Stage 3 L'Alpe-d'Stankment

Today is the third stage of what some riders are calling the hardest Base III they've ever been a part of. Today the riders (OK, RIDER) will be heading away from the flats of the mountain valley that have catered to the big sprinters during Stages 1 and 2. And they will find themselves going STRAIGHT up L'Alpe-D'Stankment. A 60 minute Hors Category (above category) climb to the very top of the legendary mountain.

The stage's final 25 minutes will be that of a long descent with some false flats that finally finishes at the same infamous French ski station that almost every stage of the year's Base III ends- Le Tapis De Stinky (The Stinky Carpet). The Tapis is known for it's numerous sweat puddles, dried snot rockets and of course- it's near constant offensive odor. A finish these riders will surely remember all season long.

Here's a look at how today's stage breaks down (click to enlarge)

A full 1:25 in length, Stage 3 will include 2 intermediate sprints, and 4 chances for the tiny climbers to "dance on the pedals" in pursuit of KOM points. The fourth chance for KOM points will be at the end of the devilishly hard HC climb leading up to Minute 60. After the riders are up and over the top of the climb, it's a 25 minute descent to Le Tapis De Stinky and the finish. 25 minutes that will have these riders wondering who they "wronged" in The Base III Organization's Board of Directors that would have them include 25 minutes of false flats and boredom to reach the finish.

No matter how you look at it, this 3rd stage of this week's Base III is going to burn the quads of many of these lack luster riders including the big American- Jason Mahokey. Mahokey is not known for his climbing prowess, or his descending skills. In fact many riders in the peloton including Team Slipstream's David Millar have been VERY outspoken on Mahokey's inability to ride at this level at all. This is what Millar had to say:

"I'm not sure WHERE he even came from! I heard he races endurance mountain bike
in the States. For the sake of the peloton's safety, I wish he would return."
-David Millar, Team Slipstream

Harsh words indeed from the former doping Scotsman turned high sock wearing Dopers Suck crusader. Words that in light of today's Stage 3 results have never been more untrue or seemed more "mean spirited". For Mahokey would not only complete today's stage, he would WIN the stage virtually uncontested! Arriving at Le Tapis alone, with an empty water bottle, and a nearly cramped right calf.

The look on Mahokey's face at the completion of minute 85 did not show the usual joy of a racer taking a stage win. Just of relief that the stage was over.

Mahokey spoke with reporters after the stage and had this to say:

"F*ck I'm glad that shit's over. 85 minute seemed to go on forever.
Even with that bad ass mix I had going on my iPod.
I just want to go get a shower, make some pasta, and start looking
forward to tomorrow's rest day and a few Sierra Nevadas."
-Jason Mahokey

With that, another stage of Base III comes to a close. Stay tuned this weekend as Base III HOPES to move Stage 4 to the outside! (weather permitting). Good night.

________________________________________________________

Sorry about all that. But I was really getting tired of blogging about my boring trainer rides. This way I STILL wrote about it, but had more fun doing that way than saying- I did big 60 minutes of big gear seated "hill climbs" with some out of the saddle one's too. And then I finished with 25 minutes of tempo riding until I was bored and had burned the desired amount of calories. SEE????

I promise never to do all this again.

Later.

The Breaking Winds Parts I & 2

Breaking Winds Part I

Woke up to some serious ass winds blowing through WPA about 3. a.m. Then about 4 a.m. the power went out. DOH!! 6:30 a.m.- STILL OUT! Damn! Morning routine ruined and now I'm showering by candle light. The worst was when I was trying to put my contacts in and dropped one. Yeah it was friggin' great. I'm blind as a bat, crawling around on the bathroom floor, trying to find a contact by candle light! After 5 minutes I found it, washed it the best I could, and popped it in. Glad I found it, but DAMN it was on the FRIGGIN' BATH ROOM FLOOR! If I wasn't sick before I probably WILL be sick soon. My only hope is that it was far enough out of my "splash zone". I'm still sick about it though.

The power ended up coming on at 8:30, but after B-Man's day care had closed due to the outage. So Wifey and I divide up the day, and I made it to work about 11 or so. Eeesh What a morning!!! Nice to spend some extra time with B-Man, but I wish it would have been under different circumstances.

Breaking Winds Part II (File Under Too Much Information)

Not sure WHAT was going on in my belly this afternoon. Rocked some serious stomach pains which I believe came from a delicious, yet fiberous menace, called the Granny Smith Apple. It was like a gas pain but without the gas. Or at least without the ability, for MAYBE the first time in my life, to "pass" said gas. It's like I was suffering from Flatulence Dysfunction. Or "F.D." . F.D. comes right after "E.D." in the alphabet of dysfunctions. Obviously I'll take F.D. over E.D. any day of the week, so I just popped a Tums or two, made a few failed trips to the Men's room for attempted relief and hoped my evening spin would work out the intestinal knots. OR just plan on taking a trip to the pharmacy for some Gas-X after the workout.

Broke Winds (A New Beginning)

Once home and chamoised up I seemed to forget about the F.D. issue. Good thing too. I had planned on a longish Zone 1 & 2 spin and did NOT want to abort due to some stupid digestive issue like freaking gas!

Once on the bike all was good. Tonight my plan was to spin to the entirety of a Morrissey show from Lille, France on 1/19/08. Got it done no problem. It's a good boot with a good deal of new songs, including one of my faves- "All You Need Is Me". "A.Y.N.I.M." will be on a greatest hits CD that will be coming out in March I believe. Here's a version of it from a 2007 U.S. television appearance.

Anyway the spin was damn good. I got in 1:30 of nice 90/100 RPM tempo spinning. There was sweat, there were calories burnt and my legs felt spanky. After the stress of the a.m. and the stomach pains in the afternoon, I could not have asked for a better workout.

After the workout, it was time to make up some grub. My choice was to fight fire WITH fire. By cooking up some Stir Fried Vegetable/Brown Rice/Chicken/Black Bean White Trash Mexicana. Maybe I SHOULD have made that trip to the store for the Gas-X???

OK enough about me, my issues, and my sweaty spin. If you love someone (even it's yourself) who digs all things bike and would like to see them (or yourself) in some swank duds. Check out the Twin-Six "Pre-Valentine's Day, Pre-Spring, Not Even Close to Pre-Summer, We're Selling Some Sweet Shit Cheap" Sale that starts tomorrow- January 31st and goes through Sunday, Feb., 3rd. Sale will have Jerseys from $40-$60, T's $10-$15, Socks Starting at $8, All Bottles $5 and The T6 Sack at $90. Get goin' while the gettin's good.

That's all I got. (I can hear you saying "thank God!!"). Me thinks with every post another reader bids farewell.

Later.

Weak Bladders & Cool Pics

Clipping In

Not much going "dahn" tonight. Hung out with B-Man, Wifey was at the the gym. Made up some pasta and got my cleats installed on my new (to me) Lake winter shoes. Now it's just time to chill and plan the rest of the week's riding, spinning, and resting. Then probably hit up some bike porn sites after I blog. Then- bed. Such a freaking exciting life! I'll take it though.

My Weak Bladder

Ordered up a couple new bladders from Bikeman.com the other day. I had been using Naglene bladders. They are quality bladders and never had any real leak issues that weren't my fault. The only real problem is the valve. It's sort of heavy, with the addition of a clip/magnet, that in theory is supposed to easily clip the hose out of your way. But if the hose is "out of the way" I can't get it to my mouth quickly!
With the hose cut to my desired length it tended to flop up and smack me in the face during steep "nips to bar" type seated climbs. Nothing like having your HR up to about 190 and getting smacked in the face with a hydration hose/bull whip. So I'm now going back to trusty CamelBak bladders. Reliable and no face smackage.

You may remember I had recently been considering a whole new hydration system. But I could not find one that was a nice compromise between small and enough room. My current pack fits the bill pretty good, so I just make some minor "customizations" and got some new bladders. Now I'm good to go.

Finally, as you know I don't race CX, and most likely never will (I know never say never!), but I do like to read about it, watch it, and and see great photos. As I do with all bike racing. The Czech site MTBS.cz has som great pics from the recent CX World Championships. Check out the Women's Elite HERE. And the Men's Elite HERE. MTBS.cz consistently has some of the best race photography out there. Which is why I keep it linked (to the right) even though I can't read a lick of Czech. I used to know a few cuss words my Gram told me, but I of course forget them now, along with a billion other things.

Later.

Sins Paid For & Some Validation

First thing first- I really thought I was on the cusp of illness yesterday. Little bit weak, some sinus stuff going on etc. I'd like to say it was the Doctor prescribed Indian Browns I had last evening. But I'm a smidge smarter than that.

I truly believe my diet has been playing a small part in staying RELATIVELY healthy over the past few months. I've been eating about 5 to 6 Navel Oranges a week for the past few months. I have to think that all that quality Vitamin C is playing a part. I've also not cut back my calories as drasticly as in years past in order to try to become an emaciated roadie. Instead I'm choosing to try just try to maintain my weight at about 180 through the winter. Just keep eating right, when I can try to stick with lean, quality proteins, fruits and vegetables. Plus I'm making sure to get good fats from Olive Oil, Nuts, etc., etc., Ahhh balls! I'm probably just lucky and my days of coughing, hacking and blowing snot are right around the corner. Who knows? (could you hear me knocking on wood through that ENTIRE last paragraph??)

I got back to the Stankment™ tonight for 1:25 of BIG gear intervals mixed in with some weights and core. Had three 50 RPM big ring intervals of 20 minutes each thrown in with some warm up, weights and core. The last one hurt, but felt good though. I needed a good workout after Saturday night's Mexi-Binge. Sins paid for now! Tonight was one of those nights that I was damn happy to be in the privacy of my own home. Sweat pouring off me, grunts, groans, saliva hanging from my mouth. Stink! Stank!! STUNK!!!!

I've been happy with the way I've been doing my strength training this year. Doing time on the bike, then a set of weights/core, back to the bike etc., etc., It really breaks up the time and makes 1:25 in the basement go fast. I felt complete validation for this training technique when I was reading the article "Building Your Base", by Al Lyman, CSCS in the last issue (January, 2008 Vol 058) of Hammer Nutrition's Endurance News.

Click and make excerpt bigger-

#1 is some of what I've been doing this year, but #2 is what I've REALLY been doing to make strength training tolerable for me. Most people probably do it to make the TRAINER tolerable. Not me. But I'm an idiot.

Anyway when I read that, it made me feel that what I've been doing this winter has been a good choice. I highly recommend reading Endurance News. Some of it is a bit off the deep end and occasionally comes off like Hammer is some sort of nutritional cult (I think it might be). But there ARE a lot of good tips and info. Just weed through all the "take one of our pills for this, that and the other thing" diatribes.

_________________________________________________________________

They're not USED they're "VINTAGE"

Happy with this cheap ass purchase. Nice fit and seem like they will be plenty warm. Plus Andrew broke them in for me already! Just need to pick up some cleats, mount 'em up and get outside. Having made this purchase is a sure fire way for us to get an early spring. In that case, THEY WERE WORTH EVERY PENNY!

Later.

I Could Have Done It!

I know I could have done it. I could have eaten ONE more basket of chips and Salsa at Mad Mex last night. All I had to do was ask. I failed. My belly said "YES! I want them!". My mind said "nooooooo". I seriously ate like a big pig yesterday OR as they say south of the border "Un Cerdo Grande". I was like a Lifetime TV movie of the week about some bulimic woman on food binge! There was just no vomit. Just me shoveling Mexican food down my throat like I never saw food before. Oh well, sometimes you need to fall of the dietary wagon in order to know what direction you want to go.

No riding today. Family time and what not. Not feeling the greatest. B-Man has rocked a slight cold for the past week and now I just feel a bit weak and not "right". So I'm taking some doctor prescribed Dog Fish Head Indian Brown Ale to kill the germs. Speaking of beverage. I mentioned that Troeg's Nugget Nectar the other day. DAAAMMMMN!! It's one of the best highly hopped beers I've ever had. I must track a case down. So crisp. So bitter. So freaking GOOD!!

In bike stuff, you must go check out my fellow Amigo Matt's blog. Matt has just got his cheeks on a Salsa La Cruz Complete and has some feed back and some kick ass pics of it after an inaugural 50 miler yesterday. Congrats on the bike man. Enjoy it.

Well time to chill a bit. Hope that now sickness comes and have another DFHIBA.

Later.

It Will Be Worth It

It will be worth It.

It will be worth It.
It will be worth It.
It will be worth It.
I hope.

Riding out in 30 degree weather WAS NOT something I wanted to do today. BUT riding for 2 hours on the trainer was something I wanted to do even less. SO, it was time to scour the house looking for all my gear. The layering broke down like this....

Feet: Base socks. Wool Socks. Plastic Baggie. Wool Socks. Lake XC Shoes.
Legs: Tights. Bibs. Tights.
Torso: Base T. Long Sleeve Thermal. T6 Buck Jersey. LL Bean Jacket.
Head: Bikeman.com Winter Skull Cap. Hammer Cap. Balaclava.
Hands: Big ass wind resistant, water repellent winter gloves.

Damn! I felt like a big old fatty boom-ba-latty
and got to rock the Woodsy Gansta Look again...

I hit the rail trail again. Too cold for me on the road (although I did pass two roadies on my way home. Hats off to them! The trail was covered in snow, but luckily it was pretty packed down and not icy. Just one long continuous ribbon of white...

The only other cyclist I saw on the trail were two hunters who just parked their full suspension Huffy's and were heading off to hunt God knows what. How the f*ck long is PA's hunting season??? This has been going on since November! Eeesh. You would have thought they would have killed everything by now.

Shit was cold today. I think I was colder today than last week and the temps were LOWER last week. This week the gray/brown/vomit colored river was frozen. It actually looks better frozen. Made it impossible to see the floating tires and McDonald's bags. Nice.

Thankfully I once again rolled with iPodious. When the feet are cold and the fingers are numb I can just let my mind drift along with the music. This is especially helpful on the return trip, when my mind is wasted (more than usual).

I realize I've been a tad negative this week. I apologize for that and hope in won't deter anyone from wanting to read the blog. "Winter Jason" is in full effect with at least 5 more weeks or so of this shit. All I can tell myself is that it will be worth it in the end. That the miles will help my body and that forcing myself outside in the cold rather than opting for the warmer climes of the Stankment™ will improve my mental toughness for those chilly midnight to 4 a.m. laps during a Solo when I usually want to lay in the weeds and sleep.

At rides end I had 2 hours of constant pedaling in Zone 3.
I once again had a nice bottle full of Perpetuem ice...

Yeah, it was worth it. I in NO way had the mental energy for a two hour trainer ride. And my legs got some "real bike' time on the Mamasita. Time to chill, play with the B-Man and prepare for what I THINK is gonna be a "date night" for me and Wifey at Mad Mex. Mmmmm.

Later.

Spicy Friday

There's something about a day off from work that just feels "right". I don't hate my job, but I don't LOVE it either. It's just that it's in no way inspiring or fulfilling (like riding or even this freaking blog is). But hey it helps pay the bills, the vacation time is sweet and at this point I'm basically not qualified to do ANYthing other than what I'm doing. But all that shit is another post and stuff that is just not that fun.

Coincidentally I received my 15 year anniversary gift in the mail from my employer today. A ESQ watch. The funny thing is when I saw the package I was excited because I assumed it was my new Ergon grips. Yeah the watch really didn't "do it" for me like the grips would have. Hell I don't even wear a watch. On top of that I can't figure out how to make the thing fit my chick wrists. HA!

You may think us bad parents, but despite Wifey and I both being off today we still sent the B-Man to day care. B. is a great kid and soooo easy going, but sometimes we just need a day to be Wifey and Jason instead of Mom and Dad. Dig?

We enjoyed a relaxing morning with each other, regrouped mentally with each other, and then enjoyed re-groping each other later on. Sure as hell beat what I normally do on my lunch hour by a freaking long shot!! :)

Later on Wifey went to the gym and I took the time to do and easy Zone 1/2 ride for an hour on the trainer. I moved the Booger up to the living room for today and watched some of Stage 1 Paris - Nice. NOT the prologue. I HATE freaking prologues!!! Can we just cut to the chase please?? Stupid 5K city street time trials! Grrrrr.

Got the e mail today from Big Al that Salsa is backing the Bikeman.com team again this year. I send out some big thanks to all those in Salsa Land for making it easier for the folks on our team to get on top of kick ass Salsa frames. I'm lucky to be a Salsa Amigo and hope to be one for some time.

In the spirit of Salsa's support I'd like to share a link I saw on mtbr.com about vintage Salsas . This is all pre QBP when Ross Shafer was making the frames. A different time indeed, but I'm not one to boo-hoo about how things were better "yesterday, how hand made is better, or the whole jingoistic Made In USA blah, blah, blah. I mean really, take a look at some of those frames. Would you REALLY want to ride/race one of those in 2008? I respect frame builders and what they can do, but still things have changed over the years. I mean I'm sure there are hippies out in Cali and Colorado doing just fine on some of those frames and could kick my ass any day of the week, but I know I love my Oh Seven and Oh-Ate Salsa frames just the same.

This is all just part of Salsa's history. One thing I know for sure, is that the folks behind the Salsa brand are 100% into what they do, passionate about cycling and their products. They know the FUN that IS mountain biking AND how fun and cool just plain old riding your bike is. Whether it's on the trail, on the road or for 60 minutes around a neighborhood park!

Check this vintage gear...

The Pepper paint scheme is pretty cool. I mean I would have done it a little differently, or more like today's El M. decal with the Pepper "arm band".

Speaking of the El Mariachi. Take a look at the photo below. I put the vintage Salsa over the '08 E.M. Hmmm, I guess it's true. the more things change the more things stay the same. HA! I wonder what the weight difference is between those two frames? I'd bet the vintage is close to 35+ lbs.

Why did ANYone think that that fork on the vintage Salsa was a good idea. But then again I wouldn't run that rigid on the '08 either. HA!

One last Salsa bit and then I'll stop with the whoring, close my legs and say good night. I got the Campeon frame and my Trek over to Tom's house today so he can work his "build magic" on it. It's funny, every time I read some article on CyclingNews.com or a magazine feature about some meticulous bike mechanic, I still end up thinking that Tom could out wrench them any day of the week. Dude could be a Pro Tour level mechanic, but chooses to be a kick ass teacher instead. I'm truly privileged to have him as a friend and a wrench. Thanks dude!

Time to make some grub.

Later.

Limbo (How Low Can You Go?)

Ah yes. It's here. Off Season Limbo. I hate it. What is it you ask? It's that time when your training plan is going well, you're chomping at the bit to get out, race, and/or get "real" rides in. Not just rides that have you saying- "at least I was outside". Rides that let you gauge fitness and skills. The riding you LOVE. Sponsorship stuff is pretty much all taken care of. You're stoked to be racing for some new folks, repping some faves, and forming closer relationships with others. Things are going well, but we're not there yet!

Inside riding is getting mentally tougher. The weather is throwing enough cold and enough snow and ice at you to make riding uncomfortable/miserable/not possible. And NOT enough snow to make activities like CX skiing all that possible. It's a Western PA winter "no man's land" of leafless trees, gray sky, and ice. Much of the already depressing looking Pittsburgh area looks even more depressing and make one want to buy a one way ticket to a Mexian beach resort town. Sorry "yinzers" I call it like I see it. Don't think me too much of a "jag off". I would think the same of just about every city in the mid Atlantic/north east U.S.

Much of the above rant (sorry!) is good stuff, except for the weather of course. Nothing to do, but maybe buy a SAD Lamp, up the meds, ride more (even if it's cold) and focus on the good things coming in the next couple months. They're coming. Just need to hold tight!

SMOOTH MOVE
Not a Laxative. OK, well not THAT much of a Laxative!

Made a kick as smoothie/breakfast shake this a.m.- 1 Cup Skim Milk, Frozen Strawberries (just under a cup), 1 Banana, 2 Tbs of Bob's Ground Flaxseed and 1 scoop of Hammer Soy Protein. Blend it. Slam it. Done. Stats: 515 Calories, 7g fat, 57g Carbs, 10g Fiber, 13g Protein.

BEER NEWS
Hey, it IS almost the weekend!

Hit the 6 pack shop near work today for some refreshments to have over the coming days. My shop has a killer Buy 6 get a 7th free special on Thursdays. I was pretty geeked to see Troegs Nugget Nectar is in stock. I've been wanting to try it for a while so I picked up two.
Looking at the malts (Pilsner, Vienna, and Munich) I'm wondering what it will be like. I read that the intense variety of hops slams down the sweetish euro malts that I'm not crazy about and that it ends up being a really good IPA. We shall see come the weekend. Also got some other faves. More on those over the weekend.

OH YEAH. I DID RIDE.

Sort of.

Hit the trainer for 1:10 tonight. Up and down the cluster in 5 min. intervals. Nothing to intense. Some high zone 2 low zone 3 for much of it. Then one quick set of weights and core to brink it on down. Hope to get out for at least a icy rail trail ride on Saturday. Wifey and I are taking tomorrow off from work. We need a chill day to chill and just "be".

Later.

It's Electro(lytes)!- Electrolyte Drink Info

Got in a nice 1:20 on the trainer tonight. 10 minute warm up, followed by basically going just under a "ballz out" effort for 1:10. Held some good high cadence, burned up a junk load of calories and worked the aerobic system good. I did cramp up again at about the 1:05 mark. I think I really need to start mixing a higher strength of Heed. (I'll touch more on all this in the rest of the post further below).

In other news, I picked up some "new to me" Lake winter shoes today. Yep, I bought USED shoes. Got them for a killer low price from Bikeman.com/Salsa racer Andrew Freye . Hey, who cares if a bunch of Andrew's toe funk is in them? The funk will only add to the warmth that I'll now have for my tootzies during cold rides. Plus, maybe they'll add some of that Pro mojo to my legs. I mean it's not like a bought a used chamois! Thanks for the deal Andrew!

Now on to the main post...

I've been intrigued with the new variety of Electrolyte tabs/powders that have become more available over the past year or two. The virtually tasteless electrolyte liquid Elete has been around for a while now, and recently Nuun, Zym, and CamelBak Elixir dissolving tabs have become available. Then of course readily available for "Joe Middle Ring" at your local grocer is Propel Fitness Water (made by GatorAde) which is also now available in single serving pouches.

I recently picked up pack of the Propel Powder just to add some taste to re-hydrating. It's not bad, but I was (sorta still am) doubtful that I would use it for anything other than some time on the trainer and added taste to my water when re-hydrating. But it did make me want to see how some of these tabs and powders stack up against each other.

I'm drawn to these products since during races I prefer to get most of my hydration/electrolyte intake from my hydration pack, and carbs/calories from bottles during races. I like that many of these could be added to the hydration pack without worrying so much about "sticky bladder stank".

Pardon any typeos that there may be. Lots of acids, cholrides and "what not" floating around in this stuff. Got a little bug eyed. The information provided is more of a reference than a comparison. I'm not championing any of them right now, because all I've had is Propel and Endurolyte (capsules).

On PAPER Nuun and Zym look like ones I'd like to try the most, with CamelBak's Elixir coming in 3rd. Hope to get some samples of these soon, or hit up one of my LBSs to see if they have 'em. I do know that Bikeman.com carries all of them (except Propel) which means that any QBP shop can get them if you want to try them. As I try them, I will post some thoughts. If you've used any, feel free to post your thoughts, and experiences with them.

I feel you can never have too much variety in your nutritional arsenal for Solos, etc., I used to swear by JUST Hammer Products. But now I like mix things up. It keeps my mind and tummy happy. You never know at what point in a race your belly is gonna say "ONE MORE DROP OF HEED AND I'M PUKING ALL OVER YOUR TOP TUBE DUDE!!" Plus if your drink tastes like shit, you won't drink it as much. If you don't drink it, you won't get any of it's benefits, no matter HOW good it supposedly is for you.

This is another good thing about the off season and base miles. It's a good time to experiment with new stuff. You do NOT want to try anything new on race day. Need I remind you of last year's Jelly Belly Sports Beans vs. Perpetuem showdown at the Leesburg Bakers Doz. race??? Vomit meets top tube, with a twist of stomach muscles cramping. Sweet Jesus did that hurt.

Anyway, here's the info...

Propel Fitness Powder*
1 pack makes 20 oz.
$3.49/10 Packs
www.propelfitnesswater.com

20 calories
00 g fat
60 mg sodium
60 g Carbs
04 g Sugars
00 g Protein
(vitamins were not indicated in Milligrams but rather percentages)
10% DV of Vitamin C
25% DV of Niacin
25% DV of Vitamin B6
4% DV of Vitamin B12
25% DV or Pantothenic Acid
*Powder vs. Bottled Propel Ingredients may vary.
These are based on Propel Powder


CamelBak Elixir
1 Tablet makes 24oz
$9.95/12 Servings
www.camelbak.com

10 Calories
0 Fat
1g Carbs
86 mg Vitamin C
36 mg Calcium
18 mg Magnesium
1.4 mg Manganese
68 mg Chloride
410 mg Sodium
70 mg Potassium


Nuun Active Hydration
1 Tablet Makes a 16 oz.
3 Pack/$19.95/72 Servings
www.nuun.com

20 Calories
00 g Fat
360.0 Sodium (carbonates)
100.0 Potassium (bicarbonate)
12.5 Calcium (carbonate)
25 mg Magnesium (sulfate)
37.5 mg Vitamin C
500 mcg Vitamin B2


Zym (Endurance) Electrolyte Tabs
1 Tablet Makes 1 16 to 20 oz serving
3 Pack/$26.49/30 Servings
www.gozym.com

07 Calories
00 g Fat
00 g Carbs
01 g Sugar
250 mg Sodium
50 mg Potassium
30 mg Calcium
50 mg Magnesium
100 mg Vitamin C
05 mg Vitamin B5
08 mg Vitamin B6
40 mcg Vitamin B12

Elete
1/2 Tsp. Makes 1 32 oz. Serving.
24.6 ml bottle/$5.00/10 32 oz. Servings.
eletewater.com

00 Calories
00 Fat
00 Carbs
00 Sugar
125 mg Sodium
130 mg Potassium
20 mg Sulfate
45 Mg Magnesium
390 mg Chloride

Endurlytes by Hammer Nutrition
.25 Tsp. = 1 Endurlyte Capsule
$18.95/150 .25 Tsp. Servings.
www.hammernutrition.com

00 Calories
00 Fat
00 Carbs
00 Sugar
40 mg Sodium
60 mg Chloride
50 mg Calcium
25 mg Magnesium
25 mg Potassium
6.7 mg Vitamin B6
1.6 mg Manganese
17 mg L-Tyrosine
50 mg Glycine


Well that's all I had the energy to look up at work today. I'll try not to be a big race weenie tomorrow.

Later.

Rest, Food & Putzing

Tonight was a night off the bike. Tuesdays & Friday's Wifey usually takes a class at da Club, so it was just me, the B-Man, some Ben 10 guy playing and some dinner making.

I rocked a super tasty Whole Wheat Pasta Turkey Sausage/Vegetable/Stir Fry tonight. Mmmmm, it rocked:

- 3 Cups Whole Wheat Penne (measured dry)
- 1 Cup Sliced Red Pepper
- 1 Cup Sliced Green Pepper
- 1 Cup Sliced Mushrooms
- 1 Medium Sliced Onion
- 1 Tablespoon E.V.O.O.
- 1 Link of Hot Turkey Sausage (sliced open & crumbled)
- 1/4 Cup Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese
- 1 to 3 Tsp. of Minced Garlic
- Dash or 6 Hot Red Pepper Flakes
- Dash or 2 of Kosher Salt
- Dash or 5 of Black Pepper
- Cook it all up. Shove in Pie Hole.

Entire Meal (Serves 2 or 1 of Me): 1325 Calories, 34g Fat (very little saturated), 199g Carbs. 28g Fiber, 56g Protein. Calories and fat could be cut by eliminating the 1/4 cheese, ditching the turkey sausage and/or cutting back the pasta amounts. You could also add some veggies like some diced zucchini, egg plant or squash too. This meal rocks your glycogen storage and rips the colon.

That little gem put me at a total of 62g of fiber on the day. And even though I stuffed my face, I still came in under my caloric goal for the day. Not to mention after one cup of coffee in the a.m., most of this meal will be seeing the light of day again via the rear exit. Even Steven baby! I also had a kick ass breakfast that was a 3 egg white/mushroom/spinach omelet, with some whole wheat toast. Oh yeah I was rockin' the kitchen today.

Oh well, enough putzing and blathering about things that aren't really even remotely to do with bike racing. Time to read my new copy of Hammer Endurance News (download PDF version HERE), get some sleep and ready myself for the joy that is Wednesday at work.

Later.

An Advanced Move. With No Partner.

I'm sure everyone is sick to death of "weather talk". I'm sick of the talk, but I'm sicker of being f*cking cold! I'm not built for this shit. It was even freezing in my office today. To sum it up, I present an excerpt from and e mail I sent my buddy KoKo today-

"My friggin' nipples have been hard ALLLLLLL day.
It is so F*CKING cold in here! There's a *big boned* chick
that works 3 desks in front of me. I'm thinking of
slicing her open Tauntaun style, and crawling
inside her just to warm my ass up!!
HOLY ICY SHIT BALLZ I'M FREEZING!"

Yeah, I know that was immature, rude, insensitive and gross to write that. But in my defense it WAS freaking COLD in the office. I mean my teeth were almost chattering! Plus the 64+ oz. of water I drank, and a cold office, had me in the mens' room about 20 times! I think I know every crack in the wall above urinal #2 (my personal favorite).

On the way home I just BLASTED the Soob's heater. I could feel myself getting all crispy from the heat, but DAMN I needed it. I couldn't wait to get on the trainer and see if I could even get an actual sweat going. Yeah, that really wasn't a problem. I've started to cut back one some weights, will introduce more core strength and start upping my actual saddle time. My OVERALL hours will not go up that much, but my time with my cheeks in the saddle will. Fine by me.

As I spun I remembered how about 6 years ago my off season training had me going into spring feeling and being faster than most of my riding buddies. Then I started racing more and doing the Solo and endurance stuff. It doesn't take long to realize that 99.99999% of everyone you race against is also putting in the same time, and doing all they can to go into the season in good form. Add in some "20+ Hour a Week Pros" that we "10 Hours Max A Week Shleps" have the pleasure of lining up against, and it doesn't take long to be humbled.

So what do you do? Do you bag it? Say "Screw racing! If I can't win, what's the point?". I say- NOPE! You keep on keepin' on. You believe what you're doing is right. You train hard with the time you have and hope for the best. Because on race day anything can happen. You probably won't beat a pro like Chris Eatough and his 40 man pit crew. But you just might be the only guy married, with kids, working a full time job, with a borrowed pop up tent, a cooler full of food, and your wife as your pit crew in the top 5. And I'd take that shit any day of the week!!

Maybe this is just the feel good endorphin thoughts that were pumping through my head when I was on the trainer? Or maybe it was thinking about something a friend recently told me in an e mail-

"We're all shleps. Some of us shleps
are cooler than others though."

That made me laugh and made me feel good. While I wouldn't go so far as to call myself "cool", I deemed it a "classic", and it will no doubt fall into my "if you can't BE fast LOOK fast" philosophy of racing. All I really know for sure is that it was good to finally be warm after freezing my nips all day. I put in 1:30 on the bike that included a series 5, 10, 20 and 30 min. 50/60 RPM intervals mixed in with recovery spins. Felt damn good to fry the meat sticks a bit.

I leave you with this gem of a photo I scanned out of Wifey's Oxygen Magazines...

Dear GOD, this is wrong on SOOOO many levels- I mean FIRST of all, it's WAY too close to a recurring fantasy I've had since I was about 13!! On top of that, factor in just how friggin' stupid these two would look doing this at the gym! If you're gonna bust this move at a public gym you better HOPE you're as hot as these two are! If not, you would forever be know as "that chick that hopped up on that other chick's back to do calf raises instead of using THE FREAKING CALF RAISE MACHINE!!!". And if you're a dude and busted this move.. Well, I wouldn't know WHAT to think!

OK, now back to that fantasy....

Later.

*BTW- The Tauntaun e mail was edited a tad, so as not to look like a COMPLETE asshole.

OK, This Is NOT Fun!

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's January in Pittsburgh. What kind of weather did I expect? But this is re-god-damn-diculous! It's like 10 degrees out and WAY colder than that with the wind chill. I'm talking INSTAnipples™.

If you ride in this shit, my hats off to you (Rick!), but I just can NOT do it. I mean I wasn't gonna ride today anyway, given this is the end of a "slack/rest week" before I start upping saddle time tomorrow. But my brain just could not even process a thought that came close to me thinking of strapping on the chamois for a ride outside. DDDDDamn.

Just 'cause there's no saddle time doesn't mean I wasn't still obsessing about bikes and racing. I spent the day at my dad's with B-Man. While B-Man played, I cruised the Net looking at some a some possible new hydration systems (looking for something small and race worthy), and for the 1,000th time checking what Princeton Tec lights I want to run. I got it nailed!

Finally my new site of the day is The Daily Dog by Patrick O'Grady (of VeloNews fame). Check it out. Dude rocks. He has that Hunter S. Thomson/Bob Roll vibe going on and I totally dig it. I need to do a massive link updated soon.

Oh well time for some adult beverage and some grub. Stay warm folks! Unless of course it's warm where you are which in that case I pretty much hate you. In a "I'M SO F*CKING JEALOUS" sort of way.

Later.

Toes. Who Needs Them??

Weather.com said it was 27 degrees today and that it "felt" like it was 17. Too bad they can't say it's 27 degrees, feels like 17 and like -0 when moving at 19 mph along side of an ice cold river. Maybe it's good they didn't say that or I would have bagged this a.m.'s Rail Trail Assault.

A good Friday turned into a "bad" Friday when Wifey and I had a heinous fight to end the night. Grrr. What-a-ya-gonna-do? Even when you love someone you can still say/do stupid things and be an idiot. I am an idiot (but you know that).

So between the cold and the bad Wifey/Me "mojo", I really didn't have a lot of desire to do anything but just lay in bed for the next 48 hours. BUT, that would have really been wimping out. So I drug, my ass out of bed, talked shit out with Wifey, fueled up, made 2 to 6 visits to the dumper and got ALLLLLLL the shit together that it takes to ride in 20 degree weather.

I was opting for the rail trail to avoid the higher speeds and the flesh blackening wind chill that a road ride may cause. AND because with my belaclava on I really could not stuff my skull into a helmet. So I did my first helmetless ride of any kind in the past 12 years today. I figured there would be only about a 1% chance that I could f*ck up anything on the rail trail, and with those odds if I wrecked on the rail trail and smashed my skull, it was just MEANT to be.

Rolled the rail trail for about 2:20 or so. Got about 37ish miles in. I was cold about 75% of the time and REALLY cold about 25% of the time. BBBBBBBBBUT I was outside, not on the trainer and even if most of the views were of leafless trees, a stank river and abandoned (or should be abandoned) homes, it was worth it.

By the end my Heed had ice floating in it and my Perpetuem was like a vomit flavored Mr. Misty. My toes were cold, my fingers were cold, my face was wind burned, etc., etc., BUT it was STILL worth it.

I was able to roll with iPodious which was locked and loaded to play the new Raveonettes, some Live Morrissey and Live Radiohead. The rail trail is pretty much the ONLY place besides the trainer that I'll ride with an iPod. Any other time I think it takes away from the beauty of hearing the tires hum, the gears shift and the overall beauty of being outside on my bike. BUT for me the rail trail is only one step above the trainer for taxing the mind, so iPodious was a welcome ride partner.

Damn that hot shower felt good when I got home. Wifey and B-Man were napping, so I took advantage of that time by watching the recently NetFlicked "The Smiths, Under Review". It wasn't bad and it was cool to put some faces with the names of producers, sound engineers, etc., but it didn't really tell me too much I didn't already know. The best part was when I think it was Tony Wilson says (I'm paraphrasing) "people go on and on, about what they could have been had they stayed together. They put out 5 perfect albums that you have in your collection. Isn't that enough?" Very true T.W..

Back to cycling. My man Yancy sent me this link yesterday about Team Slipstream. Good read. I had always been a fan of David Millar and was just sick when he got busted doping. BUT he's back in my good graces, 'cause I think he TRULY believes in Slipstream and the baffling (to many pros I'm sure) concept of racing at the Pro Tour level and doing it CLEAN.
I do have to ask though... David, WHAT THE F*CK ARE YOU WEARING??" Dear God man! Maybe just go with some tights, or leg warmer. This is a look that I hope does NOT catch on.

Oh well, time to relax, cook up some Mexican grub, have a few beers and hopefully fight some crime later.

Later

Chicka-Bow-Bow...

Oh yeah, Friday baby! Chicka-chicka-bow-bow.... Work went fast (thank God!) and my lunch hour was spent picking up a blender for me and Wifey to make some beat ass smoothies with my coming soon, but not today with my Heed- Hammer Soy Protein. If anyone cares to share a good smoothie recipe, bring it! My belly is all ears, eyes, whatever. I also picked up a belaclava, and some warm ass, wind resistant gloves so as to insure that my ass is outside riding tomorrow whether it's 20 degrees and snowing or not. No trainer for me! (I hope).

I got home to find the above mentioned Unflavored Heed and a free water bottle (always appreciated since my bottles go stank faster than a $2.....) had arrived. Got the B-Man and Wifey loaded up and headed to C.S. Kim's for B's Karate lesson. He seemed into it at first, but then once his lesson got going he seemed a little intimidated. Truth be told I think he didn't like wearing the Ka-rah-tay outfit. He looked sssso freaking cute in it though. He and Wifey are heading back for some sort of group "fun" class tomorrow whilst I'm out freezing my ass/ballz off on the Mamasita trying to get some hours in.

When we got home from Master Kim's there was ANOTHER box on the porch. This time it was from Bikeman.com World HQ. The new Shimano R700 compact crank has arrived! Friggin' sweet! It is soooo nice. I love the look and feel of a new component like that. It looks so freaking smooth, fast and sexy. (YES, I'm WELL aware I might have issues, we've discussed this before!). Now the Campeon is set to be built. I just need to be in touch with my man Tom to coordinate a build date. Stay tuned for some pics and general verbal masturbation about my Salsa Campeon in the coming week or so.

Damn good week. No "real" saddle time (so far) to be REAL happy about, but the '08 season is really shaping up to be friggin' sweet. In fact as I've discussed with Wifey and my friend Gnat, things are going so good, I've been keeping one eye ball peeled for "the other shoe to drop" so to speak. I could not be happier with the folks that I'm going to be racing for this year, because they are ALL folks who's vibe I dig and that I truly would WANT to/like to race for. That means a lot to me.

Whether I hit the box or not in "oh-ate" is not the point for me. Pushing harder than the previous year, riding new trails, meeting new friends, seeing old friends, and racing for every guy or woman who thinks they CAN'T race because they work and/or have kids. THAT is what I'm in to.

Now I leave you with THIS old photo. Can you guess who it is???

If you guessed me 120+ lbs., and 16+ years ago you're are 100% right. If you didn't, well you're wrong.

Time for some sleep.

Later.

Sorry Sweetheart...

Got another quick hour spin in tonight. Been limiting my hours and time on the trainer this week. I hope to get out Saturday for what looks to be a snowy rail trail ride. I gotta see if I can track down a balaclava tomorrow or risk having my face end up looking a 30 day old banana with frost bite. Then again some may say that would be an improvement.

"Sorry sweetheart, I'd much rather keep on the balaclava"
- "Balaclava", Arctic Monkeys

'08 Bikeman.com kit ordered up last night. Bibs and Double X Euro fit jersey coming my way in the Spring. Feel bad for Big Al trying to coordinate 60 people's clothing order. It's a pretty big undertaking. I tried to make mine as simple as possible for him this year. Thanks Al!

My new crank is due in the hood on Monday, so I hope I can get the Campeon to the House of Tom next week to let him work his magic. Did I mention that T. is taking my HID lights off my hands? So come February I'll be hooking up with JK@PT to get Switchbacked. Joy!

Looking forward to Friday and the end of the week. I think Wifey and I are taking B-Man to a free karate lesson tomorrow night at a place down the street. He seems to be in to the idea. We/he wanted to play soccer in the spring but his birthday falls in a way that prevents him from playing. I wanted to file an age discrimination law suite against them, but Wifey was not willing to risk disbarment from any of my potential court room antics. YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!! So we're looking into some alternate physical activities (besides cycling of course!). We'll see if he make it through the lesson without busting some Ninja Turtle moves. Should at least be a hoot to watch.

Later.

Cramps & Race Requirements

Not too much going on today. Got a boring day at work in, got my ass home and on the trainer. iPodious rocked to some Arctic Monkeys (LIve from Amsterdam) and a kick ass live Jesus & Mary Chain. Twas damn good. Legs had some serious jump in them from all the J&MC fuzz and feedback.

I only did an hour of some high RPM stuff and kept everything nice and aerobic like. I got an hour in and thought- WTF? I'll do another 20 or 30 min. One minute later I got a friggin' cramp in my calf that hurt like a mofo. I hardly ever cramp, let alone on the trainer. Now it's happened twice in a week. Not sure what's up with that.

I THINK it may be from that fact that I've been using some Fruit Punch flavored GatorAde powder, in lieu of HEED. I sorta hate the flavor, so I've been mixing in pretty weak. Lots of sweat, minus electrolytes = cramps. So I said "f*ck it" and settled on my planned hour. A sign from the Ride Gods to stop? Most likely just a sign to go back to Orange Gatorade (a fave) and anxiously await my jug O'Heed that's do in The W.O. on Frrrrriday.

Here's a list of the preliminary Mid Atlantic Super Series Enduros for 2008:

Saturday, May 3rd, Escape From Granogue (4 hour Enduro)
Saturday, May 10th, French Creek (4 hour Enduro)
Saturday, May 17th, Rocktober Challenge (Marathon)
Sunday, June 15th, Stoopid 50 (Marathon)
Saturday, July 5th, M.A.S.S. Race & Fest (6 Hour Marathon)
Saturday, August 9th, God's Country (Marathon)
Saturday, August 16th, Iron Hill Challenge (4 Hour Enduro)
Saturday/Sunday, August 30/31, Seven Springs 24 Hour Race

I only listed the Endurance events, since that's really all I do. Nice bunch of events. Sadly I'm not sure I'll make any of these races other than the Seven Springs 24 Hour. The M.A.S.S. Race & Fest 6 Hour race is a "maybe", but all the others conflict with other race dates and/or prep/recovery for races I've committed to already.

All the M.A.S.S. races I've done have been a blast and If lived closer I'd be there for sure, but many are 4 to 5 hours away. I'm also not sure if the 4 hour format right for me either. It MIGHT be too "doable" Not doable as in "winnable" or easy. But you see, since I rarely place, I have to live by some of my (ab)normal race "requirements":

1. Race time must be longer than drive time.

2. Vomit at least once during the race. (Not a "requirement" but seemingly quite normal)

3. Cry or WANT to cry once (twice if it's a 24 hour).

4. Tell myself at least once "never again". This is of course a lie similar in many ways to telling a "one night stand" you'll call them the next day. Or saying you'll never touch booze again after a weekend bender with your friends. Just a little lie to help you cope. Whatever it takes!

5. Look like this for half the race...





















6. Look like this for the other half...





















7. Want to pass out at the end. ACTUALLY passing out is optional but worth bonus points (extra beer).

8. Finish and feel damn good about being the uglier, fatter, friend of 5th place's fat friend. Dig?

9. Burn enough calories that 10 to 12 pieces of pizza and 10 to 12 beers will not touch what I've just burned. And even if it does I just won't give a f*ck.

10. Ride the post race high long enough to type in the credit card digits on BikeReg.com.

Oh well, I'm sure there's more, but I think you get the idea. Could it be that all this suffering during the race is somehow me busting out some big time "Catholic guilt" and using it as penance for all the sins of bike lust, maintenance sloth, and mileage gluttony??? Nahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Like the great Jimmy Dugan once said- "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great." I love that quote!

Wow, I sort of got sidetracked there. If you can, do the M.A.S.S. races. Great bunch of races put on by some good folks. Damn I'm anxious to get this winter over with and let the "penance" begin!!

Time for some zeeees.

Later.

Night Of Chill & Getting Lit In '08

Even though I was pretty caught up in my Campeon love fest (rightfully so!) yesterday I still got a good hour on the trainer in last night. I only plan to just do some shortish Zone 1 & 2 spinning and not weights this week and MAYBE hit the frozen rail trail Saturday to get some outside time in. Looks to be witch tit cold, so it's an all caps MAYBE. Tonight is a "night of chill" and house stuff.

Ordered up some Hammer Soy Protein the other day. Shipped today, so hopefully by the end of the week Wifey and I will be throwing down some Soy Smoothies.
I also hooked myself (courtesy of some referral dollars) up with a big tub of Unflavored Heed. I plan to use mostly unflavored drinks this year and then if I want any flavor add small dash of Hammer Gel, Gatorade Powder, Nuun, CamelBack Elixir or other quality sports drink. That's another great thing about Universal Carbo Plus- it's unflavored so I can add in any of those same things get a ton of calories/complex carbs and not chuck it up as much as I do Perpetuem (also available unflavored now).

Talked with my peep at Princeton Tec today and got the low down on light situation for my '08 season. I'm very geeked and happy to have a chance to run their lights. I may have some stuff to try out in Feb. and should have my system down and good to go in time for the Leesburg Bakers Dozen on April 19th. JOY!!

Time to pay some bills. DRAT!!

Later.

Holy Campeon!

What better way to combat a cold, snowy, Monday than to come home from work and see a large box on my front porch with the familiar Salsa "Ride And Smile" logo on it? The Salsa Campeon has arrived in The W.O. and I'm stoked!

The frame did not disappoint when the box was opened. It is so sweet looking! The flame pin striping with the virgin white and the slightly metallic red and silver is freaking boss. As I always say- "If you can't BE fast, LOOK fast!" This frame should help.


The frame is nice and light and sports the familiar flattened chain stays that my Dos Niner and Mamasita have. The painted carbon seat stays are incredible too! Their shape is so cool I had had to double check with Jason that they were indeed carbon (they are!). I personally have never seen carbon shaped like that and was amazed. I wish the pic above would have come out better so you could see their shape.

Between the flattened chain stay shape, the carbon seat stays and adding my carbon post, I should have enough to take the edge off the Western PA roads. OK, THAT may be a bit much. Only a full suspension mountain bike could take the edge off Pennsylvania roads, but they sure will help.

The pic above gives a pretty good shot of the
metallic flakes in the sliver and red finish.

One of the true highlights of the frame set is the Alpha Q CS20 fork. It is FEATHER light. I kid you not. I am in awe of it. Salsa reports that the fork is .95 lbs. with an uncut steerer tube. That's INSANE! I mean LESS than a pound and we haven't even cut the steerer tube yet!! NUTZ! Oh yeah and getting a sweet Alpha Q t shirt thrown in the box was freaking cool too.

Another shot of the Alpha Q along side another "frame box bonus"- a set of Salsa Flip Off skewers. They should aid in making the frame "pop" that much more with a little "bling-bling". You may be able to see that the fork has a really cool matte black nude carbon finish to it.

I'm not a roadie (although I log a ton of road miles), I'm not USUALLY that "lustful" of road bikes and their parts. BUT when a generous offer was made via Salsa Cycles to get my cheeks OFF of the Trek, and on to a Campeon I could not say no to such an incredibly generous upgrade offer. My new Crank has been ordered up from Bikeman.com World HQ and should be here by the weekend. Just in time for snow and a predicted highs in the 20s. DOH!!!

I had this funny conversation with a dude at work last week-

Dude: Did you get any new bikes for Christmas?
Me: No, but I have a road bike coming.
Dude: Oh yeah, what kind?
Me: A Salsa Campeon.
Dude: Salsa?? I thought they only made mountain bikes?
You never see any of those in the Tour de France!
Me: Not yet!

Then I sort of had a smug satisfaction thinking he's right. There aren't any Salsas in the Pro Tour! And I'm sort of GLAD there's not. Anymore, when I see the big name bikes in the Pro peloton I find myself automatically associating the bike with a particular racer. That NORMALLY is cool. But these days that usually ends in me realizing that that racer is now banned, or is being investigated on doping charges. I mean if nothing else I used to be able to ride the Trek and think of Hincapie or Lance. Now Hincapie has moved on to a Giant and Lance just sort of goes jogging with Mathew McConaughey. HA!

No thanks. I'll gladly look down at my Salsa bikes and think of the good folks who are apart of Salsa Cycles, as well as many of my friends and Bikeman.com teammates that ride/race them. I'm glad to be associated with them and I'm thankfully for the opportunity to ride their bikes. As long as they don't mind me sort of kinda not really ever winning....YET! Ha! ;)

Later.

Compact Crank Is Go!

I KNOW I said NO more posts about gear I'm lusting or am getting, but I can't help it. I'm a bike junkie. I'm in a 12 Step Bike Junkie program, but it's such bull shit!! I told my sponsor to go have sex with himself and leave me alone. I gotz bike shit to talk about...

I'm doing it. I'm going with a compact crank for the Campeon. Compact frame, compact crank, and I'm going on a cigarettes & coffee diet to try to make MYSELF more compact. At 36 I'm not sure any growth stunting is possible, but it's worth a try. God knows my mind is stunted, but not sure if i can help the bod.

I'm going with the Shimano R700 50/34 compact crank. Yeah, I know it sounds friggin' generic doesn't it? BUT, don't be fooled! This bad boy is only 20 grams heavier than an Ultegra crank. I've had farts that weighed 20 grams (in fact I JUST had one). 20 grams is 0.0044 lbs. That is pretty much NOTHING!!! I mean maybe you can't hope your friends or competition are spying how your bike is full Ultegra or Dura Ace, but I'll take that extra "oomf" to get up that hill over some designer component name on my crank any day!

The rings are designed to work with standard Shimano front derailleurs, and to help prevent any chain drop. But hell I get that sometimes now WITH a 53/39. In fact yesterday it happened just before a sharp hair pin right turn and climb. I had to stop and put it back on before starting the climb. Whilst putting it on, a pair of dudes in a beat up Chevy Caviler drive by and the passenger rolls down the window and whistles at me. I can see why. In my bikes shorts, my ass looks FFFFFFFFFFFFFFine! Granted I didn't want it "tapped" by some dude, but regardless it looked pretty hot. :)

My motivation for this is move is the shortish, but nut dropping, high grade hills that are prevalent in Western PA. I checked my HR zone times from yesterday's 3:30/55 mile ride and 47% of that time was spent at over 150 BPM. That's nearly half of the ride in HR Zones 3/4/5. That would be cool and all if I was out hammering, but yesterday was base mileage stuff. Truthfully many of the climbs saw my HR in the upper 170s and low 180s. Eeesh!!

This sorta stuff makes me stronger NOW, BUT during the season it would be IMPOSSIBLE to do a recovery or fitness maintenance ride and NOT find myself getting into the stroke out zones. Next thing you know, you tax the body, over train, get sick, suck even more at races, or miss races. All NOT good. I hope this is a step in the right direction of staying healthier and keeping fit without putting my bod in danger of over training. OR it's a fantastic excuse for getting older and fatter. Nahhhhhhhhh!!!!

I hope to get the Campeon this week, maybe my new Ergon grips, and get my lighting sorted out with Justin. I think I have it narrowed down to a Princeton Tec Switchback 3 or 2 for the helmet and an Apex as a back up/secondary light on the bars.

While on the subject of light I need to say this- If you scour the message boards and various bike sites, you'll find there are some SERIOUS "light nerds". They get all caught up in "brightness and lumens". F*ck I couldn't even tell you what a lumen IS. Just that when there are more of them shit looks brighter. The reason I've lusted PT lights for the past year is this- Their LED color to ME is better than HID lights. MAYBE not as bright, but if the color f*cks with the way the terrain looks and how my eyes and bike handling reacts to it, then it does NOT matter how bright it is, I STILL can't see. I crash, get pissed, and say the "F" word a lot.

To me, burn time is MEGA important. Can I get away with ONE battery or MAYBE one back up battery?? Battery charge time is also a plus. A PT SB3 battery takes 2 hours to charge and has a burn time of over 6 hours. That means I'd ALWAYS have a battery available during a Solo with no chance of having to wait around for a light to charge. Weight is not that important to me. Yeah, light weight is cool, but I'll sacrifice a pound to be able to keep moving forward through the night.

Yeah, I've seen lights tested that are lighter and brighter, but NONE that have combination of brightness, burn time, and charge time that PT lights do. This is especially important to someone like myself who goes to many races with either no or very little support crew. The more I can do on my own the better. OK, enough about shit that I don't even own yet, but have a credit card waiting to pounce on! HA!

That's all I gotz today. I didn't ride. I should have. But didn't. You have permission to throw today in my face in June when I'm bitching about sucking a big hairy one at a race. I won't mind.

Low key this week. Spinning will be in zones 1/2 and there will be no strength training. Some core stuff, but that's it.

Time to relax, cruise the Net, have a bevy, and eat some grub.

Later.

Damn Good New Link...

How have I gone this long without finding this link?: ROGUE MECHANIC
Damn good site for info for someone like me who has less mechanical ability than a 4 year old girl.

Gettin' BIG In January

After hearing and reading about many locals and other east coasters getting out for rides this week during this mild January weather I was FINALLY able to get in the saddle. Temps were crisp and cool mid 40s, but with some nice sun.

I have not been on a road bike in a couple months. As you many know my Trek's Bontrager Race Fork was f*cked, so I avoided riding it and then I was without it whilst it was at Dirty Harry's getting a warrantied fork etc., I've been riding the Mamasita on the rail trails and roads. I really got used to the Mamasita, and MORE used to being able to spin up most hills in my 44t ring.

Well, today I was back on the Trek. It was nice to put force to the pedals and find myself going MUCH faster than on the 29er. Some of the initial small climbs felt great. Then I hit some of the energy sucking, high grade ones. DOH! It got hard fast. My muscles seemed to forget what it takes to get up some of my local climbs with this gearing. Plus I had pushed pretty hard with some on the bike strength intervals through the week and I sure was paying for it now.

I had it my mind that I would do 2 hours and about 35 miles and then call it a day. But when things started getting rough I decided that the only way to reintroduce my legs to the road bike was to push myself. And push I did.

I ended up doing 55 miles and was on the bike for about 3:30. I could have used some more food and drink though. I went with 2 gels, 1 bottle of Hammer Perpetuem and a bottle of GhettoAde™. I ran out at about mile 50 and pretty much suffered on every climb in the last 5 or 10 miles.

Even in the cooler temps it was sooooo freaking nice to be getting some big miles in January. It was good to shock my legs with a ride this length at this time of year. I usually don't do anything over 50 until about March. But I want to try to step up a bit this race season, so what better way than getting some as much time in on the bike whenever I can. Plus weather is freaky and it we could get snow or ice dumped on us anytime now, so I'm getting miles whenever I can.

After today I'm thinking HARD about ordering up that compact crank. Not once today did I wish I had could have gone faster, but I wished I had some extra help getting up the hills without my HR going to shit about a hundred times.

No pics today. It was all "bidness". Well time to start replenishing the nearly 3,000 calories I burnt today and relax with Wifey.

Later.

6:47 p.m. UPDATE: Should it hurt to wiz? Me thinks my taint did NOT expect today!! HA! (using Will Ferrell voice) "Oh... sweet post ride urethra pain! You feel so damn good!" HA! HA!

Sorry. BUT HA!

It's Back On!

Sweet news (for me) today- The 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey has been pushed back to June 28th! So with me being a gluten for punishment and a real slut for solo racing, I have put it BACK on the schedule. Sweet! I had a lot of fun at this race last year. You know the kind of fun that IS racing for over 85 miles, 9 laps, cramping in both legs, and finishing 6th. Now that I'll have a bit longer to recover from Big Bear, I think this one may b e a go. Joy!

"You must sweat A LOT"
-Scooter The Mechanic, at Dirty Harry's

I picked up the Trek at Dirty Harry's during my lunch hour today. Trek/Bontrager replaced the fork for free, but I needed to fork over a few beans to have Scooter put the fork on, adjust the front brake and deal with a super corroded head set issue.

Tom has always gone on about how much I sweat, and the corrosion to my head sets from said sweat. Now Scooter and Dirty Harry's concurs. Great. Now I have two "wrench weenies" against me and my sweat! Just kidding. Without these "wrench weenies" I'd just be a guy walking his bike along the road. Thanks for looking out for me!

Hung with B-Man tonight, made up some Vegetable/Tukey Ball/Whole Wheat Pasta bake, and enjoyed a few end of the work week refreshments...

Other than that it was pretty tame around here tonight. Weather looks to be nippy but doable for a multi hour road assault tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Won't be the 60 degree weather that many around here enjoyed earlier in the week, but 45 is better than 25, and MUCH better than 2 hours on the trainer!

I leave you with the face B-Man has been giving me when I sing along with the music on the stereo. This gem came during "Let Me Kiss You" by Morrissey tonight.

Why do I have the feeling I will be getting this look from him for one reason or another for the rest of my life? Oh well.

Time to get my crime fighting suit on and rid the earth of EEEEEEVVVVVVVIllllll!!!!

Later.