PAY BACK IS A BITCH

I blame Big Pit, for roping the Flea and I into it...

“Hey! It's an easy Mountain bike race! A bunch of fire roads and easy, none technical single track.  Come on you guys... we'll go do an easy race, play in the woods, have a few laughs... it'll be fun!!!!”  

Sure... maybe to a bunch of super fit Mountain bike riders!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me start out by saying, including this past weekend,  I've done a total of 3 mountain bike races in my entire life.   My last 2 mountain bike races, were 20 years ago...

Mountain bike racing is as far from Cyclocross racing as hmmm... let me see.....

A Proctologist vs. a Brain Surgeon... 


It's coincidental that they they work at totally opposite ends of the body...  


The only thing they really have in common is they both went to medical school, wear surgical gloves, and use lots of the same instruments... 


But if you send a Proctologist, in to do brain surgery... the patient might have an issue, don't you think??!!!  Not to mention the Poctologist doing the brain surgery would probably have a full on  panic attack...  

Anyway... you get my point...

So, the morning of the race, started out at 7:30 with Andy Gould, taking us out on the course... since none of us had a clue as to, what we were getting ourselves into...

Anyone who knows Andy, knows 2 things about him... he's a Expert Mountain bike racer and he has huge legs!  He's a relatively normal sized guy... with the exception of his legs... which are the size of tree trunks...   

As you can well imagine, 15 minutes into the warm up ride, even though Andy is doing his best to go at a snails pace, I've already bumped into 2 trees and I'm way in the deep end of the pool, without a set of water wings on!!

So, we're riding along and everything is going just ducky until .....   

This was me, (minus the pink dress of course!!!)

 
I was descending a gnarly section of single track when a large bug landed directly on my nose, I took a swat at it and that's exactly when my wheel grabbed a rut and I shot over my bars.... like I was fired out of a freaking cannon!!!

Lesson #1. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CONDITION... REMOVE YOUR HANDS FROM THE BARS, WHEN DESCENDING A GNARLY SECTION OF SINGLE TRACK!!!!  

EVEN IF A PYTHON... WITH FANGS, DANGLES FROM THE TREES AND WRAPS ITSELF AROUND YOUR SCRAWNY PEANUT NECK!!! 

I had to take a 2 minute break... to collect myself... which is code for, I stood there, swore a lot,  inspected my bruised kneecaps and shins and made sure I didn't break anything on my bike.  

30 minutes into our slog into the woods and well after my crash, the Flea looks over at me, with sweat dripping off of her hair and this look imprinted all over her face... nnnnnneeeeeed waaaaaattttteeeeerrrrrr!!!!

As you can imagine... I wasn't in the best of moods... considering my previous airborne episode... The fact that I was now sporting skid marks on both knees, was already covered in bug bites, and was thirsty as hell....
 
I simply muttered... “next time... we're gonna bring the freaking water bottles!”

Not to confuse the story by back tracking... but....

Before we took off for our 7 mile warm up loop, which for a bunch of road and cyclocross STOOGES doesn't sound like a big deal... the Flea and I “briefly”, contemplated taking a water bottle... but quickly dismissed the idea... by saying “naaaahhhh... it's, only 7 miles... we'll be back in nooooo time”.

Lesson #2... 1 mile in the woods, translates to approximately 3 miles on the road... never leave your water behind.  What a bunch of morons!!!

After our not so little course check out... Andy gave us some tips on how to properly tie our number to the front of our bikes and then the most important tip of the day... water bottle staking/stash tips!!!!

You see... up to this point, I was under the impression all Mountain bike racers wore some sort of hydration systems... It seems they do to train, but not to race... seems that the hydration systems are too bulky or heavy. 

Very interesting discovery!!!... 

Upon further investigation... I came to the conclusion that as the level of the racer improved... so did their jury-rig, staked water bottle set up device.

And here's how they broke down....

PRO MOUNTAIN BIKE RACER (PIT TOOTSIE)
This person stands around and looks pretty, and when the rider racers by... if she's in the mood... hands up a water bottle

EXPERT MOUNTAIN BIKE RACER.... has several water bottles to choose from, depending on the flavor they want... or alcohol selection

SPORT CLASS RACER... Easy in... Easy out

NOVICE.... low cost, but effective

BOOB RACER.... Uhhhhh.... No comment (this was my category)

 
Even though there are several disciplines within the world of cycling...  it seems more and more often, riders are crossing over from one discipline to another and expanding their horizons.

As we lined up for the race last weekend, I recognized many faces from the "my" world of Cyclocross but this time, I was in their World and I was the rookie... this was clearly not my World... this was theirs, and pay back is a bitch.  

As I was bouncing around in the woods trying not to hit every tree in sight... I realized that I was out of my element and they were not.  

Good job to all you Mountain Bike Racers!!  Nice Work!  I learned loads and had a ton of fun.

Good job Flea... you done good!

Have fun out there, Ride Safe

I'll Talk with you all soon

The Peanut Gallery

 

ATTITUDE CHECK!!!!

Okay!!!! OKAY!!!!! 

I realize it's been a bit of a tough start to Spring... but it's time to buck up Sports Fans. 

I mean... come on. If being a rider was easy... everyone would be doing it... right??? :)

So... I have to admit. Over the past week or so, I've been suffering from a bit of an attitude problem myself.  Not that the rain was bad enough... but then...

I came down with a sore throat, that turned into a head cold... and not your garden variety head cold, mind you.

OOOOOOOH NOOOOOOOO!  

I came down with one of those raging, snorting, gotta blow your nose every 2 seconds, or you're gonna drip all over the customers, kinda head colds.



Trust me... I sure could have used these!!!

And theeeeeen... the coughing started...   And THAT, was almost enough to put me over the edge.  Because every time I coughed... my nose exploded... 

So... I've sniffed through the past 9 days like a 4 year old... with a faucet for a nose.  Customers have had to deal with me, snorting though conversations.  All the while, I'm telling them, I'm no longer in an infectious state... attempting in vein not to contaminate the nation ...  

And to make matters a little worse..... I was a grouch, I was trying really hard not to be a grouch... but I'm sure I was grouchy...



UGH, the poor customers...  
 
Dear God!   I hope I didn't infect anyone!!! 

Wow... I feel so much better now that I've shared that, with all of you!!! :)

BUT NOW I'M STARTING TO FEEL BETTER... SO, LET'S RIDE!!

I know it's tough to get yourself motivated to go out in the rain and ride... it means both you and your rig get wet and grimy. But that's what rain gear was invented for... plus you won't melt, the bike will survive, and it's getting warmer... so don't be a bunch of babies.

Plus... you don't want any of that early season fitness to go to waste, nor do I need to remind you, that you are beginning to bug the hell out of your families and co-workers... because you haven't gotten your endorphin fix in awhile and you are WAAAAAY over due!

One way to mix things up a bit, is to go out and do a sprint work out... Why you might ask???
  

Well... 4 reason, actually:

#1.   It can be cranked out in an hour... not a lot of suffering in the rain or mist... or whatever mother nature is tossing our way.

#2.   It's a great way to shake out your legs... and get your body out of a rut, if you haven't ridden in a few days.  It's also a nice little wake up call, without totally shocking your system.

#3.  It's a great skills exercise... 

#4.  It's a cool way to break up the routine... aka, get off your butts and do something different. Not saying you're getting stale... but... just saying... 

Here's a sprint workout for you to cut your teeth on, if you don't have one in your hip pocket;

10 - 15 minute warm up.... start out in your little ring, then get in the big ring, top of the cog in the back.  

You will be doing a total of 8 sprints...  Each sprint will be no longer than 15 - 20 seconds in time...  after each sprint... you will take a 2 minute rest.  Not a... lay in the grass and take a nap rest!  But a noodle, go really slow, let your heart rate drop to the floor rest.

The goal is to be totally rested in between each sprint!!!  You can mix and match these sprints as you like. 

Then... you warm down for 10 - 15 mins and your are done! 

3 x spinners -   The idea is to spin out the gear at a super high cadence while staying the saddle the entire time.  

Yes...  I realize your butt will be bouncing like a rubber ball... all over the saddle, but that's not my problem! 

So, you will be in the big ring in the front... but stay near the top of the cog in the back... and wind it up and spin the hell out of it.  And, let those legs  burn!!!!

  

3 x seated sprints - You can shift gears for these sprints... but stay in the saddle!

2 x jumps - These are full out sprints!  Anything goes... you can get out of the saddle, stay in the saddle, stand on the handle bars... I don't care... just do them all out. 

Remember... take you full 2 minute break (the break translates into you just noodling around) in between each sprint... or...  the next sprint is garbage!  

  

Here are a few motivating photos to get you off your butts and out on your bikes! 

Have fun out there, Ride Safe

I'll Talk with you all soon

The Peanut Gallery

DEAR DIARY

As a kid, I never kept a diary....

However, my sister did...  and once I realized that my sisters' deepest, darkest secrets were going to be documented in the diary....  well I made it my life's mission, to torture her with it.

So, Here's how the game of  Dear Diary worked...   

My sister Liz, was about 15 at the time, I was 13...  Liz was like any typical swooning, love struck teenage girl.  So... just before she went to bed... she would write in her diary and then hide it somewhere in her room. 

Now... I wasn't much interested in what was "in" the diary... Candidly, I figured it would be filled with mush and a bunch of dribble.   I was totally focused on the reaction of locating the diary, and threatening her with exposure... to MOM!!!

So... I waited a few weeks and then went looking for said diary... it really didn't take long at all, my sister wasn't really that clever at hiding stuff. 

Once locating the diary.... I waited for the perfect moment...  

I appeared in my sisters' bedroom doorway,  holding her prized diary by the corners, as if it were a stained pair of underwear and said 4 simple words....

"Has Mom read this???!!!!"  

 

As you can imagine this incited a Sarajevo level meltdown ...

 

My sister puffed up like a cat that came face to face with a pack of wild coyotes.

Then she went into a full blown grand mal, high pitched screaming fit, followed by a blubbering waterfall of tears.  Wow... even better than I imagined!!!!

Ultimately my little plan back fired.  The whole house went into a complete up roar!  My brothers came racing to the scene and wanted in on the fun, my Mom got involved and I'm clearly the bad guy, my Dad kicked my butt for "invasion of privacy"... I'm grounded for 2 weeks and not allowed within 50 feet of my sisters' room for life!!!!  Wow... can't anyone take a joke!!!  

The funny thing was... I never opened her diary.  I never told my dad, I never read the diary... what was the point,  I still deserved the butt kicking.   I shouldn't have touched her diary...

But... I have to admit one thing to all of you.  To this day... I would do it again... It was well worth the reaction at the time.  :)   I still torture my sister to this day... just in different ways.    

Even thought I didn't see much value in keeping a diary as a kid... I see a huge benefit in keeping a training log as an athlete and here's a few reasons why.

I don't know about you... but I count on my memory a lot.
As time passes... we forget some stuff around a certain event, then our brains tend to rationalize certain details, and before you know it, what happened.... takes on a new face.  Let me give you a brief example.

I planned an out and back commute (40 miles each way) from home to work and back.  I had done it before and didn't remember it to be such a big deal. BUT... I hadn't noted it in my training log, so I was going blind (in other words... based on my memory)

The ride in  to work was fine... I felt great.  Sure... I was fresh!!! But the trip home was a totally different story.  After 10 hours on my feet... 6 miles into my commute home... I knew I was in trouble.  All of a sudden, the memories of the last time I tried this stunt came flooding back!  All of a sudden, I remembered (too late!) at time of day, I was heading into a stone head wind, not to mention there were lots of rollers heading to Lake Sunapee.  My legs were toast, my feet were on fire and by the mid point, it had  turned into a death march home.... I was not happy!!  The only humorous moment in the ride... was when my "fart" ring tone on my phone went off... and that was fleeting at best. 

If I had noted those details in my training log... I wouldn't have considered the out and back!!!   

Per:   http://grahamstoney.com/mindset/practical-guide-brain-works   
 

I was surprised to discover that there isn’t any one centre of memory in the brain; memory is distributed throughout every neuron in our brain and central nervous system. All neurons have a simple biochemical mechanism for remembering what stimulus they fire in response to, and this mechanism is reinforced each time they fire in response to the same stimulus. 

In other words.... Our memories are triggered by patterns.  As you all know, our brains are very complex..when we come across something new, our brain tries to find something in our experiences that have a similar "pattern", in which to connect it to... that's why we have those ah ha, moments from time to time... our brains are busy, connecting patterns.     

So... understanding the above... here's what I track in my training log and why I track it:

Annually 

Goals -  At the beginning of the year or the season you should put down some goals.  Even if you don't share them with anyone else.  Goals are important, they help us get better, they help us test ourselves, they hold us accountable for something.  It's more important to have a goal and not meet it, than to have no goal at all.

Good examples of Goals:  

* Race 10 Cross Races in 2012

* Finish in the top 10 in your age group

Total miles for the year:  This is a fun number to keep track of 

Weekly(Summary):   

Weight (I weight myself daily... but some folks consider that over the top)

My weekly Training log starts on a Monday and Ends on a Sunday... just like the week  

Total hours ridden

Total Miles ridden    

Daily - This is the meat and potatoes of my log and takes me 3 mins to jot this info down at the end of every day.

*  I do weight myself every morning - The reason... my training weight is normally 3-5 lbs heavier than my race weight.  So I keep an eye on where I'm at as the season is progressing.  In Cyclocross... the lighter you are... the faster you are.

*  At the end of the day, I make a quick note of my workout, how I felt (physically and mentally). I make a note of everything!!!  Be it a cold, saddle sore... everything!!!  

One thing I have discovered... is that colds, illnesses, etc... are cyclical.  As strange as that may sound.  Now that I am keeping a training log, I am finding a pattern in when I can expect to get sick in my training cycles.  It may be a combination of seasonal elements as well as physical breakdown due to training... but at least I can try to head it off at the pass by trying to load up with vitamins, etc.  I wouldn't know this without a historical log.

Noting how I'm feeling mentally is important as well... If I'm feeling a little down.... I can look back in my training log and see if this is a pattern consistent with this point in time last year... is it possibly a indicator that I'm coming down with something???  Another clue???  Another pattern!!!!

So Sports Fans... if you are not keeping a training log.  Hustle your butts out to your local bookstores and find a nice leather bound, lined journal and start keeping track of your training.  It makes a difference!!

But... Be sure to hide it well!  You never know who might get their hands on it and show it to Mom! :)     

Have fun out there, Ride Safe

I'll Talk with you all soon

The Peanut Gallery

 

My 2 Greatest Personal Cycling Discoveries

As we go through life... we collect information... lots and lots, of information.

Some of it is valuable, some of it... well... not so much.

I started out as a runner. Cycling was not my first sport... I wish I had discovered it sooner... it is without a doubt, my greatest passion.

I was forced out of running at the late age of 30.  After foot surgery I was put on a bike to rehabilitate and the rest as they say... is history.

Some of the valuable information I learned early on was....

• If you wear underwear under your cycling shorts.... that's a total Rookie move. You are suppose to go commando in cycling shorts. That's not only how the short are designed to be worn... it's by far, best for your body and hands down most comfortable! 
  
  
  Plus... you'll be ridiculed by everyone you are riding with... and who the hell needs that?? The ride is hard enough, without getting crap from other riders! 
  
  
• Remember when your mother use to tell you to leave the house with clean underwear???  The same holds true with a clean kit! Wear a clean kit every time you ride. Never ride in the same set of shorts or jersey, regardless of how short or easy the ride may have been the prior day.... it's not healthy.  The chamois in a pair of cycling shorts is a bacteria play ground after you've ridden in them... need I say more???!   If you don't have access to a washer... hand wash your shorts in a sink for God sake! 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   Bacteria waiting to hang out in your chamois
  
  
  
  
  Plus... the folks down wind in the pace line from you, would appreciate the fact that you washed your kit the prior day as well.... BROTHER!
  
  
• A T-shirt is a crappy base layer.  In the Summer, it turns into a sponge holding perspiration/moisture and later in the ride, it translates into a mosquitoes magnet.... HOW FUN FOR YOU AND THOSE IN YOUR CYCLING ORBIT ?!!

The "not so valuable information", I learned was...

• Since I totally suck at bunny hopping... I have learned to never try to bunny hop anything twice the size of my head or larger.
  
  
  
  
  
  This is a new variation on the game of limbo.. I plan on going to bunny hopping school some day!
  
  
  
  
• The game of “Identify that road kill”,  is a useful means of entertaining oneself on a long training ride... If you are in a group ride, keep score of how many you ID.. the winner gets a beer at the end of the ride (after the 30 minute window we discussed last week of course!). 
  
  
  If you want to make the game particularly challenging.... Try  to ID said road kill, by only the body parts available... for example... just the flattened tail.  The body parts gets double points, but only if you can all agree on what animal the part belongs to!!!! :)   
  
  
  
  
  
  BTW... This would qualify for 10 points!!!  Ok... I'm taking a Mulligan for showing bad taste in posting this picture!!!

         This dude clearly didn't brake for the squirrel.   Opps... I'm taking another Mulligan.  For lack of 
         empathy... sorry!!!  Anybody got any spare Mulligans... I seem to be running low on them????!

• The dilemma.  Sitting on a good wheel... but that person is in pair of cycling shorts purchased in 1990... and... the shorts are so thin in the rear end... that you can actually see the riders.... uhhhh.... button hole!!!!! 
  
  
  The dilemma... do I sit on a great wheel and stare at their, YOU KNOW WHAT FOR 30 miles or get on a sketch wheel?????  I normally sucked it up and stayed on the good wheel... I just tried to avert my eyes as best I could.

In all seriousness. Let's talk about the 2 things I've discovered, that have had the greatest impact on me to date.  

After 10 years of competitive racing, I found that I felt a bit flat. 

Up to that point in time, I had won 1 National Title, but that was a few years earlier and I was getting thrashed by my competitors and was consistently coming in either 2^nd or 3^rd at Nationals and didn't see another win in my future.  I knew I needed to change something in my training.

So... discovery #1....   I hired a coach. Yup... up to this point... I was self coaching or getting assistance from friends, no formal coaching.

I wasn't training with a HR monitor, nor did I have a written training plan. I was just going out every day and riding... sometimes alone, sometimes with others.  Translation...  I was a ship without a sail.  

 

A coach gave me that critical outside, unbiased and unemotional, perspective that I needed in my training.  My coach turned my riding life upside down.  I'm still with the same coach to this day.... over 15 years later!!!!   

Yes... even though I have enough experience at this point to coach myself ... I still want that critical outside, unbiased perspective in my training... and I'm willing to pay for it.

Discover #2

LISTEN TO YOUR COACH

TRUST YOUR COACH

TRAIN & REST

The 3 toughest lessons for me to learn as a athlete, training under a coach were:

#1. Trust my coach

#2. Follow the training plan to the letter (no more, no less)

#3. Rest when I'm suppose to rest

It's funny... we pay a guy (or gal) to train us... then we second guess the hell out of them by asking everyone and their brother their opinions. WTF???? 

If you hired the right coach... you don't need to second guess them!! But it's hard not to do that... I know, at first I did the same thing.  But I don't anymore. Now...Whatever my coach says, I do... without question... 

The training plan... is the training plan. No cheat training, no skimping either. If you monkey with your training plan or your rest... the only one you are hurting, is yourself!!!

REST IS A CRITICAL PART OF YOUR TRAINING... get that into your heads!!

That was THE HARDEST thing to get through my thick head at first... but then, it was like magic.   I learned that rest is part of the critical rebuild process that allows us to get to that amazing next level... so, now I embrace my rest period.

Finding the right coach is key... keep in mind, results don't happen overnight. 

The coach is your guide and will help get you there...but, you are the one on the pedals.

Have Fun Out There, Ride Safe



I'll Talk With You All Soon

The Peanut Gallery