Mike's Bike Blog

Friday morning when I woke up and went out to the garage I found I had a flat. Which was odd because my workout from Thursday was an hour on the trainer. I couldn't find a puncture so I just changed it. Then that nights ride out on Parmer I had a flat.

Today's workout called for another set of intervals and a 2 1/2 hour ride. I wanted to see how far Parmer went as my ride the other day piqued my curiosity. I headed out again on Parmer, which I get on at Brushy Creek Road. Just like on my Parmer ride on Friday there was a strong wind out of the South. There's some nice long hills out past 2243, which was where the extension road construction was previously, thus I never ventured past it till Friday's ride. I past Hwy 29 and kept pushing on. Right after the intersection of 3405 on the other side there was a lot of rock debris, I tried to navigate through it all and then there was the sound... psssst... Another flat!

I need a support wagon with wheels and I guy to run out, change my flat and then to give me a push to get back up to speed. In today's stage (8) of the Tour they were commenting on the rain and grit and how many flats were going on. They showed George Hincapie getting a change and a push. With a support vehicle they can change a tire in less than a minute. It takes me about 10 to 15 minutes or more like what happened during the Armadillo Hill Country Classic.

Once I got the tube changed I kept on going. At CR 289 I gauged that I needed to turn around so I could get back home before it got dark, plus I was only scheduled for a 2 1/2 hour ride. Parmer seems to keep going, I couldn't see any sign of it stopping. It will have to be conquered another day. CR 289 where I turned around was 16.6 miles from Brushy Creek. Looking at the map I suspect it connects with CR 247 and ends at 2238 (Andice Rd). If that's the case then once on 2238 I could head over to Andice and take the back roads back to Liberty Hill and back home on CR 239. Looks like there could be some other good routes by heading east on CR 285 to Lake Georgetown.

Turning back and heading South on Parmer the wind didn't disappoint and let me know I wasn't going to get a free pass on the way home. I ran out of water right at 1431 so I pulled into the gas station to refuel. I filled up both bottles just in case.

I went over by 10 minutes on my riding time, due mainly to the wind coming back. I had a set power level as a ceiling so I tried to maintain that level and not push too much over the hills. In the end it took 2:40:09 and a total of 45.63 miles. Average speed was 17.09; Max speed 41.62. Cadence average 77, Max: 128.

On Sunday morning we played the 481 Smurfs from Houston for the Artic Wolf 4th of July championship. I got a good night of sleep, which I was worried about with my ribs, but I slept well and woke up refreshed. The ribs were sore, but I was able to take deep breaths with low pain and moving around wasn't a problem.

On the ice during warm ups I felt good but still couldn't shoot without pain. We jumped out to 2-0 lead. The smurfs closed the gap with a goal of their own, but it was our day. We ended up winning 3-1. It was a fun weekend, but it's good to be home. Now back to the bike content for another year.

I picked up my bike on Sunday night from the bike shop. I dropped it off to get it's yearly check up. They also took the bottom bracket apart and lubed it back up. So far there is no knocking from the cranks! This morning I went out for a ride before work. I felt good, but I won't be able to push it for a few days with my ribs. Whenever I would get out of the saddle to sprint it would hurt a bit.

Game 2

On my second shift of game 2 I was scrambling for the puck in front of our net with another player from the other team. He was slightly ahead of me. I lifted my left arm up over him as I went past him when he butt-ended right in the ribs. For those here for a bike blog a butt-end is when a player uses the shaft of the stick above the upper hand to jab an opponent. I don't think the other player meant to hit me, but I went down like a ton of bricks with the wind knocked out of me. I'm not sure if my rib is cracked or just bruised, no way of knowing without an X-ray. From past rib injuries this is by far the worse I've had, no sense in going to the doctor, even with broken ribs they don't do anything for you.

I continued to play, not well. I did have a break away and as I was coming in on the goal the other defense man slid from behind me as I slowed to put a move on the goalie. The defense man took me legs out from under me sending me into the air only to return on my back and head. The impact of course was on my left side which I took the stick into the ribs. Needless to say I had the wind knocked out of me again and the impact with my head didn't feel too good either, but that's why I wear a mouth piece. But hey I scored. I guess when the defense man took me out they also took the goalie into the back of the net. I think the final score was 7-4 for the win.

Game 3

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to play this game the way my ribs were feeling, but I figured if I couldn't get my skates tied that would be the sign. I got them tied albeit a little loose. I had a few good shifts, but for the most part it hurt a bit, luckily nobody ran into me or took me out. I did have 1 chance where I was off to the right side of the net, I was too far behind the goal to have an angle so I tried to bounce it off the goalie, but it scooted across the crease. Nobody from my team could knock it home for an easy goal. We won the game 7-3, so that puts us in the championship game on Sunday. We'll be playing the team we played in Game 3. Once again if I can get my skates tied I'll play.

I'm in College Station this weekend playing hockey, I'm playing with weremonkeys, a team from Houston. Last night we had our first game, it was against the home town College Station team. I'm a bit rusty, I guess that's what happens when you play a couple times a year for the past 10 years.  The line I centered got 1 goal.

The goal came in the 2nd period, I got the puck in the corner. I had a College Station defenseman on me as I took the puck behind the net. I did one of my favorite moves, as we are going behind the net I pull the puck behind my back and dump it back out front. The beauty of this move is it typically gets the goalie to move to the other side of the net as he expects me to try a wrap around. With the goalie moving to his right the goal was wide open and my right winger had a wide open shot. He didn't dissapoint and bearied the puck home!

I didn't have too many of my own attempts at scoring, my best possibility was in the 1st period. I got the puck at center ice and as I brought it into the zone I put a move on the defense. I beat the defense with a move and had a clear breakaway. As I was going around the Texas A&M player tripped me. I was surprised there wasn't a penalty called as it seemed pretty clear. In the end we won the game 4 - 1.

Back in January when I was setting my 2008 cycling goals I didn't set any mileage goals, but so far in 2008 I've ridden a total of 3002.23 miles and climbed 122,183.7 feet. In the past 6 months I've lost 23 pounds! First on my list was completing a century ride. I thought it would come later in the year at the Outlaw Trail 100, but instead I rode the 106 miles at the Armadillo Hill Country Classic. Now that I've joined the century club, now it's time to put a completion time to one. One other goal was to improve my climbing, that is coming along, cutting my time in 1/2 on the Limecreek Hill might be a bit far fetched. I'll keep plugging away at it though. My best time in 2008 so far is 4:05 which is obviously better than the 4:52 time I posted in December 2007. I might have been too aggressive with that goal, but I'll keep riding up it.

Updated 2008 Goals

• Ride at least 10,000 feet of climbing in 1 day
• Weight 175 -180
• Ride the Outlaw 100 century ride October 18, 2008 in 5 1/2 hours
  
• Compete in at least 1 race and gain a Cat 5 status
• Volente/Limecreek 10 mile time trial averaging 22 mph (27 minutes)
  
• Increase threshold power by 12% (Not sure what a realistic number is as I'm just starting to train with a power meter)
  

 So far the first 6 months of 2008 have been great, I've had a lot of good rides with some great people.