Spring Lovin' In The Snow

Snow looks to have thrown the oft felt meteorological cock block to my riding this weekend. We got hit with a MESSY snow today. My 25 minute commute took an hour and Wifey's 1 hour commute took 2 hours. Yikes. I went out last Saturday in the snow, and truth be told I was pretty miserable. I might just download some new tunes, throw the Nisene on The Booger and set my ass on the trainer until my nutz are novocain numb. But who knows what the weekend will have in store.

Ordered up a new pair of Tifosi Q3s the other day from Speedgoat. I have one pair of Q3s right now, and it will be nice to have a second pair to used at Solo races to either switch to clean or different lenses more easily. I also have to get some new lenses for my current pair. My fave lenses (red/clear) have gotten scratched over time and need replaced.

Found some more good reading on Het Volk and the other (semi) Classics. Go check it out. More interesting than the digital fish wrap you're currently reading.

• CyclingNews Het Volk Preview
• CyclingNews article on the Belgian Spring Classics (this one was interesting)
• VeloNews.com preview and start list.

That's it. Time for dinner.

A.M. UPDATE: There is scheduled to be some live non English speaking live streaming video of Het Volk at about 9:30 a.m. eastern time. CHECK HERE. Or not. F!

Air Quotes, Focus, Pavé & Hellingen

Cold, snow, yada, yada, yada. What are you gonna do? I could bitch every night, and sort of do, but I'm just gonna suck it up. I will not bitch anymore about the weather. Yeah, right! I can't make that promise. What I can promise, is to just put my head down and plow through the 7 or 8 hours a week that I loosely call "training". You couldn't see, but I was making BIG ass air quotes when I typed "training". Make sure you do the air quote thing when you read this post or it will loose something. Good. Anyway, as I was saying- I'm just gonna put my head down and plow through the 8 hours a week of what I loosely call "training" (did you do the air quotes?), keep focused on my first race and mentally block out what I can of the weather and cold temps. A couple beers, Effexor, and some sun might help too!

My born again focus was enough to get me on to the trainer for 1 hour of zone 1 & 2 spinning. After my other longer workouts this week being "Puke Bucket Intervals" on Monday, and Threshold Intervals last night, tonight's small chain ring, high cadence work felt great. Opened up the legs, sweat out some calories and listened to some tunes on iPodious.

The focus also helped me keep positive about Wifey heading out of town for three weeks for some work training. She has to head down to the D.C. area so the Feds can school her on some stuff. We knew this was coming, and were a bit prepared, so it's not that big a deal. Other than me and B-Man missing her, and her missing B-Man and me. Well at least B-Man.

The cool thing is that she actually volunteered to go now, rather than later in the spring and summer so it would be less of a stress on my riding and racing schedule. Thanks Wifey! That sort of rocks. Plus I'm going to take advantage of some of my vacation time and spread some half days out over the 3 weeks, so I can come home, ride, then shoot over to day care and pick B-Man up after his "nap time". Not to mention my father in-law has volunteered to lend a hand. On top of that Wifey will be close enough to come home on the weekends for conjugal visits. I mean to see us. Ahem.


My "inner roadie" is starting to get geeked up about now. I sort of dig watching and reading about the big stage races, but I LOVE the Spring Classics and Semi-Classics. One day races, with cool temps, mud, rain, and sometimes snow. Shitty roads, cobbles, and short steep ass climbs (or hellingen in Flemish). Hmmm, I wonder if I dig so many of the Classics because they remind me a lot of what we ride here Western PA? We might not have too many cobbles, though we have a fair amount of bricked streets, but we DO have more than our share of shitty roads, shitty weather, and steep grade climbs.

I have often found myself getting pummeled in the ass by one of our fine roads and instantly thought of the Pros cruising over the muddy Pavé. That can sometimes be JUST enough mental imagery to get my mojo going and put the hammer down. Then sometimes it's thoughts of the Koppenberg climb in the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders).

I'm heading up a climb, gears maxed, heart rate maxed, legs screaming, JUST about to vurp up lunch, and images of Tom Boonen screaming up the 22% of the Koppenberg faster than I could ride on a flat paved road pop in my mind and gives just that little mental nudge I need to get up the hill before I lose my balance and fall over on my ass.

To me, the Spring Classics and Semi Classics fall into a hazy, gray area between a mountain bike race, a road race and a cyclo-cross race. Often that's how I feel when I'm out riding and "training" (I KNOW you did the air quotes!) on my road bike. A Two Wheeled Gospel Preaching Dirt Worshiper, on skinny tires, being bounced around on shitty roads, getting the jelly legs from too many steep grades, not looking like a roadie, but not riding on a mountain bike. Not getting screamed at by beer fueled, cycling mad Belgies, but by mad, cyclist hating motorists. But still having miles of fun trying to get my saggy ass in shape to race my mountain bike. All this talk and my new found "focus" (air quotes!!!) JUST might have me out on the Campeon in the snow this weekend! :)

The 63rd Omloop Het Volk is this weekend. Cobbles, climbs, A.M. rain and high winds.

Later.

Up The Tempo

Surprise! Another cold, slushy, nipply day in WPA. I will say I was much better at blocking how miserable I find this time of year today. I think it was a due to my planned workout. I like the structure and routine of the days that I ride/workout. Gives me something to focus on and avoid the thoughts of my mind numbing job and our current suck weather conditions.

Tonight was tempo work on the trainer. Warmed up, then did 8 minute intervals done at mid to high Zone 3, followed by 2 minutes of easy pedaling. Repeated 7 times. Yeah that burned a bit by the end. Sucked down a bottle of Zym WAY to quick. Should have had more ready for the 1:20 of spinning. Oh well, it was fun. In that "boy this sort of burns" kind of way.

Musically the session was fueled with my favorite band of the week- Bromheads Jacket. Power, pop/punk Brit rock. I freaking diggin' them. They have two .mp3s on their site for download- "What If's & Maybes" and "Woolley Bridge". The whole CD "Dits From The Commuter Belt" rocks. File under "Arctic Monkeys, The Wombats, Art Brut, etc.,.

New saddle came via UPS today. I half thinking of mounting that bad boy up on Booger until the real riding starts. Then I can get that Selle Italia (AKA "The Sodomizer") off and keep my buns happy for the next few weeks. Who knows?

Time for some sleep.

Later.

Down But Not Out

My friend Pete jokingly commented yesterday how I should change my blogs header to reflect the amount of time I spend on my trainer rather than my real bikes. With the weather we've been having and are going to be having there's more likely to be a banner that shows me on all fours, with my head in the oven.
OK, head in the oven might be a stretch. Saturday & Sunday look I MIGHT be able to get some outside time in, but just in case I've started gathering material for that header change...

At least a couple more days on the Booger are in the week's plan. Then MAYBE I can get my ass out on the bike. My brand new Salsa Campeon sits, in the basement, ready and anxious to roll further than from one side of the basement to the other. God I hate winter. There are some folks that totally dig it, or at least deal with it (Rick, Burns, Andrew). For them I have much admiration. I am not one of them. Then there are the folks like the ones doing the Iditarod Trail Invitational race who are just TOTALLY freaking gay for it. For them there is much admiration and respect. Good luck and safe racing to them. Check out Flickr! gallery HERE.

That's all I got. Nor bike time tonight. Back to the basement tomorrow. OR I chuck it all get a bucket of chicken and a six pack. See you in the basement.

Later.

The Booger's Gimp

Tonight's ride on the trainer was intervals. The real "all out for 30 seconds, that burns like a mofo, might actually soil the chamois, please God make it stop" type intervals. This time around I finally found that "special gear" that allowed me to bring all the pain together- high RPMs, burning quads, and that feeling like your head could pop like zit as you pedal your ass off making your best "Oh-Face". In other words I found the gear that made me The Booger's Gimp. At the end of the 12th 30 second interval my legs were like two pasty white, hairless, tubes of jelly. Good times my friends. Good times.

Mixed up some Motor Tabs for the ride tonight. Once again it took over 10+ minutes for the tab to dissolve in water. And that was even after I broke it into little pieces. I again went with Lemon/Lime flavor to keep all my "test drinks" the same. The taste was pretty good, but tasted a bit too sugary for me. I would have liked it to be toned down a bit. It's flavor was about as strong as GatorAde. With 14 grams of sugar it has the most sugar out of all the drinks I've tried so far. This also would make it a "bottle only" drink. No way I would put something that sugary in my hydration pack.

To Motor Tabs credit even though it took a while to dissolve, and was a little too sugary tasting for me, I didn't cramp during the 1:30 I was on the bike. And I pumped out a LOT of sweat tonight. Plus there was a lot of fast muscle contracting going on with intervals, and I find that that's when I tend to cramp the most. Muscles going from tense to loose after an interval has often caused my calves to seize up. So I was happy about that at least.

My hypothesis of why the tabs will not dissolve properly for me is this- Motor Tabs contain both Dextrose and Sucrose. In other words- SUGAR. Sugar has a bitch of a time breaking down in cold water. To be fair, Motor Tabs does recommend that you drop the tab into 20 oz. of "room temperature water". BUT how many of us have a faucet that pumps out room temperature water? How often have you kept some nice warm water in your pit so as to mix up your drinks? Pre mixing with some warm water and then adding cold or chilling would of course be an option, but one of the best thing about these products is their portability. The idea of stashing some your jersey pocket during a Hundie or long ride is the appeal. I can't imagine pulling into an aid station and asking if they have any "room temperature water".

Would I buy Motor Tabs? No. There are too many better drinks out there (both powders and tabs) that have better stats, better taste and no or less sugar. Taking forever to dissolve and having no "bladderbility" doesn't help matters. I'll use my samples in a pinch or to toss in car for if I forget a better tab, or drink. But I can't say I would buy or recommend these. Motor Tabs has the right ideas, but just haven't got it perfected yet.

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eBay has once again hooked me up in the saddle department! I bid on and "won" another Fi'zi:k Nisene HP saddle. Scored this brand new one for about 65% off retail. Now I have one for all three bikes. My ass was smiling all day.

With the saddle's integrated clip system I can now easily transfer my Fi'zi:k Seat Pak between the Campeon, Dos Niner and Mamasita too. Sweet! I love these saddles, but hey everyone's ass is different! My "ass Nirvana" might be your "Beginners' Guide To Sodomy". So don't take my praise of the saddle as me telling you "your ass will love this saddle". You can however check out a review of the Fi'zi:k Nisene HP on CyclingNews.com if you want more information from someone, who's views are not tainted (no pun intended) by an ass sporting a huge "vertical smile"!

Time for bed.

Later.

Not Passing A Stone & Relaxing

Saturday a.m. the plan was to at least get a ride in on the trainer before Wifey and I headed up to Hidden Valley for some "we time". The thing was, I had about as much desire to spend two hours on the trainer as I did to pass an acorn sized kidney stone.

We had got about an inch or so of snow overnight and the roads were pretty sloppy, so a road ride was out. I figured it was either a ride on the snow covered rail trail, or time on the trainer. I chose the rail trail. In THEORY it was a good idea. In reality it was sort of a bad idea. The snow we got was pretty wet. It made for some SERIOUSLY SSSSLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLow RPMs on the trail. Imagine doing one giant, continuous, big ass seated climb.

It WAS one a hell of a work out though. So I can't bitch too much. I can't say for sure HOW good it was, since my heart rate monitor went all Britney on me. That REALLY chapped my ass! My HR would go from 150 to 280. Yeah, that's right 280!! What the f*ck? What am I, a rabbit on speed with a blossoming crystal meth habit?? Oh well, in the end I lasted 1:45. 15 Min. short of my goal, but it sort of beat riding the trainer. OK, IMHO it sucked. I wish I would have rode the trainer. Sort of.

Check my Tifosi glasses above. This was after a 1 minute "nature brake". Holy freaking fog/sweat ballz. As you can see. even though there were cold temps and snow I was pumping out the sweat. I didn't take my bike computer today (thankfully), but If I had, I'm sure I would have been registering an uber fast 10 mph speed. I would have been better off to save myself for a road ride in today's 40 degrees and sun, but you do shit when you can do shit, right?

Anyone for a frozen Pepper?

The Mamasita collected her share of slush today. I always feel so guilty taking my pride and joy out in the snow and slush. I owe her I'm sure. We talked towards the end of the ride and she seemed to think that I could make it up to her by doing a Marathon or two on her this season. Of course I don't want to lose her, so I made some promises I hope I can keep ;)

I sucked down some Zym Catapult during the ride. In my opinion, NOT as tasty as the Lemon/Lime Endurance formula but still damn good and nice to get a kick in the junk with some caffeine. I also used some Lemon/Lime Nuun. Both bottles were nearly empty at the rides end. For the record I attempted to use Motor Tabs, but they were DQed from the test because after 10+ minutes the tab had STILL not dissolved. I checked the web site today and they do say that you can break the tab (which is pretty huge) in half to speed up the time it takes to dissolve. I did not do this. I will attempt again tomorrow, but I will have a back up Zym or Nuun ready for sure. Not a good start Motor Tabs! I checked some Motor Tab stats. Looks like they have 14 grams of sugar. That would rule out use in the pack (enter one sticky, skanky bladder). AND if they can't dissolve quicker, rule out use during a race. Like I want to fart around while my drink dissolves! Think again Motor Tabs.

I guess it was nice to be outside. I long for warm temps though. I'm sure they're coming, but daddy's getting anxious!

Part II

After the ride, clean up, etc., Wifey and I were off to Hidden Valley for some "one on one time". We had a great time. The rooms at the Inn at Hidden Valley are very nice. but I'm not sure we'll be going back anytime soon. Lets just say, for the money, we've had better stays at Red Roof Inns, Holiday Inn Express, tents, cars, etc., The rooms were about as sound proof as a paper bag. Not to be too disgusting (not that that has ever stopped me) but I heard every piss someone took in the rooms above/beside ALL night!! Yeah, that was REAL relaxing. It was like sleeping between two urinals. Sounds so "life like" I thought I felt some "urinal spatter".

After we checked in, and relaxed a bit, we went to the Hidden Valley John Harvard's Brew House for some refreshments and food. The Pale Ale was excellent. If you think it reminds you of Stoudt's Pale Ale, you would be right. Because THAT is what it is. The bartender told us they haven't got the "go ahead" to brew on premises yet, so Stoudt's hooks them up with kegs of their Pale Ale. Worked for me, since I love Stoudt's Pale Ale, but it seems a tad sucky. We had a freaking great time though.

It was nice to be able to hang with Wifey and not have to worry about being back to pick up B-Man at a certain time. and to talk about stuff and not be interrupted. B-Man means the world to us, but sometimes you just gotz to make time for each other, or you can lose sight of life's BIG picture. That "big picture" being if Wifey and I are not happy, how can we create a happy, loving environment for B-Man?

In the past few years, Wifey and I have been through a lot. There were times when you would find yourself saying "how is this EVER gonna work??" But when you love someone, and have created a life with someone, you find a way to make it work. This weekend was good for us. We plan to do more in the future. Getting away and spending time away from your kid(s) does not mean you don't love them. Sometimes you just need to recharge, and be with the person you have shared more thoughts, loves, and dreams with than anyone in your entire life. Take the time. You'll be glad you did.

To leave you with one last final blast of "mushyness", I give you this.- Wifey recently asked me why I love her, when she's really not "in" to the many of my same things that I am. Like riding, racing etc., I said one big reason was because when I came in to my pits at the Seven Springs 24 Hour race last year at about 2 a.m. to get some food, I looked down and saw her sleeping on the ground, under about 3 sleeping bags. Cold, sleeping on the ground, waiting to help me. All so I could finish 5th. How do you thank someone for that?? Give your partner a kiss tonight and thank them for letting you be YOU.

I hope you all had a great weekend. Time to go do my dad/husband thang with my fam.

Later.

OK Friday. MY FRIGGIN' BURNS!!!!!

OK, since I finished up 90% of my work by Noon, leaving the rest of the day to look at countless blogs, web pages etc. In other words- "my God was I f*cking board!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

None-the-less, I made it through. Got my hair cut on my lunch hour. Great cut, except chicky cut my f*cking burns off!! Not horrible, but the shortest they've been in 15 years fo-show. F!!!

Wifey and I are heading to Hidden Valley tomorrow for a litttle "one on one time" IFFFFFFFFF you know what I mean????? B-Man is gonna hang with Pappy-M whilst Wifey and I cavort x4 in the mountains. If you're a dad/mom, you KNOW what a weekend like this means.

I've had a couple/few brews, ate some Ballz & Pasta, it's time to hydrate and if nothing else think about 1:30-2:00 on the trainer tomorrow.

Later

A Ride, Nuun, & Caught In "The Act"

Back to work today. I'd like to say it sucked being home yesterday, and how I was glad to be back to work. BUT in reality it was worth having my wisdom tooth out just for the opportunity to stay home, putz around with my bike stuff, and get some house stuff done. Hmm, I do have THREE more wisdom teeth. I might be able to parlay this into some more time off!

I wanted to get outside tonight with my PT lights. That didn't happen based on the "to cold for me" weather that was predicted. I actually think it was OK today and I should have prepared and gone. Live and learn. Since the outside ride was aborted, I wanted to do 1:30 of Zone 1/2 on the trainer. Just get a sweat on, burn some calories and listen to iPodious. F*ck, at the 30 minute mark I KNEW I did not have 1:30 in me. So I did some mental deal cutting with myself, did an hour, and then 15 minutes of core work. Sets of plank, crunches, push ups, and super mans mixed in with some stretching.

Not sure it was my lack of hydrating and eating yesterday or what, but the bod just did not have any mojo, and I was having a hard time even getting my HR up out of Zone 1. Strange. I still burned some calories got the legs opened up, so it wasn't a total waste of time.

I did get to test out some Nuun tonight. I went with the Lemon-Lime since that is the flavor of Zym I used, and I would have a little bit easier time comparing the two. It's the same deal as with most of the Electrolyte tabs. Plop the round tab in you water bottle, watch it fiz for a couple minutes and then you're good to go. The lemon-lime taste was good, and tasted a bit like a light lemonade. I think the Nuun was a TAD more subtle tasting that Zym. Zym had a little bit more bite up front and then went down smooth. I personally found the Zym a TTTTTTiny bit tastier. But of course that's JUST a personal preference. One man's "tasty" is another man's "skank". Both are very good, just a smidge different.
I'll say this- if you go from something like Gatorade or Accelerade, you will find the flavor of Nuun (and Zym) SOOO much more refreshing. In my opinion I find them BOTH tastier than flavored Hammer Heed right now. And they provide very similar benefits (no sugar, mucho electrolytes, etc.,) Nuun retained just the SLIGHTEST bit of fiz to it (I think Zym may have had more). Again I found myself really wanting to drink it. Not just sucking it down because I know it will help me from cramping (which I didn't).

One slight edge for Nuun right now is what I call "bladderbility". That is the ability to add the tab to your hydration pack and not have it get skankier than $2 hooker. Nuun gets the edge on this right now. Boo from Nuun assures me there will be no residue or stickiness due to the lack of sugar. I have yet to try it myself, but I will say when I polished of my bottle tonight there wasn't one trace of stickiness or residue. That's cool.

When I asked Brian at Zym about using it in a bladder he recommended against it. Saying that currently the Endurance Lemon/Lime flavor may leave some slight residue behind from the magnesium in it. But they are working on eliminating that issue now. He also said that new Catapult Zym should be just fine it a bladder. I checked my finished bottle of Lemon/Lime Zym after my ride the other night and I saw nothing that would prevent ME from putting it in my hydration pack. I've put worse in it for sure! But, YOUR interpretation of clean and MY interpretation of clean may be two different things, so Nuun gets the slight edge in "bladderbility" for not having to worry at all.

As of now. Nuun and Zym are both doing it for me and I'm enjoying them both. I'll be trying more flavors in the near future and testing them in my hydration pack. Next on the test is Motor Tabs. By the way, there was NO way in hell I was going to link up Nuun or Zym every time I type them. So look to your right and you'll see them linked under "race nutrition". Thanks.

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Remember the part in Fast Times At Ridgemont High when Brad ( Judge Reinhold) gets caught "flogging his bishop" fantasizing about Linda (Phoebe Cates)? That's how I felt last night.

NO! I wasn't "gettin'er done"!! I was caught being a SUPER Bike Geek by Wifey. I was down in the Stankment® hooking my Switchback 3 up. Once I did, I HAD to test it out, right? So I turned out the lights, and fired up the SB3 (which rocked by the way). Next thing I know, the light comes on and Wifey flits down the steps. I stood there in my pajamas, slack jawed, helmet on, CamelBak on, lights ablaze. The look on her face was one part surprised horror, one part laughing, and one part embarrassed for me. 24 hours later I'm STILL not sure if I would rather have been caught flogging or testing lights. My only salvation is that I have enough hipster points stock piled that Wifey still out geeks me. But I'm closing in FAST!

Later.

Electrolytes A-Go-Go (again)

Got a nice booty call from UPS today,

via Big Al at Bikeman.com (thanks Al!)

Dammmmn, between the stuff I already have, and this new box of electro-booty I gotz me a sweet stash of hydration options. I was stoked to get a tube of Zym Catapult. It won't even be out 'till February 29th, so to get my hands on that 100mg of caffeinated go-go juice is pretty cool. I also scored three varieties of Nuun and Motor Tabs. Zymtastic-Nuun-Nuun-Motor Booty baby!!

This stash will not just be for me to suck down during training and races, but as I said yesterday I'm also doing a feedback review for the Bikeman.com site. It will be Part II to my original post which was an ingredient break down of some various new electrolyte tabs. Millions are on the edge of their seat to see what a this amateur mid pack endurance racer has to say I'm sure ;)

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After I got my tooth yanked today, I came home and played more with my lights. My Apex can be mounted on the bars or helmet. On the bars I can mount the battery to the top tube via the included frame pack, but I have never had good luck with packs on the top tube. They ALWAYS slide on me. BUT this one I have easily installed into my down tube bottle cage. The velcro straps then keep in nice an snug and I still have a cage for drink. Have I mentioned how much the Apex matches my Dos Niner? Happy accident, ha!

Put the SB3 on the "night ride helmet" too. One thing I am a tad concerned about is the height in which the head lamp sits. Seems a bit high compared to what I'm used to. In some tighter single track, with low hanging branches I fear it may be ripped from my helmet.

Not sure if there are possible mods, or I'll just get used to the way it looks? We shall see.

Might get out for some RT tempo riding tomorrow night and play with them more. I feel like I could do something tonight, but I haven't eaten in about 10+ hours, so I think I'm just gonna make up some "soft foods" and watch a DVD or something.

Later.

A.M. UPDATE: Yeah, a day time high of 24 and a 50% chance of snow this evening? Yeah, the lights can wait. 1:30 on the trainer will be just fine. Not looking for hard man points this week.

Done

You so knew this was gonna show up here today.

Later.

Wheeled, Pushed, Zymed, And Switchbacked

Lots of tid bits to blather on about today...

I picked up my new Bontrager Race rear wheel from Dirty Harry's. NOW as soon as the weather allows I can ACTUALLY freaking ride my Campeon!! Again I thank Dirty Harry's for handling the warranty and Bontrager for standing behind the product with the warranty. As I've said before the Race wheels are not going to be turning any roadie heads out on the roads, but who really cares? The wheels serve my purposes and hey they replaced it for free. Not gonna bitch about that. Plus they'll be too busy lusting my Campeon ;)

With the tooth yank tomorrow a.m. and not knowing how I'm gonna feel tomorrow night or Thursday, I went ahead and threw down my tempo/threshold intervals tonight. 1:30, 60ish RPMs, yada, yada, yada... It will be nice to not be on the trainer tomorrow. It would be nicer to NOT have a dentist's hands in my mouth pulling a freaking tooth out of my skull, but I'll take what I can get.

More electrolyte drink talk...

I FINALLY got my Zym in the mail today. From the condition of the package it looks like it did some hard time at the bottom of the mail man's truck. Thankfully the contents were all intact. Plus the wait was worth it since there was some sweet extra swag in the package in the form of a sweet t shirt.

With the completion of tonight's ride, Zym (Endurance Lemon/Lime) is now the second brand of electrolyte tab that I've used this winter (the first being Propel single serve powder). First impressions are pretty good. Dropped 1 tab in a 24 oz. water bottle. Let it fizz (sort of like an Airborne tab), and I was good to go. The major fizz stops after a couple minutes and leaves you with a mild tasting Lemon Lime flavor with just a slight hint of effervescence .
I have to say it was pretty refreshing. The flavor reminded me of what Lemon Lime Gatorade tastes like after you dilute it enough to make it not so sticky and overly sweet. Zym has less than 1 gram of sugar, so on the tongue it sort of reminded me of Lemon/Lime Hammer Heed, except Zym actually tasted like Lemon Lime. Don't get me wrong I dig Heed too, but I buy the unflavored now for a reason! Right now Zym has DEFINITELY moved ahead of Propel. Propel had too much of a strong "fake sugar taste" to keep the masses happy. I would buy more of these again for sure. Makes me glad I bought the 3 pack.

I do still have a few more electrolyte tabs to try out, including Nuun, Motor Tabs and I hope to get my hands on some CamelBak Elixir too. I should have some samples of some of these soon. Big Al from Bikeman.com was at Frostbike this past weekend and scored me some various samples. He's sending them soon. Thanks Al! Al also had a chance to talk with Brian Koff from Zym and got me a few more Zym tabs. Brian also e mailed today to see if I ever got my order. I have to say it's pretty cool when the the PRESIDENT/OWNER of a company is out there getting the word out about his product and making sure customers are satisfied.

More comparisons to come on all of these drinks as I try them. Look for a final review of all of them here and/or on Bikeman.com in the coming weeks.

Lastly I was able to play a bit more with my Princeton Tec Switchback 3 today. Digging it!

I hope my mouth pain will eased enough that I can eat a fuel well enough to get some time outside with the light on Thursday. Yesterday a reader (Squidbuzz) asked me if I plan to use the light on my helmet, where do I plan to put the battery since It's a bit "chunky"? Well this is where said battery will go...

In the hydration pack pocket with room to spare. It's not all that bigger than an HID flat pack battery, but it's thicker. I'll take the thickness along with getting 2+ more hours of burn time over an HID battery. Not sure if I'll run it on my bars or helmet, but I have the option for sure. I hope to play around more with the lights tomorrow while my mouth bleeds all over the house. As always, there will be more spewing of half way useful knowledge to come. :)

Later.

Wow, this was one long ass post. Does anyone get the ideas I'm try to avoid thinking about my tooth getting pulled?? F*ck I wasn't this nervous before my vasectomy! Of course they didn't tug at my "boyz" with metal plyers either!!

Doing My AG3, An Apex & A SB3

Typical Monday here in the WPA. Gray, chilly, little bit of rain, little bit of snow, etc., etc. What are you gonna do?

Tonight's workout called for me to do 12 x 30 Sec. Maximum ballz out efforts, with 4.5 minutes of recovery time in between each effort. On paper I sort of poo-pooed this workout. I mean 30 seconds? Big whoop! Boy was I wrong. By the 8th set or so I was VERY anxious for it to be over, and damn glad when the 12th set was over. I was shocked. It felt damn good to work the legs that hard though. So between warm up, the workout, and the cool down I knocked out 1:30 before I knew it. ALWAYS nice to make time on the trainer go fast.

Not sure what I have on tap tomorrow night. I should do and easy spin and core work, but with Wednesday's scheduled tooth extraction, who knows WHAT I'll feel like doing that night??

Got my lights from Princeton Tec today. Very, VERY geeked about these lights. I got the Switchback 3 (which will be my main light) and for now I'm going to use a PT modified "custom" Apex as my secondary/back up light. The Apex light is a little different from the headlamp that is available for sale now. It's sort of a combination Apex/Corona bike light. It runs on 8AA batteries, has been modified with a longer cord and bike mounts.
I'm pretty impressed with it's brightness, weight and the estimated burn time that should have it staying lit well through the night. It should work great on the bars to light the area right in front of the wheel OR on the helmet to see to the sides and down with the SB3 on the bars.

Both lights give me some nice options. Just need to experiment with them. I have to thank Solo Goat for the idea for the Apex. And I also need to thank Justin and the folks at Princeton Tec for the lights. PT has been great in answering my questions for like the past YEAR, and now to FINALLY get my hands on the lights is super cool. I'll blather on more about the SB3 later in the week. It's getting it's maiden charge right now. For now I will say I can't believe all the stuff that PT includes the box! I hope to get outside with both of them later this week.

I leave you with this audio Moment of Zen that I got from Chunklet.com. Strip away all music from Van Halen's "Running With The Devil and THIS is what you get...

CLICK DIAMOND DAVE'S CHEEKS TO HAVE A LISTEN.

Why does that sound clip make me laugh but at the same time just want to cry?? Ohhhhhh yeahhh, Ugh, ugh, yeeaahhhhhhhh..

Time for some rest. Later.

Soothing AND Sick At The Same Time

Not much on tap for today. Up early, and on the trainer for a 40 minute spin to keep the sticks loose. Tomorrow I have an hour plus of Power Intervals to do and I want to be fresh, so a nice Zone 1 spin was good to just warm the legs up and get in a good mind frame for the day.

Then if was off to my dad's with Wifey and B-Man to celebrate my brother's coming birthday. Folks ate copious amounts of lasagna, garlic bread, cake and ice cream. Since I'm sort of wiener, I ate one small slice of lasagna (meat and cheese picked off) no cake, no ice cream and a nice big bowl of salad.

Actually I'm not THAT big of a Food Nazi (I SWEAR!). One of the main reasons I didn't stuff my face into the entire pan of lasagna (beyond the fact that I would have scolded my face beyond recognition) was that I enjoy cooking my own food, and enjoy a couple adult beverages on the weekend. So I watch my calories etc., during the day it makes it a LITTLE easier to enjoy my dinner tonight.

So tonight I'm going to have a couple/few Wild Goose (Geese?) and make up either some vegetable/turkey sausage pasta or a stromboli and enjoy it (ALMOST) guilt free.

I'm watching the Tour of California on Versus right now. Part of me was in heaven just hearing the soothing sound of Phil Liggett's voice taking bike racing. But then I soon got a bit sick as I heard story after story about drug scandals, teams being banned from Pro Tours, and a great (that's sarcasm) expose on Rock Racing and their band of has beens, and unlovable misfits. I've never been so sick as to see someone like Mario Cipollini make a "comeback" at age 40. NO SELF RESPECT??? Used to totally dig Mario. But this is uber lame.

Plus, it's not that I'm not happy about being able to watch some racing on TV, but I hate the fact that I'll get to see a bunch of Tour of Cali, but the Spring Classics will be 15 minutes of highlights squeezed in between 45 minutes of commercials. No worries, I'll track the shit down on the internet just like I did last year.

Oh well, time for some food.

Later.

2 Hours Of Simulated Self Pleasure

Today was strange from a workout point of view for me. I was at a crossroads. There was not a cloud in the sky and the temps were looking to get up into the 40s by the afternoon, even if it was 25 at 10 a.m.. Great day for a ride. Or not. I wasn't sure what to do. The roads (in my opinion) still had too much ice/snow on the sides (where I would be riding so as not to be run down by a semi) to safely ride, and the rail trail would have been through that funky freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw routine that leaves it either treacherous glazed ice/snow or mushy. Frig!

So I did what I felt I needed to do. Lubed up the under carriage, chamoised up, grabbed iPodious and hit the trainer for 2 hours of simulated riding pleasure. First a warm up, then 5 minutes in each gear 39/25 thru 39/12, then 5 minutes in each gear 53/25 thru 53/12, with some warm up and cool down thrown in. Mostly Zone 2/3 stuff. I felt I at least replicated a two hour rail trail ride without putting 5 layers of clothing on, freezing my fingers, getting run down by a mullet head driving a Camaro or gunking up my bike's drive train.

I've come to the conclusion that riding the trainer is sort of like having sex with a blow up doll. (NOT that I ever have. At least not knowingly) It's not real, and you feel pretty stupid while doing it, but the end result is pretty much the same. Today was no different. I got the job done and felt good at the 2 hour mark. I didn't even have to cuddle with a blow up doll afterwards (not that I've ever felt the need to make sure a 38DD blow up doll didn't feel like I used her). OK, I MAY did tell The Booger (my trainer bike) that I would call it later, but that was it man- NO CUDDLING! Plus we all know I won't really call it. But you have to keep 'em happy.

God damn the U.S. Postal Service!!! Yeah that's right. F*ck 'em! It appears they've lost my Zym order. Zym says I should have got it last week. Here we are Saturday and still NO Zym. Not Zym's fault. It's the freaking $30 an hour, if someone farts you get the day off, go to work with a gun, kill your co workers, junk mail hauling, U.S. Postal Service workers fault. Uniformed wankers. I WANT MY ZYM M.F.!!!!

Staying in tonight. Wifey knows I hate Winter and long for spring/summer. Nothing says Spring/Summer to us like some fine Gin & Tonics. So for Valentines Day, Wifey got me us a kick ass present. A bottle of Tanqueray, a sack of limes and a sixer of Tonic.

So we're making like it's spring, tipping a couple back and praying for warm weather. I long for heat, chamois sweat, a road ride on a sunny and humid summer night, racing, seeing friends, and sitting on the front porch drinking a G&T. Good times. Good times.

Later.

Simple Extraction To A Reaction

First let me apologize for the vibe of yesterday's post. Read some stuff from various folks this week (No you Rich B. ) that rubbed me the wrong way, and really I just didn't "get" the attitude. Oh well, people happen.

No ride or workout tonight. Wifey was getting her Zumba on, so me and B-Man hung out, played, and watched some Sponge Bob. Then it was a few beers and some White Trash Mexicana on a high fiber, blow your colon out in the a.m. tip. Which we ALL know is friggin' GREAT the night before a 2 to 3 hour ride.

Contacted Dirty Harry's today. My new Bontrager Race wheel is in the house and has been replaced under warranty. Muchos gracias to Dirty Harry's for helping me out, and to Bontrager for standing behind their products. This is the second time in 2 months that they have helped me out in the warranty department.

Friday's Suck: Went to the dentist today for the first time in 15+ years. I have a toothache. I have a cavity. I have a cavity on my wisdom tooth. I have a wisdom tooth that is getting pulled next Wednesday. DRAT! Ironically, the last time I was at the dentist, he recommended that my wisdom teeth come out. So I never went back. NOW, 15 years later I'm getting said tooth pulled. I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot getting his f*cking tooth pulled on Wednesday!!!!

My lights from Princeton Tec are due in the hood on Monday. Geeked to get my mitts on them. Hopefully I'll at least get some extended rail trail action with them in the next couple weeks. Thanks again to PT for hooking me up.

Frostbike this weekend. As always, I hope to hear some news on some new products from the Big Spicy S, but not sure if we'll be hearing anything now, later in the spring, or summer. Either way, just as with Interbike I'd love to be there drooling over bike shit.

Finally BIG GIANT HUGE CONGRATS to Ryan at Twin-Six and his wife Jess on the birth of their son Ryder. Hope everyone is doing well. Enjoy!

Time to TRY to get B-Man to go to bed so I can flash the Bat Signal and see what happens.

Later.

Who Needs To Be Good?/l'art pour l'art

Who Needs To Be Good?

I've hit about three or four different blogs this weeks were the folks were "killing their blogs" etc., etc., The common refrain is- "what's the point", "nothing to say" about their own blogs or comments about other blogs like "you're not that good" "No one wants to read about your bike stuff, or see pics of you", yada, yada, yada... Hmmmm. I think they're right. I'm killing the blog! HA! I don't begrudge them, God knows there a million things I should be doing around the house, or to better my existence. Yet, I continue to blather on.

Seriously, whoever said you had to be good, be a pro cyclist or have a point? I sure as hell know I'm not that good, I have no real point, and nothing really to say other than- I like all things bike. I like racing my bike, riding my bike, and bike stuff. I like lusting for new frames, components, wheels, tires, lights, jerseys, and t shirts.

I like interacting (even if it's mostly via the internet) with my fellow racers. I like sharing information, resources, news and plans. I like talking about products I've tried, I'm going to try, things I saw, read, or have done. I like communicating with racers and bike geeks all over the world. I mean I've had interactions with folks from Denmark, The Netherlands, England, Spain, and really freaky places like Minnesota and Delaware! That's pretty f*cking cool to me.

I tend talk about the folks who help support my bike habit like Bikeman.com, Salsa, Twin-Six, Princeton-Tec, and a few others. Because I've gotten to know many of the folks behind these companies. It's not about "free stuff" or "discounts". I respect their passion for bikes, riding and racing. I admire them. I like, and in some cases love, their products. As an amateur shlep I'm lucky to have the support of some folks I WANT to support, that I want to see succeed. I believe in many of their products and when I'm lusting something, it just means I'M lusting for it. If you are too, that's cool. I'll try share some info with you. I'm not saying anything is the "best" OK, sometimes I do, but in that case it just means it IS. (Kidding!)

L'art pour l'art

Maybe this blog is my therapy? Maybe I'm addicted to bikes? Or maybe I'm defensive and am trying to justify the 1045+ times I've written some ridiculous blog entry, but I don't think so. In fact I know I'm not. The Soiled Chamois is my chance to talk about bikes and all thing bike. It's my chance to be creative. To write, design, and create the things the way I want to. The Soiled Chamois is about bikes AND it's sort of a "journal" about my life ATTEMPTING to race bikes.

On a recent trip down to Dirty Harry's, Scott and I started talking about bikes, the coming season, and what our goals and plans were. I could have talked ALL day to him about that shit. BUT I was on my freaking lunch hour!! So all that pent up bike racer geekness would have to wait until I got home, got my training in, showered, made dinner, ate, played with B-Man, and then sat my ass down in front of the Mac to spew bike nonsense.

What's my final point to this semi rant? Not sure I have one. Just that if you enjoy writing, taking photos, or designing about your racing, training, riding, or your life's general bike geekness. By all means do it. Don't care about whether people read it, or if there's a "point". I like to think that for every person that reads this blog and thinks "this is stupid, this guy's just some amateur racer!" there are two more that read and think, "if this guy can try these races maybe I can too". I like to think that THAT is the point. Having fun, riding and racing your bike. Dig?

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Now my semi sort of "rant" is done. So I'll get all geeky on your ass now- I did a kick ass set of Threshold Intervals tonight as prescribed by Lynda. I'll just say they rocked. I only rode for 1:05 and burnt nearly as many calories as I do when I've done my OWN 1:30 version of Threshold Intervals. I hope to get more of the "quality of quantity" thin going in the coming weeks.

Remember last week when I talked about that Zym logo that I thought was cool? Well I saw on their site today that they have a poster available for free. I haven't got my order yet, so I'm sort of hoping that one found it's way into my shipment ;)

Time to go sit in front of the mirror ;)

Later.

Feedback Is Good

Today I had the chance to get some training feedback from Lynda Wallenfels. Being that I'm a bit of a scatterbrain when it comes time to start asking questions etc., I asked Lynda if we could try a consultation via e-mail. That way I could take my time, have my questions written out and then have her responses to refer to rather than my chicken scratch note taking. She agreed, so last week I sent of a long list of questions, along with some scheduling issues I was having, and asked for some feedback and some recommendations on some of my specific race/training limiters etc.

Today I got a nice .doc back that answered all my questions and more. Lynda was great at explaining the "what to dos?" and the "whys". That's a problem I have with many training books, etc., They say "do this" but don't tell you WHY you need to do a certain workout. She also gave me some tips for making the most of my time on the trainer, so that once the good weather rolls around my rides can get race specific and work on my pacing and fueling for long races.

For the first time in my racing I have a plan for improving my racing, recovering and incorporating the variety of rides I have at my disposal into my training. I'm sure I'll think of a few more questions for Lynda, but I must say I very happy with my decision to purchase a consultation from her. For more info on her coaching plans and consultations visit here website: lwcoaching.com and to see what she's up to you can check out her blog: 2-epic.com. Thanks for the help Lynda. Now it's up to me to kick it up a notch! ;)

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No riding tonight. I did spend 25 minutes doing some sets of core stuff just "because". Damn "The Plank" hurts! But it's a good hurt. Anxious to do more. Gotta love exercises that you can do in your living room rather than in 'da Club, or on a big ass machine.

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I'm really hoping for a NORMAL drive to work tomorrow. I have had it with the snow, ice, slipping and sliding slushy bull shit! Speaking of snow and ice BIG HUGE MAN SIZED CONGRATS to Salsa's Mike "Kid" Riemer for completing the Arrowhead 135 recently. 135 miles of cold, snow, ice, snot and frozen Red Bulls.

Here's a pic of Mike rocking the finish line with his trophy and what looks to be a Princeton Tec Apex on his noggin. ;)
Congratulations Mike! You can read Mike's race report on the Amigos Blog. I was cold just reading it!

That's it. Later.

Snow, Ice, Rain, Core & "Cheescake"

Today was one of those days that was just a kick in the nuts from the get go. Snow overnight made for some tricky commuting to work. Once at work it was "go time" from the time I walked in the door so I could get an insert to Production ASAP. It was so shitty out I was pretty much office bound during my lunch hour "me time", and could do nothing but watch Ma Nature's Storm of Fecalness come down as I tried to ignore my ever worsening toothache. 'Bout ready to pull it myself "3 Stooges Style".

On the bright side, I got my work done with time to spare, I was able to leave work about a 1/2 hour early and I made it home without smashing the Xa or myself. Let it be known- the Scion Xa is neat car, but an "all weather" vehicle it is not! Made sure Wifey had the Soob, so I was rocking the 12" tires through the snow and ice. Eeesh.

Once home I got an our of tempo riding in on the trainer. Would have like to have done more, but this was my fourth workout day in a row so an hour would do. Plus with the stress of two sloppy ass commutes, a busy day, etc., etc., just being motivated to get ON the f*cking bike was a victory.

Found this website the other day. It's a nice little blog that shows a variety of core workouts or "body weight" workouts. Some I already do but it will be nice to try some new ones.

I leave you with this thought-
Did this shit NEED to be made?????????

As a recovered Foodaholic (fatty!) I can tell you NO ONE is making pies with this stuff. I assure you that this tub is perched atop a million American "tummy trays" as they sit, glued to the TV watching "Idol". File this under "ready to bake cookie dough", double chins, From Undah Cheese, and size 48 pants.

Check these stats (taken from an article on About.com): "The fat content is staggering. Without the crust, one-eighth of the filling delivers 22 grams of total fat (42 percent of daily value), 13 grams of saturated fat (65 percent of daily value), one gram of trans fats, plus 85mg of cholesterol (28 percent of daily value)."

Yikes!!!
Although I just had an idea for a new Power Gel...

Later.

Joker Faces, Lights, & Sonic Screams

Another Monday slinging auto ads. The highlight of my work day was a typo I made (that got caught by the sales rep, thank God!) where I put "tit" instead of "tilt". Yeah, that would have been bad. (Includes: PW, PL, Tit, A/C an More!) I hope it was in no way a Freudian Slip on my part from being the only man in an all female department. Just glad it got caught before it went to print. Yikes!

Once home I rode the trainer for 1:30. After a gradual warm up, I worked in some seated "power" intervals. 1 Min "on", 1 Min. "off" for 40 minutes. So for 20 minutes I got to make this face...

Legs burned, silly faces were made, sweat was plentiful, yada, yada, yada. The above image was used for my comic book loving friend Marc. :)

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Talked with JK @ PT about my SB3 today. The should be in the W.O. soon. along with an Apex head lamp that I'm going to use as a secondary/back up light. Anxious to get some miles in with the lights.

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I leave you with a pic of one of B-Man's new toys. She came with a Batman figure set. I think her name is Super Hooker. Super Hooker can turn more tricks in one night than some do their entire careers!

Turns out I'm wrong. Her name is Black Canary. She has a "high powered sonic scream". I bet she does! B-Man seems smitten with her, and I've taken to keeping her on my night stand "just in case". They could have done SOMETHING to make her look just a LITTLE more like a super hero. Eeesh.

Later.

4th Birthday In The Dark

Today was B-Man's birthday. We had the family over for pizza and cake. B-Man had a blast running around with his cousins and now of course has about a million new toys. JUST when we got everything organized and put together from Christmas! Oh well, if you have or are going to have kids it's best just to get the thought of an "organized" or "clean" house out of your head. Just go with the mess. They'll be out of the house in 20 or so years, right? HA!

Most of the party was held with nothing but Western PA grayshine to light the house. We are once again experiencing HUGE wind gusts here and the power in most of White Oak was out. Great. Luckily we weren't doing any cooking, and the Pizza Hut on the other side of White Oak had power, so guts were filled with cheezy gut bombs. Power came back about 2:30 or so.

I was lucky this a.m.. I was able to squeeze a quick spin in down in the Stankment®. Got just under an hour of nice Zone 1 spinning in before the power went out and left me spinning in the dark. I only had 4 minutes to go, so no big deal. I just wanted enough to blow some cobwebs out of my legs and get a sweat on. I Finished the week with some decent hours for February and only one outdoor ride. Joy.

Time to try to relax after all the Birthday bally-hoo.

Later.

Slack Pays Off

Woke up today in a hard core funk. Just had no mental mojo. We got a dusting of snow and I just hate the sight of snow. EVEN a dusting. BUT the roads were only wet, so I figured the ride was still on tap. THEN about an hour later the it started raining. Great. Snow + rain = me on the trainer for 2 hours. NOT happy about that. Now my mental health was really in the shitter. I just sat at my computer watching Morrissey's performance on Jools Holland last night. It was the titz, and I was mesmerized at how good the yet to be released song "Something Is Squeezing My Skull" is.

I putzed around watching videos, listening to music and crying in my smoothie about not riding outside, when I noticed the sun was now out. A quick look outside showed that skies were clearing fast! This ride is gonna happen! Swwwwweeeet!

So I lathered up the buttocks, chamoised up, and got my shit together to do a Mamasita road ride. Temps were up in the mid forties now. I could not believe the turn around the a.m. was taking! So after a few minute drive to an appropriate ride launching pad I was good to go.

My mental health shot up faster than a junkie in a free needle program. Warmer temps, sun, fingers that I could actually feel, toes that were on not numb, etc., etc., I was having a blast. It would have been sweeter if I was on my new Campeon instead of the Mamasita. But a ride is a ride, and it was still damn good even on the 29er.

The main draw back to riding a mountain bike on the road, aside from the obvious weight, tires, etc, is going up hill. Yeah, you have 27 gears to get your ass up the hill, but the gearing can f*ck with you hill plan of attack. I alway find myself either over or under geared as I approach a steep incline. Trying to pull it out standing, but then realizing it just ain't gonna happen. Shift and find myself in a gear that has me having to sit and go about 3.5 MPH up the hill. Shit! Oh well, it's still a damn find work out. And if I can get my 26+ lb. mountain bike up these hills, I sure-as-shit can get my Campeon up them!

Any time you hit a road that says "Road Closed Except To Local Traffic" (HEY! I'm "local") there is a reason. In this case it was for the installation of a new water line. The road was a mess of mud, rocks, dodgy resurfacing, etc., NOW I was damn glad to be on the Mamasita. Opened up the lock out to be safe and I think I MAY have hit full travel on some parts of the road. Eeeesh!!

I ended with up with 2:35 of riding, improved mental health, and a big smile from having burnt the meat sticks outside rather than on the freaking trainer. Sometimes, slacking around DOES pay off.

Tonight is B-Man's Birthday Eve. Dude is gonna be "4" tomorrow. I really can not believe he is four already! Every day he does something just AMAZING! When Wifey got prego with him, I was sort of a dick about it. Kids just weren't on my radar. It didn't take long to fall incredibly in love with him. He means the world to JoErin and me. Happy Birthday Brennan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a pic of him from few days ago. He insisted on listening to my iPod. So I hooked him up with the ear buds and found something that I thought he would like. I picked out some Dressy Bessy for him based on the fact that they sound like the band that sings the Kenny The Shark theme song, which he really digs. I was right, he liked it. He'll be a hipster yet. If I can JUST keep him away from his mother's music! ;)

Later.

Manchester, T. Ballz, & Zym

Not much of a Friday. Just sort of there. Nice to come home and hang with B-Man and play with "guys" (meaning Ben 10, Spider Man, etc., etc., figures), whilst Wifey hit the gym. Had a good soundtrack in the background of Morrissey's "Who Put The M In Manchester" DVD that I Net Flicked. B-Man was less than thrilled with my singing, but he'll get over it. OR just harbor silliness resentment into his teen years.

Once again I'm getting my ballz out this Friday. Wifey, B-Man, and I are going to Mad Mex tomorrow, so I went with some pasta and turkey meat balls, rather than doubling up on Mexicana. NOT that I would mind.

Ordered up some Zym today. Out of the many electrolyte tabs that I have recently looked at, Zym and Nuun have been on my "A" list. I dig the whole Zym vibe and they have a new one coming out shortly called "Catapult" that contains 100mg of caffeine. SWEET! If THAT can't keep me going through the night, NOTHING will! Yeah, I know caffeine's a diuretic. But really, who among us hasn't busted out the Coke, Coffee, or Red Bull during a 24 Solo to stay up through the night???

On top of that, I freaking LOVE this campaign of theirs....

I mean that graphic rocks! DAMN RIGHT! "Conquer The Mountain, Tomorrow The World" That's damn cool, whether it's Zym or preaching the two wheeled, chain driven, leg powered gospel.That's a cool ass sentiment. Rock on Zym! Now let's see what your tabs can do for me!!! :)

Seriously, I'm looking forward to trying them out. Big thanks to Brian (Zym's founder) for the chance to try Zym out without having to buy a case of 80 tubes! :) Thanks man!

Good article on springwise.com about my two leading candidates for a hydration tabs. Hmmmm. I like what I'm hearing. I'll be sure to share my thoughts about Zym when I get it next week.

I hope to get out on the road or Rail Trail with the Mamasita tomorrow, but who knows what Ma Nature will throw WPAs' way.

Late.

Wheels, Smoothies & Guidance

Shot down to Dirty Harry's on my lunch hour to have them take a look at my wheels. Front wheel, as expected, is fine. But Scott concurs that the rear is indeed cracked in 2 different places. So they kept the wheel and are in contact with Bontrager/Trek to try to get me a new wheel. They believe it won't be an issue, but said at the very worst the rim would be replaced. Either way if it saves me from spending cash on new wheels right now

The Bontrager Race rims, are pretty notoriously a pretty low budget, low brow set of wheels. But until the cracking issue, I never thought about them. Just rode 'em. Sure, I'd like high zoot set of Mavic wheels or at least some Ultegra/Open Pros, but why spend that high zoot jing on wheels that will never get raced, or probably even see a group ride when I can spend that money on race fees, nutrition and guidance?

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I mentioned a week or so ago I picked up a blender to start making some smoothies. First couple attempts were OK, but nothing to write home about. I had some small successes, but recently I came up with my fave recipe so far, and I've been all over smoothies like a fat kid with a gravy shake!

Here's my fave one so far...

• 5 or 6 Frozen Strawberries (about 1/2 cup?)
• 1 Banana
• 1 Peeled Navel Orange
• 1 Scoop of Hammer Soy Protein
• 5 or 6 Ice Cubes
• A dash or two of water (about 1/2 or as needed)

I had never thought about putting a Navel Orange in a smoothie, but did some Googling and sure enough there are Smoothie Heads out there doing it. So GAME ON! Chop that beeeeotch up! Seriously, this smoothie is so tasty! Banana/Orange/Strawberry friggin' goodness!!! Just ask Vilgax!!

Stats: 279 Calories, 2g Fat, 54g Carbs, 8g Fiber, 28g Protein. Because I don't use yogurt or milk in this, it cuts back the calories and allows me to have a piece or two of whole grain toast with it if I choose. Or on a big ride day, some toast with some peanut butter for a little more Oompf™

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LINK UPDATE- Dave Harris and Lynda Wallenfels can now be found at 2-epic.com.These two kick "training" up to a new level. I think they may be the only folks on earth using power meters, performance models, charts, etc., to race single speeds! Sure is interesting to watch.

Speaking of Lynda, I'm excited that I have a "consultation" coming up with her in the near future. Sometimes you need to be guided in the right direction of how to make the most of what you're trying to do with your racing and bounce some ideas around with somebody who actually knows about endurance mountain bike racing, not just "bike racing".

I've been in touch with LW in the past and she's always come through with some sound advice that made sense, but this is the first time that I'll get the chance to really pick her brain on my goals for the season. I'm not doing full blow coaching. Just a consultation to get some guidance on the season. Sort of like a female, mountain biking, enduro freak, Obi-Wan Kenobi. If that makes sense? I need to find the "force" for my racing. :)

I REALLY though my schedule was "set" last week. Yeah, that's gonna change a bit. Looks like I might hit more of the shorter M.A.S.S. Enduro races and maybe even (gulp) do a "team" (relax, it would be a Duo!) event or two so as not to F with my "A" races.

I do have to double check the M.A.S.S. schedule. It appeared (rightfully so) that there was some grumbling on the message boards about many of the races only being 4 hours when they used to be 6, and one or two may be change back to 6. I hope this happens. Would make my drives worth it and keep me within my "don't drive longer than the race is" rule.

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Got 1:15 of spinning and weights in tonight. Off tomorrow to hang with B-Man and relax. Hope to get SOMETHING outside on Saturday, but it all depends on the weather of course.

Later.