If you follow me on twitter than you probably already know where I was last week. If not I was up around the Olympic Penninsula area of Washington state visiting my family. The whole gang from Austin hopped on a plane to Seattle. I debated taking my bike but the day before we left I opted to forgo bringing the whole bike. I was going to rent a bike box from Spin City Cycling but I was leary of any additional baggage fees plus what if my bike was lost or damaged. Instead I planned on borrowing bikes from my brothers. My brother Doug had a mountain bike he said I could use and my other brother Mark said he had a road bike I could borrow as well. Instead of bringing my whole bike I brought my mountain bike pedals and a set of road pedals, Garmin Edge 705, helmet and my powertap wheel. I found a shop online in Sequim where my parents live that rented road bikes. The plan with the powertap wheel was to use it with Mark's road bike and rent a decent road bike for a day to ride up Hurricane Ridge. Riding up Hurricane Ridge has been a goal of mine for the past 2 years since I was last up visiting family and seeing others riding up it. During that trip I was not able to get out for any rides, a mistake I vowed not to make this time around.
Doug and his wife Janet live outside of Silverdale/Bremerton in an area that offers some really good cycling. Janet is preparing for her first triathlon next month so she took me out our first morning on a 10 mile route around their lake. The route offered long climbs with an average grade of 4%. When I say long they were in the 3 mile range, a lot longer than the 1 mile climbs we have around Austin. When Janet and me got back Jennifer was ready for a run so I took her out for another 5 miles. She ran and I rode infront leading the way.
Worthwhile Stats: Distance: 15.452 mi Elevation Gain: 1775 ft Elevation Loss: 1771 ft
Later in the day before dinner I got out for a 16 mile ride around Doug's place, this time going down by the bay. When we drove through Seabeck earlier enroute into Bremerton the tide was out and the bald eagles were out clamming. Just outside of Seabeck a roadie passes me on the start of a hill. When he goes by he is out of the saddle really working it. I don't accelerate after him but I keep it consistent knowing that by the looks of him that it had taken all his energy to pass me in the first place. As I suspected a minute later I had totally eliminated any gap between us that he had. I didn't want to suck his wheel so I sat back a bike and a half length. As we reached the top he looked back to check traffic as he was going to turn left and he was shocked to see me back there and did a double take. I can only imagine the surprise to see a guy on a mountain bike that he previously passed that close behind him. I know I would have been if it was me in his situation. After this warmup hill the road starts to climb again with a 4 mile ascent. This was the highlight of riding around my brother's place. I completed the 16 miles in 1 hour, surprising everyone that I returned back to the house so soon.
Ride Stats: Duration: 1:01:42 (1:01:51) Distance: 16.231 mi Elevation Gain: 1724 ft Elevation Loss: 1719 ft
The change of terrain was great. Every place I rode offered long climbs, most that I could stay in the large ring and just power up. Another welcome change from Texas was the weather. There was only 1 day of rain, the rest were beautiful with the temperature in the 70-80's.
Memorial Day is about remembering loved ones that have passed on. For me it holds a different meaning as 9 years ago I came pretty close to dyeing. For the longest time I bewildered and amazed my doctors as to why I was still alive and how I got through what I went through unscathed. I'm hear on borrowed time I guess. I usually don't dwell on it, but it does amaze me to think that my son Jack would have been born without knowing me. Not only that but Ethan and Zeb wouldn't have been born at all. There's been a lot of great memories I was able to take part in these past 9 years so I'm grateful to be alive and kicking.
Cycling Tips posted a bucket list of the cycling related things they'd like to do, a wish list of things to do before you kick the bucket. Here's mine in no particular order:
1. Ride up Alp D'Huez 2. Ride in a race with my sons (real race not just an event ride) and get dropped by them 3. Go for a ride with Saul Raisin 4. Ride the Alpine Loop with Elden Nelson 5. Ride across the country 6. Have my own soigneur 7. Tour Switzerland, Italy, France Belgium and Spain 8. Ride in all 50 states
Everyone have a safe Memorial day holiday, I'll be riding 100 miles on Saturday for the Fat Cyclist's 100 Miles of No Where race. Sunday I might try to make the 4pm Parmer ride with the Austin Road Riders. As for Monday I'm not sure, it's suppose to be my rest day so I probably end up riding with the boys.
I'm not sure how exactly it happens, but I always seem to end a lot of rides with the Biker Tatt, you know the one of black grease on the back of your calf in the shape of the chainring.
The latest impression was after a rainy ride this week. It got me thinking if I was ever to get a real tattoo this is what I would want it to be.
The start of the year saw me take a true periodization approach to my training. This past year I'd done some loosely structured periodization, but never really started from the beginning with preparation and graduating through each of the phases. In January I purchased Peaksware's WKO+ to track my workouts with power along with the online companion (Training Peaks). The premium version of TrainingPeaks includes a plan builder based on Joe Friel's The Cyclist's Training Bible. It automatically builds your yearly plan based on a wizard that walks you through your strengths and weaknesses to come up with daily workouts.
For the past month I've been lifting weights 3 days a week mixed in with light bike rides. I must confess though, I probably did more intense workouts than what would be typical in the preparation phase. Normally you would not be racing this early in the preparation phase, same with the base stage. Since none of these early races are A races I'm not going to be doing any tapering beforehand. In essence I'll be using them as training days, the intensity will be more than what I should be doing, next year I'll be able to better account for the early season we have here in Texas. I had a couple harder workouts this week. On Thursday I did one of my favorite routes in North/Central Austin which is up Scenic Drive to Mt. Bonnell. The route includes 1344 ft. of climbing in the 15.5 miles, I ended up with an Intensity Factor (IF) of .936.
I followed up Friday with another hard ride where I did a 20 minute all out interval. I did the interval at my FTP. Saturday I drove over to Walburg to ride the course for the upcoming Walburg Classic race.
I'd ridden different sections of the course before, but never the full 24 miles as it will be run in the actual race. My plan was to do 3 or 4 laps. However when I got out there the wind was howling at 25 to 35 mph. The first lap was suppose to be warm up. The first 1/2 from Walburg to Schwertner I averaged 22 mph. For this first part I had the wind at my back for part of it and then a nasty crosswind. The crosswind was so bad I had to lean into it to keep from blowing across the road.
Once I got to Schwertner I turned into the wind. The headwind was working it's magic on my legs. I was starting to feel the effects of the hard week I'd already dropped down. Once I got out of the headwind and had a crosswind I again had to lean into it to stay upright. When it would gust it would push me over a bit on the road. From Schwertner back to Walburg I was only able to average 15 mph. When I got into Walburg my energy was totally sapped, I made the decision to call it at only 1 lap since I wouldn't be able to get much benefit at the watts I was pushing.
Today's ride I hooked up the trail-a-bike (a recent craigslist purchase) to the mountain bike and I was able to talk Zeb into giving it a try. We had tried it when I first bought it but Zeb wasn't sold on it. He wasn't sure about the whole concept since it didn't have training wheels. To help him get over his fears he sat on the seat while I would slowly move the bike to the left and right so he could get the feel of the balance. Once he had a little confidence I talked him into going to the end of our street and back. Well 6 miles later he was ready to get off. He put in his request to go again tomorrow.
Once I dropped him off back at home I went out again on the mountain bike to ride the trails around my house. I found a new trail that comes out to 1.84 miles. This coming week I start the build phase so I'll be adding a bit more miles.
No I didn't crash on the bike, but read along. Today there was a hike scheduled with Ethan's cub scout den. Friday we got word that it was cancelled, since Jack and Ethan were excited to go we decided to load up the mountain bikes and go for a ride at Brushy Creek Park. Brushy Creek Park is a mix of paved pathways along with pebble/dirt sections that meanders along Brushy Creek.
The boys were doing quite good, I was surprised at their speed. We averaged 9 mph for the first 3 miles. We stopped at 3 miles at the Brushy Creek MUD pool to use the restroom. Once done we shoved off, Jack was in the lead but Ethan was gaining on him. This was quickly turning into a race.
Ethan started to pass Jack on the right as Jack started to move to the right. This forced Ethan off the pavement and into the dirt. He attempted to get back on the sidewalk but his front wheel caught the lip of the pavement and he didn't make it. in a blink of an eye he went down head first. The front of the helmet luckily took the blunt of the impact. He walked away with some road rash on his face, knee and arm. When he crashed he was going 12 to 14 mph, I was going 12 mph trailing behind the boys and he was pulling away from me.
He didn't think he could ride or walk back to the car so I took off back to the car to drive back down to the pool where they were waiting at. When I was flying back to where we parked I got yelled at by a couple of mommy walkers. They were walking with their strollers 2 abreast and I came upon them at 20 mph and didn't shout out "On your LEFT". I wasn't expecting them to be right in the middle in essence taking up the entire path. I did slow down to a decent pace before I passed them. However that wasn't enough for these two, I got yelled at by one of them to be courteous and let people know I was approaching. I don't do much riding on such multi use pathways, but when I do I have not noticed many walkers/joggers/runners head my warnings, most of the people I pass are so self absorbed with their workout and their iPod that they don't hear me anyway. Even cyclists on pathways seem to be oblivious to others with their tunes on so loud I can here it when I pass.
Ethan is quite the tough guy, he was back to his old self once we got him cleaned up. There wasn't any noticeable cracks or impact dents on his helmet, but I didn't want to risk it so tonight we ventured out to the LBS and he got to pick out a new helmet.
Before I jump right into the play by play of Saturday I'm going to start with Friday night. I've never ridden the Copperas Cove route, in fact I've never been to Copperas Cove which is about 50 miles from my house. I had a little intel on the route from Scott (AT&T Brain & Spine) that it was similar to Parmer with some rollers but no hills bigger than what we ride on the Sunday group ride. I imported the route to Google Earth to get a virtual feel as well as looking at the profile for the route. At about 9pm as I'm going through this Jennifer informs me that Jack's pine wood derby car is too big, it's suppose to fit back into the box when fully assembled.
I wasn't the only one racing on Saturday, the boys Cub Scout Pack was holding their Pine Wood Derby on Saturday as well. I woke Jack up and he sanded down his car till it fit into his box. He was a trooper getting woken up to be out in the cold garage sanding his car down. Once we had it sanded and painted he was back to bed. It was 11 pm now so I got everything ready for the morning. The plan was to leave at 6:30. Google said it would take 1 hour and 30 minutes to drive to the Civic Center where the start/registration was.
At 5:00 am I woke up, had some pasta shells for breakfast, woke Jack up to finish painting his car. I prepped the water bottles with Melon Heed and the gel bot filled with Espresso gel. I loaded the car and I was off at 6:45 am. It turns out that it's about 50 minutes to Copperas Cove from my house so I had enough time to drive the full course. I was getting jazzed as I drove the first 10 miles as I thought it seemed to lend itself to my strengths as there were some rolling hills on the way out. Plus when coming back there was a decent roller as well that I thought I could use to my advantage as well.
At 8 a.m. I got a call from Jennifer that there was a pine wood derby crisis, Jack's car was still too big! It would fit in his box, but the box had been stretched and a bit torn. When she tried to put his car in Ethan's box it wouldn't fit! The pine wood derby check in time was at 9am and races started at 10. There was only one thing to do, I turned around and headed back to offer pit service.
I got back a little past 9 to the derby, both Jack and Ethan successfully checked in. Luckily Jack shaved some off of his car or he would have been overweight, as it was it weighted in at 4.95 ounces (5 oz is the limit). With the boys checked in there was no way I could make it back up to Copperas Cove and make my check in.
Both Jack and Ethan had a good time. In all of their heats they didn't crack the top 3, the best placing they were able to make was 4th. They were consistently placing 4th or 5th.
Well I didn't get to make my racing debut this weekend which really bummed me out, but the boys had a fun derby. There will be other races for me, in fact it looks like I'll sign up for the New Braunfels race. Scratch that, the cat 5 race is already closed. I guess I'll have to sign up for the cat 4/5.
I've been up in the Rocky Mountains getting some altitude training. I've been riding around Denver the last two days. Today we made our way to Loveland and I got out for a ride and headed out West of Loveland. Since I didn't know what the weather was going to be like in Colorado I left the Orca at home and brought the Fuji. Since I thought I might run into snow I didn't want to expose the Orca to road salt plus I brought the trainer and I don't put the Orca on the trainer. I forgot to move over my saddle bag with my CO2, tube, patch kit and tire levers. When in Denver I went to Bicycle Village and bought a Blackburn AirFix CO2 inflator that has a tire lever and an assortment of allen wrenches and a chain tool. I was somewhat prepared for a flat, or so I thought...
When we arrived in Loveland the weather was 57 degrees, but when I walked out for the ride it felt a little cooler so I went back in and put on arm warmers. I got out of Loveland and at mile 7 I felt the wobble of my back tire that is the sign that I had a flat. I got off and verified that I indeed had a flat. I got out the Blackburn AirFix and got the tire lever and attempted to get the tire off. I quickly found out that it is very difficult if not impossible to get the tire off with only 1 tire lever. Not sure what Blackburn was thinking with only putting 1 tire lever on the device. I'm also questioning the functionality of the allen wrenches, it was very difficult to put on bottle cages with the Blackburn.
The sun went behind a cloud while I fumbled with my 1 tire lever predicament, the temperature was quickly dropping. My fingers were starting to go numb as I wore a pair of fingerless gloves. Luckily a roadie came along and he provided another tire lever. He also traded my tube for one of his tubes when he saw that I was only carrying a patch kit. We got the tire changed and with the dropping temperature I conceded defeat and turned around and head back into Loveland with my savior.
We chatted a bit as we made our way back into town. I gladly offered my rear wheel to my new roadie friend and pulled him back into town into a stiff head wind.
I'm glad to see the brotherhood of roadies is strong in Colorado and the code of conduct of helping out a fellow rider is adhered too. Thank you Scott Gudmanson for the help.
In case anybody is looking for a fun ride up north this Saturday, I should be riding with the Hammerhead Bikes crew on a ride to Burnet and back. I say should be because I've been sick the last couple of days so if I'm over the cold I should be going. The ride leaves at 8am from the Leander High School football statdium parking lot. Here's more on the particulars:
-We usually leave from the Leander High Football stadium -The route
is about 78 miles. Its essentially a lolipop loop in that it goes out
and comes back the same way with a "loop" at its furthest point. -The pace is varied based on who turns out. I'd plan on an 18+ mph avg. -Ideally the ride out will be mellow-er that the ride back. However its hilly and thus not easy either way. -The last 5-10 miles home has been known to turn into a hammerfest. -This is only a "no drop" ride if you consider that we'll wait for you if you don't get dropped...."no drop"
I already had the general route mapped, only difference is in the roadbikerides.com route it has the starting point at the corner of Lakeline and 1431. Saturdays ride starts from the Leander High Football stadium, other than that this route should be the one they follow. The weather on Saturday should be good for the ride, 78 degrees and a bit overcast, Sunday a cold front is suppose to move in and the high temperature will be 49 degrees.
This might not necessarily be a bad habit, but on yesterdays ride it proved to be troublesome. Yesterday was a rainy, dreary day in Austin. Throughout the morning it rained off an on, but there was a 2 p.m. ride down Parmer called by the Austin Road Riders. I've never ridden with this group, but I've been on their yahoo group for a couple months.
At 2 there was a slight drizzle and a a strong wind from the North. One other rider showed, everybody that confirmed for the ride earlier in the day backed out. At 2:05 we rolled out on Parmer heading North into a strong headwind. David lead out but as I got onto his wheel I started to get pelted by the stream coming from his rear wheel. The problem arose with all the wind that even in the draft I was exulting a lot of energy so I was breathing heavily through my mouth. My mouth was being sand blasted in David's wake. If I didn't do something the enamel on my front teeth would be worn out from the sandblasting. I tried to breath through my nose but as much air I was sucking I couldn't adjust, if I moved a little to the left or right I lost any benefit of the draft. I ended up taking the front and pulling most of the way down Parmer.
David thanked me for pulling so much as he was coming off an injury and it was one of his first rides coming back. So it worked out for both of us. Heading North on Parmer we averaged 17 mph into the wind. We rode all the way to Andice Road and turned East (right) to Indian Springs for a hockey stick route. On the way back in with the wind at our back we averaged 21 mph with several sections we cruised at 24 mph. It took us 1'03 to get out to Andice Road and 53 minutes to get back and that included the extra miles on Indian Springs Road. That was the fastest I've ever went South on Parmer.
When I got home not only was my bike a mess but I had gravel stuck in my teeth, ears and nose.
I came across a Profitable Bike Shop for sale on Austin's Craigslist and it got me wondering about having my own bike shop.
Pros to owning a bike shop:
Morning shop rides
Design my own team kits
Get to wear said team kit on as for mentioned shop rides
Shop sponsored race/club team
Bikes and bike parts all mine
Shop would have a kick ass Web site and technology
Meeting people in the bike community
Opportunity to build a family business, when my boys get old enough a place they could work.
Cons to owning a bike shop:
Pay cut, it looks like at $200K yearly sales that inventory, salaries (not including owner salary/draws) and expenses would leave very little for owner.
Since I'm not much of a bike mechanic I'd have to hire a top mechanic to handle all the wrenches.
I'm not much of a sales guy either, so I'd have to hire a sales person as well.
Long hours - shop hours are 6 days a week with 7-9 open hours. Plus time managing the books, inventory and the day to day operation details.
Stress associated with owning a business. This wouldn't be my first business, so I know what I'd be getting into.
Well for now the notion of owning my own bike shop will have to live in my head on long rides. Maybe a touring company...
