2010 is in the bank

Today, the day after Christmas, 2010, I hit 6,000+ miles, combining indoor training and road miles, for the second year in a row. I am not sure if that is good or bad but here are my feelings.

I am faster than I was last year. I think my average watts on a ride is up 10-20 watts or about 8%. That is very significant for me but I still want to be be faster. Robbie said to be fast you need butt time on the bike. He suggested I retire. Unfortunately, the thought of riding full time and not working is not very appealing. This year I had the opportunity to retire but the professional circuit will have to wait until I turn 60+ if ever. As my coach Joe W says a large part of winning is just showing up and I am not quite ready to show up.

Riding is still fun. I have met men and women both faster and slower both younger and older. I enjoy my time with my biking buddies. I feel very close to them. The young ones keep me fresh and the older ones keep me laughing. There is no better Sunday then riding 50 miles in a pace line with people who like to ride.

I am not sure what my goals for 2011 should be. Should I race more TTs, should I try crits, or just focus on the long rides? I don't know; but i really don't think it matters because while I like to win I am not focusing on winning races. Yet the coaches say goals matter so I can keep training and not get burnt-out, and while I know it's time to think about riding and what to accomplish while riding I really hate goal setting.

I have not been able to keep my weight down. My winter goal is 140. I am now 146/7; pass the pie please. Not terrible but the holiday food has been great and the wine has been fantastic. As my buddy Dennis says.."Ah the good life."
Those are my rambling thoughts. I appreciate your patience and readership over the years. I will be blogging less in 2011 and I hope you have a great 2011.

Its Inside Season Again

Campers; It is 8:00am and I am at VQC getting ready for a 3 hour indoor ride. I am strangely happy. This will be a no drop ride. I am in the 8 position. On the back row of 4 the 3 other riders are members of the grumpy old men. Dennis 63, Ted 61, and Mean Gene 65 who can kick my butt. On the front row, in no particular order is Scott, Mark, Heidi and Glenn. I am the 4th or 5th best rider of the group. Scott and Mark and lights years ahead of me. I hope to keep Gene in my sights and Heidi and Glenn are my rabbits.

But strength and position do not matter. I will ride my ride, I hope to average 135-140 watts for the 3 hours, and I know I may lack speed but I have endurance.

3 Beep, 2 Beep, 1 Beep the ride starts. It's the Swiss TT course displayed on 56" LCD computrainer screen at the front of the room. Initially we are tightly bunched together then quickly we hit the first hill and the group separates. Heidi and Glenn start pushing each other, Scott and Mark are ahead and I am following smiling because place, speed, power and ability do not matter. This is an indoor Sunday ride and all that matters is time and average watts. I know I will be the last one on the bike 3 hours later.

3 hours later I am still here riding. My average watts are 141. Everyone else has quit. I am in 2nd place just because I have endurance. I have watched 2 movies, consumed 4 GUs and drank 4 bottles of water. I am done; another Sunday finished. It was fun riding even in a no drop group. It's not California but the benefit is the camaraderie. Thus the inside season has begun. Not a bad beginning.

Back Pain Update

I have been absent from this blog for way to long, so here is an update: about 6 weeks ago I blew-out my back doing a stupid move just before I went on a ride. To add insult to injury I rode hard for two days and that just made the injury worse. Now it's 6 weeks later and I am not 100%.

In an effort to get as much info as possible, and heal as quickly as possible, I asked everyone under the sun what I should do. I consulted with 2 chiropractors, Dr. Larry Kahn and Dr. Osar, Jason Schisler at VQ, and the pain mavens at MYO Pain, Sharon & Mary. Basically they said the road to recovery is long, 8-12 weeks, and that I had injured a disc that strained some muscles or perhaps it was the other way around. No one had a good reason as to why it happened except that these things happen as you age, ach, and I should treat the injury carefully.

Dr. Osar had the best insight saying that as a person ages their discs become more brittle. Also because most people sit at desks and are hunched over their discs get use to being 1 way, hunched. As athletes, we work on flexibility. As we become more flexible we stress body parts that do not want to change their position so injury occurs. He said I need to take care over the next few weeks but that I can ride. However I also need to work on reverse-flexibility by doing reverse stretches, lunges and core strength. (Reverse flex is just doing Cobra, supported lunges and side stretches. These stretches have really helped me heal quickly.)

So where am I today, you ask? After 8 weeks and many sessions with chiropractors and massage therapists, I am still in pain but it is manageable. I no longer take daily doses of Advil and I am riding. When the pain gets too bad I am usually working to hard and I back off. The bad news is that I am still in pain. The worse news is that i lost some muscle mass and aerobic fitness.

BUT the good news is; I am riding. If there is a moral to the story it is that stuff happens and when it does get the best care possible, give yourself time to heal and be patient. (These are not my strong points.) So I am on the mend and you can now look for me on the road again I am happy to say.

How Not to End Your Cycling Season

I have had a great cycling season. I rode hard and increased my overall performance by 8 t0 10%. I am ahead of last years total miles and last year was a pr. I was looking forward to the off/cyclocross season when it happened.

I was getting on my bike for a fun submax. I dropped a shoe cover and bent down to pick it up. All of a sudden a white hot bolt of pain shot through my back. I could not stand and I had a hard time catching my breath. Eventually the pain subsided and I was able to get on my bike and complete the ride. However, the pain has been getting worse and today, 3 days later, I can hardly stand. The chiropractor said it was time to take it easy. Actually, after a very careful exam, he said that at my age, yuck yuck, I should be glad I did not blow out a disc.

What is a biker to do? I will do the easy, supposedly rehabbing exercises that were given to me, I will continue to take massive amounts of Advil and take it easy. Not riding is booooooring. I miss riding on beautiful days like today. But my hip has had enough.

So think of me and ride hard. I am here inside watching the Bears.

The Dog Days of Summer

It's towards the end of summer and I am having a hard time staying focused. I have been racing training and sweating all summer and I am feeling mentally fatigued and gimpy legged. The 4Man TT looms mid-Sept and then fall, cyclecross and the indoor season.

My goal for the rest of the summer is to train hard. My problem is focus. By now all the roads look the same and the workouts are bleeding into one large effort. I do not think I am suffering from over-training. I think I am suffering from "the same old thing." So my goal is to breath newness into my rides.

I hereby resolve: To do at least 1 new ride every week. To stop and smell the roses on recovery rides, every ride does not have to be a pound fest, and to smile when I ride. (Ruth says I am looking way to serious.)

There you have it: I will stress less and enjoy more. Have a fun rest of the season. See you at Starbucks sipping a latte.

Why I Ride

I have just spent 7 days of a 14-day vacation riding. I rode in Amalfie, Venice, and Borso del Grappa. I did a ton of climbing and got to prove to myself, once again, that I can ride. I will not be winning many races but I can climb, (not like a mountain goat more like a lumbering bear) and I also remembered that I have enough skills to keep up with faster riders. (Drafting covers nicely for lack of talent.) I rode with friends whose riding ability I respect and whose riding ability I could depend on, which allowed me to ride more assertively. I had a great week of riding. I love to ride. I love espresso. I love seeing new sights.

I am truly sad that I am returning to Evanston and that I am not able to ride in exotic locations all the time. I am also having a truly schizophrenic moment. I have a minor regret that I am not a professional rider. The greatest part of bike camp is being treated like a pro. I know, I know it’s the riding that’s the key. However I am a real competitor. I like to win. Realistic expectations suck.

On the other hand winning is not why I ride. I derive great pleasure watching friends ride away with a win. Yet there is no better high then conquering a mountain, establishing a new personal record, or beating a goal that you thought was unattainable.

Simply, the juice is worth the squeeze. That is why I ride. Look for me in Chicago. I am doing intervals.

See you on the road

JAM’s Rules for Biking in Italy.

1. Italians are used to bikers and as long as you ride predictably you will be safe. Well, mostly safe.

2. Everyone rides in Italy, young old and in-between. Most bikes are clunkers but don’t be fooled, the people riding them can ride fast.

3. Don’t forget: Watch the Road.

a. Rules for a guy: the cute woman you are looking at that is wearing something very revealing, is staring at you because you are about to hit a parked car, a pedestrian, a moped, a bus or some other stationary object.

b. Rules for a woman: the cute shirtless guy with 6-pack abs is looking for you for the same reason.

4. Intersections with traffic flow devices, like yield signs stop lights (you see them in the US a lot) are:

a. Mandatory for cars;

b. Cautionary for mopeds;

c. Optional for bikes; and

d. Invisible to pedestrians.

5. Pedestrians have the right of way except to bicycles then it’s a scrum.

6. Mopeds go wherever and do whatever they want.

7. If you are going 1 way on a street and the cars are all parked against your direction and cars are driving toward you, do not assume that you are going the wrong way on a 1 way street. It seems that in some cases street direction is optional so always be alert.

8. If you are lost and ask for directions make sure you ask some one who waves their arms a lot. That way you can be entertained, as you are not following the conversation.

9. If you use a Garmin or other GPS device:

a. Make sure you know how to up-load maps before you leave the US. Do some dry runs to ensure you have the skill down pat.

b. Always, always double check the rout to make sure the GPS has not put you on a highway or other place you should not be. (In Italy bikes can go a lot of places where bikes can’t go in the US but that does not mean you want to be there.)

c. If at all feasible check out the routs by car first.

10. Biking in Italy is fun, many people ride, find a group and see if you can tag along. I have found being an American can be both helpful and indifferent to a peloton but as long as I can keep up the group is happy to have me.

Riding Venice to Stra.

Today’s ride was supposed to be a ride in the country. I could have done the 2009 Giro TT course on Lido again but I did not want the same boring circuit. Instead I chose to brave the local highways for a ride in the country. I woke early, slathered up with sun block, prepared my fluids, downloaded the rout to the Garmin and then started the long walk to the start. Bikes are not allowed on Venice streets because the streets are narrow and crowded. Venice streets are hectic and I can imagine that a bike would just complicate the matter. My wife and I are staying in the Ghetto so the walk is about 15mn to the only road. I tried to take my bike on a vaperato, the local water-bus, but I quickly learned that bikes are also banned from vaperatos.

The walk went quickly because I left early and the tourists were not out yet. Impressively the locals were going about their daily chores. I passed a small outdoor fish market and a green grocer. I could smell the anchovies and the other fish as they were being displayed for passing shoppers. I quickly passed the market and made my way to the train station where the road began.

Venice is on an island. It was strategically built on an island to help the inhabitants avoid the invading Goths and make it hard for tourists to escape. The road out is a 2k causeway that buses, trucks, mopeds, cars and bikes all share. When I reached the causeway I fired-up the GPS and prepared to leave. But I discovered that the download did not work. So I had to reprogram the stupid thing. AHHHHHHH what a pain. After 10mn the ride was laid in and off I went.

Riding a bike on a highway in Italy is a very different experience from riding on a busy street in the US. An Italian car is much smaller then a US car so there is plenty of room but the ride is still scary. Once I started I could not stop because there was no turnaround point; so I just pressed on. Since I was not able to prescreen the ride I was at the Garmin’s mercy. At the first turn the Garmin tried to put me on, what looked like a highway, so I changed the route; this put the Garmin in various phases of apoplexy. I pressed on with the new road made several wrong turns and finally found a way I deemed safe. The entire time I was looking for a safe ride the Garmin was freaking. (It turned out that if I followed the Garmin I would have had a safe fast ride but who knew?)

I finally found a nice ridable road. The cars, trucks and mopeds buzzed by but there was plenty of room and I felt safe. After 20ks I passed a local market. I pulled off and took a look. The market was very different from the French markets I saw last year. The goods were mostly clothing and the like. There were 2 cheese trucks and a caravan selling fish. All in all it was a nice local market and a fun diversion.

The market was about half way and I decided to turnaround in order to do some serious sightseeing in the afternoon. The ride was fast. It’s nice when everything is mostly flat. I was able to ride at a mid to high submax and enjoy myself. I did miss company and it was hard riding solo for 2 long hours but the countryside was pretty and there was the occasional biker going the other way.

The return went smoothly. I did get lost once or twice sending the Garmin into more convulsions but after extensive therapy it is doing better. The return ride on the causeway was still a nail biter and I was having some tension headaches on the ride. The traffic respected a cyclist but the ride was not fun.

Bottom line, I liked the countryside but riding to and from Venice is best left to races and not the casual ride. Next up are the Dolomites with my VQ buddies. 4 days of great riding preplanned routs. I can’t wait.