So, training is going well. By that I mean I've been doing it. One whole week now. BUT, today was a major setback. Knee issues. Again.
I went about 130 miles today. Got super lost in the NW metro and just rode around. Nothing strenuous, no big hills. About mile 95 my knee was acting all retarded again. It just doesn't want me to push even (very) reasonably hard on the pedal. My left knee. In the soft fleshy spot below the kneecap to the outboard side. It blows. I don't know if it's my position (which has been looked at), but I doubt it, because it's not bike dependent. Any of my bikes cause me to be temporarily crippled on the bike. I HAVE to figure that out. And quick! Tomorrow I'm "resting" it. Helping out a pal and then possibly playing tennis in the afternoon. Or not. I don't really know yet. But then on Sunday I'll be out again w/ The Fix for another easy 60. If it keeps being sore I'm in deep trouble.
Only time will tell.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
So far so good.
Aside from Mondays Mishap (Margaret took both our keys to work with her, so I couldn't leave the house for too long-couldn't lock the door) where I couldn't ride, So far I've been going as planned. Monday I ran for a few miles instead. yesterday I took it easy and rode to school and work. Then I got home and ran some more. (when I say "ran" I pretty much mean "jogged for 2 miles")Today I had to bring Margaret her phone at school, because she forgot it, but then I rode over to my favorite intersection (Ramsey/Grand/Irvine and did some hill repeats. Twice each up Irvine and Grand, and thrice up Ramsey. Then I got SOAKED on the ride home, but that's ok. It wasn't ridiculously cold.
So far, So good. Jut gotta keep it up! "rest" tomorrow and then a long day friday!
So far, So good. Jut gotta keep it up! "rest" tomorrow and then a long day friday!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Training for 2009 Dairyland Dare.
I will chronicle my exploits (which aren't going so well today...) Between now and the event itself, (A 300k, 22k elevation ft jaunt through the Blue Mounds area of WI on August 15th). I have a training plan written up, but I'm not the best at following those. So, if you or anyone you know is up for a bike ride on the days that I have designated as bike days, shout me a holler.
It goes a little like this.
Sundays start the week w. the 60 miles easy Fix ride every week.
Mondays are between 60 up to 100 miles of harder hills/hill intervals to test the knee. Usually Afton, Afton/Stillwater, or Stillwater/NW WI hills.
Tuesdays are ride my bike to school/work days, but no training/riding hard
Wednesdays are either a rest day or a hard lillydale/hill repeats on ramsey interval day depending on the week.
Tuesdays are ride my bike to school/work days, but no training/riding hard
Fridays are going to be 150-200+ mile days save for 2 rest weeks. The first friday after the first rest week I will be going to Hinckley and back, and the first friday after the 2nd rest week I will be riding to Spooner, WI and back.
Saturdays will be easy days either lillydale or greenway to cedar lake trail and back to greenway miles.
And then is Sunday Fix ride all over again.
Couple hard days, couple long days, couple super easy days. NEAT!
I have a full calendar written out until the Event, BUT, that's my whole summer, so there is room for messing around w/ it. And I have August away from school, so I can w/ workload there depending on how I'm feeling.
BUT, if ANYONE is into riding anything like what you see above, let me know. Help keep me honest. I'll need riding buddies to stay motivated.
It goes a little like this.
Sundays start the week w. the 60 miles easy Fix ride every week.
Mondays are between 60 up to 100 miles of harder hills/hill intervals to test the knee. Usually Afton, Afton/Stillwater, or Stillwater/NW WI hills.
Tuesdays are ride my bike to school/work days, but no training/riding hard
Wednesdays are either a rest day or a hard lillydale/hill repeats on ramsey interval day depending on the week.
Tuesdays are ride my bike to school/work days, but no training/riding hard
Fridays are going to be 150-200+ mile days save for 2 rest weeks. The first friday after the first rest week I will be going to Hinckley and back, and the first friday after the 2nd rest week I will be riding to Spooner, WI and back.
Saturdays will be easy days either lillydale or greenway to cedar lake trail and back to greenway miles.
And then is Sunday Fix ride all over again.
Couple hard days, couple long days, couple super easy days. NEAT!
I have a full calendar written out until the Event, BUT, that's my whole summer, so there is room for messing around w/ it. And I have August away from school, so I can w/ workload there depending on how I'm feeling.
BUT, if ANYONE is into riding anything like what you see above, let me know. Help keep me honest. I'll need riding buddies to stay motivated.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
I rode far yesterday.
Earlier in the week I mentioned on twitter that I wanted someone to ride far with. Mike Hall mentioned he was going to Duluth that weekend. Long story short, I was in. As luck would have it, so was Monty Byrnes. This was good. The more the merrier.
Plan was to meet Mark in NE at about 6:45 and ride out to Lino Lakes to meet Mike. That went off without a hitch. 25 miles from my house we were at Mikes house filling bottles and emptying bladders. We set out up 23 (where Mike has the first mishap of the day-broken spoke) and down Kettle Ridge to Wyoming, I think and then onto a bike trail to North Branch. 5 miles down the road from North Branch was a tiny town. I stopped there twice, but I forget the name and don't want to google it. From my house to Mikes house Mark and I avg'd 17 mph. That was good. From Mikes house to this tiny town we avg'd 22mph. It was NOT Mike making us do that...Mark just wouldn't take it easy, or, more accurately, that WAS easy for Mark. We all made it, and at a good clip.
Next stop, Mark got a flat...We stopped and fixed that and then were off to Pine City another 20-25 miles up 61. we stopped, bought a bag of salty chips and gatorade and waited for Mikes wife to bring his race wheel turned spare long distance wheel. Made that switch and then we were off. Caught some fast tri guy that was riding from North Branch to Duluth and then running the Marathon today. That's just silly. It took the 3 of us about 8 miles or so to catch him, then we rode together a bit and chatted until the roads pointed up a bit. We got to some little hills and it broke up a bit, and we 3 slowed down to stay together. We caught back up to crazy tri guy and rode to Hinckley, where it was time for a potty break on the side of the Munger trail. The plants looked thirsty.
From there the pace finally slowed down a bit into Finlayson where we stopped for sandwiches in some tiny weird "deli" place. Pretty alright! We sat there for a bit, and recovered and ate and then we were back on the trail.
We made it to about a 1/2 from moose jaw. Jaw? lake? knuckle? something like that, I'm not from here. Then Mike flatted the almighty Zipp. Uh-oh! we tried to fix it. The sealant in the tire didn't work. The super glue I bought didn't work. He even tried to patch it from the outside, and that didn't work either. It never held air. He called his wife to come BACK down from Duluth to save the day. I wasn't having that, and had already been contemplating turning around. A few reasons, mostly because I didn't want to have to wake up and ride back the next day when the route wasn't fresh. SO, We tried to continue on with Mike riding just about on the rim, but then he gave up (wisely) and I turned around. That was at mile 120 for me. 97 miles away from Mikes house and just under 30 back to Hinckley.
Margaret was at the NSC in Blaine until 9pm, so I had 5.5 hours to cover that 110 miles. It was going to be close. I felt pretty good from the time I just turned around and was keeping it between 20-22 for the most part, save for purposely NOT pushing it up the hills to save my knees. I made it back to Hinckley in about an hour and a half, and stopped and bought more gatorade to stay reasonably hydrated. Another 20 or so back to Pine City, and I kept rolling. Starting to hurt. Just watching the pavement move on past my front wheel. My knees don't really like long trips. At that point I was up to 175 miles or so and my knees weren't too happy with me.
I kept plugging along, stopping at that little town again (15-20 miles past Pine City) where they told me I was 5 miles from North Branch! By this time it was almost 7. I had just over 2 hours to get another 35-40 miles in. It was starting to look plausible, but I was really hurting. I made it to North Branch at about 7:15, and looked for the trail for 15 minutes. Wasted time, wasted energy. At this point it was about all I could do to go about 18mph without it hurting too bad.
I get onto the trail, and Margaret calls me to say that she got done early. My shot of getting to Blaine was over. She was gonna come get me. I didn't WANT to try to ride home, I hurt, and there was a shower coming (a rain shower, not a physical shower, although that would have been wonderful!)
I rode down the trail into Stacy, and communicated with Margaret that she should take 35 north to Stacy Trail, and that I'd be on that rode. When I spoke with her I was at 197.7 miles and I wanted those last 2.3 VERY badly. I was pretty much falling apart, but I got them. Got to some mailbox on that road, and turned around. Margaret met me when my odometer read 200.3. Mission accomplished. Day saved. Success.
We drove home (but the car is dying pretty quick. It doesn't do well on the freeway anymore...think it's almost time to retire it.) and I got showered and made dinner.
Happy day. Under 12 hours of riding time. Got picked up at 8, so that's just under 14 hours start to finish. I'll take it. RAAM 2011? Doubtful. Margaret won't let me, my knees won't let me, and I don't even think I'd be game for that. Maybe in a team. Yep. I'd do it on a team. BUT, I WOULD love to be on a support crew for next year. I can offer mechanic assistance for the bicycles. Where do I sign up? I'd volunteer a week of my life to drive across the country at 12mph in an RV!
So yeah. All's well that ends well. Wrapped it up today with a 25 mile Lillydale loop with Margaret. Legs still worked, not too well though. Made it up both Ohio and Ramsey. I'll take it.
Now to help out with leading The Fix ride out west for 50-60 miles tomorrow! If anyone wants to ride, Depart The Fix at 117 Washington at 9am. It'll be fun.
OH! Forget to mention that we saw a flock of sheep being herded down the rural highway by sheep dogs and humans with sheep staffs! It was amazing.
Plan was to meet Mark in NE at about 6:45 and ride out to Lino Lakes to meet Mike. That went off without a hitch. 25 miles from my house we were at Mikes house filling bottles and emptying bladders. We set out up 23 (where Mike has the first mishap of the day-broken spoke) and down Kettle Ridge to Wyoming, I think and then onto a bike trail to North Branch. 5 miles down the road from North Branch was a tiny town. I stopped there twice, but I forget the name and don't want to google it. From my house to Mikes house Mark and I avg'd 17 mph. That was good. From Mikes house to this tiny town we avg'd 22mph. It was NOT Mike making us do that...Mark just wouldn't take it easy, or, more accurately, that WAS easy for Mark. We all made it, and at a good clip.
Next stop, Mark got a flat...We stopped and fixed that and then were off to Pine City another 20-25 miles up 61. we stopped, bought a bag of salty chips and gatorade and waited for Mikes wife to bring his race wheel turned spare long distance wheel. Made that switch and then we were off. Caught some fast tri guy that was riding from North Branch to Duluth and then running the Marathon today. That's just silly. It took the 3 of us about 8 miles or so to catch him, then we rode together a bit and chatted until the roads pointed up a bit. We got to some little hills and it broke up a bit, and we 3 slowed down to stay together. We caught back up to crazy tri guy and rode to Hinckley, where it was time for a potty break on the side of the Munger trail. The plants looked thirsty.
From there the pace finally slowed down a bit into Finlayson where we stopped for sandwiches in some tiny weird "deli" place. Pretty alright! We sat there for a bit, and recovered and ate and then we were back on the trail.
We made it to about a 1/2 from moose jaw. Jaw? lake? knuckle? something like that, I'm not from here. Then Mike flatted the almighty Zipp. Uh-oh! we tried to fix it. The sealant in the tire didn't work. The super glue I bought didn't work. He even tried to patch it from the outside, and that didn't work either. It never held air. He called his wife to come BACK down from Duluth to save the day. I wasn't having that, and had already been contemplating turning around. A few reasons, mostly because I didn't want to have to wake up and ride back the next day when the route wasn't fresh. SO, We tried to continue on with Mike riding just about on the rim, but then he gave up (wisely) and I turned around. That was at mile 120 for me. 97 miles away from Mikes house and just under 30 back to Hinckley.
Margaret was at the NSC in Blaine until 9pm, so I had 5.5 hours to cover that 110 miles. It was going to be close. I felt pretty good from the time I just turned around and was keeping it between 20-22 for the most part, save for purposely NOT pushing it up the hills to save my knees. I made it back to Hinckley in about an hour and a half, and stopped and bought more gatorade to stay reasonably hydrated. Another 20 or so back to Pine City, and I kept rolling. Starting to hurt. Just watching the pavement move on past my front wheel. My knees don't really like long trips. At that point I was up to 175 miles or so and my knees weren't too happy with me.
I kept plugging along, stopping at that little town again (15-20 miles past Pine City) where they told me I was 5 miles from North Branch! By this time it was almost 7. I had just over 2 hours to get another 35-40 miles in. It was starting to look plausible, but I was really hurting. I made it to North Branch at about 7:15, and looked for the trail for 15 minutes. Wasted time, wasted energy. At this point it was about all I could do to go about 18mph without it hurting too bad.
I get onto the trail, and Margaret calls me to say that she got done early. My shot of getting to Blaine was over. She was gonna come get me. I didn't WANT to try to ride home, I hurt, and there was a shower coming (a rain shower, not a physical shower, although that would have been wonderful!)
I rode down the trail into Stacy, and communicated with Margaret that she should take 35 north to Stacy Trail, and that I'd be on that rode. When I spoke with her I was at 197.7 miles and I wanted those last 2.3 VERY badly. I was pretty much falling apart, but I got them. Got to some mailbox on that road, and turned around. Margaret met me when my odometer read 200.3. Mission accomplished. Day saved. Success.
We drove home (but the car is dying pretty quick. It doesn't do well on the freeway anymore...think it's almost time to retire it.) and I got showered and made dinner.
Happy day. Under 12 hours of riding time. Got picked up at 8, so that's just under 14 hours start to finish. I'll take it. RAAM 2011? Doubtful. Margaret won't let me, my knees won't let me, and I don't even think I'd be game for that. Maybe in a team. Yep. I'd do it on a team. BUT, I WOULD love to be on a support crew for next year. I can offer mechanic assistance for the bicycles. Where do I sign up? I'd volunteer a week of my life to drive across the country at 12mph in an RV!
So yeah. All's well that ends well. Wrapped it up today with a 25 mile Lillydale loop with Margaret. Legs still worked, not too well though. Made it up both Ohio and Ramsey. I'll take it.
Now to help out with leading The Fix ride out west for 50-60 miles tomorrow! If anyone wants to ride, Depart The Fix at 117 Washington at 9am. It'll be fun.
OH! Forget to mention that we saw a flock of sheep being herded down the rural highway by sheep dogs and humans with sheep staffs! It was amazing.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
rant.
We all know them. The people that hang out on the Marshall/Lake st bridge between St Paul and Minneapolis carrying signs that say "US out of Iraq" and the like. First off, don't get me wrong, I don't disagree with their message, but they're going about it all wrong. Nothing makes me more angry on a regular basis than seeing these schmucks on the side of the road.
Why? Because I personally feel that they make my commute to work, or back from school more dangerous than it needs to be. It's hard enough to ride a bike in the city when drivers ARE paying attention. Do you really think that it's a good idea to be distracting drivers on a bridge? A bridge with a bike lane? I don't. Not only because there is no where to go on that bridge, but because the honks are also unsettling. Call me panicky, that's fine. I've been hit by cars before, and it hasn't been that bad, but I'm not trying to get hit again. It's been a few years, and I'd like for it to be a few more.
Folks on bridge, please take it somewhere else. I do realize that is a good spot for your visibility, but it isn't the safest.
Background: One time I was protesting outside of a fur store in Milwaukee with an animal rights group, and some cars stopped paying attention to the road, for who knows how long...Some driver just started slowing down, and the driver behind her rear ended her pretty hard. Not what we had intended to happen at all, and it sucked. Especially when the drivers were accusing us as the cause.
Not fun. Keep it safe out there folks!
Why? Because I personally feel that they make my commute to work, or back from school more dangerous than it needs to be. It's hard enough to ride a bike in the city when drivers ARE paying attention. Do you really think that it's a good idea to be distracting drivers on a bridge? A bridge with a bike lane? I don't. Not only because there is no where to go on that bridge, but because the honks are also unsettling. Call me panicky, that's fine. I've been hit by cars before, and it hasn't been that bad, but I'm not trying to get hit again. It's been a few years, and I'd like for it to be a few more.
Folks on bridge, please take it somewhere else. I do realize that is a good spot for your visibility, but it isn't the safest.
Background: One time I was protesting outside of a fur store in Milwaukee with an animal rights group, and some cars stopped paying attention to the road, for who knows how long...Some driver just started slowing down, and the driver behind her rear ended her pretty hard. Not what we had intended to happen at all, and it sucked. Especially when the drivers were accusing us as the cause.
Not fun. Keep it safe out there folks!
Friday, June 5, 2009
It's the French Open, if you didn't know.
I'll spare you the results mostly, but I have to say that I really appreciate when tennis players are able to control their grunts when they hit the ball. Now, i understand and appreciate that they're hitting the ball RIDICULOUSLY hard, but tennis is still more or less a gentlemans sport. I see often opponents hugging after a match, or saying quite wonderful things about their opponents in post match interviews, it's great. I love that aspect. I just can't get into the "AAAUUGGGHHH!" when the whack the ball.
That said, I'm psyched that Soderling is into the Final. It looks like Federer is stressed at the moment, but it also looks like Del Potro is about to choke. We'll see. I think that Soderling has a better shot of beating Fed than DP. Federer is amazing, no doubt, but I think that everyone knows Fed is in a rough patch and not playing super well (for being Roger Federer. He's still amazing)
So, I'd like to see Federer make it to the final, but i'd REALLY like to see Soderling take it.
Ever since I heard about Soderling imitating Nadals wedgie picking habit a few years ago, I can't not appreciate that guy.
High Five wheels.
(pardon the blackberry photo)
They came in. I've ridden on them a few times and raced on them once. They're great. 58mm deep. Pretty light. Stiff. Exactly what I wanted. Very glad I got a set.
So that's super cool and I'm excited about that.
The race I used them for was the East Union Circuit Race. (Great race, by the way, Verve Ladies! and thanks to Hanna for the animal crackers!)
My job for the race was to keep it together for a bunch sprint for the Little Guy. I gave it my best shot. Kept things together, rode anchor position in a break. Sat in a bit after it came back and then focused on making sure no one got away.
A LOT of attack/counterattack coming from the gigantic sprinter types on GP. They raced a really smart race. Brandon (speedfix) launched an attack before the last turn, and then it was countered by a 4 person group (GP mostly...) They caught and passed Brandon shortly before the line, and the Mark Byrnes/Dispencer lead out train for LG couldn't quite close it up. They were able to launch LG for a fairly easy field sprint victory, and Spencer held for 8th overall (3rd in field sprint). I was tired and finished 14th or 15th.
It was a great race, a lot of fun, very well ran, AND I got to eat a veggie burger. Which always adds to the incentive to show up.
Good job team LGR= Fil, Rookie, LG, Dis, Byrnes, me!
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