Watts what you say.

If you haven't gotten a power meter yet... go get one. Although I've been using a power meter for over a year now, this year I am using it much more effectively. Almost every ride so far in my Base 1, 2, and 3 has been downloadable; I even have the extra bike mount on my fixed gear so I can download the ride data minus the power. So far I've noticed a pretty dramatic increase in average power output in my zone 2... I've essestially gone from averaging 185-195 watts to 220+ watts per ride (while riding longer!). With the use of the power meter, I've been able to get the most out of my workouts; focusing on quality over quantity.

Speaking of quality, the weather has been top notch lately. Yesterday was no exception. Aside from being one of the rare days in which I've been able to ride in the middle of the day (as well as ride with a fully glycogen charged liver!), the weather was beautiful, I actually got to ride with bare arms for a bit and feel the wind in my hair ( no hat or nuthin'!).

So while out enjoying my ride, I get stopped by a Montgomery County deputy. Great... Well, actually I had already stopped at a truck stop and he just wanted to talk about bikes. Louie just picked up a Madone SL at the Blacksburg shop and just loves bikes. I had a chuckle when he said my bike looks like it's set up for climbing; only because it's not that light, and it's set up as a crit bike. Sometimes simple things make me laugh.

In other news, I'm hoping to make a trip home to the coast this weekend, and meet up with the team (Casey Auto Groups/JRVS) for the Sunday morning ride in Williamsburg. It's sure to be a shock to the system as I heard from Cam that they did 50 miles in 2:14... I guess they forgot it's January.

that's all for now... maybe more later.

Giggidy.

It's Saturday... a rare day for me to be working. No biggie. The question being how do I squeeze a 3 hour training ride in, work at 9:30, and somehow manage to not intrude on my evening with Katie. Solution? I'm glad I have lights. Gotta love HID lights... they're pretty bright, and cars look at you as if you're some Unknown Rolling Object. At 5:30 am, I awoke to find the temperature 10+ degrees warmer than the weather forecast anticipated... definately a good start. I ate, showered, and prepared to head out the door.

I have to say, 38 degrees with calm wind seemed quite balmy compared to the latest tren of low 30's and 20-40mph winds. My plan was to ride the Bradshaw Rd. loop, and theen continue on to work; which worked out great as I arrived to work at 9:30 on the dot. Oh yeah... due to a generous grant, I'm rolling on brand new DuraAce 10 speed ( much nicer than my used D/A 9). As I rolled out of the driveway, I calibrated my PowerTap (a fairly usual occurence). Anyways, as the sun came up, I was surprised to see my power output higher than norm, but the heart rate right in zone 2. Good stuff indeed.

It was a fairly uneventful ride... although it was neat seeing the sunrise twice. Let me explain... there was the initial sunrise, and then I rounded a mountain that then blocked the sun (all though there was already plenty of ambient light for the second). As I pulled into work, I was happily surprised that my 3 hour ride resulted in an average of 224 watts. Good stuff. Needless to say, I'm glad the Subway next door opens at 9, because I was famished! Oh yeah... I forgot to mention somewhere out near Ironto the temperature must've fallen 10 degrees. Quite chilly. When I got to work, Dave asked if I was cold or bonking... he couldn't really tell. I think I finally warmed up sometime around 12:30. Of course it's 62 degrees now outside, and I'm inside at work.

*this entry (like most) has not been proofread and is laregly the product of a stream of unconsciousness.

A Bit O' Rest

This past week was a rest week. A very convenient rest week. A very stressful week. Perhaps I didn't get quite as much rest as I would have liked... no biggie. Aside from some nasty weather early in the week, an extremely disappointed eye examination, and attending Trek University Thursday, we had the first Annual East Coaster's staff retreat at Mountain Lake in Giles County, Virginia.

Mountain Lake is a beautiful resort. You may recall it from the movie Dirty Dancing. We were holed up in a relatively new 4 bedroom chalet that was quite nice. The resort would make an excellent location for a team training camp.... just be prepared for some climbing. I opted not to join Cole in riding up the mountain Sunday; being firmly entrenched in Zone 2 Base 3, I've been avoiding mountains like the dentist (except when i went to Wintergeen). Nevertheless we had a good staff retreat, getting both the Roanoke and Blacksburg shops on the same page.

Trek University was very informative. Beefed up from last year, the emphasis was less on the technical aspect of mechanics, and more about the Trek/Lemond/Fisher/Bontrager product lines and what Trek is doing to maintain and improve on its status as the best brand in cycling. I was disappointed on the lack of Klein content, but that came as no surprise. I really enjoyed seeing everyone from BikeBeat; it was almost like a family reunion, many of whom I've known for many years.

Well. that's all for now. The race season is fast approaching. Go ride your bike.

Titanium Boron Steel

So today I worked on a Huffy that had a top tube decal reading "Titanium Boron Steel". Interesting indeed. I'd like to see a Huffy, or any bike that contains all three materials. Titanium, I like the feel of a sweet Ti bike. Steel is real, gotta love the feel (make mine Reynolds 853 or TruTemper OXII please). As for Boron, I've never ridden a bike enhanced by Boron... although Lance has. If you have heard about Lance's Madone 5.9SSLx... it may be a cool read. Trek used Boron in the bottom bracket to increase the stiffness (efficiency) of the frame greatly.

ANYWAYS... this was the last big week of my Base 2 period. Next week is a rest period, and then I head into Base 3. Soon... soon I will be fast. This weekend was definately a surprise... for me and Coach Cam. I can feel that my endurance training is coming along nicely. I had to work pretty hard to get into and stay in Zone 2. Not overly hard, but anytime I slacked off the heartrate dropped like a rock. I was pretty happy, I was able to average 215 watts (gotta love riding into 30mph headwinds) Saturday and 213 Sunday. Good stuff. I also felt like I was training in Belgium... pouring rain, temp sin the low 40's Wednesday (my PowerTap didn't like that so much); 30-50mph winds on Saturday blowing snow and sleet as the windchill was below the dew point; and just a tough ride that felt like drudgery on Sunday as my Base 2 came to a close.

That's all for now... I'm looking forward to a well deserved rest week and the opportunity to see friends and family as I head home for business Wednesday night and Thursday.

Breaking the silence.

So I haven't been very good at updating my blog. My apologies. I hope you haven't missed me. Nevertheless, the only excuse I can come up with is lack of time. Things have been pretty busy around here, waking up early to train, go to work, get home, eat dinner, go to bed. Far from a monastic approach to life, but definately at times a bit blitzing. As for the house, it has really developed a "homey" feel. The cats are settled in... although they don't get to go outside nearly as much as they'd like, as it turns out our neighbor is an animal lover and feeds stray cats every morning. Needless to say, I'm not too crazy about that, I don't need Target and Walker coming under the influence of the Sharks or the Jets... or whatever the neighborhood stray cat gang is.

As for training, it's going well. Today I got in my 3 hours... albeit a very wet (did I say wet?) and cold 3 hours through communities that influenced Deliverence. Sunday I headed out to Wintergreen for a 3 hour ride before meeting my cousin Ryan for a full day of snow boarding. After cranking up Reed's Gap only top find parts of the Parkway impassable I descended back down to Rte 151 at the base of the mountain. Despite living in the mounatin I really dislike climbing (except for Mill Mounatin & 12:00 Knob), but I LOVE descending. At the bottom while contently cruising down Rte 151 I ran into some friends from back home. Teammate David Rushing and the father and son duo of Peter & Stephen Deisle drove out for some hill work. They were more surprised to see me than I was them (I think)... afterall, why would I drive out to the mountains to ride by myself when I live in the mounatins? I tagged along for a while, governing my efforts up Boblet's Gap, then bombing the twisty descent before separating at the base of the stupidly steep Wintergreen ascent. Kinda cool, I got to break the monotony of riding alone with the pleasure of riding with friends from home. Anyways... I'll apologize for the lack of congruency of this post... I'm pretty tired. Until next time.

Paris Roubaix

Quick update on the training. I've finally recovered from the move, and finally settling down. Conveniently, this week is a rest week... so lots of zone 1 recovery for me. I heard on the radio this morning that the National Weather Service is now predicting this to be a colder and uglier weather than the warmer winter they initially predicted. Go figure... Oh well, so with morning temperatures in the low 20's... no amount of motivation is getting me out on the road. Besides, trainers are good for something... a good stability workout since you don't have wind resistance helping to hold you up. At least I've been doing a pretty good amount of core work, so it's not too much of a shock to the system. Last night I was able to get my hands on a Tivo'd copy of Paris Roubaix. I'd love to ride that race one day (notice I said ride and not race!). That kind of race is right up my alley. The final sprint was pretty exciting after not seeing it since April. Tom Boonen is the man... and what a fantastic year he had at that! Flanders, Roubaix, a stint in the Green Jersey, and the World Championships in Madrid (not to mention many other wins)... and he's only 24. Anyways... I spun away on the trainer in zone 1 at a comfortable cadence of 100-105... it definitely seemed more difficult than riding zone 1 on the road. Tonight I may ride rollers instead.

Wow... what a week... whirlwind runabout

Okay... I've been neglecting the blog of late. The past week has been pretty crazy. Over the weekend we finally moved into our house. The house is cozy, and the lot is expansive with a deep wooded lot... hopefully the cats will really appreciate it. We spent the night on the aerobed Friday night in a house empty except for a few of our boxes, we decided to take the cats with us. Target and Walker didn't really appreciate the change... with none of their usual hiding places or furniture, they more or less freaked out. Up all night meowing, balling, and howling... Target the electronically gifted cat somehow recorded himself meowing for 30 seconds on our answering machine. If you can imagine a 30 second string of "MeOwwww... MeOwwww.." to the effect of "HELP... HELPPP...", you would imagine a sleepless night. My plan for the morning of the move was to sneak in a couple zone 2 hours on the bike. I awoke from my 2 hour slumber far from refreshed and quite zombified. We picked up the ubiquitous U-Haul truck and awaited the arrival of my parents and cousin. My Dad utilized his Ph.D. and lowered 95% of all the boxes over the railing. Our apartment steps are REALLY steep, I impressed my cousin Ryan into manual labor; the two of us fanagaling all of the really heavy and big stuff down the steep and narrow stairway. By the end of the day, we got everything moved, had an enjoyable dinner at the local Schezuhaun restaurant and called in a night.

Saturday night, our first official night at the house, I slept like a rock. It was great.

Sunday, I ordered Peanut Butter pancakes on a whim at the local Pancake House. Pretty good... but make sure you have plenty of water on hand. Basically, they were a stank of 6 big pancakes with a hearty helping of Peanut Butter smothering each layer. Quite filling... I skipped lunch. After Ryan left, we visited the boys(Target & Walker) at Katie's parents' house, then got our Christmas Tree. I've never had a real tree before... I'm glad my allergies aren't what the used to be. The scent is powerful, but full of holiday spirit. Katie did a great job decking the tree with lights and ornaments. After getting the tree up, I took off on a late afternoon--->twilight bike ride. It was pretty chilly and very windy; and I was tired, very tired. The proposed 3 hour zone 2 steady turned into a meandering 3 hour zone 1, with teases of zone 2 during the second half. It flurried here and there... which was nice. Oh, and it was my first time riding an old purple LeMond steel frame I built up for Katie's Dad... only now decked out with full fenders! Gotta love the ride of steel... and the clanging of fender supports when you lose a bolt mid ride (thank goodness for the ipod). Anyways, to avoid being long-winded, a highlight was having to walk a iced over climb. Good times.

Sunday night... slept like a rock again.

Monday... I really don't remember Monday very well, I was a zombie.

Tuesday. See Monday, although the Boys finally came home, and were much more at ease this time.

As for training, this has been a waste of a week for me. My body feels wasted and exhausted, so I've been focusing on trying to rest. The weather is still 10 degrees below average for this time of year, and we're expecting another winter snow/ice/freezing rain blast tonight into tomorrow. I really wish riding the trainer didn't require more motivation than I have right now; but as soon as I'm rested again, I look to get back on track. Finally... here's a picture from the Mill Mountain Time Trial (thanks to www.buffalo2step.com).

Trying to Stay Healthy & More Gift Ideas

After just a few days of base training in the elements, crud has decided to take up residence in my lungs. My solution? Back off just a bit, increase the vitamin uptake, use my bronchial inhalers, and some decongestant to knock it out. I hope to be back outdoors and on two wheels tomorrow morning! So far lately the weather has been COLD... add on top of that a windchill... just have to stay motivated. In other news, we've been able to revise my training program a bit. My intial first planned peak was a bit early, with news of the rescheduling of the Casey Auto Crit, I can now fit three solid base periods in. Watch out.

As for more gifts ideas, here are a few more options:

Oakley Zero sunglasses - First seen in the 2004 Tour, I decided that I needed to check them out. Excellent for timetrialing, as they have no rims to block your field of vision. I like usuing them for all sorts of riding/racing though. They have excellent peripherial vision, the usual Oakley optics, and SUPERLIGHT & COMFORTABLE. Want to be more svetle, go for the Zero S's. I like them better than my tried and true M Frames.

Cycleops Power Tap SL - Power to the people! This handy device is a training cyclists' best tool. Measure, power, speed, cadence, heartrate, and kilojoules... then download the ride to your computer to dissect your ride. Takes training to the next level. The upgrades over the Power Tap Pro are enough to warrant the higher price. Gone are the drive side loose bearing, in their place are high quality cartridge bearings. Aside from being lighter weight, the unit is much more water/weather resistant. I have my laced to a Mavic Open Pro rim. Other great options include the new DT Swiss rims, or the Bontrager Race X Lite Aero. Of course you can also have Zipp or Nimble build you a sweet set of Carbon race wheels with one of these babies too (Serious $$$$$).

LeMond Fillmore - Get 'em a nice fixed gear that feels like a road bike. The Fillmore features tradition LeMond road geometry couple with horizontal dropouts, plus front and rear brakes. Hardcore fixed gear riders may turn their noses at rear brakes, but I'm not ashamed of mine (especially hitting 45+ mph on Sugarloaf Mountain). The stock gearing my be a bit tall; I've got mine set up with a 39x16 (~64"). Also of note, the Bontrager Select track wheels feature cartridge bearings and the new Bontrager outboard bearing cranks. I've even gone so far to set up my extra Power Tap wiring harness so I can download and keep track of my fixie training rides.

Craft Thermal Bike Jacket - Nice, warm, and red. I've used in below freezing and in the low 40's. Couple this with the Craft baselayers in the stocking, and your cyclist will have an exceptionally comfortable time training in the cold. I run mine with a Craft baselayer and a jersey underneath. A big bonus are the four rear pockets (one zippered), combined with my jersey gives me plenty of storage space for long rides.

More to come later!

Christmas Ideas for the Cyclist

I've been thinking about compliling a list of suggested gifts for cyclists. Not for me though, these are all products that I use and bestow the official "Frank the Tank Seal of Approval" to. The "FTSA" was an idea intially kicked around in the summer/fall of '04 as an inside joke of sorts to the BikeBeat webmaster Chris N. Nevertheless, I have once again dusted off the idea and officially making it a real thing. For my initial list, here are some Stocking Stuffers: (only requirement being that they fit in a stocking)

Craft Pro Longsleeve baselayer - This lightweight wonder is great in cold temperatures. For instance, I used this with great success on this past Saturday's epic "I got sleeted on ride". The Pro baselayer, a Nike Dri-fit jersey, and a Craft Thermal bike jacket kept my upper body cozy and comfortable for the duration of the ride (except after stopping and starting for a snack break, but that doesn't count). For REALLY cold days, the Craft Active Wool baselayer should be considered.

Ziploc "Snack Size" bags - Simply put, just the right size for a handful of fig newtons, or a cell phone/ID/money clip. If you choose these as a stocking stuffer... at least put something in a couple bags of some value (be it nutrional, monetary, or intrinsic).

Craft Tempest Gloves - Another shameless plug for Craft. For the previous 10 years, I'd been relying on some well-worn Pearl Izumi Pittard thermal gloves. My PI's unfortunately reached a tragic fate as I saw them blow off the top of my car at 50mph. Life goes on... recently I discoverd the Tempest gloves; I like them a lot. They fit a hair loose, leaving room for liners on the really cold days, and feature windblock material on the back of the hand for added cool-weather coolness.

Trek Disco Tech Tail Light - An affordable tailight with loads of visibility. This thing is getting A LOT of use this time of year.

Bontrager Gel Cork Tape - I'm using this on my road bikes and mountain bike. This stuff is great! Wraps easily, comes with plenty of length for making it nice n' cushy. Plus it's tacky not adhesive backed like other tape. Properly wrapped I've had no unravelling problems.

That's all for now... I'll update the other categories soon enough, and may tack a few extra stuffers on this list. The Craft items can be ordered through ~99.9% of U.S. bicycle retailers. The Trek and Bontrager items are available EXCLUSIVELY at your local Trek dealer. Tis the season to tip your mechanic!

What a Buzzkill/Bi-polar weather

I lost both of the Bontrager Buzzkills in my handlebar today. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something orange zip by; it didn't faze me. If you haven't tried them, try them out... they're pretty cheap, and may only have a placebo effect... but so what? I'm not a weight weenie anyways. This weekend's ride schedule featured a couple 2.5 hour rides. For some reason, I rode the same route two days in a row. However, they were like two completely different rides. Saturday was chilly, and there was rain in the forecast Saturday night. I got started shortly before 3pm with the temperature in the upper 30's. No biggie. As I trudged up the very long false flat climb up Bradshaw road, the temperature dropped, and the precipitation began. Sleet, very tiny sleet... just in time for a loooong gradual downhil at 30+mph (gotta keep the watts and HR in the right zone!). Needless to say, I was relieved to have been wearing my clear glasses at the time. As I reached the midway point of the ride, the sleet was at its heaviest, as I turned back towards town on US460, the temperature began to rise a bit; as a result, I was looking at mixed precipitation. Remarkably I was able to stay quite warm Saturday, with the exception of my uncovered ears. I enjoyed the ride, and returned home happy
Sunday's ride was very different, instead of the 30's, the temperature hovered in the 50's. Quite a change, also, Bradshaw Rd. had a pretty nasty headwind the ENTIRE way (which isn't that unusual). As I mentioned earlier, I lost my Buzzkills; next time I'll try setting them in with hairspray. It was strange only needing kneewarmers, armwarmers, and a vest (I used a Craft S-3 Baselayer with windblock in place of the vest), as it has been pretty cold here the past few weeks, and almost all of my riding of late has been either early in the morning or late at night. As I neared town, my legs began to ache... something I'm not really used to, but a result of my first week of base coupled with weight work. So far I remain motivated and very optimistic. That's all for now, more later if I have time.

new wool hat

I got a new wool hat last night. Picked it up at Eddie Bauer, or as Bryan calls it, "Eddie Bover". Don't ask me why. The hat is pretty cool-or warm actually, it's wool, and grey. I've been wearing it much of the day; although not because of its newness, but rather to keep my head warm. I'm trying to get into the habit of as soon as I finish a sub 60 degree ride, the hat goes on the head. Why? Simply to keep my head from cooling off too rapidly and to thwart sickness! Who knows though, with the Avian flu now in America, we may be all walking/riding around with masks. Anyways, not too much to report today kinda tired, but I'll be riding the fixied gear home. Good times.

quick update

A quick update, that road that seemed to meander as a country road wasn't quite what I had hoped. Sure enough after just enough to tease you, it ends abruptly as it tuens up and into a very hilly (very steep!) nice neighborhood. Oh well, it's pretty dang scenic even if it is short lived. It really reminded me of being in Farmville again. The road riding is pretty dang golden in the Heart of Virginia; believe it or not.

Day 2 of the Base

This morning went pretty well. Day 2 of my Base 1 period and I'm brimming with confidence. Maybe it was that the sun was out this morning, or that I'm a bit ignorant to just how much riding I have ahead of me over the next 8 weeks. Oh well, this morning just felt good. I awoke to find the temperature to be a balmy 10 degrees higher than weather.com predicted when I checked before bed; a good omen indeed. Living in the mountains, especially as a born and bred flatlander, is challenging when you're looking for a steady effort... hills make yopu have to focus on not going too hard up them, and then going hard enough down them to maintain the proper heartrate zone. As always, my coach knew exactly what my Zone 2 wattage range is... brilliance at work. I did get to race a train this morning. Twice. The first encounter, the crossing arms lowered, then mysteriously raised up as I approached. I gave the driver of the truck on the opposite side of the tracks an awkward shrug of the shoulders as I rolled across the tracks in bewilderment, he was confused too. Needless to say, as soon as we crossed, the arms lowered back down. The Roanoke River meanders through the Wabun area, so watching the train hug the steep river banks across from me, I knew we'd meet again. Sure enough I had to truck it up a steep hill, and sneak through the crossing arms as the train bore down torwards me a second time. For a ways we paralleled along the road, until finally I went left, and the tracks veered right. Woohoo. Aside from that, another highlight was riding a road not too far from our soon-to-be new house that I can't wait to explore... it seems to meander as a narrow pastoral state road; but we'll see. Tomorrow will bring a cornucopia of workouts. I wee bit-o-running, a romp around the weight room working on my core and legs, and then a 1.5 hour ride on the fixie. I love riding the fixed gear. This morning was the first time in a month I rode the geared bike on the road after a bunch of fixed gear riding. Took me a few minutes to re-acclimate. On that note... I noticed after my considerable work in the gym, most notably on the core, that I'm feeling more stable that ever on the bike. Watching my shadow, my upper body was motionless. Victoire! Giggidy, Giggidy, Goo.

Base 1

Good stuff, I began my official Base 1 workouts today. Lots of time on the bike at a low intensity; but like Cam said, "It's like money in the bank". Today however was a washout... it's been raining for the better part of 2.5 days now, so today was spent indoors on the trainer. Mmmm... stuffy lifelessness on the trainer. I had iTunes playing some alt country rock n' roll for a bit until Happy Days on WGN and King of the Hill came on the local Fox affiliate to shake things up and add something other than boredom to the mix. Yeah yeah... Happy Days. What can I say... "Heeyyyyy...." If only I were as cool as the Fonz. Nevertheless, after an hour of riding nowhere, I threw in the towel (which was drenched in sweat due to lack of ventilation in the room). Tonight it's to the gym to work the core, should be in and out. In other news, I hope to get some pictures up here pretty soon. I hope the weather cooperates tomorrow so I can get outside for some zone 2 trainin'. Giggidy.

Welcome

Hmmm... first post... sitting at work... hmmm... I think I'll write a real thing sooner or later.