tour vids and saw the George Hincapie is 6'2" (his web site says 6'3")/ and 175 lbs..That's like NORMAL!!! None of that 4'1" 102lb. stats that normally get thrown at you.

I was skulking around the Bikeman.com site today and saw that The Mamasita has made it to the site. Not in stock yet of course, but just seeing it up and the "available soon" is damn nice.
Right now it looks like the retail price right now is at $889. Slightly more than Salsa's first estimates but not by much. I have a feeling this thing is gonna be huge for the guys at Salsa. At a reported 3.5 lb. for a Large 29er frame, this just might be the lightest frame I've ever had.

If you're interested in one keep your ballz peeled (eye ballz) to Bikeman.com. I know I look at my In Box everyday to see if Big Al (team pimp) left me any info. Then I lead kinda of a shallow, pathetic existence.

Worth the Weight?

Been working on different 29er custom and pre built wheel builds with Big Al at Bikeman.com World H.Q. (As I mentioned last week I made the decision to forgo my WTB wheel deal for a variety of reasons).

Checking weights and doing wheel build estimates is a sure way to make yourself nuts. I've been close a couple times at getting what I want, only to run into something like this-

This is just to prove point, making up these #s) one set is $600/1950 grams and one set is $750 and 1750 grams, you're all about a 29er wheel set at 1750 grams. But then you see that the hubs don't come with skewers and the $600 set does! Add 100 grams and $40 and you got yourself an 1850 gram wheels set for almost $790. So is 100 grams worth $190?? 100 grams/3.5 oz.!! Or two to three race fees!!

Shit all I have to do is switch from the Bontrager tubes I have to Conti 29er tubes and save 66 Grams of rotating weight! And both of those tubes retail for the same price ($5 a pop retail).

I'm not discounting rotating weight or my want/lust of a lighter bike, but at what financial costs. The above numbers were generous too. In some calculations the with was much as $100 for 10 grams or less. TEN!!!

Like I said, the wheels I'm looking will be a better weight than the 2200+ grams I have now, but not by much. For now there are too many guys out there on 30 lb. bikes kicking my ass for me to worry about it. Just looking forward to riding my mountian bike in the woods no matter how many grams I'm rolling on.

Later. (Boy i can ramble on with the best of 'em)

My Drizzle

Not much going on. Got a sweet work out in last night on the trainer and going back to tap more of that action tonight.

FINALLY got my Craft rain jacket today. A great fit and a sweet jacket, but I really think I could have walked to Massachusetts (where it shipped from) and back in the time it took to get it. Yikes!

Got hold of some new tunes that I'm really diggin'. Dude that goes by Jamie-T. Style? Think Mike Skinner (The Streets) meets Arctic Monkeys meets Beck meets Billy Bragg. Have a feeling he'll be showing up on a mix soon.

Later. Gotta get back to work.

Weekend's Events

The mild winter is official over, and the real WPA winter has arrived. That means instead of being out on the road yesterday I was on the trainer for 1:30. Had as much fun as could be expected on the trainer. Listened to a new mix I made, got some real nice tempo work in, broken up by some 10 minute knee busting 35 rpm hill climbing.
After the ride I cleaned up the Dos Niner and the Trek road bike (finally), ate some cereal and headed off to a hike around the woods in White Oak Park. Got about 30 minutes of hiking in before my colon realized I was hiking and decided that it was "go time". SSSSSSo rather than squatting in the woods again I high tailed it home for some warm and comfy bowel evac.

Saturday night was Hop Devil and Pizza Night. Sweet! Got to replenish the system with some cheezy and hoppy goodness.

Today was a day of sloth. Looking at bike parts, hanging with the family and watching snow fall.

Later.

Pro Road Racing = Pornography?

Is watching pro road racing like watching porn? I'm starting to think so. You watch guys who are (mostly) on dope do super human feats, turn hot (although skank and also doped up) women on, inspire yourself to try replicate such heroic feats, go back and turn off the tv/computer because now that it's over, and you've come up quite short, the whole thing just seems stupid because you realize that they're probably all doped up, the women were faking it and you weren't.

Will I keep watching? Yes. Will I feel stupid when the race is over and the next winner is declared a doper? Yes. Will I watch again? Yes. It's the cycle of porn or the porn of cyling.

What am I rambling about? Doesn't matter. Go to Cyclingnews.com, pick a day and there's BOUND to be a new story about a doper.

Later.

Weight Loss?

Hit the trainer for an hour of seated hill climbing tonight. Felt good, got a nice sweat on, and feel good about taking tomorrow off and then 2 hours of something on Saturday, whether it be gettin' a nippy ride outside or 2 hours in stankment.

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REVIEW: APPESTAT BY HAMMER NUTRITION

Had and e mail today from a reader of the Soiled Chamois asking if I've come to any conclusions about my experiences with Appestat from Hammer Nutrition. Kinda perfect timing since I just recently finished up on them and my conclusion is as follows.

To refresh, Appestat is believed to help suppress appetite without stimulants, help increase the rate of fat metabolism and help to reduce potential for carb-to-fat conversion. It contains 5-HTP which is said to benefit appetite suppression as well as improve mood due to boosting serotonin levels.

Why was I taking Appestat? Well for more than 2 years I hovered between 170 & 175 lbs. (I'm 6'1" tall), but then a little over a year ago I started taking a mild anti depressant (Lexapro) and BAM! I was up to 185+ within a year! PANIC! PANIC!

Well come November of this year I made the personal decision to ween myself off of Lexapo for a variety of reasons as I mentioned here in the past, one reason be weight gain.

Other than enjoying a few too many quality, early off-season beers, I had not changed ANYthing about my diet in the past 3 years! Even the beer is normal. The season ends, and I lay back a few weeks and enjoy some malty goodness.

Come December I was off the Lexaopro, made a commitment to watch portion sizes, and utilized the free Trainingpeaks.com software to track my portions, calories, carbs, proteins, fat, and watch the amount of beers I enjoyed. Except with a couple holiday mishaps and last week's Barley's and Hop's "Thursday Beer Event"- NO beer on week nights!

On December 4th I started the Appestat. The plan is to take 2 pills one hour before lunch and another 2 an hour before dinner each day. Since I have the most control over my schedule Monday thru Friday, I took the pills mostly on those days. You are also supposed to take them for 3 weeks, take a week off then start a second program.

I also consulted Hammer on my evening usage, since I usually get home about 5:10 and work out from 5:30 to 6:30 or 7:00, should I take it before the work out or after since my dinner times vary on any given night? They replied that I should take the two pills after completing the work out.

The pills themselves are about normal size of most supplements and as most natural supplements do - smelled a bit like a gym locker room. Yum-oh!

I've recently completed taking them and might have a few left, but don't see the point since it wouldn't get me through another full round.

So you're thinking "enough of your blathering Jason, did they work???? " Truthfully, I DON'T KNOW???

First check these stats (click if you need to enlarge)...As you can see I went from 185.5 on December 4th to 180 now. (the graph is off on days a bit, I think it goes by weeks). All in all 5.5 pounds. Not too shabby for about 45 days. Little over a pound a week with some few big ass dips (as low as 178) when I had weeks of heavy outdoor riding.

So 5.5 pounds, it must work? Well, I can't say. Yes I lost weight while I was on it, BUT I also was VERY strict with my diet. I weighed foods, measured foods, kept a meal log, cut out large portions of pasta, cut back on beer and REALLY kicked in my indoor workouts.

And truthfully I'm not a snacker. I don't eat junk food (except low fat chips and salsa on week ends), I don't eat candy, I don't eat out during the week, I hate fast food, etc., etc., So I can't say it helped me in that area.

It's also hard to really say for sure if they "helped to reduce carbohydrate-to-fat conversion" 'cause damn it, I work my ass off and really stepped up to get control of my weight. I'm sure watching my portion sizes of foods like pasta, breads, etc., helped immensely.

I'm also sure that it helped having the metabolic dead weight that is Lexapro out of my system now, so calories should be burning more the way they're supposed to for me.

So would I take it again? No. Would I recommend these to someone? No. If you're a junk food snacker who may NOTICE the benefits of an appetite suppressant go ahead and give 'em a try but I think you're better to do the following-

1. Utilize the Nutrition part of Trainingpeaks.com to track your foods, calories taken in, burned etc.,

2. Measure foods for at least a few weeks to at least get an idea of portion sizes.

3. Snack on good foods (I'll give you a sample menu of mine below)

4. Exercise. Dear God I hate when folks do nothing and complain they gain weight. Loosing weight is hard and there's nothing real fun about it (except getting to ride your bike for thousands of miles a year- JOY!!)

5. Remember IT'S A LIFESTYLE NOT A DIET!!!!!!! I can't say that enough. Think of your diet as the fuel to do a job. To do the job right you need to have the RIGHT fuels. Yes, I like my beer, I like Mexican food, etc., BUT NOT EVERY NIGHT.

6. LEARN TO COOK! Cooking your own meals is the only way to really control what you eat and how much you eat. I've adapted many a meal (mostly Mexican and Italian dishes) to meet my diet.

7. Watch red meats (hell meat in general) Real easy way to pile up some serious fat and calories. If you have to have ground meat, try ground turkey, chicken, or use ground Boca Burger. I also love buying the bags of frozen chicken breasts.

8. DO NOT DO FAD DIETS! Low carb fad diets are stupid. Your fitness WILL suffer. PERIOD.

9. READ! Books by folks like Chris Charmichael's "Food For Fitness" or Liz Applegate's (Eat Smart, Play Hard). Magazines like Oxygen, Cooking Light, etc., Web Sites like Calorie King, EatBetterAmerica.com and others (listed to the right). I also recommend reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser or watching Super Size Me to REALLY scare your out of eating that Big Mac.

10. You can take or leave my opinions. I've weighed a HELL of a lot more than 185 in my life and I hope to weigh a little less than 175 by April and I think at 180 right now I have a good shot at getting my weight back there with my normal training and controlling my calories.

Once good thing as I move into the Build period in the coming months I'll be able to (and have to) increase my calories. Hooray for food!

So there you go, there's my VERY long winded review. Unlike just about every other product from Hammer Nutrition, I can't recommend Appestat. There was just now REAL way of knowing if it was working.

I LOVE Hammer Nutrtion products (Heed, Hammer Gel, Perpetuem, Bars, etc.,) But I jus feel there are too many other ways to loose weight and didn't see how the pill helped me.


Now here's a random day's menu-

8:00 a.m. Breakfast- XXL Coffee, with skim milk, 5+ teaspoons of sugar (I know, I know, but it's a BIG cu of coffee!!), 3 egg fried egg whites, with a slice of melted fat free cheese, 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with "spray" butter, and some ketchup on the side for my eggs (I like ketchup, ok?)

10:30 a.m. Snack #1- Navel Orange

1:00 p.m. Lunch- Turkey Breast Wrap with Fat Free Cheese, and Baby Leaf Spinach. Side of Fat Free Blue Cheese Dressing (to dip), 1 to 1.5 servings of pretzels, 1 carton of Fat Free Yogurt and 32 oz. Water.

2:00 p.m.- MORE WATER, another 32 oz.

3:30 p.m.- Granny Smith Apple and maybe a little more water.

5:30 p.m. Workout- 1 to 1.5 hours, having about 20 oz. of sports drink. (in winter) Burning roughly 1,000 calories. WAY more if I get ride outside.

7:00/7:30 p.m. 2 servings of brown rice, with diced red/green peppers, onions, sauteed in 1 Tbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil, ground Boca Burger, 1 can of black beans (rinsed), mixed with some taco seasoning/salsa and 1 serving of low fat Mexican cheese sprinkled over top.

8:00 p.m. MORE WATER PLEASE!!

Truthfully a day like above with a 1:30 work out, this is probably too few calories. As the winter goes on I'll be hitting up more calories to fuel harder, and harder work outs.

There you go. Somedays I even forget to eat or feel full and often with a big work out I come in HUNDREDS of calories in deficit!

This was WAY more than you wanted, wasn't it? Sorry.

Later.

Editors Note; I'll try to clean this up in the a.m., sorry if there's a lot of errors. I'm a bit tired right now.

Bikeman Kit 2K7

Ever wake up on the wrong side of life? That's what happened today. Just kinda in mindfunk. Didn't have a workout scheduled for tonight, and right away that usually puts me in da'funk. Oh well nothing a night's rest, some tunes, and lovin' from my woman won't cure ;)

Matty-D, he of blog hiatus, has cooked up the new Bikeman.com kit. Already got my size order in to Huge Albert at BIKEMAN/HQ. Here's a look-see....
I'll be goin' with the bibs. I used to think bibs were so queer, now I have trouble wearing anything else! Now plumber but! That's what I'm talking about!

Sweet job Matt, thanks for your work. Between this kit and my Twin-Six stuff I'm sure to be the best dressed guy taking pictures of the racers on the podium. ;)

I'm off to work on a new mix. One word- Ennio Morricone.

Later.

Bike Build Bling Talk and A Sponsor

WARNING!: this posts has lots of hoochie mama, bling, bike parts talk. Feel free to skip to the end now to just hear me blather about my usual nonsense and use the term "dog dirt".

Getting closer to finalizing my 2nd race bike build for 2007. The Salsa Mamasita will be the frame of of choice. I just got the final geometry info today (Thanks Jason!). Looks like the top tube on the Large is going to be about 1/2" longer than my Dos Niner, so I might go with a 110mm stem to keep my cockpits similar. If anyone wants the 2007 numbers shoot me an e mail and I'll send you the pdf that I got from Salsa.

All parts for the build are either in possession or on order from Team Bikeman.com sponsors SRAM & Rock Shox. I was so impressed with the SRAM X9/X0 mix that I used on the Dos Niner last year, that I'm selling my Shimano drive train from El Santo and going with full SRAM X9 on the Mamasita.

Fork is a Rock Shox Reba 29er with remote lock out and 80mm travel. Then you got'cher XT Crank, Hope Mono Mini Discs, Panaracer tires (for technical courses) and oh yeah the wheels...

For the wheels I gotta give a big thanks to WTB (Wilderness Trail Bikes) for helping me out in 2007. They're making it easier for me to possibly get my hands on their new light weight 29er wheels and some components.

The complete wheels are WTB's new XC 29er race wheels. Weigh in at about 1920 grams for the set and will be available in March.

UPDATE #1: As per discussions in comments. I am of course weighing light weight vs. reliability. This is always big for me since I'm not the most mechanically inclined, and for my type of racing and my budget I need to consider many things. This is not to say that any one wheel more or less reliable or serviceable than another, that I can't comment on right now, I'm just being honest that while I love the thought of a light weight wheel set, when it comes to to build I might be rolling my heavier ones. Still have few months of "build" ideas in me. Time will tell.

The WTB web site doesn't have the 2007 products up yet, but if you want to check out a video of the 2007 products check out THIS link on MTBR.com. Take a look at the Devo saddle too. I like that it seems flatter and wider in the back like my Fizik. Thanks to Dain at WTB for the selection Tiffany for and taking the time to answer my questions. (See update #2 at end of post)

BLING TALK OVER

I'm so looking forward to another year of racing on the Dos Niner and the new Mamasita. I hope I can do justice to the bling the 2007 sponsors help me roll. As I've said before all the high zoot bike parts in the world aren't a damn bit of good if I'm slow as decaying dog dirt (Western PA term for dog sh*t).

Speaking of "dog dirt". Only did an hour on the trainer tonight but after a 10 min warm up, I threw down a 50 minute Zone 4/5 interval. Ouch. The plan was to spin for another few minutes to cool down but I was SPENT! This year I've been TRYING to work on keeping sustained power/force to the pedals for longer durations. Hoping that this will help increase my race pace.

2007 Schedule is almost finished. Still waiting on M.A.S.S. 6 Hour race dates, but I'm looking at doing 3 to 4 races of the National Ultra Endurance Series, and a smattering of 6, 12, 13, and maybe even an 18 hour solo here and there. Most likely NO 24 hour races. Too much jing, and too much planning. I'll share more later in the week as I get more info.

No ride tomorrow. Little mid week R&R.

UPDATE #2 After much thought I have chose to pursue wheels through Team Bikeman.com rather than WTB. I thank them for ther generous offer, have talked to them and hope that someone else can better take advantage of the grass roots sponsorship slot that they had made available to me. They're some top notch folks and will be continuing to support them, just not as a sponsored rider.

Later.

My Grey Area

Motivation was once again hard to come by today. Grey, rain, and a new work week is NOT the most motivating. I mean who the hell likes rain? And 99.9% of the time I'd rather hand wash, a chili loving clydesdale's used chamois than go to work. Nothing against work. Just the work I do. I also felt like I might be fighting off some sorta body funk too. Hate the funk.

By the time five (is 4:50 is close enough?) rolled around I was feeling pretty good and happy to be heading home to get the cheeks on the stationary trainer.

1:30 later I felt damn good. Worked my way up and down the big half of the cog in 39 for some nice, easier Zone 2 work and left a nice sweaty pile of calories on the basement floor.

Afterwards, I made up some tasty Ground Boca, Brown Rice & Beans, washed it down with some Airborne and an orange (also known as "funk-be-gone").

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Healthy Food Savings Tip- Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Whole Wheat Pasta.

There was a coupon for a $1.00 Off/2 Boxes in yesterday's paper (For you local, U.S. bound folks). It retails for $1.05 a box at Wal-Fart. A $1.10 for 26.5 oz. of whole wheat? Hell yeah! Or you could look at it through the eyes of your colon (eeeewww)- a $1.10 for 84 grams of fiber!!! Let the games begin... Hey oohhhhh!

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In other news, Big Al gave us the low down on Team Bikeman.com '07 sponsors today. I know I'm geeked that in addition to the biggies like Salsa, SRAM, Rock Shox,Avid, and new sponsor Jagwire, we'll be gettin' some hand roasted java beans thrown our way via one of our teammates . Should help to put some giddy up in the legs come race day. Thanks!

I also got some good news from a " wheely" cool personal sponsor. More on that as the week goes on. I don't want to start a big love fest or anything right now.

Later.

E.Z. Sunday/Consumerism (on the cheap)

No ride today. Letting the water logged meat sticks rest up from yesterday's 2:20 in the chilly rain.

Since I did 3 races in the pouring rain last year and live in dank water logged Western PA, I took the plunge and ordered up a Craft rain jacket.

Went with the Craft Excess Rain Jacket (in team kit matching red of course!). Got it direct from Craft in the clearance page. Only 49 beans! Retail for like $100. Sssshhhhweeet. UPDATE 1/16: The price has just gone up $20. Hmmm. Ordered just in time.
It's similar to the jacket I saw yesterday at Bikeman.com except no hood. Won't be needing that riding. I think it will fold down smaller too, which is cool. My only worry is fit. I went with the XL. Hope it's not cut too Euro, and I hope it's in stock. The order went through, but you never know when you order on a Sunday.

Thanks for letting me share my bit of consumer madness today. Time to throw some food down my throat and chill out.

Later.

Because. We Must.

A cool 50 degrees with steady rain here today. Shhhheeeeet. It looked like time to hit the trainer for a 2 hour session.

I started to gather my gear, and load a mix on iPodious when B-Man comes in to the "office" and sits on my lap. "Let's watch something daddy" he says. I couldn't think of anything, but as I scrolled through my bookmarks I saw the link for 24 Solo. Click it and BAM! They have a new trailer for the film up. Sweet!

We watched it once. Then B-Man says- "Again!" As we watched it a 2nd, and 3rd time my mojo for the trainer was gone. But my mojo to f*ck the rain, kit up and hit the road was through the f'ing roof! (click the pick damn it!)

So once B-Man and Wifey headed out for the day, I got my white trash rain gear together, loaded up the bike and hit the road for 2:20. Did a new loop that starts closer to my house. Hit a ton of sub 5 mph climbs and suffered like a wet chicken. (not sure what that means) It rained for the ENTIRE 2:20, but it was worth every drop!

Glad I got inspired to go out and train on the road. What's a little rain? I can ride in rain. Unlike snow and ice. So I gotz to take advantage of every opportunity that the mild winter throws my way.

Observation: Why does a down hill at 35+ MPH in the rain feel like someone's using a weed wacker on your face? Damn.

Trash Talk: I saw so much McDonald's trash on the side of the road today I started to think I was doing the same 1/2 mile over, and over and over again. Micky-Deez and empty water bottles. Litter is a pet peeve of mine. Utter disrespect for where you live. It's the whole "shit where you eat thing" Another example of my continued disappointment in the human race. (I'm a joy, aren't I?)

Jason Does Debbie: Today's on the bike food- Little Debbie Fig Bar. 8 in a box. Softer than Fig Newtons, so they're easier to get down your throat while riding and they're only like $1.50 for a box of EIGHT!

I've done two outside rides in the past week and both were in the pouring rain. Thinking of getting one of these to help combat the rain...
Is anyone familiar with Craft's sizing? I normally where and XL jersey and a Large jacket, but if they're cut for our Euro brother's I might have to go XL. Thanks for any input.

Time to go take a little nap, listen to some tunes and then cook up a some bad ass Mexican. Oh yeah, I got that Rogue Chocolate Stout chillin' too.

Hope you all are having a great weekend and getting some miles in.

Later.

20 oz. Draft or 20 Sided "Di"

As I mentioned this a.m., I had a great time out with some friends last night at Barley's and Hop's. Got into some BIG Belgians... Duvel, Delirium, and then I got a sweet tooth and went for an Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout and then caped the evening with the Rogue Chocolate Stout. Yum-f'ing-Ohhhh!!

The Rogue is one of the best new (to me) beers I've had in a LONG time. Scored a 22 oz. bottle take out that I will enjoy tomorrow evening after some time in the saddle.

It's not really my "thing" to go out on a week night. I like my routine, I like my training and I'm pretty smitten with Wifey and B-Man, but sometimes you need a night with some good friends to just be silly and have fun.

I tooks som guff last night when I compared our table of "beer geeks" to being one step above Dungeon's and Dragon's nerds. Everyone dissagreed, but everyone (inlcluding myself) proceeded to bust out terms like "20 sided di", "dungeon master" etc., Funny is a sad, pathetic kind of way ;)

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Been a bit anxious lately about the coming season. January/February are the WORST! Cold, dark and damp. Schedules and race dates are still up in the air, bike frames are still in production (Mamasita?), parts from sponsors are on order, team, and personal sponsors are being tidied up, etc., etc.,

Then I start thinking about training. Am I on the right track? Too much time? Not Enough? I guess I just have to do what feels right for my body and mind. The training is FUN! The racing is FUN! I'm riding my bike and that is all that matters. I just have to keep it fresh, and believe that what I'm doing will get me to a level to enjoy another season of racing.

Oh well, to have such problems.

Later.

Whew...

Great time last night at Tim's place. I've seriously never seen that many beers in one room! I should have stuck to my plan of leaving after a couple beers though. Advil please!

Another rest day today and then tomorrow it's back in the saddle for a couple hours.

Later.

Linkin' & Clippin' To Healthy Food & BEER!!

Eating healthy foods is such a huge part of doing this bike racing thing, but sadly the best foods are often damn expensive! In recent weeks I've become quite the coupon clipper (75¢ off Boca this week! Yes!!!), and a lurker on the web sites of the foods I eat, looking for samples, coupons and discounts.

I've also learned to suck it up and shop at Wal-Mart. It has killed me to do it. But it all comes down to where can I get the best deal on a product. Why would I go to Giant Eagle (local Pittsburgh area supermarket) and pay $2.99 for a 12. oz. bag of whole wheat pasta when I can get a 16oz. box of whole wheat pasta at Wal-Mart for .99¢ ??? I mean an extra $2.00 just for a little more protein, a couple extra trips to the bathroom and the smug knowledge that I didn't go to the Mart. I think not! I'm not that proud.

Don't even get me started on produce! I was forced to pay $3.79 a pound for Red Bell Peppers. GOD DAMN! On top of that, they looked like they were dug out of a dumpster.

Since many of you are in the same moneyless bike racing boat that I am, I'm gonna try to increase the level of "heads up" that I dish out about sites or deals.

I had kicked around the idea of starting yet another blog (needed like the proverbial "hole in the head") that would play host to the info and recipes that I use. I was gonna call it Cycle Fuel, but I've thought better of it for now, so it's just being used to test out template stuff for folks like the Ricker.

I'll keep throwing links up here of course, including one that I was told about the other day and that I also recently saw on the side of my box of Fiber One cereal. It's a pretty cool site called EatBetterAmerica.com It has nice, clean, Flash based layout design. (reminds me a lot of the Crank Brothers web site!)

I was a bit leery of the site at first since it is sponsored by U.S. food giant General Mills. Not sure why though. The divisions sponsoring the site are- Green Giant (eat your veggies!), Cheerios, and the organic divisions Cascadian Farm and Muir Glen, so it wasn't at all like when you see ads about eating healthy sponsored by cultural and nutritional blights like McDonalds.

Unless your a newbie to good nutrition stuff the site won't tell you too much new, but I find the recipe stuff pretty cool. Seems to be geard more towards everyday eating rather than sports and fitness nutrition, but they do touch on it of course.

You can search through foods that target a specific need such as antioxidants, find the food you want, then look through recipes that feature that food, and then save it to your personal profile library of articles and recipes. You can also target your recipes towards your goals- weight loss, immune boosting, etc., etc.,

I also like that there are coupons made available for registered user for stuff like yogurt, soy milk, and other stuff that many of us buy.

When you see an article like one I read about substituting whole wheat flour for regular flour, there's no need to book mark it, or print, just save it to your personal library. I just saved that one, since I may try my hand at making my own pasta soon.

All in all I think the site has a lot of potential. Navigation can be vague at times, but I can usually find the info I'm looking for. If nothing else find myself using it for the coupons! HA!

I'll be adding the link over to the right as well as a link to Oxygen magazine. (yeah, I know it's another chick health site, but as I've said before, since I don't want to get as big as a brick shitter, I stick to looking at mostly women's health mags. Plus, Wifey reads 'em so we save on magazine costs (yet more savings! ha!)

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Short 1 hour spin tonight. Nothing worth writing about, other than iPodious contained a newly acquired Morrissey show from Berlin, Germany that was broadcast on German radio.- "Welcome to the human abattoir...."

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Time to get local on your asses, talk beer, and help a brother out....

There's a new Beer Shop open in Pittsburgh called Barley's & Hop's Bottle Shop. It's owned by Tim, who is a good friend of a good friend of mine who I've met a few times and enjoyed more than a couple tasty high-brow malty beverages with.

If you're in the Pittsburgh area and near South Park (riding the trails there I hope!) Stop in and check it out. Mix and match bottles from around the world, drink in, or take out. Tim's putting together a nice menu too.

I'm heading over there tomorrow night at 6 p.m.. Great Lakes Brewing is having a beer tasting from 6 - 8 p.m. Hope to rock a couple of Edmund Fitzy's with Yancy.

OK, Local pimping off.


Later.