Sharing is Caring

I was on my bike last night doing my normal Monday night McCoy's ride, having a good time when from a car going the opposite direction came some angry words. I couldn't quite make out the complete sentence,  but I did hear "GET OFF........". I am going to assume  that he was saying something to the effect of us riding on the street. This is nothing new, this happens to every cyclist at least once in their life. My first thought is, "you @ss-hole, don't you know I have the right to ride on the street" and "the sideWALK is for WALKING". In this day and age of everything going green and gas prices hovering around $4.00 a gallon you would think there would be less people who react like this, but there is and they simply don't know that the road is to be shared, and they feel compelled to clue us in on traffic laws of which they have concocted in their ideal driving Utopia. These are the people who you need to watch out for when riding your bike. They are the ones who will go out of their way to make sure you understand that riding your bicycle on the street is not acceptable. The ones that see red and react before thinking things through. Of course as a cyclist we have a responsibility to behave and follow the traffic laws like everyone else. We must also share the road with motorists. I have seen plenty of cyclists setting a bad example. Pushing their way into traffic or riding two abreast with too wide a birth. Sharing the road is only becoming more and more common these days and whether you are a motorist or a cyclist, do everyone a favor and read up on the rules of the road.

Here is a link to some road rules for cyclists http://www.be-safe.org/css_com/bicycle/rules.html

Keep It Moving

Last weekend was spent moving. I took Friday off from work and my sister-in-law was in town to help. Kate is less than four weeks away from having the baby and her carrying things is not a good idea. We have moved to a part of town called "the historic northeast". The homes around here are older Victorian era homes. The surrounding areas are not the most desirable to live but this small pocket of a neighborhood is really awesome. We are renting a carriage house behind a large home. The main house was built in the 1890s and the carriage house was built in 1908. It is a really neat space and the best part is we have use of the fenced in yard for Sadie our dog. Sadie loves running off leash. We aren't completely finished with moving, we still have some stuff left in the old apartment but we have a couple of more weeks to get it all moved. I have to say that I woke up every day this weekend expecting to be sore from lifting and carrying things and it never came to be. I think cycling has saved my life. The new place is one block from cliff drive and I know that will become my new training ground. It has long flats and snake turn climbs. Plus I have moved further away from my routine training rides so I will be getting more miles in from the extra commute.

My training this last week has been less than desired but the time that I was able to dedicate to it was well used. Tuesday night Mark and I met another team mate Venasa in her neck of the woods(the west side) and we rode up every incline we could find. She has a routine that she does and wanted to share it with us and boy it was a doozie. It was one of those workouts where you feel like you have accomplished something.

This is Mark celebrating after finishing the workout

The view from up here is well worth the ride up.

Thursday night was fun too. I remember doing this ride for the first time August 2009. I had done a 12 mile ride the Monday before it and thought, "12 miles felt easy, heck I can do more". It was 98 degrees that evening and I was riding with the slower group(I didn't think they were all that slow). I was not only dropped hard but managed to get lost. My ride that night had a few extra lonely miles added on. I was telling Mark that story last night and he said that he was surprised that I decided to do the ride again. I told him that I had spent $800.00 on a new bike and was afraid of what my wife would say if I let the bike sit and collect dust. If she only knew how much my bike now costs. It is fun to see how much improvement I have made even in the last few months. It pays to continue to ride your bike in the winter. 

Surrender

I am really starting to enjoy this early morning training thing. You would be amazed how much you can get done before the sun comes up. Waking up at 5:15am to go and hurt yourself intentionally sounds a little masochistic yet I do it and I am happy afterwards. Wednesdays are my climbing days. We spend about 40-50 minutes riding up long and steady climbs. Going up,and then back down, going up, and then back down. I do have to admit that when I wake up, I spend a few seconds wondering what the hell I am doing up so early, and when my legs are burning I also ask myself why am I causing myself such pain? What is all this for? I am not a very competitive guy at all, although I am constantly reaching for that brass ring. Is it so I can prove it to myself? Is it the satisfaction of accomplishing something that I never imagined completing before? Is it as simple as the endorphins? I know that in the past I have never really stuck to anything I have done, I have always lost interest in any hobbie or "like". So why is cycling so different? And why did I decide to race even though I am not a competitive person? See that is part of the allure and magic of cycling, you will never quite figure it out and it will always tease you just enough to keep you intrigued. It is like a dance with your feelings and emotions, like chasing a hat blown away in the wind that is almost in your reach when the wind blows again. A grand champion once said of cycling that "it never gets easier, you just get faster". That is the truth in so many levels. The pain is always the same. I think the best answer is that the sooner you surrender to the pain the better it all seems. Stop fighting it, or asking questions and just accept the love and passion for what ever your love and passion is. Learn to love the pain and the inconvenience. At least that is what I will do.

Only to see you better with my dear

Some of you may have noticed the designer eye wear I have been wearing to race in, That is because they were the only sunglasses I had in the car at the time. You see I have to wear prescription glasses and I don't have the luxury of contact lenses. My astigmatism is a little higher and contacts would not offer me the same clear vision that eyeglasses do. This has been a problem for me since I was 15 years old and especially tough when it comes to sports, but I think I have found the closest thing to a solution as possible. In the past if I knew that I was going to be riding beyond sun down then I would wear me clear eyeglasses suffering through the sun and waiting for it to set and then I would be comfortable, but now through the magic of technology for the past few years they have been making aTransition lens that is also polarized. What is Transition and what is polarized you ask? Well, Transition is a lens that reacts to the suns u.v. rays and gets darker in higher u.v. and clear in low to no u.v., and polarized is a lens that helps to reduce surface glare at a 180 degree angle, like glare on pavement, windshields, water........ pretty much any glare that would bother you will the sun is out. So you know what this means, I can wear these from the minute I wake up to the minute I lay my head down to sleep. I do have to tell you that these lenses are called Drive wear and they don't go all the way clear, they have a slight yellowish tint to them when they are as clear as possible. See, these lenses were designed with driving in mind. Anyways, I did take it a step further and had these lenses in my prescription made and edged into an Oakley cycling specific frame. I am so excited that I can finally be comfortable all the time while riding my bike. So I am posting this for you fellow riders that suffer from the same. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Also understand that these lenses are not inexpensive, but like a set of carbon wheels, they have a very important purpose, they help us see better there for improve our reaction time and that is always important when all we have for protection is a helmet.

Oakley Jawbone-designed for cycling, it helps to reduce wind in the eyes so you don't tear up and can't see at higher speeds.

This morning also marked the beginning of a new routine for myself and my workout buddy Mark, we decided to try our hand at logging miles in the morning instead of at night. I was at his front door and ready to go at 5:45am and to my surprise he was ready to go as well. We rode for about 50 minutes and got a nice long climb in. The climb was 10 minutes of the ride. We plan on making this our regular Wednesday morning thing. I have to tell you, it is an awesome way to start the day, better than coffee.

44-36-28

This weekend started off with yoga Saturday morning at Volker Velowerx in the Crossroads district of Kansas City. If you have never done Yoga and would like to feel free to join us Saturday mornings  beginning at 8a.m., $5.00 donations for the instructor would be greatly appreciated. The stretches and poses are geared towards cyclist and the areas where we tend to hold a lot of tension, or where we need to strengthen for cycling. We spent an hour doing this and I felt so relaxed when we finished.

After Yoga we all got on our bikes and went out for a 1 hour ride. I got stuck at a light and was dropped so I decided to take a nice relaxing stroll instead of trying to catch back up to everyone. It was a beautiful morning.
The rest of the day was spent packing boxes as Kate and I are moving in two weeks and she being pregnant is afraid that she will be of no use then.


Perry


If you are wondering about the title if this post, it is not my locker combination but my results for the series. I know it looks like I managed to improve from 44th to 28th by the end of the series but the truth is that less and less people showed up each and every week.

Sunday was the third and final race of the Perry Dam series. We arrived to the course at about 9:00 and the race was to start at 10:05am. The weather was beautiful, a little cool, around 60 degrees. The one down side was that there was a very strong wind from the south. We decided to do one lap to warm up and to see what the wind was like and what role it would play in the race. The wind was blowing just right to help on the climb and down the dam. Unfortunately this also helps everyone else up the climb and down the dam. This week was to be 6 total laps at 5 miles a piece. The whistle blew and I was fifth guy from the front on the inside. My teammate Mark was on the outside parallel with me.



This photo was taken by Roger @ Lantern Rouge



We were about half way across the dam on the first lap when I noticed the first break away, two guys from the same team jumped off the front with the two guys in front of me and Mark also from the same team slowing the pace so the the break could get larger. The problem with that attempt is that it was only two guys and the wind was blowing like crazy so once the route turned into the wind we caught them. Mark, I still think we should have jumped with them and tried to hold everyone else off with 4 of us working together. I was only able to truly hold on for one lap this time. My teammate Brian who not only went on to win the days race but also won King of the Mountain is a an extremely strong climber and set the pace up the first climb and I just couldn't hold the same speed. I was pretty much alone for most of the race managing to pass a person here or there but never really feeling too strong for the day. I was inside my head too much psyching myself out. Not really pushing myself, more like just finishing the race. I had a lot of lower back pain again and that consumed my every thought. So my plan for this week is to get back on and keep logging more miles and peppering in some hill intervals and maybe some sprint intervals.

As you can tell I am a little disappointed with my results this week. I thought I would have done better.  No worries, I just have to work harder.





Turning a Corner

Growing up in South Florida is a little like living in a bad dream, and what I mean by this is that the weather never really changes. It is always hot and usually sunny. The temperature change from summer to winter is a difference of maybe 10 degrees. The funny thing is that on the rare 50 degree day you see the natives donning their coats, scarfs, gloves, and hats. Although I can't fully make fun of these people as I was one of them for many years. Now when it warms up to 50 degrees I leave the coat at home and wear a short sleeve shirt. This morning it was 60,humid,and a nice breeze coming from the south, it felt like spring to me. This lets me know that better warmer weather is around the corner. Now that I experience four seasons I can fully appreciate the warm weather.

 My training and motivation has improved as well. A couple of nights ago I went out for an hours worth of hill intervals. Fortunately I live in an area that has many long and steady hills that are perfect for training. I tell you, I am going to conquer this climbing thing.

Comfort Zones

I had a pretty productive weekend. Saturday Kate and I spent the whole day in a Child Birthing class. This class was awesome, I learned that I(birthing coach) have a large roll to play in the birthing process. Whenever you watch a movie or a T.V. show, it shows the husband in a character of a weak knee'd chump who doesn't either want to be bothered with the process or is passing out from the blood. This couldn't be further from the truth. I learned that I will be a huge influence on Kates' state of mind throughout the entire labor. Assisting to keep her calm and comfortable. I can't wait for this day to come. Society has found a way to make sex casual but there is no way of making this experience casual. This is THE ultimate bonding experience between two people who love each other. That or she will yell at me the whole time blaming me for putting her through all that pain. Will keep you posted on the results.


Now let's talk Perry Lake race 2

I had a better race this week. I still finished way back, but I feel like I accomplished more in this race than in the first. For example in the first race I was dropped on the climb at the end of the first lap and spent 3 laps all by my lonesome. Race #2 I managed to stay with the pack for 2 and a half laps. Yes that meant that I had to stay with the pack after 2, yes count them, 2 complete climbs. This race had 5 laps and so I only spent 2.5 laps out of the protection of the peleton. 

       The picture above is proof of me still with the peleton nearing the end of the climb on the first lap. I am in the back but staying right there with them.


I felt much stronger this week but I also had the confidence to push myself further out of my comfort zones. I made myself hurt. Not a bad hurt, but a good I am accomplishing something hurt. Cycling is not only about fitness but I truly believe it is about our individual pain tolerance thresholds. Some people have the confidence to get closer to the edge and sustain it longer than others, they can bare the pain and look past it knowing that no matter how much it hurts, they aren't going to remember the pain once the goal they are trying to accomplish is completed. This is one of the many reasons why I ride and race bicycles, for the learning experiences that you can only come accross when you are pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.