RACING GREEN

Dang that was a lot

2009-09-20T19:28:00.002-06:00

of driving. Shay and I just got back from the boy only road trip. Three days 1,000+ miles, five national parks (plus a state park), small motels and bad coffee.

Shay is now officially a junior ranger at 9 national parks (including monuments etc). Who would have guessed that eastern Wyoming, Nebraska and South Dakota would allow us to see so much in such a short period of time. We left Denver at 7:00 am Friday, went to Scotts Bluff NM and Fort Laramie NHS on Friday (plus driving the rest of the way to SD). Saturday was a long loop with tours and Wind Cave NP. A sweet cave to tour plus bison all around. A drive through Custer State Park (and hundreds of bison and donkey on the road) too bad no Junior Ranger program. Final stop of the the day was Mount Rushmore. It may be a little Disney Land like (gift shops, avenue of flags etc.) but the actual stone work is impressive and worth the effort to get there.

Sunday was long, up early to hike around and take a cave tour and Jewel Cave NM and then a 6 hour drive back to Denver.

The best part of the trip, three days chilling with Seamus being boys. I'd rather have better food and good coffee (hell this morning I didn't even have coffee since no place was open in Custer) but the quality time was worth the bad provisions.

South Dakota

2009-09-17T19:26:00.003-06:00

Racing season ends and the blog slows down. Tomorrow morning I head out on a road trip to Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota. Why you may ask, and the answer is National Parks. Scotts Bluff, Fort Laramie, Wind Cave, Jewel Cave and Mount Rushmore.

This road trip is boys only. Me and Seamus on the road, checking out some new terrain.

Maybe a report or two from the road, maybe not.

August 21

2009-08-21T20:44:00.002-06:00

is my favorite day of the year. Thanks Seamus. No racing this weekend, haven't raced since Laramie and training has been off an on. The last race of the year is next Saturday, August 29. After that a few weeks off, train for Texas, a few weeks off, train for 2010.

Man racing seasons go fast. School's started. It is cold when riding in the morning, in another two weeks it will still be black when I leave the house to ride.

Summer Vacation

2009-08-16T19:11:00.003-06:00

Me and Shay at Delicate Arch.

The last week has been full of adventure, some of it fit to print, some of it that will not make the blog (ever). We took a family vacation, hitting the vacation Mecca’s of Moab and Salt Lake. Seamus has been on a quest to visit National Parks and Moab offers two of the best with Arches and Canyonlands. Throw in a visit to Timpanogos Cave near Salt Lake and you can bag three Junior Ranger badges, visit the mother in law and…well like I said not all adventures will be printed.
The Junior Ranger badge is a cool little thing the NPS has going to get kids (and parents) to learn about the parks they are visiting. Seamus has a few now and is really becoming a great outdoorsman. We did a sundown hike to Delicate Arch, hiked to a few locations in Canyonlands and did the Timpanogos Cave tour. For an eight year old kid I was impressed with Seamus, he’ll hike all day, never complain and want to lead the way the entire time. He is also paying attention. I taught him about Cairns at Delicate Arch last Friday night and the next day in Canyonlands he was leading us on hikes by following the Cairns.

Shay Chilling on the way up to Timpanogos Cave (1.5 miles 1500 vertical feet)

It is fun as a parent to kick back and watch your kid learn and grow, embrace nature and enjoy the scenery. Seamus loves taking the time to look at the animal tracks, the Indian dwellings, the trees and the natural landscape. It was a great way to spend the last full week of summer vacation.

Shay and Ade at Delicate Arch, sorry about the grafitee in the background, I guess there are some people who don't respect our National Parks, a real bummer.

Laramie Enduro, The Full Version

2009-08-02T15:33:00.002-06:00

I never would have thought the jump from a 50 mile race to a 72 mile race would be so dramatically different. After completing the Firecracker 50 earlier this year I figured I’d be well prepared for the Laramie Enduro, which is variously listed as 111km, 70.5 miles or 72.5 miles. As I’ve learned with these longer mountain bike races the exact distance may not be what is advertised, but you can be assured a long day on the bike will follow.
The basics are I finished the LE in 7:24, slower than any time I expected but after I lost all power around mile 60 I’m pleased with finishing. The LE is a fun course, mixing some great single track, lots of climbing and fast forest service roads. There is plenty of time to go fast and unfortunately the tough climbing and single-track at the end gives you plenty of time to go slow. An early start at 7:00 and a lot of people rushing into the first section of single-track left me wondering if I had made a crazy choice signing up. The legs felt sore at the start and it seemed like I could see people for miles in front of me after finishing the first single-track section. After about 40 minutes and hitting a service road the legs started to come around and I was getting into the race. Feed zone 1 came and went quickly, as there were a lot of people I only filled one bottle and kept going. I sat in with a group from feed zone 1 until the next big section of single-track. I quickly went down twice and decided to let a little air out of the tires. I had started the day with 32 psi in both, but wasn’t aware of the roots on some of the single-track, nor had I accounted for the rain overnight. Dropping the pressure seemed to help as my only problem through the rest of the day on single-track was lack of power. At feed zone 2 I filled my three bottles, ate a banana and got back own it.
The trails between feed zones 2-4 all seemed to blend together for me. Service road climb, single-track, riding through cow pasture, repeat. I was feeling good and approached feed zone 4 at 54 miles in at 4:50. Filling my bottles and eating another banana I was off. Shortly after zone 4 we started climbing then a descent near a lake and all the sudden no power in my legs. I had been eating and drinking well (I actually took 2 nature breaks so hydration didn’t seem to be the issue) but the climb in the middle between feed zones 4-5 was upon me as I lost all power. I quickly shifted into the little ring and focused on pedaling and keeping food and fluids coming. This section seemed to go on forever, climbing, twisting, short downhill, climbing, walking, muddy grass area etc. By the time I hit feed zone 5 at 63 miles I had been 1:30 for 9 miles (a total race time of 6:20ish). With another 8ish miles to go and the climb up to Headquarters to go I started to ponder if I would really be out for 8 hours. The climb to Headquarters was hard, not because of the trail, but because of the lack of energy. Technical sections that would be easy 10 miles into a ride were nearly impossible at this point. Strangely though I was coming around a little. The shade and knowing I had to finish made me gear it up a little. At one point after cresting the climb I looked out and saw I-80 off in the horizon. This site was good and bad, good because I knew where I needed to get to, bad because it seemed far off. The downhill to the finish was tough, again because of being tired, but went quickly.
Upon reaching the road to the finish I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. I had no energy and as Ade said my expression didn’t even change when crossing the finish line and seeing her and Seamus. I guess when you have nothing left, even smiling is impossible.
A few other notes on the race, the Laramie Enduro staff of volunteers is great. Check-in took seconds. The folks at the aid stations were helpful, cheerful and encouraging. I tried to thank as many as I could at each stop because they were taking such good care of all the racers, the only problem was there were too many to thank. Rich Vincent and his crew put together a great race, one of the best if not the best I’ve seen in 12+ years of doing this.
Second, as many of you know I’ve been raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation this year to support Eldon “Fatty” Nelson. I wore my Fatty clothing in the race yesterday and talked with more racers who new Fatty, new the story, are impacted by Fatty and Susan’s lives then I could imagine. The common themes I picked up about Fatty are: if people know him they confirmed what I’ve read and picked up on, he is a great guy; those of us who don’t know him personally feel a bound because of how Fatty has shared. Fatty is going through something none of us would want in our own lives, Fatty is going through his families fight with cancer in a very public way but helping us all understand the importance of fighting cancer. Fatty has a band of friends out there on bikes every day, helping to fight cancer and supporting him and his family. It was cool to see and hear some of the ways Fatty has touched and improved so many lives.
As for the LE, again I learned a lot about endurance racing. I need to train longer to race longer. I need to push harder at the end of long training rides to be ready for late in the race. Nutrition was good, though a little more “real” food may help. Last year I set a goal to finish the Front Range 50, the Firecracker 50 and the Laramie Enduro this year. I’ve now completed all three and have had a blast in the longer races. I see plenty of room for improvement and can promise I’ll be back next year, only faster.

Laramie Enduro

2009-08-02T09:47:00.000-06:00

Laramie Enduro is in the books. A hard 70 miles of racing and the lights going out around mile 60 made for a tough day, but crossing the line felt good.

A full write-up of the day soon. Right now riding in the car on I-25 heading home.

Rock Climbing

2009-07-28T18:46:00.001-06:00

Riding a bike is pure fun, but as Seamus gets old am and frequently presented with opportunities to try new activities, have fun in different ways. Recently we have been spending a lot of time at a rock climbing wall. Nothing big, but skills and strength are required. The way the wall is built we can climb up to the top and then using the hand and foot holds try to circle the entire wall. This seemingly easy activity can be (and frequently is) very difficult. A simple missed hand or foot placement and all chances for making it around the wall are done.
The rock climbing is fun, physically demanding and in many ways mentally challenging. Participating in a sport you are not use to makes the mind work in new ways. Sounds like it is time to go right now, maybe I’ll try to take a few pictures tonight.

Service

2009-07-16T20:46:00.005-06:00

This week has been very successful in terms of donations for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The Jeans Week at work has brought in nearly $700 and I am very close to crossing the $1,000 threshold. This is good for Fat Cyclist as well as cancer survivors on a grand level. If you haven’t done so yet, please consider a small donation, even five dollars helps. Go to THIS SITE to make a donation. I’ll match 20% of any donation through the 19th up to $500 in total donations to help the LAF.

This week I bought a new hat, not really a big deal right. But I bought a hat from the guys at Twin Six (http://www.twinsix.com/). Not only do these guys make fashionable and comfortable gear, they donate a ton of money to LAF on Fatty’s behalf (www.fatcyclist.com). I’ve now got socks, shorts, jersey, arm warmers (all Fatty) and hat from the Twin Six guys. It is all the top quality and stylish looks we want. But for me the real issue is these guys really care. I’d sacrifice a little quality (though I don’t need to) in order to support their business. It is great to find a company that cares for its customers and society.
Time to chill, two hours in the morning before work.

Jeans Week and a Race Report

2009-07-12T13:22:00.003-06:00

Note: As many of you know this year I am riding with team Fat Cyclist at the Austin LiveStrong ride to help raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The week of July 13-17 my work is letting staff wear jeans to work for a $5.00 per day donation to the LAF on my behalf. Now there is no way I can let your work let you wear jeans, but in recognition of my companies efforts please consider donating, any amount helps. Go HERE AND DONATE ,thanks.

Race number 3 in the Winter Park series was yesterday and the course had a new twist on what is an old classic. Starting in the ski area and riding some of the funniest singletrack in the area you end in Frasier, this year the crew at WP added about 5 miles to the old course, most of those extra miles were uphill. The WP series is fitting in to my schedule this year in an odd way; I’m not really there to race. I’m using the series as my only form of high-end/interval work this year and it shows. When I started the shift to longer races (50+ miles) I knew the first year would require more time working on endurance to ensure I could finish the races and I wouldn’t be able to worry about intervals, shorter races or even results. Thus far the new training is paying off as I’ve finished both 50’s I’ve entered and am now prepping for the Laramie Enduro (about 70) in three weeks.
The race at WP slotted in well for training, a week after the Firecracker and not on a weekend with a long training ride scheduled. I got to WP early and did a long ride to warm up, more than an hour prior to the start. Once the race started I was going pretty good and felt like I was climbing well. I slotted into the middle of the pack for about 45 minutes, then on a downhill I hit a root and went down. Head first with a nice roll on my right side. I got back up and kept racing, but lost all power and ability to focus. I kept on racing and finished the ride, tired, thirsty and with a pounding headache. I assumed the headache was a result of lack of hydration but after taking some electrolyte pills, water, Gatorade and eating lunch the head still hurt. This morning I checked my head (ok Ade did) and there is a pretty good bump on the right side. I’m too lazy to go to the doctor and not overly worried but I don’t think going down hard did me any good for racing.
I still got in a good ride/effort (just about 3.5 hours on the day) and am not overly sore from the crash. This week will be big hours for prepping for Laramie. No more races until Laramie, but lots of time and maybe, just maybe a few intervals.

Crash Course

2009-07-11T18:37:00.002-06:00

I raced today. Full race report later. I crashed. I think I have a concusion.

Firecracker 50 Recap

2009-07-08T17:43:00.001-06:00

The Firecracker 50 took place last Saturday, fortunately this time I finished. I was planning on a time of 5-6 hours, knowing that a steady pace would be key to finishing and the time not nearly as important to me as going the distance. At 50 miles and with 10,800 vertical feet of climbing (all above 9,500 feet and much above 11,000) the Firecracker 50 is a hard day of riding. I managed to finish in 5:34, a good time but not great.

The race is always a blast, riding down Main Street in Breckenridge with literally thousands of people cheering and watching, as the race starts the 4th of July parade. Given the fact most races have a few dozen spectators, all of whom know racers it is a great feeling to have people who have never seen a race before in their lives cheering you on. I tried to ride a steady and somewhat conservative first lap (25 miles) knowing that the hard part of the race would be the second lap. I tried to draft on the open sections and follow others lines on the technical sections of the course to save energy and pick good lines. The flume trail coming down from Little French was a blast, fast singletrack and the ability to just ride. Coming to the end of the first lap I crashed on the last downhill, misjudging the gap between two trees. It wasn’t a bad crash, but enough to delay me a few minutes. I finished the first lap in 2:34, feeling good and knowing I had fueled well the entire first lap.

Lap 2 was tough, from the top of the climb up to the Iowa Mill I felt like I was maintaining a similar pace, but when I started up Little French for the second time my speed went from slow to really slow. At this point in the race 3:30-4:00 into the race my mind started playing tricks on me and I think the mental aspect slowed me as much if not more than being physically tired. I had to keep refocusing my attention on the positive, stop thinking about how hard the race was, how bad I felt, how a nap on the side of the trail sounded good. After the downhill leading to the third feed zone I knew I’d be able to finish and rode steady and probably faster again up to Sallie Barber Mine. From there it was all downhill and my mind switched from dwelling on the negative to knowing I’d finish.

During the race I followed my nutrition plan perfectly, eating gels, energy bars and Clif Blocks (a new favorite) through the race. I’m not sure of the total food I took in but somewhere in the range of 8-10 gels, 2 bars and 3 Clif Blocks. In addition to the food I went through 10-12 bottles of water or Gatorade (probably a 50/50 split) and 8 Endurolyte pills to keep the electrolytes up in the race. I did start to feel like eating something “real” would be nice about 4:30 into the race so will have to figure something out for a more substantial bite for Laramie.

Now that I know I can physically handle a 5-6 hour race as hard as the Firecracker 50 I hope the mental game gets easier. One of the reasons I race is the challenges I face getting ready for races and in races. Breaking the barrier on the Firecracker 50 was a huge win for me as there are many points where the mind tries to overcome the body and tell you to stop, get off the bike and go home. Saturday I pushed through those thoughts and am more ready than ever to push forward with racing and embrace the challenges and learn from the challenges.

Chilling

2009-07-07T19:21:00.000-06:00

At the rockies game. Very unlike me. Maybe a new sport. Laramie enduro training start tomorrow.

Firecracker 50

2009-07-04T20:33:00.000-06:00

Raced the Firecracker 50 up in Breckenridge today. 50 miles 10,800 vertical feet of climbing. A long day on the bike but finished which was the main goal for the day 5:31 on the bike.

It's all about choices

2009-06-20T15:57:00.002-06:00

and my choices have been to stay away from the blog. I've been putting in big miles getting ready for the Firecracker 50, lots of work, some unexpected travel for work and home life.

I'm also trying to focus on resting as with all the miles I've been putting in rest is much needed. Winter Park last weekend went good, rode the climb twice (once to warm up/train and once to race). It felt good to get in some high end work. Single track was open for the way down (unusual for this early up at WP) and I was having a great time riding it until I crashed. Nothing bad but hitting the deck is never fun. Showing up at the base area as the only guy bleeding in a race that was essentially a road climb is tough to explain.

Good rest this week, long ride today. Chill on the couch the rest of the day.

Catch up

2009-06-10T18:09:00.001-06:00

A week of rest. I’ve heard a lot of coaches and local racers say at this level (meaning a local amateur) it is impossible to be overtrained, just under rested. Well this week I’m working on getting rested. After a big block of training last week the body needs some R&R; Monday off but a massage, Tuesday easy with yoga, Wednesday easy and a NAP, Thursday seems like another good rest day and Friday we’ll see. Not riding hard is tough, spinning along at a slow pace, short rides and napping don't fit my normal schedule but I've been riding a lot more miles and time this year and can tell the body needs to recover, so I'll take it easy and wait until the body is ready to go hard again.

Saturday brings another race, but I’m riding it for training only, the Winter Park Hill Climb is 40ish minutes of climbing. I plan to get there early ride the climb once at a good tempo pace and then push it again in the race. The day should total 20 miles with about 5,000 feet of climbing and should make for good training.

I just picked up the mountain bike after getting it worked on, after some hard rides recently she needed a little TLC. I’ll ride her Friday to make sure everything is dialed for racing (nothing like waiting until the last minute) but hey that’s when I’ll have a chance.

Relaxing

2009-06-04T17:57:00.001-06:00

After the road trip to Durango a little relaxation has been in order. Early morning rides, followed by work, home and early to bed. Vacation can be tough. This weekend I'm planning a 6 hour ride to keep the prep going for the Firecracker 50 and Laramie Enduro.

Sunday morning will start early with the goal to be home by noon...that means up by 4:30.

Durango

2009-06-01T20:01:00.001-06:00

A weekend away from town was a great way to recharge. Time was spent doing things that would not occur on a normal weekend and I still managed to get in some sweet riding. We headed out on Thursday morning for a family vacation in Durango. The weekend offered some time to relax, though honestly not much as we were busy, time to enjoy family and the beauty of Colorado and the amazing trail of Horse Gulch just minutes from Durango let me ride.
Mesa Verde is a place I remember fondly from childhood and when my parents mentioned they were heading to Mesa Verde we decided to go too. Fate prevented us from going with my parents as Ade starts school and couldn’t go the week they booked, but we met up with Grandma L and a friend of hers and through a twist of fate Uncle Eric, Aunt Sue and Cousin Z wound up in Durango the same weekend. Mesa Verde was as incredible as I remembered and Seamus loved the place. Checking out the ruins, climbing ladders, meeting Rangers made for a great day. To be honest you could spend a lot more time there then we did, but it was well worth the trip just to see the ruins. Also, if you go take the time to talk to the Rangers, every one we talked with was excited to share their knowledge, nice and made the trip even better. I’m not sure if Rangers at all National Parks are like this, but damn they were good in Mesa Verde.
Saturday turned into a day for chilling in Durango and just relaxing. The town is full of cell phone hippies who clearly go to college, smoke weed, hula hoop and hang out. A great place to do it, but not exactly fun.
Sunday was supposed to be the thrill seeker day, a rafting trip. The trip was fun and though the river was flowing pretty slow there were still some big sections of rapids and for a bunch of beginners (Ade being the only one in our group to have gone before) it was a good first trip. Seamus spent every second in the rapids laughing and hoping people would get drenched (which we did). Not sure if he had more fun rafting or at Mesa Verde but both were highlights it seemed.
Now many of you may know Durango hosted the first Mountain Bike World Championships and the trails are still worthy. I got in rides on three days and had a blast. Getting on new trails forced me to try new things and not having the “mental block” of normal trails caused me to clear stuff I may never have tried on a trail I’d ridden many times. Uncle Eric and Aunt Sue showed why they use to be Pros, as even with full time work, new parenthood and little (if any) riding they were strong. For the first time ever I was able to climb with Eric, until we hit really technical sections, where his ability and skills more than made up for lack of fitness. On the downhill’s it is hard to keep up with a guy who has race the World Cup so I didn’t see much of him but still had fun.
Now it is time to get back to work.

Vacation

2009-05-27T19:34:00.001-06:00

A quick family vacation starts tomorrow, going down to Durango for a few days to show Seamus a new part of the state. I can’t wait, I remember going to Mesa Verde around his age and loving it, I just hope he finds it as cool as I did. The ruins in the cliff dwellings are impressive.
After a few very busy weeks, including a week spent in Minnesota and a quick day trip to Chicago travel doesn’t seem fun, but Durango will be different, the pace set by us, car travel and no places to be at any time. I’m taking the mountain bike and will get in some rides on the trails down there. I haven’t been to Durango in nine years so it will be like riding in a new place. The best part of the trip is no work. Way too much stress there recently (if you know me well enough to know the purpose of the Chicago trip yesterday you’d understand the stress) so getting away from Denver will be nice.
My new sign-off is going to be…Please Donate to LAF , Lance is doing some serious work and chances are you or someone very close to you is going to benefit from his foundations work (up to 33% of Americans get one form of cancer or another). I’m trying to raise $2,500 and have $2,200 to go, please donate what you can.

Big Weekend

2009-05-25T18:05:00.003-06:00

I decided that if I'm going to pay the entry fee for the Firecracker 50 yet again that I'd damn well better finish it this year. That means big mile training to get ready for the race. I'm hoping that by getting in three rides of 6 hours per ride for the endurance training should help. In addition I'm focusing a lot of time and attention during other training on tempo work, since this is the fastest zone that is actually possible to ride in for hours on end.

Saturday was a two hour ride with seven tempo efforts of seven minutes each. A good effort, but not too much with a long ride scheduled for Sunday. Sunday started early, with an effort to replicate pre-race eating and getting out of the house by 7:00 to be home at a reasonable hour. I headed out on the mountain bike and spent a lot of the early ride on the road, due to rain the night before. Finally about 3 hours in I hit the dirt on a downhill from Mt. Falcon. From that point on for the next 90 minutes it was a lot of dirt, mixed with road time from trail to trail. At about 4:30 into the ride it became road time again in order to get home. On a totally unplanned route I managed to ride for 5:58 when I arrived at my door. Perfect timing for the ride, though more dirt would have been nice.

Usually after a ride of that time I’m dead, but yesterday I felt pretty solid, even managing a little yard work after resting for an hour or so. This morning I headed out for a ride and still felt surprisingly fresh so I added in a 30 minute tempo effort to the ride and got in 2:00 total. A three day total of 10:00 hours and a lot of hard tempo work and climbing should do the body good. This week I’ll focus less on total time and more on tempo work, and I think the long time/high tempo alternate weeks will be the plan through the Firecracker 50 and right on to the Laramie Enduro. I’m looking forward to a good night sleep tonight, a wake-up call at 4:00 to catch a flight at 6:00 in the morning then a late night home before riding again Wednesday.

After this trip I should be able to hang out at home until after Laramie and focus on training and life. I just need to not get sick tomorrow and I’ll be ready to get the final preparation for racing started.

Here I am

2009-05-23T19:07:00.003-06:00

I’ve been missing for two weeks, but at some points that is how it goes. After the Front Range 50 I took off for the week to Minnesota for work. Very little down time, minimal working out and strangely no time to even surf the internet much less write any. After playing catch-up this week with work and life I’ll finally carve out a few minutes to blog, not much time though as life stays busy.
Minnesota was actually really good from a work perspective, a weeklong training where I actually learned a lot and some time away from riding, needed after the long race and not even having time to worry about not training. Taking time off from riding is frequently tough at home because I have to find things to replace my normal riding time. When I was gone, things were so busy and I was not in my normal flow that not riding didn’t even hit me.
I did register for the Firecracker 50, my next big race of the year. We’ll see how it goes as I’ve tried it twice with no finishes. This year, after already completing a 50 miler and getting ready for Laramie which is less than a month after the Firecracker I plan to do better. Tomorrow is scheduled for 6 hours to get the endurance riding in for both the Firecracker and Laramie. Tuesday is a quick trip to Chicago (in and out the same day) before heading out on a family vacation on Thursday. Sooner or later I’ll get a chance to relax.
A final note, I’m working to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation this year. The LAF does a tremendous amount for cancer survivors and their families. Unfortunately for me this has taken on a far more personal concern recently as a very close relative is just beginning to fight his battle with cancer. I’d ask anyone who reads this blog to take a few moments to donate, any amount helps far more then you could imagine. Please visit MY PAGE to make a donation.

Front Range 50

2009-05-10T08:26:00.001-06:00

The first race of the year is now in the books and given that yesterday was a big goal for me for the season it was tough to have the Front Range 50 as my first race. Had I been able to sneak in a race, either on the road or mountain bike prior it would have been nice. I clearly have no speed right now and the competitive juices have been laying low for a long time, but getting out and racing felt good.
Late last year I made a decision to focus on endurance races more so then cross country. Races in the 50+ range (and hopefully at some point a good 100 miler) are where I want to really race. Part of this is from years of racing and knowing I lack the fast twitch muscles that are needed in shorter races. I just don’t tend to have the top end speed needed, but I’ve always had solid endurance, though prior to yesterday I’d never finished an endurance race (two previous attempts). Over the winter I focused on time on the bike, nutrition while riding and getting comfortable with long days riding. Early on I put an X on the Front Range 50, it is a race close to home, early in the season and as far as the local endurance races go an “easy course” since there are no long climbs. I figured it would be a perfect race to build confidence in the longer distances, practice nutrition in a race and learn.
With five laps of a 10 mile course feeding was easy, I set up a cooler with the masses of others and planned to stop for a brief period each lap to take on water or energy drink and if needed extra food. In the end I went through three bottles of water, three bottles of Gatorade, nine gels and four Hammer Endurolytes in the race. Looking back I need to increase the Endurolytes but overall my nutrition plan seemed to work. My goal for the race was to ride steady and complete all five laps in equal time splits. Based on previous results on the course in cross country races I wanted to finish in 4:00 hours, equating to 48 minute laps or so. I knew steady would be the key to finishing and that was the main concern.
The first lap of the race was crazy, with 200 or so racers, lots of single-track and various skill levels the course was tough. I settled into a nice pace, tried to drink every 10 minutes or so and made sure to eat 1 gel in the first lap. Coming through I finished my first bottle of water, stopped to pick up another and saw I had ridden a 44 minute lap. This was faster than planned and given the traffic pretty good, also I didn’t feel I had over-extended myself. On lap 2 I stayed with a group most of the time, focusing again on eating and drinking and keeping the effort steady and 5-10 beats below my threshold level. Lap 2 was completed in 42 minutes with about a minute spent pitting for more drink. At this point I was well ahead of the pace I had planned but still feeling good. I started to think a time of 3:45 was realistic, this was kind of my best case scenario time and now I was thinking it would happen. Lap 3 was again steady; I was making good time on the single-track, riding the climbs well and not getting dropped too bad on the downhills. At the pit on the third lap my race time was 2:11 for the first 30 miles. Last year in the 30 mile cross country race on the same course my time was 2:15, yet this year I wasn’t feeling near as bad. I took a longer break after three laps, dipped into the Endurolytes for the first time (I should have been steadier with eating them and taken a few earlier) and switched glasses. My first pair were so sweat covered I couldn’t see anymore so I was glad I had put an extra pair with my food.
Lap 4 is where the mental game began; I was moving into new ground on distance in a race and needed to remain steady. The climbs were tougher at this point, moving down a gear or two from the first three laps. I was still riding well on the single-track and felt I had maintained a consistent pace for the race thus far. At the end of four laps I grabbed a last bottle and glanced at my heart-rate monitor 2:58. Four laps down and all in the 42-45 minute range, well above my targeted pace. Lap five started with a cruel reality, the cross country race for the pros and experts had just started and I was soon being passed by some of the fastest racers in the world (JHK, Georgia Gould and others) starting their race of 30 miles while I was slogging along in the 40+ mile range of mine. While thoughts of glory came to mind, like trying to stick with my peers in the expert category as they passed I knew that would kill me so I kept riding and let people pass, though some of those who passed me on the single-track were soon passed back on the one major climb up Mt. Carbon. Even with 45 miles in me I was riding strong and was able to repass a few racers from the Expert group. Coming down from the second climb I knew that 3:45 was possible if I didn’t let up. On the last steep climb I could feel my energy leaving and I struggled over the top, shifting to the big ring and pedaling all the way down the descent. A mile or two of rollers and the clock was nearing the 3:45 time, as I jumped out of the last corner I saw my clock at 3:44, sprinting as hard as I could to the finish line I crossed at 3:45:26.
I learned a lot in the race, especially about pacing and eating. I still have a lot to learn in endurance racing but it was fun, a far different challenge from cross country. Right now I’ll take a few days off then start to train and focus for the other races I have planned later this year.

Front Range 50

2009-05-09T12:43:00.000-06:00

Sitting in the car relaxing after the race. Finished in 3:45, good day of racing with consistent lap times. Full race report later.

Racing Starts in...

2009-05-08T19:04:00.001-06:00

Just over 13 hours until the season kicks off for me. Fifty miles of pain on the mountain bike at Bear Creek. The course is riding fast right now, but very tough with lots of short steep climbs and flats that let you power.

I went out today to pre-ride again. I'm home now working on resting and drinking. Hopefully I can finally finish one of these long races.

Getting Ready

2009-05-02T19:38:00.003-06:00

The first race of the year for me is a week away, the Front Range 50. Today I went out to the course and ripped a couple of laps to get the feel for the course. Given this is one of the few races all year that is really close to Denver (about 20 minutes from my house) it is tough. There are no big climbs, no super technical downhills, no endless miles of twisty singletrack, just a mixture of it all on a course with no shade.

Today is was cool, cloudy and the lack of trees was not a factor; however, I've raced here in the past in 90 degree weather and been left helpless because of the heat. For me today was about getting use to the few technical sections, practicing what kind of pace is reasonable on the course (while estimating 5 laps versus the 2 I did today) and just trying to feel comfortable on the course.

The first lap I took easy and was just making sure I was paying attention. The second lap I put in a few good efforts and tried to rip through with a good lap time. I didn't sustain a race pace for the entire lap, but at times went hard and tried to ride the technical stuff at speed. I felt good, though the rear suspension was a little stiff and am looking forward to next week.

Another Double Header

2009-05-01T19:34:00.001-06:00

Another double post, though this one is much shorter than the one last week. Got on a team for 2009, really late and kind of unexpected, but a few things fell into place in the last few days so I’m set. My big focus for 2009 is endurance racing (front range 50 and Laramie for sure maybe 1-2 more) so I didn’t really know what else I would do. Winter Park seems to fit in with my schedule (less the Laramie weekend) and the racing is always good so when the chance to race for Grand Sports came along last week I took it. I’ll get to ride with two guys from last year (Jason and Dan) and a few others I’ll soon meet. It’s always nice to have a few teammates out there so I’m looking forward to the team.
Second, as many people know, I’m trying to raise funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation this year. It started out to help support another cyclist/blogger Fatty and have a fun event in Austin to hit up. Recently it has turned a bit personal. Let me just say that the LAF has a tremendous amount of information and resources available to family and survivors of cancer. I hope the only reason you need to visit the site is to donate money, but if not be glad that Lance Armstrong has put so much effort into cancer advocacy. I’m sure over the next few months especially this will be a favorite site of mine. The person I know very well who has been impacted is lucky to have the family and finances to fight this battle and find resources, but even so efforts like LAF need support. Please consider donating, even a little, in my name for the Austin ride or on your own accord. You may appreciate it down the road.

Two Posts in One

2009-04-25T16:53:00.001-06:00

It is now late April and I haven’t raced my bike yet this year. For me this is a pretty slow start to the season as I usually do a few road races in March and April to prep for the season. In many years there is also a mountain bike race or two to be had by this point (actually I guess the races have been there just not me). Right now it is looking like the first race will be the Front Range 50 on May 9th. I had hoped to sneak in another mountain bike race prior; just to get the legs going but the drive to Nathrop next Saturday is seeming less and less appealing so I’ll probably just spend time training.
The Front Range 50 will be the first of the ultra races I’m planning to do this year, though I think it will be on the short side with a fairly untechnical track and no real huge climbs it will be fast, hopefully 4 hours or less. I do think it will be a good race to get my feet wet for the longer distances and see if the practice I’ve been doing with on the bike fueling pays off in a race.

On a totally separate note, Earth Day was earlier this week, April 22. Keeping in mind the original focus of this blog, environmental awareness, and a big step was undertaken at my work. For years (at least the 11 I’ve worked there) the company has bought and supplied paper plates, bowls and cups in addition to plastic silverware for all employees. There have always been a few people who bring in their own reusable products, but mostly people have relied on company provided one use products. We recently started a stewardship committee in the office to try and improve our corporate image, impact etc. Well our first big effort was launched on Earth Day. We got rid of all paper and plastic kitchen products and bought every employee in the Denver office their own reusable plates, bowls, silverware and mugs. While there has been some grumbling about the change I was very surprised with the amount of positive feedback. Thinking back on all the energy used to create the products used in our kitchen only one time then put in the trash is scary. This change will clearly limit our trash output and long-term reduce our environmental impact. I think it is a pretty good step to being a business that compares about more than the bottom line and am glad I was able to be very involved in getting the change made.

Strong, Light, Cheap. Pick Two

2009-04-19T20:52:00.000-06:00

Bikes and the components associated with them can create a love hate relationship. When your gear is running good it is a love relationship, though I must say a love you don’t talk about a lot. It is a long term relationship, where you know what to expect, know the person (or part) is going to be there. You know exactly what needs to be done to get the relationship to work. Most of the time I don’t really think about the components on my bikes, if they are working there isn’t much thought process involved. Yea, I know to shift into the big ring on my road bike I need to ease up just that little bit on the pedaling. I know on the mountain bike one side of my drive train side pedal feels better than the other, so no matter what I’ll unclip and flip the pedal if I need to. But really most of the time I don’t think about my parts.
I’m long past buying inexpensive parts because they are inexpensive. At this point in my life and cycling career, I’ll spend the extra money upfront and get parts I expect will perform well in all conditions for a long period of time. I ride around 7,000 miles a year, split about 65%, 30% and 5% between road, mountain and cross bikes. I expect the mountain bike to last about 2-3 years, the road bike 3-5 and the cross bike should survive a nuclear holocaust. Sure I need to spend money over time on upkeep so the bikes will last but overall I expect the key components to last and handle riding in all weather conditions, time spent on the trainer and race efforts. So it was with great frustration today I found out my crank on the road bike had seen its last day.
I bought the bike early last April, just over a year of riding, probably 6,000 miles on the bike. I’ve had two “professional” tune-ups on it in that time, plus my normal maintenance (cables, washing, adjusting gears etc). Yet today on my ride I noticed the crank felt strange. I washed the bike and noticed the left crank arm wasn’t tight. I took it off to check, no apparent misuse, no metal shavings, no damage to the spindles. I cleaned everything and tried to tighten back on, still a looseness that wouldn’t go away. I took it to the shop and found out that the metal piece inside the carbon crank arm was not holding. The metal piece that houses the spindles have somehow come unglued (I assume) from the carbon arm, causing the looseness. Upon further investigation the same issue was occurring with the pedal spindles too.
I know I ride hard and I tend to believe that light and cutting edge isn’t always the best choice. Why do I have carbon cranks? Well they came with the bike. I can assure you stronger riders, putting in more miles than I have ridden these cranks, but still I’ve had the problem. If the warranty doesn’t come through I can guarantee that the new crank will not be a composite. One material all the way through designed to last, not be light. As Keith Bontrager has said “strong, light, cheap. Pick two.” Is clearly a factual statement. I’d venture to say FSA would say strong and light are how their components are designed. Today I’d say light. Carbon? Not sure why we came up with that for bikes.

Passion

2009-04-13T19:33:00.001-06:00

I’ve recently gained a new training partner for my cycling, for me this is a big deal. Most of the time I train alone. I like riding alone, no time schedules, no routes picked by others, no meandering conversations. Sure there are times riding with someone is good, it is nice to chat on the bike some, have someone force you to push the pace etc. but I’m not the kind of person who wants somebody to ride with daily.
All that has changed in the past few days really, I’ve found someone who is gaining the same passion I have for riding. Somebody who has the same meaningless thoughts I do and is fun to ride with any time, Seamus is taking to riding like a mad man. I’ve never forced him to ride, never forced him to ride without training wheels or anything like that. I’ve always wanted him to like riding because he enjoys it, not because I do. Recently we got him off training wheels and now there is no stopping him. Friday night a family ride, a little over a mile. Saturday a ride with me and him, probably two miles. Sunday in the pouring rain he rode for 30 minutes, crashed a few times and was smiling every second. Today he rode four miles with Ade, then he and I rode another 2-3 miles. He wants to ride across the street to friends, is planning tomorrow’s ride already and wants to do a big ride both days this weekend.
The joys of riding like a kid are what keep me going through days at work many times, now I have a kid to share the fun of riding with.

Pedestrian Ride

2009-04-10T18:49:00.000-06:00

Some rides are designed to increase endurance, some days speed, and some day’s technical skills as a racer these are some of the components critical to making racing fun. But some days riding takes a more pedestrian approach to its purpose.
Yesterday, before work I had put in a solid workout on the bike 30 minute tempo effort and 1:15 total on the bike (remember this is all prior to 7:00am). As I left work I pondered another tempo effort on the way home, maybe 15-20 minutes for that little extra work. After making it out of downtown I decided to skip the harder work and just spin home. The pack was full, a computer, notebook, some files for work, not to mention my headlamp and clothes from a day in the office. The pack was pushing maximum capacity at this point, I’d guess close to 15 pounds and the idea of trying to ride the bike fast with this extra weight didn’t sound fun.
About half way home I decided to stop and get some wine (cause I like it) and some cupcakes (cause Ade and Shay like them). The good thing for me is there is a cupcake shop and wine shop about three doors from each other on my way home, with about 3 miles of riding still to go. With the pack full and cupcakes fragile it became a no-hand/one-handed ride home for the last few miles (I stuffed the wine in the pack somehow) and my pace slowed. Even when I take it easy I usually ride at what most people consider a fast pace. Yet on my way home yesterday with all the stuff in my pack, cupcakes and a mental desire to relax after a long week of travel I took a more pedestrian pace. Those last three miles were fun. I noticed things that normally I pass by without a glance. I was passed by other riders, looking slightly silly with a full kit on and all my extra luggage but I didn’t mind. The ride was another simple reminder of why riding is so enjoyable for me.

A humdrum Sunday afternoon

2009-04-05T15:39:00.000-06:00

I was thinking about writing some sort of long post today, especially since my March write-up basically sucked. The problem is there really weren’t any great rides to talk about, the weather has been too bad for that, I worked too much this week so that kept the fun level pretty low and the only thing I really should be doing right now is packing for a trip to Springfield, MA.
Instead though I’m hacking out a blog entry, watching the Tour of Flanders and pondering should I really do yoga today even though I don’t really feel like it. I may have to get on the floor and start yoga though, since I already entered it into my training log for the day. Taking the time to go and delete it may be a bigger annoyance to me right now then actually doing yoga.
I guess it is just one of those days, after snow and cold, a long ride this week of only 2 hours and knowing I have to leave the house by 6:00 tomorrow to fly out, it all kind of makes you not motivated.

March

2009-03-31T20:26:00.001-06:00

March ended with a whimper, two days off the bike. The days weren’t really planned off, just kind of happened because of other things. The weather and travel over the next two weeks isn’t really going to help my cycling fitness out much either, so these days off probably don’t come at the best time. I’m already planning on going to bed early tonight so I can ride an hour on the rollers in the morning. I may even try a mini stage race type training, Wednesday through Sunday with good intensity but low time/miles. Next week starts off with a trip to the East coast, home for the end of the week and weekend, then another East coast trip the middle of the week of April 13.
Two trips in 10 days to with full days of travel due to connections is always rough, but I’ll manage and with some forethought should be able to ride enough not to lose fitness, the problem is I need to be gaining fitness now, getting in a few 6 hour rides.
March was another solid month of training though, 630 miles (bring the total for the year to 1876) and a few big rides including a 4 hour mountain bike ride. My first race is going to be the Front Range 50, so the long rides and time in the dirt are going to be key to doing well in that race. I also started the first intervals of the year, and while painful, they do seem to be paying off some. Now if the weather in Colorado would stop trying to trick us into thinking it is the heart of winter I’d be happy.

Riding Alone

2009-03-24T20:08:00.000-06:00

Most of my riding is done alone, frequently at what many perceive to be strange hours. This riding alone and at strange times allows me to fit in my riding and still be involved in a normal life: wife, son, job etc. For the past few years, until very recently, that riding time has been accompanied by music, the IPod, a cyclist’s best friend. Somehow though, I’ve managed to lose my IPod.
For those who know me this isn’t a huge surprise. There is rarely a day that passes where I haven’t lost something. Whether it be a leg warmer, glove, lunch bag or shirt I want to wear I am always frantically searching for a lost item. My desk at work has such a reputation that recently there was a bet related to how long I could keep it organized. I must add I won the bet (four or five weeks), but mostly because the money on the line was going to LAF. Usually things turn up at some point in the future, though not when I am looking for a specific item. Take today for example, an undershirt (for cycling) I hadn’t found in 2-3 months appeared again, how I’m not sure but I do have it. The good news for me is that as much as I ride it is easy to justify multiple articles of clothing. Of course to justify this I use the cover of not wanting to wear smelly clothes, though most of the time I wear arm warmers, tights, leg warmers multiple times before putting in the wash. Why? Well it is simply because I can’t find any other sets to wear.
But an IPod is different. It is relatively expensive, doesn’t get dirty and isn’t easy to justify having multiples on hand “just in case”. Plus the music being replicated wouldn’t make sense. And now the real horror, much of the music I’ve lost is not easily duplicated. I copy music from others at any chance. I hear a song and download from somebody else. To replace all my lost music would take months and thousands of miles of travel.
I’ve literally been a cyclist for decades. I started riding at 8, racing at 12. That’s 30 years of riding, three years, the most recent three, with an IPod accompanying me on most rides. Now I somehow feel lost without music to join me on my rides. Music makes the long rides a little less lonely. But I’ve also noticed something else, music also takes away some of the connection one gets with riding. Earbuds act as a windshield to the cyclist. Blocking out the noise and direct connection to the environment we pedal through.
In college, the only period I didn’t race, riding was still central to my life. I’d go out for rides and draft papers, write poems and disengage from the pressure of classes, roommates and whatever else stresses a 20 year old.
To ride alone, while many of us do it, to really enjoy it and prefer to ride alone takes a special person. I’ve always enjoyed riding alone more than with others. Sure there is the practical, no delayed start times, waiting for others mechanical issues, no issues of pace, and no debate over routes. The practical side of riding alone lets you leave the house at dawn do the exact ride you wanted or need to do and be home exactly when planned (less the odd flat tire that occurs). This is highly important when other commitments of life call. The practical side of riding alone lets the cyclist live the other parts of their life.
However, the philosophical beauty of riding alone, without music, is the opportunity to think. Riding without music these past few weeks has brought me back to a lot of the reasons I’ve loved cycling so long. The freedom of riding, hearing cars, birds, other cyclists, gears shifting, and heavy breathing of the efforts I put forth clears my senses.
Cycling has always allowed me, and many others, the chance to enjoy solitary life, ask questions, discuss answers and come up with creative solutions to life.
When I was young, before IPods, hell before walkmen, if you wanted music while riding you had to memorize songs and sing them to yourself. I can still tell you all the lyrics to “Born to Run”, “Allentown”’ and “Goodbye Ruby Tuesday”. The way a mind can and will jump during a 6 hour ride is amazing. Riding without music encourages one to use their mind more. To think about life, politics, religion with no interruption is the joy of riding. Music, while fun and enjoyable, on a ride is truly an interruption. The interruption is not why I love cycling. Alone, the freedom, the polar opposite of what an IPod brings to a ride is why I love cycling. The reason I have ridden for 30 years 90% of that time without music is because it has allowed me to use my mind in new ways. It has made me think and debate for hours on end. No easy way out of a debate, no simple solution. While I’ll lament the loss of my IPod, more importantly I’ve been reminded of my cycling roots and plan to continue to engage in cycling not just for my body but for my mind.

Sunday Ride

2009-03-22T20:02:00.002-06:00

Nearly four hours of playing in the dirt today, a great way to get ready for the planned endurance races this summer. We started out in Morrison, hit up Mt Falcon, Lair of the Bear, rode the road across Grapevine to Lookout, down Enchanted Forest, up Sluice box and home via Red Rocks. All told we think it was a little less than 40 miles of riding, but who knows because nobody riding had a computer. Today was all about putting in the big time and miles, but not worrying about how much. No need to brag about the distance and vertical, the true proof of the ride is the fact I’ve been dragging ass since.
We contemplated adding in part of Green Mountain, but with the near 80 degree weather the trails kept getting more and more packed. Coming out of Apex it was stop and go traffic, a normal 3-5 minute ride down to the parking area took nearly 10 minutes because of all the other riders and hikers. Green Mountain would have been far too painful at Noon with literally 100’s of people to fight through.
No pictures, nothing fun like that, just hard miles and a tired body. In a couple weeks we’ll be doing another long course Front Range ride, adding in at least one more area of trails and pushing the mileage above 50. If anybody has the perfect Front Range loop (no duplicate trails, no back tracking which essentially leaves White Ranch out) let me know. I’m trying to figure out how to add in three sisters to make the day really hard, I just don’t know how it would work. Lair of the Bear up to Three Sisters would be a lot of road miles and getting down is the real creative part. There has got to be a trail, I just don’t know where or what it is.

10%

2009-03-18T07:50:00.002-06:00

I’ve now raised over 10% of my goal for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the LiveStrong ride I’ll be doing in Austin later this year. It’s a little early to get overly excited about the ride, and I honestly haven’t started a big fund raising push (which I’ll need to if I’m going to raise another $2,200) but hitting the 10% mark is cool.

The LAF goal is to help fight cancer globally through three main 1. Together we will end the stigma of cancer and turn cancer victims into cancer survivors. 2. Together we will build an international grassroots movement that will take cancer from isolation to collaboration 3. Together with world leaders, we will transform cancer from obscurity to priority.

Since his comeback to racing Lance Armstrong and his foundation have utilize his fame and presence at races to raise awareness of cancer and secure government funding for cancer research worldwide. Huge announcements in Australia, Mexico and California were made this year in part because of the efforts of LAF, please consider a DONATION.

Nothing Fancy

2009-03-10T18:53:00.002-06:00

Just the facts: it was 12 degrees when I left the house this morning. it was dark when I left the house this morning. it was snowing when I left the house this morning. there was ice on the road when I left the house this morning. my wife offered to drive me in to work.

I had on the thermal tights, rain pants, thermal jacket and rain jacket.

It was the perfect day for a commute by bike.

Week 16

2009-03-08T20:20:00.002-06:00

Early Sunday Morning, Dakota Ridge looking out towards Red Rocks, you can almost hear the music.

Sunday morning after the time change is a great day for heading out early and hitting the trails. Given the minimal precipitation in Colorado this winter all the foothill trails are fine for riding so another day on the mountain bike was in order. I left the house by 7:30, which considering the time change felt more like 6:30 to get out in the dirt. Clearly the animals that live at Mathews Winters Park had not been made aware of the time change as I saw deer and rabbits by the dozens. Each taking care of their morning breakfast routines with me only slightly altering their courses.
I decided to string together a new route today, Mathews, part of Dakota, Green Mountain (for the climbing), Zorro, and more of Dakota. While the ride was good and the trails fun my route wasn’t as perfect as I’d hoped. I wanted the perfect two hour ride, not trails being repeated, minimal roads etc. Instead, today, I got a few too many miles on the road, a route that was short and caused two sections towards the end to be repeated to hit my time and a feeling that better mountain bike surely was at hand. Part of the problem may have been my route, starting on Mathews and climbing Zorro/Dakota at the end. The trail I went up is far better the other direction; my concern was the steep climb to start, so I took the less fun overall route. I did manage to get in a good ride, felt really strong on the climbs and felt as if I was riding well on the technical sections. I think there may be a better (and longer) route that can be created by including Bear Creek, but that will have to wait for another week.

Dakota Ridge looking west to Mathews

Dakota Ridge looking east to Green Mountain
On a side note, I’m feeling I took the weekend too easy. By Friday I already had 100+ miles and with a 35 mile ride Saturday a 200 mile week was easily within grasp; however, as a mountain biker I went for the mountain bike ride Sunday and even at that a short one. A total of 155 for the week, 9:50 of riding, with another 2:00 of riding it would have been a big week of training, as it stands a solid week but nothing special.

Museum of Contemporary Art - Denver

2009-03-07T13:32:00.002-07:00

On weekends I always make sure Seamus and I have time alone together, just the boys hanging out. Strangely we don’t do normal boy stuff like watch sports or play sports, we tend to spend our time enjoying Denver’s cultural attractions. Fortunately for us we are members of the Zoo and Museum of Nature and Science, this makes regular visits to both places easy and now with Ade not working free. Today we ventured to a new (for us) place, the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art. The first Saturday of every month you can get in for one penny.
We cruised around for a while there. The exhibits and overall museum was small, but very well put together. Seamus really enjoyed it; I think the “contemporary art” is really intriguing for kids, because in a lot of ways it is similar to what kids make when doing art. There was one exhibit that was very colorful and cartoonish that we both really enjoyed.

Seamus checking out the art.

Perhaps even better then the art itself was the building. The location is a new building and (I believe) was designed for the museum. Lots of wide open spaces, cool lines between the galleries, an outdoor deck/patio on the roof all made the building very interactive and artistic as well.

Me and Seamus on the roof.

I sure hope this museum can stay around and really make a place for itself in Denver. It recently merged with another local arts organization and hired a new executive director. Small(ish) non profits have a tough go of it any time, but especially in an economic environment like this. Not sure our two cents today will help them survive but it was money well spent.

Eat Green

2009-03-04T19:25:00.002-07:00

So here is an article I just found after yesterday's post, eating green is good for you and the environment. Time magizine has an article on eating less red meat, a product that is very high i methane, one of the three major sources of greenhouse gases.

I'm the first to admit that red meat is tasty, and could never become a person who never partakes in red meat, but reducing the intake has benefits for the environment and more importantly health. Racing Green was originally created to show how the bicycle can/could benefit the environment and personal health. That is still my primary interest day to day (hence the reason for participating in the Lance Armstrong Foundation event this year, see the link to the left). Do yourself and the environment a favor and try to change a dinner menu from meat to chicken.

The Environment

2009-03-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I’m willing to accept the challenge of my friendly “anonymous” poster and revive (at least on some levels) the social and environmental focus of the blog. In some ways I don’t know that I’ve ever really gotten away from it, just shifted focus as I see fit. Clearly in the lead up to the Presidential election in November I voiced my opinion on the candidates (and issues) in a public manner. In my mind, Fu&& the theory that you don’t discuss politics or religion in public. If you can’t voice your thoughts then why bother. I supported (now President) Obama in large part because of his environmental policies. Prior to Obama I supported a guy now known as Vice-President Biden. I liked his cap and trade ideas on carbon output; I liked his thinking in general. Truth be told, I may have been the only person in America actually happy and excited by the original announcement of Biden as the VP choice.
Do I always agree with these guys? No way. I think the recent economic stimulus package should have mandated that all vehicles that are purchased through the program be hybrid (or natural gas at a minimum). I think less focus should have been on roads and infrastructure and more focus on renewable energy, but I’ll take what I can get. The legislation has key components to help the US focus on renewable and sustainable energy use. You can see more at http://environment.about.com/od/environmentallawpolicy/a/econ_stimulus.htm.
But is governmental legislation enough to reduce our (collective) dependence on non-renewable energy? Hell no. Each of us must take time to lessen our impact. Each of us must make focused choices to change our lifestyles to reduce our carbon footprint. Each of us has to determine where we can start, make a change, have the change become second nature and then make another change. You can’t change a habit overnight. It takes weeks, even months to change habits so collectively as a country it will take years to change our driving habits, our heating habits, our habits with how we carry groceries, how we pack our lunch, but change those habits we must.
I listed a few minor and easy changes I’ve made recently in a post last week. I challenge each of you to find a change you can make that minimally impacts your life, but has significant environmental impact. A few ideas: adjust the temperature in your house, 2 degrees cooler in the winter/warmer in the summer; use renewable cloth bags for grocery shopping, ride your bike or take public transportation to work, buy organic, eat less red meat (the veggie lifestyle is far more sustainable due to the methane from cow waste), change light bulbs to energy efficient. Take a few moments to consider some choices and commit to one change for a month. Make that change become second nature. Make that change benefit the environment, then make another change and repeat the steps.

2009-03-01T11:15:00.003-07:00

White Ranch early on Sunday morning. It was still pretty cold out when I was riding and nobody else was out on the trails.

So, should I do a wrap up of the week or the month for this update? I hate when the month and the week end on the same day, it takes away a post idea. Given how challenged I can be with posting any changes can confuse me.

For February I had another pretty solid month of riding. Starting off with a long 95 mile ride the first week to really work to challenge myself. The highlight in some ways of the month was the ride last Sunday with Kelly where I was finally able to hang. February ended with a total of 576 miles. Given the 95 I put in on one ride alone it seems a little light for a total but I did fit in a week with essentially no training during the week for some much needed rest. Total for the year is 1,246 (though this is kind of a false number since for me “the year” of training started in November, the problem being I wasn’t paying attention to my miles then) is a solid start for the year. I’m still on pace for a big mile year with 7,400+ looking pretty realistic. If I ever put in a big ride or two during the week an 8,000 mile year may happen.

The views from White Ranch are pretty sweet of the city, this is actually a herd of deer. There were a ton of deer out today and just me on the trails.

For the week I put in a few good efforts, though nothing crazy. I spent a lot of time working on tempo rides (just below threshold, a level that can be ridden at for extended periods of time). Two of my weekday rides were tempo focused and my ride yesterday was tempo plus a super hard effort on Lookout Mountain. I rode Lookout in 24 minutes flat. This is the fastest time of the year, but still not great from a perspective of what is fast on Lookout. I think the time will drop pretty quickly over the next few weeks as I start to add some intensity to the riding. I spent this morning on a quick mountain bike ride at White Ranch. It is crazy how nice the trails are now. Prime riding except for a couple of patches of ice. I was riding without an Ipod today (very unusual for me) and had Danny’s Song by Kenny Loggins stuck in my head…”…Pisces, Virgo rising is a very good sign…”. Certainly not my normal riding music, but fit the ride pretty good today and made the climbs less painful. I really never got into a grove on the climbs, mostly I think I was fried from yesterday, up early riding and cold makes it tough to feel great.

White Ranch looking east toward Denver.

Overall though I'm feeling like the training is moving in the right direction. There are still a lot of weeks to go before the first race so the speed and intensity can be brought along at a slower pace.

Random Thoughts

2009-02-27T16:20:00.001-07:00

Random thoughts. A few years back when I started this blog thing one of the reasons was to raise awareness about global warming and give people tips and ideas how they could take and inexpensive steps to help protect the environment. Clearly I’ve moved away from that focus, though the concern is still one I’m concerned and passionate about.

Recently I’ve made two changes to my lifestyle to lessen my impact even more. The first is I brought in silverware and dishes from home to the office. I eat breakfast nearly every day at work after riding before coming to the office. Necessitating items like spoons, bowls, forks etc. Up until about four weeks ago I used the disposable stuff at the office. The second change is with my lunches. Again, I pack a lunch nearly every day and had dutifully utilized a plastic bag to carry a sandwich for years. I’m sure many of you do the same. Recently I’ve been packing the sandwich in a Tupperware container allowing me to continually use the same package and lessen my impact. I really don’t know why it’s taken me so long to make these minor and easy changes but give it a try.

Second set of random thoughts. As a parent I’m sure many of us wonder if we are doing things right. Daily I face the challenge of trying to get Seamus to eat fruit (don’t even bring up vegetables there is no chance he’d touch those), take a shower, brush his teeth etc. When these daily distractions occur you wonder, “Am I doing this right?” Then every once in a while you get the glimpse that even though he doesn’t eat right the kid is on the right track. Last weekend we went to the Museum of Nature and Science to see the new natural disaster exhibit. There is a great section on Hurricane Katrina, including a section with recordings of people displaced by Katrina telling their stories. For an eight year old boy to sit and intently listen and show concern for these people is amazing. When Seamus shows this concern for other people who have been so tragically impacted, I know as parents Ade and I are doing something right. Good thing tonight isn’t “an apple night” at dinner.

Week 15 - A Breakthrough

2009-02-24T05:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a big day in the week 15 training; we covered 70+ miles with the famed climb over Grapevine being the peak of the ride. Grapevine starts about 4 miles west of Morrison, meaning there is 4 miles of steady climbing up the canyon before turning off the main road onto Grapevine. Grapevine itself is about 3 miles of climbing with the last two being on a dirt road. The bottom of the climb is very steep in parts, causing serious pain even when in a 25 tooth cog. Prior to hitting the climb out of Morrison/Grapevine there are already 2 minor climbs of 1-2 miles to start to wear the energy level (this after 30 miles on the flats to get to the foothills).

After reaching the top a quick descent (again partially on dirt) followed by another climb of about 3 miles to the top of Lookout Mountain. This is one of my all time favorite rides as it is long, has a few really solid climbs (and you can easily add in a few more 1-1.5 mile climbs and end up with an 80-90 mile day) and the dirt road climb up Grapevine gives you a true sense of accomplishment as it is a long, tough ride. Sunday I did this ride with Kelly, for those of you who race Winter Park he’s won Expert 35-39 overall in 2007 and 2008, which normally for me means a lot of watching him pedal away. Usually for Kelly it means a lot of waiting at the top or soft pedaling waiting for me. Either way I get a great workout because I’m chasing him so hard I push myself way beyond the normal boundaries of training. On Sunday though something strange happened, on the first smaller climb I stayed right on his wheel the whole time. On the second small climb, again on the wheel and feeling good. On the road from Morrison to Idealdale (where you turnoff for Grapevine) I managed to stay right with Kelly the entire 4 miles. At this point I knew something strange was happening as I’ve never managed to hang on that long. This motivated me enough to think, ponder even, how long can I stay with Kelly on Grapevine. Right away I figured I’d hit my limit. The steep pitches at the start don’t suite my riding style and I feel off a little, but only a little and then I quickly caught back on. Once we hit the dirt we rode side by side up to a set of hairpins where I actually pushed ahead (only for a moment but still) and lead on the climb. Now by this point I thought death was near and looking over Kelly still seemed at relative ease, but even with my breathing scaring wildlife for miles around I’d never been able to stick with Kelly that long on a climb. For my ego (I admit it) I pushed hard at the top to win the imaginary KOM.

The quick descent down gave me a chance to get the heart rate down from god knows what to a reasonable 170 bpm. Upon starting the climb to the top of Lookout I figured the distance and multiple climbs would finally catch up and I’d fall back, but still be pleased with the improvement. Strangely, on this climb I again managed to stay with Kelly and again even push it a little at times. I don’t know why I’m able to hang on the climbs this year. Maybe Kelly is in worse shape, maybe I’m in better (this is what I hope), but after a few years riding and chasing somebody it is nice to finally be able to stay with them on the climbs. Rising to the challenges, even if it takes years to accomplish a seemingly minor goal is what makes cycling fun. Now if I could only descend as well as Kelly does.

Week 14, Really Late

2009-02-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

Week 14 was a slow week for me, a rest week. I undertook very little riding, thus the late update on the week. Coming off the rest week I’ve feeling mentally and physically motivated to get on with the season. This week starts a little more intensity to build the engine for races.

I’ve started to transition my training this week as the winter is long and riding the rollers can become a little mind numbing. Since Ade isn’t working I’ve found it easier to get out of the house and ride in the morning outside. While it may be dark and cold the miles are always easier outside. With no rush to get three people out the door (and two to work on time), only one lunch to make and a little more light in the morning this transition seems smart. The other reason for riding outside now is given how mild this winter has been I know that soon days will be coming when riding outside just isn’t possible. It seems whenever Denver starts out with a mild winter in December through February that the month of March brings with it brutal conditions. When the blizzard I expect to hit comes in March I’ll still have a little mental freshness and be able to spend some time on the rollers, if I didn’t venture outside now there would be no way I could handle riding in the basement in March.

Now I’m sitting around and getting ready for big rides this weekend. Sunday is set to be 80 miles of riding with lots of hills, dirt and energy spent chasing fast guys. I can’t wait.

It's All About Choices

2009-02-14T18:47:00.001-07:00

I often tell people “it’s all about choices”. This arises frequently when people ask how I can fit in so much time and energy for riding and racing, but the reality is it deals with all aspects of life. Many times for me it deals with another glass of red or waking up early for a long ride. A week ago the choices became a little more real, a little more important then another glass of wine or not.

I’ve talked about politics, I’ve talked about my stance on government spending to stimulate the economy and I’ve talked about the current “depression”. As one reader responded a few weeks ago the difference between recession and depression is when it happens to you it is a depression. Well then welcome to the depression. Last Friday Ade was laid off. Actually they used some term that sounds way better then that, but the fact is she isn’t working anymore and for the entire family it’s all about choices. We’ve been making hard choices this week, but the reality is, for us at least right now those choices aren’t as hard as many others in this country are needing to make right now.

We are in a good position, a decent severance package, I’m still employed and even on one income the real life expenses (mortgage, food, insurance) can be covered with a cautious eye. Some of our choices were easy, no more before school care for Seamus when mom is around. No more Starbucks everyday. Checking more books out at the library and not buying any for the time being. Other choices, while still easy aren’t as clear cut. All natural versus organic can save $10-$15 a week on food, but is it as healthy? Buying none natural even saves another $5-$10. Well for now I’ll stick to natural. Some may say that is a luxury anyway, though I’d say eating healthy is not a luxury just a smart choice. Medical insurance is on my company anyway so no change there. Yea we’re making choices but not whether to pay the mortgage or food or credit card so in that sense we’re lucky.

It’s all about choices, fewer bike races, less coffee, whatever it may be. Today we all went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to check out the new exhibit on Nature Unleashed. Our choices are easy compared to those who survived Katrina. Our choices are easy compared to those who survived the tsunami in Sri Lanka and India. Our choice today to not spend money but to spend time as a family makes this all a little easier. I can still ride my bike, ride it as fast as I want, I just won’t spend much on entry fees this year. That’s another choice I can live with.

No Leadville, Laramie Here I Come

2009-02-11T18:58:00.003-07:00

So I got the rejection letter from Leadville yesterday, along with my voided check. While I would have loved to ride the Leadville 100 I'm not heart broken, there are plenty of other races out there to race and have fun, no mention of the cost. I've always had the back-up in mind, the Laramie Enduro. Laramie is 70+ miles (111 km) of tough rolling to climbing terrain, probably a lot of wind and something Leadville doesn't have, singletrack.

Registration for Laramie opens on Friday the 13th (cool I guess), no lottery or anything, just first come first served. Given how boring of a life I lead I might be the first person to register.

I'm still mulling over the "big news", but I know I'll post on it, just want it to be worded correctly, maybe this week, more likely the weekend.

Week 13 (I think)

2009-02-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

The first week of February turned into a pretty crazy one, but for today I’m just going to cover the riding. The other, bigger news of the week can wait. I need to digest it, ponder it, determine if it is blog material and then, if it is blog material, write something that does it justice. Right now I don’t know how to do the material justice, so it will sit.

Early week training was mellow and light, knowing that Friday would be the biggest day of the year thus far. With the nice weather predicted and my approaching (now past) birthday taking off from work to log big miles seemed like the right thing to do. My quest for Leadville (which now looks unrealistic) spurred me on to go for 100 miles, so when I left the house at 7:30 that was the plan. 5:30 minutes later I returned home, 7 miles shy of the 100 but feeling good about the ride. After putting in that long of a day I’m not sure 100 mile rides are possible solo. The energy expended on a solo ride of that distance, not to mention the mind tricks are tough. I had a varied route with flats, climbs, dirt roads and bike path time, but still my mind was going a bit crazy toward the end (little did I know how crazy my mind would soon turn).

I did learn a lot about nutrition on the ride. I started eating 1 hour in and was downing about 200-250 calories of food/drink per hour. A lot of ultra endurance racers say that number needs to be more like 300+ calories per hour, which should be possible just something that needs to be practiced. I was fine food wise until about 4:40 in when no matter what I did I wasn’t able to keep the force up on the bike. In the last hour I ate about 400 calories, just too late to really help. Lessoned learned to eat more early to keep the energy topped off for the entire ride.

Saturday I was spent, the thought of a ride was there early but it never happened. Good thing the weather men on TV were wrong yet again, as I woke up Sunday to a cool/cold day but no rain or snow as promised. That made the riding choice easy and I put in 2:00 on the dirt at Green Mountain. I’ve been riding a time trail there through the winter and today knocked 30 seconds off my fastest time so the fitness continues to improve. With no Leadville on the schedule (I assume) I’ve got some time to figure out racing, fitness and training. I’ll try to get that all figured out this week.

Friday

2009-02-07T07:26:00.002-07:00

I took yesterday off work, busted out a 90+ mile ride on the bike. Riding that long alone is hard. Put in a lot of good efforts with climbing five significant climbs. No news on Leadville, leading me to believe I didn't get in, oh well more important things to consider/worry about anyway.

Week 12 - One Month in to 2009

2009-02-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

A recap of the first month of 2009 seems in order for the weekly training update. For January I put in 670 miles, including two long mountain bike rides (January 1st for one of them) and a lot of miles on the road. Clearly the weather this January wasn’t as bad as it could have been which made getting in the big miles pretty easy.

Each weekend of the month I did a ride of at least 4:00, which put me well over 20 hours just from long rides and the miles from those rides totaled over about 310 miles (I don’t keep great track of per ride miles, just monthly totals). In addition I put in some solid work building the body for later races, including a good amount of tempo work and a little higher end efforts on long rides while climbing. Yesterday I climbed Lookout Mountain in sub 24 minutes, which while not fast, is a good pace for this time of the year, especially given half the climb was in zone 3. The legs seem to be responding well to the training and the time up Lookout proves that.

I’ve got two more weeks of base training then I’ll move into the build process (more intensity to get ready for racing) and start to see how the body responds to the more intense efforts. Hopefully the steady work of November through January (ok mid February) will make the harder efforts faster (not easier, cause it never gets easier you just get faster). If I keep up at this pace I’ll be over 8,000 miles for the year. That may be a little extreme, but a 7,500 mile year should be realistic and that will top 2008’s 7,000.

Bachelor Living and the Current Depression

2009-01-31T20:27:00.002-07:00

I could describe a great road ride today, but maybe that should wait for the weekly report. I could respond to a comment on the blog from a couple of days ago, about the economic situation , thought I’m not sure how to respond. In a great many ways I agree, this situation seems to be more then normal. More then a recession, at least the level any of us are use to remembering. My grandma H use to talk about the depression, as a teen and young woman. She didn’t know how bad it was because she was young, taken care of, falling in love with my grandpa. I’m sure my great-grand parents, whom I never met, worried. I know I do, as a parent it is all you can do when there is uncertainty or risk that may impact your child.

It’s a bachelor pad at my house this weekend, Ade gone to see our new nephew Zeke, and her mom and sister. Seamus and I living the way bachelor’s do, eating out, sleeping where we want (we built a tent last night in the living room). The partying is mellow though, mostly ice cream with a little wine mixed in for me. Grandma and Grandpa watched Shay this morning so I could ride. I picked him up and we went to the zoo. A beautiful afternoon to walk around and have ice cream while enjoying the animals. We ran into my aunt Jeanine, just a few minutes of conversation, but I learned a lot from her today. Her and my uncle Marty volunteer at the zoo, and today we (Shay and I) learned from her how birds can stay on branches while sleeping . We then ended up spending over an hour in Bird World (not my favorite place, but if we’re learning it must be good).

How does a comment on the blog and an afternoon at the zoo tie together? Well the end of the comment was “I hope this is a transition period where we care less about materialistic things, and more about just enjoying the little things and leaving an imprint on this world other than buying a new Rolex.” Somehow I hope learning about birds is more important then the economic crisis, or even how we respond or how long it goes on. As a parent I can worry about money and taking care of my family constantly these days. More important though, as a parent, is to remember that kids don’t remember the struggles for money they remember the love their parents gave them. My grandma H told me about her recollection of the “great depression” when I was young, now I know the importance of what she was telling me.

A Scary Thought on the Economy

2009-01-28T20:27:00.001-07:00

In a recent discussion on the economy and recession I was confronted with an opinion that while vastly different to mine made so much sense I finally realized we are screwed. I’ve held out hope that the worst part of the global economic crisis is at hand now and soon we will start to see companies recover. Maybe no economic boom, but certainly no depression.

Unemployment is higher then in years, savings at historic lows, ARMs still adjusting people out of homes, credit card debt high, there is no way it could get worse. But then the comment, all these people getting laid off are living off already taxed credit cards and soon, with no “extra” money to pay off debt and current living costs they will have little choice but to file for bankruptcy. This will only cause a recession to fall into a depression.

I was at a party recently and the question of how to tell when a recession becomes a depression came up. The best answer I heard, “when your mother-in-law moves in”. Well, I hope she likes the unfinished basement because there isn’t enough money around to get it finished right now.

Week 11

2009-01-25T14:09:00.005-07:00

Saturday was one of the coldest rides I’ve ever done. I was out for over four hours, stopping twice to get hot water to melt my frozen water bottles. Days like that aren’t fun at the time, reaching down for a drink at two hours in to a ride on a climb only to find there is no liquid left. Then the real bad news strikes, at least twenty minutes of riding remain until there is a place to get water.

This is the climb where I realized I had no water or Gatorade to drink, bummer.

Add a few places with ice that altered my planned route and my long ride turned into a slow march home with lots of stops, cold feet, cold hands, cold face and not nearly the miles I had wanted. The strange thing about my ride on Saturday was how tired I felt later. Last week I rode for five hours with lots of climbing. Saturday was four hours with climbing, but much less (probably 1,200 vertical less at a minimum). Yet I was dead later in the day. I could barely stay awake to watch a movie and even this morning I’m feeling a little tired. The good news is tomorrow is a rest day and seems well earned at this point.

Two weeks from tomorrow and I should know if I get into the Leadville 100. After that I can finalize my schedule for the season. Right now I know the Lance Armstrong Foundation LiveStrong ride in late October (you can DONATE TO HELP TOO). Beyond that I’m not sure, though the Front Range 50 on May 9th seems pretty firm. Colorado’s road schedule is just out so I’ll probably figure some of those out soon and after finding out about Leadville finalize plans for the mountain bike season.

Racing Green 2009 Season Goal - Helping to Fight Cancer

2009-01-21T09:56:00.006-07:00

As my faithful readers know (thanks to the three of you), over the past few years I’ve tried to incorporate into my cycling something more significant than just riding and racing for the fun of it. In 2007 I raised money for the Environmental Defense Fund in an effort to promote awareness about global warming. Last year I organized a team and promoted some rides to get people out on their bikes for the health and environmental benefits. So what for 2009? Well to be honest, until a few days ago, I didn’t know and wasn’t even sure I would do anything this season. But I was recently inspired by Fatty of Fat Cyclist fame to take up a new cause.

Have you ever read the blog Fat Cyclist? If you haven’t I ask that you check it out. If you are only going to read one post, make it this one-- Dandelion Seeds. Next you should READ THIS ONE(yea I know I said if you only read one, but after Like Dandelion Seeds you’ll read one more) and you’ll get an idea what I’m doing this year.

It is a long way until the LiveStrong ride in Austin (October 23-25) but it is time to sign up and start thinking about donating. Why LiveStrong and why Team Fatty? Well we all have some experience with cancer and its devastating effects, not only on the person with cancer, but also the entire family. I count myself lucky, when my grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer at 88 she didn’t suffer, had lived a long life, full of love, family, and enjoyment. Others aren’t so lucky, having pain and suffering for years. So yea, cancer pretty much sucks and anything that can be done to find cures, ease pain and suffering and offer hope to all those afflicted is a good thing and that is what the Lance Armstrong Foundation is around for. Why Fatty? I don’t know the guy at all. He’s from Utah and so is Ade, but no real connection with him. If he walked by me today I wouldn’t know it. I’ve read his blog for a while and what has always struck me is how much he is like me (or really any of us).

Elden (Fatty) loves his bike, but he loves his wife and family more. He has busted his ass to take care of Susan and his family. If I was in the same position could I do as much as he has? Probably not even close. Taking care of Ade as he has taken care of Susan I would accept and try; being driven to go beyond his personal suffering is what has inspired me to join Team Fatty. Fatty is fighting not just for his wife, he is fighting for everyone afflicted by cancer while at the same time caring for his wife and family. I don’t know anybody with that kind of dedication which is why I’ve been inspired to try to make a small difference. I’ll head to Austin in the fall and ride. Hopefully I’ll actually meet Fatty. I do know we’ll reach the goal of $1,000,000 raised for LAF and fighting cancer. To all my friends and family please link to MY FUND RAISING PAGE and help me raise my portion of the $1,000,000. My personal goal is $2,500 and I am officially 1% of the way there. Any amount helps so please donate a little if you can.

Week 10

2009-01-19T11:06:00.002-07:00

An early morning climb at Red Rocks, just me and my shadow

Go big or go home was the thought process for the week. With great weather on tap for the weekend I looked forward all week to a big ride on the weekend. Any other week in January with weather like the past few days I would have put in two huge rides, but I had a Field Test scheduled for Saturday and felt it was important to get that in for hard data on how training is going. Sunday though, still beautiful and lots of miles.

I headed out early (7:00am) to get in a five hour ride. It was still cold but not terrible for January when I left. I went from my house to Morrison, over Red Rocks, to the I-70 side of Lookout Mountain. A good long day with lots of long climbs and even more punchy rollers to keep me going. I rolled out for a total of 4:40 and felt pretty fresh still when I got home. I really tried to focus on eating during the ride, as nutrition has always been an issue for me and if I get into the Leadville 100 I can’t risk not being use to on the bike fueling. I started eating 30 minutes in and made sure to consume something, either a gel or nutrition bar, every 30 minutes. At times this was hard to remember and force down but I never felt my energy lagging during the ride and wasn’t dead when I got home so I think the effort helped. During a race it will be a little harder to eat, as the effort makes fueling tough, but if I keep training nutrition it should be less of an issue then in past years.

Red Rocks again, it is a short climb in the park, but tough.

Climbing Lookout Mountain from the I-70 side, this leads to the Buffalo Overlook exit off I-70, from there a quick turn to Buffalo Bill's Grave and a fast downhill to food and drink in Golden.

I did skimp a little during the week and only did yoga two times. I’ve been trying to get in at least three sessions a week as it helps me stay fresh and pain free riding. On long rides the stress and pressure on the back and shoulders can be pretty bad and the yoga makes the stress far less. Even yesterday after the nearly five hours I didn’t feel sore at all so the yoga is paying off in my mind. This week I’ll make sure to get in all my sessions.

Results

2009-01-17T14:41:00.002-07:00

Did my field test this morning and have a mixed view of results. Cold hard data shows:

Max HR 181, Average HR 176, Distance 7.2 Time 20 minutes.

Now look at the previous post and you won't see much change. The differences are Max HR -5bpm this time, Average HR -4bpm this time, Distance = the same. So have I lost fitness? Is the difference in HR small/not significant? Distance traveled isn't a huge concern as it was windy this morning, about 10 mph out of the NE, my route is 20 minutes in roughly one direction, you guessed it NE.

I'll digest for a few days then let you know what I think of the test results.

Field Test

2009-01-16T13:19:00.002-07:00

So I've got a field test scheduled for tomorrow. A way to measure how training is going. Here are results from the first one I took under the Lynda W plan (one week in).

field test - 180 bpm max 186 bpm, 7.2 miles cherry creek res

I doubt heart rate will change much but I hope the distance does. I'll post the new results tomorrow. A friend Rob and I have been emailing back and forth on this topic during the week so I know he'll at least be interested.

Week 9

2009-01-11T14:55:00.003-07:00

The week of training that nearly wasn’t is how I’m looking at the past week. I started the week sick, so intended to take it a little easy (reducing amount of tempo work and sprints) but trying to keep the volume where I wanted it. Work had other plans though and I was lucky to eak out the 8.5 hours of training I got in.

Sometimes the stress of other aspects of life, in this case work, limits the ability or desire to train. On Wednesday and Thursday mornings I set the alarm to get up and ride. Both days I ended up sleeping more, mostly because falling asleep had been tough with a situation going on at work. The ideal way to start back to work after over two weeks off is not sitting around in conference rooms with people preparing for unexpected presentations to educate and defend your company and more importantly your own good name. I’m lucky that the other people I work with have as much passion and integrity as I do and in the end this little obstacle will just be a great learning opportunity. Last week it was a chance to limit my riding.

I managed to get in another mountain bike ride today though. There is nothing better then being 11 days into January and already have gotten in two mountain bike rides. It was cold and even a few flurries (it looks like I should have waited for the afternoon) but the ride was still fun. The ride was made more fun by the fact I just had the bike tuned for the season and it was smooth and fast. I also put on new grips, some Ergon's. I hadn't had a pair on for about six months, not sure why, as I loved the grips before and felt great with them again today. When riding a lot little things like grips and hand position can make a huge difference, guess I was dumb when I had them off during that time.

It may be a little hard to see in this picture but there is a deer eating. Along the fire road at Green Mountain there must have been 30-40 deer spread out eating the grass and watching all the people hike, run or ride by, it was pretty surreal to see that many deer.

I sent in the entry form for Leadville Trail 100 this week, I’m sure along with thousands of others. I should know by February 9th which is perfect as that will give me a little time to plan my schedule for the rest of the season. I know I want to do the Front Range 50 on May 9th which is essentially 13 weeks after finding out if I get in to Leadville. If I get in I may train a little bigger for the Front Range 50 (more miles then really I’d need to finish that race) to help with the build up to Leadville. If no go on Leadville, well then I’ll figure something else out.

Week 8

2009-01-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

The week of training started out great, I got in some good rides, rode the mountain bike for 2:00 on New Years day and on Saturday put in a 4:00 road ride before the (real) cold and snow started. I was looking forward to a short ride Sunday to cap the week, but alas I got a stomach bug that still has me laid up on the couch and no dreams of riding.

Oh well, it is early so I’ll sleep and catch up on riding later.

January 1

2009-01-01T15:03:00.002-07:00

Colorado weather knows how to bring in the New Year for a cyclist. This morning I got up, left the house at 7:30 and was treated to 2 hours of mountain biking. By 8:25 I had climbed to the top of Green Mountain for the first time of the day (and year) and had a chance to enjoy the city while most others were still sleeping or just beginning to work on a hang over cure.

While Green Mountain may not be the best riding around, the climbs are solid, there are some fun downhills and in the winter the trails dry out pretty quick allowing for year round mountain biking.

Part of the climb to the top, riding from the East side of Green Mountain up to the top.

A view of the city to the East from the Green Mountain high point.

Me after the first climb of the year.

Pretty sweet way to get the year started.

2008 Top 10 List

2008-12-31T15:40:00.001-07:00

Well everyone else is doing their top 10 list for 2008 so I’ll take a stab at it, though 10 items might be a little extreme.

1. Racing Green the Team – I put together a team for the season with a goal to have fun, promote riding and utilize the bike to lessen your personal environmental impact. The team did good, especially given our small size and new entry to the sport (as a team). A couple of wins by riders and a middle of the pack team classification placing at Winter Park. More important were some of the extra things the team did, putting on an event in the community to promote riding that drew 25 people, we attracted some local press and the ride was pretty fun. Next year I’ll still do an event to get people riding, though probably not the team.
2. Bike to Work Day – Coordinated Bike to Work Day at my company had 50 people participate (out of 200 in Denver) a huge increase over 2007. Gave away some sweet prizes thanks to my personal (and team) sponsor Pedal Pushers www.pedalpusherscyclery.com
3. Racing – No break through results, or in reality any good results this year, but man I have fun racing. Getting out on trails, pushing myself, trying to compete with others it makes riding fun.
4. The Election – Man I’m a political geek and this was a year for geeks. A diverse set of candidates putting in serious bids, African-Americans, Latin Americans, and women, add in some divergent views and an electrifying candidate or two and this year was great for watching the electoral process.
5. Books – Damn I’ve been reading a lot this year, the most in years probably. If I didn’t spend so much time riding I’d probably sit around drinking, reading and getting fat. Bill McKiben, Charles Bukowski, David Sedaris, books on politics, books on Starbucks, environmental books, medical books, poetry and biographies.
6. Writing – All that damn reading got me writing again. Cool.
7. Drive by Truckers – Saw them live this summer, red neck rock and roll damn that was a fun night.
8. New Bikes – Two new bikes in 2008, Cannondale CAAD 9 road bike and Orbea Oiz mountain bike. Nice rides
9. Travel – Most of my travel in 2008 was for work, but I try to make sure to enjoy it when I’m out. Chicago is a new favorite. New York is cool but Chicago just fits me better. The one downside, airlines and delays.
10. Ade and Seamus – They support me in all this. The ride I put on was on Mother’s Day and they came and had fun. Long rides, days away racing always supported by my wife. Kicking back watching and talking about politics with the wife was great through the fall. A seven year old who is growing into a great and unique person. Trips to the zoo, museum and wherever else he wants to go, each day I see him grow, better himself and turn in to the person I want/hope he’ll become.

So there is my view of 2008 in 10 easy installments. Hope you had a good year and hope 2009 is even better.

Week 7

2008-12-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

The week that wasn’t, as in minimal training, lots of eating and some relaxing. As promised I didn’t take my bike to Salt Lake with me, allowing for plenty of relaxation during the holiday. It is just too bad the weather didn’t cooperate with the relaxing. But first, quick totals from the training front; two rides for a total of 3:00 hours; two runs for a total of 1:00 hour; three yoga sessions for a total of 1:30 hours. Not a huge amount of volume but enough to make me feel like I didn’t lose any fitness and stayed on track. The riding came Monday (a trainer session early) and Sunday with a 2:00 hour ride.

On to the lack of relaxation, which can be wrapped up with two words both starting with W: windy Wyoming? We drove to Salt Lake on I-80 through Wyoming; leaving Monday night we got to the stretch between Laramie and our planned stopping point for the night of Rawlins in a dark snow storm with wind blowing about 50-60 mph. If you have never driven in these conditions try to avoid it, if you have you know the word relaxation is not possible. It took 2.5 hours to drive 100 miles, a stretch that during the summer is 1:15 to travel. The next day it was windy and snowy again from Little America (don’t get me started on a gas station that is a destination) to Salt Lake. After that travel a few days chilling at the mother-in-laws house was welcomed and allowed for a little relaxation.

Too bad we had to drive back. The good news this time is very limited actual snowfall; the bad news was even fiercer wind and plenty of snow on the ground to create white out conditions. At points you couldn’t see 20 feet in front of you and it went on like this for hours. We ended up calling it a day in Laramie because neither of us could (or wanted to) focus on driving). This morning more wind 60+ mph gusts but no snow causing white out conditions. We did see a total of 6 semis that had been blown over because of the wind; two between Rawlins and Laramie on the 27th and four just south of Cheyenne on the 28th.

The good news is we made it home safe and have vowed to never make a winter time drive to SLC again (that’s why there are airplanes). Tomorrow begins real work (bike wise) again, but I have another week off work to relax and take care of Seamus on vacation. If you’re in Denver and see us causing terror through town join in.

Week 6

2008-12-22T07:20:00.001-07:00

Well the week that was was cold, snowy and busy, leaving minimal time for training. The good thing is it is months till the first races and a couple of weeks of shorter (or no) riding won’t be too bad. Prior to this week I had gotten in five solid weeks of base training. The reality is week 6 wasn’t all bad considering the other factors; I rode six days, put in a few hard efforts and didn’t burn myself out on the rollers by keeping the rides short.

The week started with a solid cold snap that caused the car battery to go out. With Ade sick and a car not working riding time was limited. This forced me to drive in (the cold, Ade being sick and the car issue) to get the car taken care of and make sure I was able to get to school on-time to pick up Seamus if needed. I of course also needed to finish my Christmas shopping which limits time, so life took priority and riding was on the rollers and night for short periods of time. Of my scheduled work I really only short changed the weekend long ride, as I had no desire to ride for 3-4 hours in the bitter cold, on ice ridden streets while drivers weren’t expecting to see a cyclist. Still I managed to get in 5.5 hours of riding and 1.5 hours of strength training during the week.

I’ve also officially started the holiday eating plan, consisting of way too many cookies, treats and food in general. I’m trying to make it through the end of the year with little to no weight gain so I can drop it quick in the beginning of the year. Since starting to follow the LW plan I’ve dropped 4 pounds and would like to drop another 5. If I can be conservative with food between now and the end of the year the last 5 should come off pretty quick. Of course there is one problem; I’m not really going to be working out this week so keeping the weight off may not be easy.

We’re hitting the road this afternoon for Salt Lake and will be gone for a week. If I manage to get in a total of 3 hours of any sort of exercise this week I’ll be happy. Long hours in cars and parties will limit that though, but I should be mentally fresh when I get back to start back with the training and finish up base training in style.

Hopefully everyone gets what they want from Santa this week. Merry Christmas.

Life of the Rollers

2008-12-18T21:34:00.003-07:00

Life on the rollers can be tough, the same view the entire time, no change of terrain, no wind to cool you off. I've got the basement set up with a tv, fan and music to make the time more tolerable but still it isn't the most fun riding conditions.

Here is my view for any time I put on the rollers, the tv, and fan and junk in the basement.

This is me sweating my ass off after about 45 minutes.

One Problem Solved

2008-12-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

So I just hoped off the rollers for today’s ride and now need to decompress. Even if I wanted to go to sleep soon it just won’t be possible, any time I ride at night it takes a few hours to slow the body down and fall asleep. My normal routine is to go to sleep at a reasonable and get up and riding by 5 at the latest, especially this time of the year when a lot of riding is done on the rollers. If I’m riding by 4:30 to 5:00 I can get in 1.5 to 2 hours, take a shower and ride in the car to work with Ade. This lets me help get everyone out the door, get my big ride in and then lets me sneak in a shorter ride by riding the bike home after work (Ade gets off early for school pick-up).

This week the routine got messed up though with a rough Monday night and no energy to get up and ride Tuesday morning. So Tuesday’s ride was at night, causing today’s ride to be at night, which indicates tomorrow will end up being a night ride. Oh well, fit it in when I can.

I did try something new today with the rollers that worked pretty well, a towel under the rear rollers to create extra resistance. I stole the idea from Jeff K who was even nice enough to post a picture of his set-up for me. Rollers are great because they make you work on balance and think a little while riding. This is as opposed to a trainer where you are bolted in and there is no skill or balance required. The problem with rollers has always been getting enough resistance for hard efforts, but the towel did the trick. I was scheduled for 6x6 minutes of tempo riding and usually to get near or into my heart rate for this zone I’m in the biggest gear and spinning about 100-110 rpm. I haven’t been able to do any zone 4 or higher work on the rollers. Tonight zone 3 work was in the 53x16/17 which means I’ll have gears for zone 4 (not to mention more towels if needed). This little trick makes rollers work for nearly all indoor workouts (out of saddle sprinting is tough, I can do a few pedal strokes out of the saddle but it needs to be steady).

If nothing else checking out blogs gives a few ideas to solve problems like this. Thanks Jeff.

Week 5

2008-12-14T16:44:00.001-07:00

Another week of base down, and one more until a week off for Christmas. I’m starting to feel pretty good from a conditioning perspective. Long rides are tough but not draining and all the work I’ve been doing with my core and yoga are keeping the body from having any pains.

In past years any ride over 2.5 hours or so would result in a stiff and sore neck/upper shoulder region. This year I haven’t had any of those issues and have to attribute it to the yoga. Each week I can tell I’m getting a little more flexible and even if it doesn’t help the cycling I’m feeling better overall.

The weather has made training easy thus far with only a bad day here or there; however, today we got hit by some snow (not more than 2 inches or so) and extreme cold. When I went out to the mall (Christmas shopping can’t wait you know) it was 4 degrees according to the car. At least the weather men called this storm right and I listened. I switched today’s scheduled long ride to Saturday and the ride scheduled for Saturday, which was suppose to be an off-road time trail with 20 hard minutes and only 1:15 total, got moved inside to the rollers. I still did the 20 minute effort, but on the road bike, no technical stuff to worry about and only rode an hour. So the good news is I roughly did the training I was suppose to, the bad news is the weather is suppose to be cold and snow on and off all week. I just hope it breaks enough by the end of the week to allow me to get in another long ride next weekend.

The major race series in Colorado (and nationally) have put out schedules in the past week or so. I’m starting to plot out the season, but it may be hard until I know what endurance race(s) I’m going to do. I’m planning on trying to register for the Leadville 100, but only 1,000 people get in so who knows if I’ll get a slot. If not I think I’ll do the Laramie Enduro which is a few weeks early and 40 miles shorter. Either way the training plan I’m on now should help as Lynda W is the endurance coach guru so she has a plans available for any type of race distance. I’ll know far enough in advance the race I’m going to do (mid February) that not know now won’t effect anything. Later the big race I’m doing may (will) affect the normal distance cross country races I do, but for now it is all about building aerobic fitness.

Training Time

2008-12-11T19:21:00.002-07:00

Recently on a mountain bike forum (MTBR.com) there have been a lot of questions about how to fit in training and work and life and family etc. I also get this type of question a lot from friends. Well it gets down to motivation and figuring it out. A typical week for me of training looks like this:

Monday – easy day commute home from work
Tuesday – riding by 5 for at least 1 hour before work, ride home, yoga at home
Wednesday – same as Tuesday less the yoga
Thursday – up at 5 again; try to sneak in an extra 30 minutes (for a full hour) on the commute home, yoga at home
Friday – see Monday
Saturday – gone by 7 for a hard two hours
Sunday – gone by 7 for about 4 hours

Here I am on my way home from, you can see the staps of the backpack in black if you look close.

Towards the end of my ride home today, starting to get dark and the camera phone doesn't do me justice.

This schedule gives me plenty of time at home with the family, time for work and time to relax some. The one thing I don’t do that I should for training is sleep 8 hours a night, 7 is great, 6 realistic.

Week 4

2008-12-07T15:21:00.000-07:00

Four hours of riding today, first climb up Lookout in a long time. Not fast (26:35) but steady and all Zone 3. Home by 11:30 if that gives you an idea how early I ride. Weekend rides can either be at a “reasonable hour” or long. I needed the hours so got out early. The weather was exceptionally nice so the early start was not a big deal. It was kind of a bummer though; I bought new polypropylene gloves yesterday for cold weather riding. I was thinking I’d at least get a little test time early today but no need for the cold weather gear.

Week 4 of training is now in the bag (not really yet, still need to do some yoga today). For the week I had a total of 10 hours of riding, and 2 hours of yoga. It being a recovery week on the schedule I’m happy with what I put in. I'm still working on aerobic fitness so no real hard work on the ride, which is actually harder than riding hard sometimes. Climbing at a pace slow enough to keep me in zone 3 takes some effort. Surprisingly though my time wasn’t much slower than an all out effort from previous years in December (only a handful of seconds slower than a December ride last year at a higher pace) so hopefully the work to build a good aerobic engine is paying off and I’ll get faster in the summer.

Sixty Degrees and Shorts in December

2008-12-06T19:11:00.004-07:00

We’ve had some strange weather here in Denver the last few days. Wednesday night I was riding home from work in 18 degree temperatures, snow and wind. Thursday night the low was -5, yet the high on Friday was mid 40’s and all the 3-5 inches of snow seemed to melt. Today (Saturday) I went out for a ride in the afternoon, southeast of town and there wasn’t a drop of snow to be seen. I started out with leg warmers on and a long sleeve jersey and vest. Hidden in my pockets I had winter gloves, ear covers and a windstopper thermal jacket. I spent most of the two hour ride in shorts and a long sleeve jersey and it was perfect.

Here I am out on the ride, notice no snow on the ground.

A shadow in December?

Global warming in not about an overall warming of global temperatures exclusively (though that is a component) it is as much about extremes in weather. Going from -5 to 60+ degrees in 36 hours is an extreme change in the weather. Going from snow on the ground in December to not a trace in 24 hours is an extreme. Yes it was down right cold on Thursday and Thursday night, but the extremes that were shown are what global warming really is, not just the heat of today.

Did I enjoy the warm weather today, of course; two hours in the sun wearing shorts in December is something to enjoy. But the long term implications and concerns should remind all of us that snow and 40’s are pretty nice too.

Hot Flat and Tough

2008-12-05T09:51:00.002-07:00

I was at a doctor appointment with Ade yesterday and Thomas Friedman’s book Hot, Flat and Crowded got brought up. This is a book I read in late September and at the time thought it was an extremely difficult book to read, not because of content or language or the complexity of information it was trying to discuss, but because of how forlorn and depressed I felt after, as if it is already too late to make improvements to the current global environmental and economic crisis’s.

The doctor we met with brought up the book and seemed to have the same take I did on the book. The book is very important to discuss the importance of creating a truly alternative energy related power system the options are not readily available and nobody in a true position of power has done anything about the crisis. Does America need to lead on the renewable energy forefront, and if so what can or will we do? I think yes we should lead, and hopefully inspire others. My fear is we will not and by the time we react, when the crisis is beyond repair (think the banking bailout or the auto industry situation) it will be too late to save the world.

Don’t wait for the government to act, don’t wait for the difficulty of reading Friedman’s book to change to the difficulty of making change. This site originally started as a way to help people lessen their environmental impact, please do your part. Ride your bike to work, use cloth shopping bags, drive less, and eat local.

Week 3

2008-12-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

With Thanksgiving hitting in the middle of week 3, family visiting from out of town and weather finally hitting Denver I figure any miles I put in last week were a bonus. Not to mention I’ve learned a little for the upcoming Christmas holiday. I did mange to get in 11 hours of training total, including a good mix of riding, yoga and running (yes I competed in a running race). With all the food and drink I enjoyed I probably didn’t lose any fitness, but probably didn’t gain any either.

Since Sunday was suppose to be nice and Seamus had a play date all afternoon I had planned on putting in my long ride that day, unfortunately the weather turned into a snow day and my motivation to spend 3-4 hours riding in the snow (after spending 2+ on Saturday in the snow and cold) just wasn’t there. I ended up hoping on the rollers for about 90 minutes and did an unscheduled tempo workout that felt pretty good. Three days of tempo work in a week should help to build some fitness in the future, at least I hope it does. The real big training effort of the week was on Thursday when I ran the Turkey Trot in Denver. Me, my sister-in-law and 10,000 of our closest friends made for a fun event. Trying to pick my way through the crowd was tough, the first mile to mile and half were crazy. Having started towards the back of 10,000 people I was trying to catch up to the SIL to run with her. By the time I caught her we were at mile 3 of a 4 mile race so I didn’t spend a lot of time running with her, but we both had good races. I finished in 32 minutes and she finished in 36 (crossing the line at the same time but different finishing times because of chip timing). Considering I’ve run about 5 times all year I was pretty happy.

The main thing I took out of this week though will be used in December: take off when around family. So I won’t be taking the bike to Salt Lake for Christmas and will try to run a little if I can, if not no big deal. December is a long way from any races and the recovery will allow me to dig into training starting in January.

Get Ready for Cyber Monday

2008-11-29T09:33:00.002-07:00

I’ll probably get in trouble for putting up a post on this site, but hey you leave a bike sounding url in the history I’m going to take a look. First a little history, Ade is addicted to a web site called Etsy. It is kind of like Ebay for the arts and crafts set. Hand made stuff by small artisans. If you are on the McCune family shopping list this year you should plan on a gift from Etsy.

Anyway I see this url in our browser http://rattrappress.blogspot.com/ and go check it out. Yet another Etsy store and their blog (hence the mention of Ade's addiction)but this one isn't baby blankets or soap, no it is for bike freaks. Now the reason I’ll get in trouble... I’m hunching I’ll be getting a gift from them (which I really hope I am cause the shirts are cool) and soon Ade will read this post and know I have a hunch what I’m getting. Oh well, like I said I just stumbled upon it in the browser.

For the cycling freaks out there take a few minutes to check them out, if you’re looking for any cool t-shirts or try to find the posters (I haven’t been able to yet). I’m hoping for the green crank t-shirt from Santa.

Stories

2008-11-26T15:11:00.003-07:00

After 15 years can you resume the life you had at 20? Can you see an old friend on the street, share a beer and not worry about why or how you stopped talking? No ill will, just time and distance creating the chasm.

The other night, while in Chicago, I had dinner with the most technically beautiful poet I’ve ever known. Both of us now missing hair and knowledge we had as youth, but from 40 feet, through windows and a cold winter night, I knew Rick sitting inside his car as if it were still 1990.

Perhaps it takes two people who know what they did wasn’t that bad, two people who are comfortable enough with themselves (and their choices later in life) and their friends to know any story told will only invoke fondness amongst the antagonists and listeners. Two people who know that telling stories is what inexplicably links us to others and makes us want to share, even if time and distance hasn’t allowed.

In my life, as I look back through the years and think about the people I remember, the people I am fond of, the people I consider allies, the people I consider friends all share one common trait. All these people would tell a story, ask a question or engage in a debate that taught me something. These are the people who when I look back on situations I don’t remember details of what we ate, was the food good, or why we were together; however, I do remember the stories, the conversation and how those people and their stories shaped my life.

Stories are what sew together the many fabrics, pieces, of our lives. The chance to bring together fabric from different eras of my life, to share those pieces with friends and family is worth the effort of crossing any burned bridges. I went to dinner with Rick, my (anonymous) sidekick, and Rick’s wife Joanna to share. We talked for hours, reliving our younger days, learning about our lives through the years that have past. Can you remember all the details you knew about a person 15 years ago? Should you remember these details? If you can does that make you a friend? Or on the other hand can you forget many of the details, not interact with a person yet remain their friend because of what you were, what you gave them, what they gave you. Do you remain friends with someone not only because of the physical closeness but because of the constant guidance they provide, the influence they have on making you a better person? If so how do people provide this guidance, if there is a lack of physical connection?

There are many people I see on a daily basis, yet I don’t consider them friends. I may talk with them, enjoy their company and spend time with them, yet they have not provided the more involved interaction and connections required to be a true friend. After dinner with Rick I thought about how awkward the evening could have been. Instead there was no uncomfortable silence, no wishing time was over and I realized why because of this story.

Rick’s dad at one point in his life frequented a bar with a black and white TV. The patrons of the bar would watch Chicago Cubs games on the TV and I assume share a drink or two. At one point (I admit some details of the story are fuzzy) a guy not originally from America also started frequenting the bar. He of course began to watch the belabored Cubs on TV with the rest of the patrons. As the story goes the guy didn’t fully understand or appreciate the complexity and difficulty of baseball from watching and learning about the game at a bar. The guy didn’t fully understand just how difficult it was to hit a baseball until one day Rick’s dad took the guy to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. It was there for the first time ever he realized the pitcher was not on the same team as the batter, but on the opposite team. This little (yet critical) bit of knowledge completely changed the game of baseball for the guy.

I’ve used this story many times in my job when working with people outside the U.S. I’ve worked to not take for granted the details of work that seem inherent to me as to someone with a different history the inherent are acquired. I haven’t seen, spoken or heard from Rick in nearly 15 years. I never met Rick’s dad as he passed away between freshman and sophomore years in college and I during the one year Rick and I knew each other when his father was alive I never was in the same place at the same time. Yet over the years I learned from Rick’s father, I learned from Rick and used this story to hopefully teach others.

Friendship can come in many forms and from many places, but it isn’t about what has happened in the last week, it is about the long term benefits friends bestow on friends. For me friendship is based on learning from and challenging another and taking those experiences out in life no matter who you are with. This year, if never before, friendship is worth being thankful for, thankful for those friends who are close, thankful for those who have taught us something today and also thankful for those who taught us something 20 years ago that we still use today.

For another essay on stories and friendship visit sasee.com

Week 2

2008-11-24T14:24:00.001-07:00

Week 2 of training and more of the same, trying to fit in the hours while not having the time to do it. I did get a three + hour ride in on Sunday and felt pretty good, though it was windy coming back into town and slowed me down. Early in the week, prior to heading out of town I managed to get in three one-hour rides. Wednesday, before flying out I rode and the legs were tired after five straight days of training. Usually I wouldn’t go five days straight this time of the year (and for that matter I rarely ride that much without a rest day), but given my schedule it was the only option.

If there is one thing travel is good for it is killing any level of fitness. Try to train around it and you start to verge on too much training, then on the road little to any training coupled with eating out, lack of sleep etc. and fitness plummets. The day after flying is killer too. This time I went for a ride Saturday morning (after getting home Friday night) and spent the entire time feeling like hell. I kept checking to see if the brakes were rubbing, looking for some excuse for how I felt, but in the end I guess it was just bad legs from flying. At least I’m (currently) free of travel for the rest of the year and after this week should really be able to focus on some riding. Even this week, with Thanksgiving, I should be able to get into a routine and ride a good amount assuming no snow. I can handle the short rides on the trainer, but longer rides (2-3+) hours just don’t get done on the trainer. On the weekend coming up I’ve got a 2 hour and 3.5 hour ride scheduled (pretty similar for the rest of this block on weekends) and if the weather is good I’ll be set. If weather is bad on weekends I’ll have to try to shuffle days and try to sneak out of work some to get in the long rides. Gotta love the winter training.

Traveling

2008-11-19T16:45:00.001-07:00

I was on a plane again when I wrote this the first time, in hand, in a notebook; heading to Chicago. It seems like there has been too much travel of late. There are far too many downsides to travel to mention (long hours, getting sick, missing rides, and most importantly missing family) in this post, plus that is not the point of the post. Clearly these issues are a drag with business travel and make time gone from home tough, I’ve always made it an important part of my trips to embrace the travel in any way I can.

I have peers who have never seen Central Park, never been to the Art Institute in Chicago, never walked the Upper West Side, and never strolled to the top of Coit Tower. I have seen all these areas and make sure every time I enjoy the cities I go to.

I look at business travel as a chance to learn and enjoy opportunities I’d never have on my own budget. This morning when I was taking Seamus to school before leaving he asked if I “was going on a business trip”? I told him it was, and that all my trips are really business trips. I wondered why and asked. He said I never talk about work from the trips. He said I talk about what I saw and did. It seems in his mind that I don’t take business trips like other parents I take trips to enjoy other cities. When I was in New York a few weeks ago I sent Seamus a picture of 42nd and Broadway, as we had just read a book that took place there. I guess he thought that was why I went to New York.

On this trip to Chicago I am traveling with a peer; the other day we were looking at a map of Chicago and I was telling him where places were in respect to our hotel. He wondered how I knew so much about the city. I didn’t really have an answer, but I guess given the choice I’ll spend any down time walking around a city and enjoying it.

For me it is about priorities. I have to prioritize my work, my family, cycling and any other interests I have. I know this weekend I’ll spend Saturday with Seamus at the zoo. I know I’ll get up at dawn and ride in the coldest part of the day to get in a ride. I know I’ll enjoy a nice dinner with Ade and Seamus.

When I landed today I walked around Chicago. I showed my peer Grant Park, the Wrigley Building, the Tribune Building (both of which are architectural gems), the Water Tower and the Hancock building. We walked for about two hours enjoying the city before our commitments became pressing. We all only have so many chances to embraces our opportunities, be they travel, bike riding or family. Work is a means to the end so I’ll make sure to enjoy the time I’m gone from higher priorities by learning about new places. I’ll live with the confusion I’ve caused Seamus; making him think I travel to send him pictures instead of business travel.

Starting to Train

2008-11-16T16:20:00.002-07:00

The first week of training is in the bag. Not a huge week, at 9:30, but all things considered I’m happy to get that amount of time in. Coming off being sick last week I was tempted to push the start of the training back a week, but since the week was pretty mellow until Saturday I went for it. Most of the training scheduled was low intensity and short time. Yesterday was a field test to benchmark my fitness for the rest of the block. Twenty minutes all out and man did I feel it.

I managed a pretty solid ride though, heart rate average of 180bpm and an average speed of 22mph. I rolled out miles 0-3 and 3-6 at 8:07 and 16:14, so even splits. The last mile + was painful and slow but not terrible. Today I did a 3:00 ride; I don’t think I’ve spent that much time on the bike since the last race at Winter Park. All in all I’d consider it a good starting point for working with a new coach (kind of). I bought a pre-built plan from Lynda W (http://www.lwcoaching.com/) so there is someone besides me behind the plan/work. I’ll see how it goes but the overall plan seems well put together so I’m excited for it.

Another tough week ahead for training (and really the week after) with a trip to Chicago this week and Thanksgiving next after that I should be able to really settle in for training up until Christmas. At some point the miles this early should pay-off and I’m not going to force these first few weeks. I’ve got enough freedom and flexibility that I can finish 80-90% of the work no problem just by shifting things a day or two. This week I’m going to ride Monday through Wednesday, shifting the plans rides that were scheduled Tuesday through Thursday. Wednesday is a travel day and Thursday is packed in meetings from 8-7:30 so it will be a recovery day. Friday I should be able to sneak in the planned ride and next weekend will be big miles again. Already looked at the forecast and it is suppose to be nice which will make the miles easy.

Winter?

2008-11-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

The middle of November is usually well past the end of the typical bike commuting season. During the summer the bike racks at my office are full, 40-50 bikes per day. In November we are usually down to 3-4 riders. This year though something strange has happened, at least so far, and that is a significant number of bikes are still on the racks everyday.

My theory on this is that there are two primary factors; first is the increased cost of gas we’ve seen over the past year. Though prices have recently retracted $2.00 a gallon gas is still pricey and once people are use to riding (after $3.00+ gas) continuing isn’t a big stretch. The second factor, which is probably a bigger issue, is the near tropical weather we’ve been having in Denver. November 13th and the high temperature is expected to be in the mid 60’s, we haven’t had any snow or any cold stretches. Sooner or later we’ll get snow and then I’ll be able to tell if the new riders are going to be year round commuters or just seasonal commuters.

Usually by this time of the year I am relishing my commutes home in the dark with the first flakes of a winter storm hitting. My ride home takes my through City Park, right next to the Denver Zoo. Riding in a wide open space next to the zoo animals as the weather shifts, the cold starts to settle in, the snow starts to fly is an experience I cherish every time it happens. I look forward to the commute in the snow, mostly because of the solitude, the chance to be alone in miles of a park, only wild animals to share the changes with me. I hope it snows soon. I hope more people learn to appreciate and love the bike commute in the winter.

Time to start 2009

2008-11-10T09:07:00.001-07:00

Within days of making the commitment to be a bike racer your life changes, former priorities and interests slip and your time is quickly consumed by the bike. However, to be successful as a cyclist you do need to find some balance in life. This past week shifted the balance from family and riding to work and towards the end, survival. What started out as a normal business trip by the end turned into hopes of getting home on Thursday as planned no matter how late. By the time I got home, after being awake for 22 hours straight any desire to ride and begin training again for 2009 had been replaced by the desire to sleep. But now it is time to refocus and begin my assault on the 2009 season.

When you get to sleep at 2:00am, after being awake for 22 hours, the last thing that sounds like fun is being awaken at 6:00am; however, nothing could have made my day better than to have Seamus climb in bed next to me (as I had slept in the guest room since Seamus decided to join Adrienne in our bed since I was gone) and wake me up. Balance. Before I had left I promised him a Starbucks run on Friday before school and he wanted to make sure I’d get up and go. While sleep should have been my priority getting up and having coffee and a donut was even more important. Balance. Sleep, or the lack of it can be made up. Training for racing, it can wait. Time with Seamus, guess I’d better get up and take a shower and head out to the coffee shop.

I was gone for a week on the trip and when I got home had gained three pounds. As a cyclist this is a slap in the face, a realization that you’ve not only lost fitness, but that even a few days of training won’t bring you back to the level you were at just a week earlier. Every pound of body weight you carry that is extra is that much more work that is needed to carry you up a hill. Every acceleration takes a little longer because of the extra weight, every deceleration a little longer, nothing on the bike is as fast an easy as it was before the extra weight was there. I get home at 2:00am and the first thing I do is step on the scale in the dark (don’t want to wake anybody up) and see what I’ve done to myself during the week. Damn those three pounds. Training for the season is scheduled to start on Monday, now I’m carrying extra weight (and I already wanted to lose weight for the season), I’m lacking in sleep, can feel sickness coming on and I’m not quite ready to resume the monk like lifestyle needed to be a cyclist. But I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than start to build for races that are six months away at the earliest. I can’t imagine taking more time off and watching a football game on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Going to Church? Not likely unless it is the Church of the Big Ring. This Sunday I’ll skip the Big Ring service, but I’ve already looked at the training plan for week 1 of Base. Sunday morning is almost 3:00 hours of pain and worship in the big ring.

The President Elect

2008-11-08T08:16:00.001-07:00

Well I’m slow with my post election post due to far too many hours traveling this week but the good news is I’m not having to complain. I was in New York on Election Night and spent some time at the CNN and ABC street locations in Times Square. There were thousands of people watching the coverage on the streets. Any time a new state was shown with Obama in the lead a huge cheer was unleashed. To say the least it was exciting and incredible to watch.

Given that I had a full day of work the next day I left before the race was called, but from my hotel room 32 floors above street level I could hear the cheering when Obama was proclaimed the President Elect. Obama’s election is so much more than the election of an intelligent person who is willing to listen and educate themselves on an issue before taking a stand; it is a shift in how America views itself. We can now say that we are (attempting) to judge a person “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.). The first time I truly understood that quote was in the early 90’s in college after hearing Shelby Steele speak at my school. He had just published a book The Content of Our Character and after hearing him and reading the book I realized that I had a somewhat “strange” world view. Having grown up in a school with court mandated desegregation I had always considered amongst my best friends blacks, whites and Hispanics. There were people of all races I liked and didn’t like and I made those judgments based on how well a person treated me.

I’ve learned that this view was lucky to have as a kid growing up in the 70’s and 80’s. I’ve realized this view is still lucky to have as an adult in 2008. After the election it seems more Americas are starting to judge by the content of character; though I’m sure we still have a long way to go. The most moving part of the evening for me was to see Roland Martin on CNN describing what the election was to him. He described and was moved to tears describing how important the election of a black man was to him and how lucky he was, as well; to be able to report on the election as another black man.

For me the good news is we are moving forward and have elected in Obama a man who can motivate and engage people in the process of democracy. The bad news is there is so much work to be done and our expectations are so high that no matter what Obama does he may not be as successful as we all hope. If you were engaged in this election at all, from any candidate’s standpoint give Obama help and support as he has a big challenge ahead of himself now and if he doesn’t succeed in making changes we will all fail.

Election Day

2008-11-04T15:34:00.001-07:00

It is election night, less than 33 minutes until the first polls closed as I write this. We are nearing the end of a very interesting and active election. CNN is talking about record voter turnout, everyone I talked with today (traveling in New York) talked about the election (though most held their votes close as most were business contacts) and were eager to find out who our next President will be.

I’m bummed in some ways to be in New York, over this election cycle family bonding has been watching CNN pick apart the race. Tonight Adrienne will have to watch CNN at home, nobody to voice her joy or frustration to. I’ll watch CNN, partially live from an outdoor studio in Times Square, partially from my hotel room. It will be a long night, entertaining, stressful and hopefully a night with resolution. No hanging chads, no major poll tampering, just clean results.

I hope you’ve gotten out and voted. If not go out and vote, there are still over 4 hours to vote in Colorado.

Choices

2008-11-01T13:14:00.002-06:00

Choices over the last few days have me sitting at home blogging seven minutes before start time for today’s cyclo-cross race. This weekend the biggest cycling events of the year in Colorado are taking place up in Boulder, the annual Boulder Cup Races. Theses events, put on by Chris G at Denver Boulder Couriers are crazy, drawing the top talent in U.S. cyclo-cross and huge numbers of spectators. So why am I missing today’s racing all together and why would I only be planning on watching tomorrow? Well as I said, it comes down to choices.

First I’m taking a couple weeks off “training” so racing while still ok, would be difficult given my limited training and lose of fitness the past two weeks. With one more easy week scheduled a race wouldn’t kill the intent but getting beat to hell isn’t any fun either. Add to the lack of fitness the fact I spent three and a half hours yesterday up in Boulder helping to set-up the course for today and I’m pretty tired. Hours of lifting and moving fences, sandbags and other equipment is tough work. While I spend most of the year racing and taking from promoters it is always nice to give back to racing and help out promoters by lending a hand. Without getting out there and working it is hard to know how much work and effort goes into planning a race. The few hours I put in makes, at best, a minimal difference, but it does help the event actually happens. Helping with a race also puts various situations that arise in other races in perspective. I’ve raced enough to have seen races start late, bad course directions, confusion (utter confusion) with results etc. but after helping put a race site together I tend to look at these issues as a little less important knowing how much time effort and energy goes into a race. Sure it is ideal to have everything happen as planned, but it can’t and doesn’t always happen at a race, just like perfection isn’t possible at home or work. Helping just reminds me of this.

The second choice keeping me from racing is time. I’m out of town all week for work, so this means Adrienne is “on” all week with Seamus and I won’t see either of them. As much as I love racing, knowing I’ll be gone all week means the time spent getting to a race, warming up; racing etc. is time away from them. So instead of racing I’m hanging out with the family, doing fun things together like going to the library, the Museum of Nature and Science and just chilling at home. We’re all going to go up and watch the races tomorrow, but it will be relaxed without the pressure of racing. So in making choices I’ll skip some cool races this weekend, but the choices I’ve made are better for me.

Speaking of choices, make sure you get out and exercise your choice at the voting booth. Tuesday is Election Day, make your voice heard.

No Cyclo-cross today - Instead a little bit of Obama

2008-10-26T16:26:00.004-06:00

Today’s post was originally going to be a post on the cyclo-cross race in Boulder. Up until late Thursday I had every intention of racing, but then I found out Obama was coming to Denver Sunday morning and plans changed. Obama was scheduled to speak around 11:30, so hoping for a good viewing point Seamus and I left home at 9:15. By the time we got downtown at 10ish it was clear a good viewing point was out of the question, hell we would have been lucky to even see Obama.

Estimates say 100,000+ people showed up. All I know is it was an incredible site. The mix of cultures, families, young, old, gay, straight, white, black and even Republican were there to see and support Obama. After seeing the crowd and listening to him speak I now have a different (perhaps better) perspective on his appeal. Obama is a man who wants to lead, but knows he cannot create a better world on his own. He needs the help of everyone. All 100,000 today in Denver need to help in their own way. Far more than voting though, Obama wants people to help every day. His priorities are clearly different than McCain, but what is really different is how he wants to go about accomplishing priorities. Obama can allocate money to educate, green energy and health care, but without each of us acting individually to change our lifestyles the money will do no good. John McCain can allocate money to the same causes based on his world view, but what it seems to me John McCain can’t do is inspire people. Obama inspired 100,000 people to come out on a cool fall morning in Denver. He called on each of us to do our part to lessen our energy consumption, to turn off the TV and do homework with our children, to take care of our health to reduce healthcare costs.

My lame crowd shot, there is no way to do justice to the number of people.

After seeing Obama in person his inspiration really comes through. He can clearly lead, now we just need to let him.

Seamus and his sign cheering for Obama.

Chicago

2008-10-25T13:51:00.002-06:00

Like so many pro cyclists who visit far off doctors, I started the off season with a visit to a doctor in Chicago. After an initial meeting of over an hour the first part of a plan was hatched and between Adrienne and I 19 vials of blood were “donated” to science. Lucky for me only three of the vials were mine. A trip to meet a doctor in Chicago may seem extreme, but when you are searching for answers on why you can’t get/stay pregnant you may as well see the best. After getting test results back we’ll see the next move.

Given that we were in Chicago, we made a little vacation out of it and tried to enjoy the town. Going there gave me a good start on a few weeks away from the bike, by putting me in a city where I didn’t have a bike and therefore couldn’t ride. We did however walk. We walked through many areas of Chicago, up to Lincoln Park, along Lake Michigan, up and down Michigan Avenue and to the Art Institute. Adrienne had never before been to a “big city” and seeing the size and magnitude of buildings in Chicago puts the relative smallness of Denver into perspective.

We went to the top of the Hancock building (2nd tallest in America right behind another Chicago building the Sears Tower). From up 93 floors the view is amazing. The realization that you are essentially in a building two times the height of any in Denver is incredible. On the second day, a little sore in the feet from the many miles of walking the first day, we went to the Art Institute. It is pretty incredible to see paintings in person that are (somewhat) remembered from Art History in freshman year of college.

The good news was we were there for two days, saw a lot, had some fun and were gone for a short period of time. As much as I enjoy Chicago, New York, Houston (ok I don’t really enjoy Houston) big cities are only fun for 2-3 days. After that the crowds and energy are just too much.

Google Ads

2008-10-22T13:51:00.002-06:00

So I've got the Google ads up and I'm checking the site for changes I've been making and I see this No of 58 ad. Amendment 58 is a tax issue on oil and gas taxes in Colorado, no big deal that it is on the site right? I've been writing a lot on politics so it shows me Google knows what is up when placing the ads.

Except for one thing. I support Amendment 58. Voted Yes on it on Monday.

So this is really just a way of saying I don't have any control over the ads, except Google looks at my text and places ads. You'll probably see ads on politics (Go Obama), cycling and other things. Some products I may support. Some I may not.

More Edits

2008-10-22T08:34:00.004-06:00

I'm still working on the site, trying to bring it into the realm of current technology. The book list now has links, blogs are now coming in with feeds and even though nobody visits the site ads to help make google some money (and if anybody clicks on them me someday).

It is still a work in progress, but it is getting better. Let me know what you think.

Vote Obama and a few weeks rest

2008-10-20T19:29:00.002-06:00

I went out today and voted. The first day of early voting here in Denver. There was a fairly long line at the Denver municpal building for voting, at least a couple hundred people at 11:30. Notable figures included me and Govenor Ritter who was behind me in line. I think we both voted for Obama. It was great to see so many people out voting early. Two more weeks and we'll see what everyone thinks.

Two weeks is one week shy of my goal, three weeks without "training". Every year cyclists need to take some time off. I was going to try to train through the UCI cross races in Boulder, but I just don't have it. On Saturday I went out for 2 hours and it felt like a lifetime. I'd rather take my time off now and be excited for long rides in the winter. I may ride some, hell even rode home from work today, but the main plan for the next three weeks is to not worry about riding, try to fit in some yoga and running, not gain much weight and relax. It shouldn't be hard to accomplish given that I'll be in Chicago a few days this week and in New York all of the third week. After that I'll get a plan going and start to train for 2009.

Amendment 48

2008-10-18T10:36:00.004-06:00

In the upcoming election there are some critical decisions to be made that can and will affect reproductive rights here in Colorado as well as nationally. In Colorado we have the proposed Amendment 48 (http://www.prochoicecolorado.org/ballotwatch.shtml) that will define what a person is and nationally we have two presidential candidates with different views on abortion. Given one of these two men will most likely appoint one (if not more) members to the Supreme Court their view on abortion is critical

For a little background let me tell you (as many of you may know) I have one son, seven years old. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard “when are you having another?” or “about time for number two”. Well the fact is the absence of a second child isn’t from lack of effort. We’ve been trying for five years to have a second child with (obviously) no luck. I’d say we are a stable, loving family that has done a good (and at times great) job raising our son and would likely be no different if we had a second child.

Given our struggles to get pregnant V2 there may be a thought from some that I (and my wife) would have a perspective of being strongly pro-life; however, when you’ve struggled trying to get pregnant there is some underlying fear that if you do conceive your “tricking” of mother nature may end up causing serious issues for the mother or child. Spending time and money on attempting to get pregnant you have to understand and accept certain risks. Some of those risks very well could mean a decision between life and death for the mother. They could mean the choice of terminating a pregnancy that realistically (without extensive medical assistance) would have been unviable, or would potentially have a child born with severe medical issues.

My wife and I accept these risks with every doctor’s appointment, prescription and (unfortunately) miscarriage. We both cherish life and would never choose an abortion given our struggles in most circumstances. I do feel however, that by defining a person in the way it is defined for Amendment 48 or by at all restricting a woman’s (and man’s as it should be a two person decision in many cases) right to choose we put many lives (both literally and figuratively) at risk.

Amendment 48 will effect reproductive efforts in the medical field, may limit (prohibit) popular forms of birth control, and may severally jeopardize the life of a pregnant mother. It is an effort to enforce another persons moral views on medical events.

As Obama has said, we as a nation may not agree on a woman’s right to choose but we can all agree to educate and limit unwanted pregnancies. Let’s focus our attention on education and allow families and doctors (and religion if that is your choice) guide each of us on the medical decisions we need to make. If I were in a situation where I had to decide between saving my wife or an unborn child we’ve struggled for years to have I don’t know how I would come to a choice, but a choice is what I would want. Please vote No on 48 and Yes for Obama.

Bike Racing

2008-10-17T11:28:00.001-06:00

I think I’ve mentioned before that fall is when cyclists tend to sit back and contemplate racing. Every year I hear a few people mention they are going to up their training and racing schedule for the next year. Every year I hear a few people ponder why they race and if they will continue to race. From this group, every year, about half race again and half don’t.

I’ve never fallen into the second group, never will. I like racing too much. I know I’m never going to win a lot of bike races (hell I’d be happy to win another since the first and last win was in 2004) but I know I’ll race every year. For a long time the question I’d ponder was between the MSC (or CORPS back in the day) or Winter Park. Sometimes I’d concentrate on one or the other, a couple years no series concentration just racing some of both. For 2009 though, I’m thinking there will be some big changes.

I’m still going to race and I’m still going to race on the dirt, I’m just going to take a new focus. This year instead of spending time on regular cross country races I’m going long. Reduced schedule of races, but probably about the same number of miles raced. Right now the plan I’m hatching involves two 50 mile races and (hopefully) the Leadville 100 (assuming I get a start spot). These new races will give me a change of pace from the racing, more family time on the weekends and I think suit my riding style better (assuming I can get a handle on the race nutrition for the long events). I’m still developing the entire plan; including pondering an endurance racing coach, but I don’t really need to start training until December so I’ve got a few weeks to get everything figured out.

For this weekend though a few short rides are on the schedule.

Presidential Economic Plans - A Fighter or Actual Ideas

2008-10-13T18:03:00.003-06:00

I keep reading stories on the upcoming election and one of the big things undecided voters keep asking for is specifics on how each candidate is going to help them. Today both campaigns promised new plans and ideas on the economy. From CNN the McCain campaign had this to say:

Earlier Monday, McCain delivered a speech that a senior aide predicted would "begin a turnaround for the campaign."
On the new tone, the aide said the campaign decided to go "back to basics" with McCain on what he can offer.
McCain told voters Monday that they should elect him because "what America needs in this hour is a fighter."
"I will fight to take America in a new direction from my first day in office until my last. I'm not afraid of the fight, I'm ready for it," McCain said at a rally in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Word from the McCain campaign over the weekend had been that he would announce several economic proposals beginning today in the effort to turn around the campaign. Instead it appears Senator McCain has told America nothing more than the fact that we need a fighter.

Obama on the other hand delivered a speech on economic policy and outlined multiple points including:

Tax credits for companies creating jobs in the US
Eliminating penalties for 2008/2009 on withdrawals from 401k plans
A freeze on foreclosures for people acting in “good faith”

Obama’s plan is designed (according to his campaign) “to immediately to stabilize our financial system, provide relief to families and communities, and help struggling homeowners”.

Clearly the economy is on everybody’s mind and an 11% increase in the stock market today is not “stabilizing” by any stretch of the imagination. I would use the term volatile. At least one candidate is actually providing details on what they want to do (though I will say McCain did outline his mortgage plan).

Can either of these guys really help the economic situation? Not single-handed, but without a comprehensive plan, besides being a fighter we won’t see any improvement.
Check out more details at the links below:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/13/campaign.wrap/index.html

The Blog

2008-10-12T17:53:00.000-06:00

I’ve been pondering the blog a lot recently (hence the new look), what it is for, why I do it etc. It started as a way to discuss cycling and I’m pretty sure it will always do that since cycling is such an integral part of my life. Recently it has taken on more of a political focus, which I like. It might piss some people off, but really I’ve been political since I started the goal of increasing awareness on global warming. I’m a liberal and I admit it. Hell I think Obama is a conservative to be honest, but I’ll still vote for him. Maybe I could write some on my views of politics versus religion; in a lot of ways people I feel the government should address many issues a lot of church going folks feel church/religion should address. Education is another issue I keep thinking of writing about, it gets more important as Seamus gets older, which brings me to another topic I should write more about; family.

Now I’m not going to sit here and tell people I’m going to start writing about all these things cause the reality is I may not. I will say I’m planning on branching out on the writing. Less cycling, more on other topics.

So let me tell you the biggest joy of my week, in some ways it ties all the “new” subjects together. I bought Seamus “Where the Sidewalk Ends” this week, he’d mentioned it a couple of times over last weekend. I ran into Adrienne walking back from the bookstore at lunch, her thought was it would be a great Christmas present (true) but I decided to give it to him that day anyway. When I got home from work I gave him the book as he sat watching tv. He immediately stopped watching whatever was on and started reading us poems as I cooked. He must have read for 30 minutes straight, talking about the poems, laughing at the pictures (and learning) it was fun.

Cyclo-Cross #4

2008-10-12T15:00:00.002-06:00

Raced cross again today and this time in true cross weather. It was wet, cold, some rain/drizzle and mud in a few sections of the course. As to the course, well let us just say I’ve seen better. The finish was a run through sand, who has ever heard of a running finish in cyclo-cross? Also there was a ton of twisty single track. It was fun but didn’t make for great racing. Maybe I should have brought the mountain bike instead.

I ended up starting in the back row of a 60+ field and my result shows that great start position. Ended up in 36th, which all things considered wasn’t bad but clearly not very good. Given the weather I was surprised with the number of racers but I guess that is the show now. It is strange to see the different approaches to cross too. I’m using it to stay motivated and in shape until a winter break (probably starting after the first weekend in November) others are just now getting their cross game on and are getting fast. For me this is the only “effort” of the week and all other rides are short and slow, with the results beginning to show that. I may ramp up the training until the races on November 1/2 since they are part of the DBC Boulder Cup races. Big crowds, great courses make it fun to try and go fast.

I’ve been working on updating the blog too. Seemed to be getting a little stale so here it is. Adrienne said it looks generic, I prefer simple, but it is a change. Maybe if I get more motivation I’ll do some more changes.

Next up though is figuring out racing for next year. I don’t think I’m going to run a team again as I have a little too much going on and to be honest parts were a pain in the ass. I was thinking about joining another team, but have to admit racing for somebody besides Pedal Pushers doesn’t seem right. Jason and company have always treated me right so maybe I’ll go solo again and wear his shop kit (it is looking pimp these days, all black and orange). I’ll figure that out in a week or two. I also need to figure out what races to concentrate on, Winter Park, the road or endurance races, the idea of Leadville 100 is interesting, just need a lot of prep work to make finishing it realistic.

For now though it’s time to relax and help Seamus with homework.

2008-10-11T16:31:00.001-06:00

On Friday morning I watched George Bush tell the American people to not act in fear with the stock market to quote directly from his speech,

“Good morning. Over the past few days, we have witnessed a startling drop in the stock market -- much of it driven by uncertainty and fear. This has been a deeply unsettling period for the American people. Many of our citizens have serious concerns about their retirement accounts, their investments, and their economic well-being” http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/10/20081010.html

And while I agree that much of the recent downturn of the global stock market is a result of fear I must ask how that fear was perpetuated? Could it be George Bush himself? Let’s not forget his statements urging America to support the economic package his team created to help with the liquidity crisis? Again his own words speak volumes.
U.S. President George W. Bush, saying "our entire economy is in danger," urged Congress to approve his administration's $700 billion bailout proposal.
"We're in the midst of a serious financial crisis, and the federal government is responding with decisive actions," Bush said in a televised address Wednesday night from the White House.
Bush pointed out that the collapse of several major lenders was rooted in the subprime mortgage market that thrived over the past decade.
He said passage of the $700 billion bailout proposal was needed to restore confidence in the market.
"I'm a strong believer in free enterprise, so my natural instinct is to oppose government intervention," he said. But "these are not normal circumstances. The market is not functioning properly. There has been a widespread loss of confidence. From CNN www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/24/bush.bailout/index.html
The heart of Bush’s speech on the 25th, it seems was to scare people into supporting his plan. Ultimately people supported it, but the fear Bush pushed has continued to prevail and the economy is paying the price. I’m sorry but you can’t have it both ways Mr. President. You can’t scare people to support your policy and then 15 days later tell them fear is the reason for the stock market problems.
Had Bush described with logic and intelligence why the economic bailout was beneficial to every American (not just as many perceived Wall Street investment banks) perhaps the stock market would have been more stable. Instead of scaring people into supporting policy, educate people on policy and get the same result. In the end Bush has reaped exactly what he sowed on September 25th, a large set of investors scared about the economy. Had he acted as a leader he would have had a bailout package and people who felt confident that the economy would turn around.
To be honest I fully supported the package put together. Was it/is it perfect? No, but it addressed the critical issues allowing banks to have confidence to loan money. This is a good thing as it gets houses built, loans for buying houses, improvements to business done in a timely fashion. The plan was not the problem, how it was marketed was the problem and we now are dealing with that poor marketing with the stock market everyday.

The Presidential Election

2008-10-06T07:00:00.000-06:00

The presidential election continues to heat up, Palin making claims about Obama hanging out with terrorists, ads on how many times Obama voted for tax increases and a general negative view from the Republicans.

The good news is that Obama is sitting around and letting McCain dictate the campaign. Today he released a web site that deals with McCain’s actions in the savings and loan crisis of the 80’s. There are some scary parallels between that economic crisis and the current liquidity crisis. Please take a few minutes to read, view and consider at http://www.keatingeconomics.com/

Over the weekend, John McCain's top adviser announced their plan to stop engaging in a debate over the economy and "turn the page" to more direct, personal attacks on Barack Obama.

In the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, they want to change the subject from the central question of this election. Perhaps because the policies McCain supported these past eight years and wants to continue are pretty hard to defend.

But it's not just McCain's role in the current crisis that they're avoiding. The backward economic philosophy and culture of corruption that helped create the current crisis are looking more and more like the other major financial crisis of our time.

During the savings and loan crisis of the late '80s and early '90s, McCain's political favors and aggressive support for deregulation put him at the center of the fall of Lincoln Savings and Loan, one of the largest in the country. More than 23,000 investors lost their savings. Overall, the savings and loan crisis required the federal government to bail out the savings of hundreds of thousands of families and ultimately cost American taxpayers $124 billion.

Sound familiar?

In that crisis, John McCain and his political patron, Charles Keating, played central roles that ultimately landed Keating in jail for fraud and McCain in front of the Senate Ethics Committee. The McCain campaign has tried to avoid talking about the scandal, but with so many parallels to the current crisis, McCain's Keating history is relevant and voters deserve to know the facts -- and see for themselves the pattern of poor judgment by John McCain.

Cross part 3

2008-10-05T08:21:00.001-06:00

Well the cross race yesterday hurt. Didn’t finish near as well as I had wanted and still not sure what happened. The whole family went up to the race in Frisco to watch and then go check out the fall colors. Before enjoying the family time 45 minutes of pain in cross.
Got in a good warm-up as I expected the race to be fast from the start and have learned that getting a good start is key to having a good cross race. We started on a climb and when the gun went I didn’t.

The whole race was a cruel duality, when I rode as hard as the legs wanted to go I couldn’t breath, when I went at a comfortable (for a race) pace breathing wise the legs didn’t feel like they were under any pressure. Finally I had to settle in to a pace where I could breathe and rode a steady pace from there. I finished up in 21st, one place out of points for the cyclo-cross series. This seriously sucks as those points are key to getting a good call-up at races and therefore a good starting place.

After the race we went to Breckenridge for lunch and to check out trees changing colors. We drove up part of the Firecracker 50 course to the Sallie Barber mine. Seamus thought the abandon mine was pretty cool. We found some rocks and ore to take to school as he is studying rocks and minerals (I never did anything that in-depth in 2nd grade). The view from the mine is pretty incredible. I’ve never really stopped and looked when I’ve ridden or raced up there so it was fun to have time to enjoy the scenery.

Credit Crisis

2008-10-01T19:28:00.000-06:00

The current liquidity crisis in America (otherwise, and poorly named, the Wall Street bailout) is an issue that should concern everyone. By not passing legislation to lessen the impact of our dried up credit market every American faces day to day impact. The biggest problem, in my view with the bill in front of Congress is not what is included/excluded but the fact that our elected officials have neglected to properly explain the impact to voters.

With no money to lend from large investment banks the smaller local banks are less able to loan money. These smaller banks are the mainstay of local businesses, loaning money to the new small business, loaning money for a home equity loan, loaning money to purchase a car. With the current limited liquidity in America credit is harder to come by. People can’t buy a new washer and drier, people can’t get a new (or used) car to get to work, and we are being impacted.

Ok, so you say I don’t need to buy anything this still doesn’t impact me. This is again a misunderstanding of how the financial markets impact each of us. With less money to loan credit card companies will start to reduce credit limit, this lessened credit has a direct impact on everybody’s credit score. A lower credit score impacts insurance rates. Even a small increase in your personal car and homeowners/renters insurance will be a noticeable impact. If we do not act to address the credit issues now very soon all of us will be impacted.

Congress, specifically the House, acted poorly on Monday. The purpose of elected officials is to put the good of the many above the good of a few. On Monday the House showed it was more concerned with the perception of local voters, not the impact not passing legislation would have on the entire country. While the current legislation may not be perfect it is better than not acting at all. On Monday the stock market lost $1 trillion far more than the budgeted $700 billion to help the credit crisis. Before assuming the only people who will benefit from this package are wealthy CEOs take the time to read and investigate how less credit (money to borrow/loan) will affect you. Then take the time to demand that your elected officials in Washington educate themselves on the issues as well and act on behalf of the country, not on behalf of their needing to be re-elected.

Crossing x 2

2008-09-29T18:10:00.004-06:00

Second cross race of the year and I moved up one spot from the first to finish 9th. Not bad, but a little bummed out cause I think I could have done better on the course. After a recovery week, then fighting a cold this week training has been minimal so I lacked race speed but was running in 5-7 until something happened to the bike.

With 3 1/2 laps to go the chain kept jumping and shifting around in all gears but the 25. Went from having 18 gears to pick from down to 2 the 38x25 or the 46x25. Given the course the 38x25 was key on the big climb, but man I wanted a bigger gear on the flats and power sections. I dropped a few spots but hung in to race well and finish 9th. After the race I found a huge sagebrush weed wrapped in the cogs, pulled it out and the gears worked fine. Now I wonder if I should have gotten off the bike and looked during the race. I might have been able to get the gearing going, but may have lost more places then I did with a two-speed.

Oh well, there is always next weekend which promises to be more cross like, or at least cool since it is in Frisco instead of down in Denver. A little rain or snow would be fun, but doesn't look like that is going to happen yet.

Debate

2008-09-27T13:06:00.001-06:00

Trying to look at last night’s presidential debate from an objective perspective I think both McCain and Obama showed intelligence, perspective and concern. Neither looked bad, no mistakes and both proved themselves capable of defending their thoughts. I’m sure partisans on both sides will say one of the two clearly won/lost the debate but I didn’t see that. I saw two men who both very ably could handle the job of president.

So how or why make a choice? Well here is what I saw:

• McCain does clearly have more experience especially with foreign policy
• McCain has a world view that is very strict/rigid, things such as it is wrong of Obama to say he (or senior members of his administration) would meet without pre-conditions leaders of rogue nations
• McCain clearly feels our military strength and safety are critical at this time

• Obama was clearer in his plans, multiple times he laid at 3 and 4 point plans of what he would do. Did he give full details? No, but given the limited time to speak that is to be expected
• Obama was willing to admit when he was wrong (the outcome of the surge) and when McCain was right
• Obama talked about the future and how we need to change internally as a nation as well as externally (how others perceive the U.S.) in order to be successful

The most noticeable difference to me was how McCain addressed Obama, especially on Iraq and Georgia. McCain very much talked down to Obama, calling him naive and inexperienced. When Obama disagreed with McCain he attempted to do so in a more cordial manner, for example saying that 10 days ago McCain had said the economy was fundamentally sound, which was clearly wrong. Obama didn’t call McCain naive or inexperienced or lacking in knowledge because of this he just stated the facts.

This difference in how McCain and Obama handled themselves speaks very clearly to their styles of leadership and how they will proceed. We have had eight years of leadership with very clear black and white views on issues (Iraq is a rogue nation we must attack), “Mission Accomplished”, a lack of willingness to talk to Iran, North Korea etc. without first meeting our demands. Where has this style of leadership gotten us? A war in Iraq that was based on misinformation (outright lies about weapons of mass destruction), a standing in the international community that has fallen dramatically and internally a nation that is very split, everything is either blue or red (there is no middle ground).

After watching McCain last nigh it was very clear to me this is the same style of leadership he utilizes and will employ as president. Obama on the other hand was very open to looking at options and trying to resolve issues through digging into them. For example, McCain said he would consider a spending freeze due to the economic crisis. Obama said while he might consider one, a better method would be to look at programs and cut what can be cut in some, add to others, but really look at the budget and make changes where needed. When it comes to spending there are no clear cut answers (we can’t spend any more anywhere) there needs to be an understanding and issues addressed on a basis of what is critical.

McCain through out the campaign has said he has and will reach across party lines to improve the country, yet last night he at no times showed where or how he would do that. Obama through the course of the evening gave examples where he would work with many others (across party lines or international borders) to resolve problems. Seems to me I’d rather have a person willing to admit they need to work with others to make a better life then a person who is condescending and acts superior. A good leader knows how to motivate, negotiate, work with others and communicate to succeed. Obama displayed his abilities on those skills are more refined and natural.

Vote

2008-09-25T19:01:00.003-06:00

Well as much as I hate to not vote on election day it isn't going to happen. I love the process of voting on election day, long lines, and cold November weather. I love making a pot of chili for dinner and watching results come in. This year though I have to vote early and eat dinner alone (or without anyone who I can bitch to about the election).

A trip to New York is always a few days of craziness and long hours. A trip the week of the election, given the current financial crisis could be entertaining at least.

Vote early is the option this year.

2008-09-21T18:59:00.001-06:00

It’s hard to compile my thoughts on the last seven days (or seven years) in the financial industry, trying to figure out what (if anything) these events mean to most people day to day. I’ve just started reading a book Hot, Flat and Crowded which deals with global warming, an economic environment that allows easy entry/exit to business no matter your location or background and the growing population on Earth.

To say that these three components have had an effect on the financial market recently might be a grasp, but in some ways not. More of us make a living the brings us to the middle class (or perceived middle class); we all want more (more Ipods, blackberry’s, access at our finger tips etc.). This has created a mass consumerism, not just in the US but globally and therefore has created a greed that has allowed for sub prime loans, business decisions based on keeping the customer happy (versus taking care of the customer). How many home loans shouldn’t have been made? How many were made to make someone a little richer, to make Bear/Lehman/AIG/Merrill/Countrywide/Who is next more money? Would we (the human race) been better off making a few less people homeowners, saying no to a few loans, doing a little less shopping after 9/11? Remember George W. Bush recommending to the American public to (this is a paraphrase) spend to show we weren’t afraid in the aftermath of 9/11.

So onwards, policy was set that created a consumer society both in the US and global that has increased demand on energy resources and resources in general. Are we now seeing the effects? A global economic crisis, a situation where global energy demand increase 10% a year and there is no firm renewable energy source to meet these needs.

Is the world in crisis? Will our plague be that of energy and overcrowding? Can we do anything about the energy crisis? Does the next President care? I don’t know, but make sure you ask and press the issue.

And now for cycling news

2008-09-16T19:11:00.002-06:00

Just when everyone thought all I was going to do is bitch about politics, bike racing resumes. The first cyclo-cross race of the year was last Saturday. After debating between cross and the final mountain bike race of the year I opted for cross, a shorter drive, and racing an untested bike.

After getting a new road bike earlier this year I had the chance to put some much nicer parts on my cross bike that use to adorn the old road bike. Switching out 12 year old mid range mountain bike parts for 8 year old high end (ultegra) road parts made a huge difference in bike weight. The only concern was, I finished putting the bike together Thursday, didn't ride Friday (great prep for a race) and race the bike Saturday. Surprise, surprise the bike rode pretty well. I wish the brakes would have had a little better action (cost me a little time in the corners) but overall was happy.

The race started fast but I settled into the top 10 and was feeling good. Moved between 5th and 13th through the race, but mostly 8-10. I had a lot of problems with getting back on and in the clips and that cost me a few seconds each lap and probably a few spots overall. The course was fast with a super steep and slick downhill section and some good climbs that you could run or ride. On the last run-up I made up about 10 seconds I passed a guy right at the top, but once again couldn't clip in and lost ground to him quickly. Ended up about 5 seconds down on him in 10th place. Not bad and felt good through the race. Considering I rode a new(ish) bike, hadn't practiced any cross skills, nor run at all I'm happy.

Today I did some cross practice after work. Amazing how 15-20 attempts to clip in quickly helps improve the skills. Couple more weeks and I may even feel comfortable on the cross course.

books

2008-09-08T20:48:00.003-06:00

I will slightly retract my comments on Palin wanting to ban books as upon further research I can't confirm she requested specific books to be banned. There does seem to be agreement that she "asked librarian Mary Ellen Baker if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so. Baker's reply was that she would definitely not be all right with it. When questioned about this Palin called her inquiries rhetorical and simply part of a policy discussion with a department head "about understanding and following administration agendas." for the entire article go to this no-partisian site http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/p/palin-banned-books.htm.

The heart of the question is does a politician (any elected official) have the right to censor what I think, read, write etc.? I think most of us agree they don't (with the possible exception of national security). Should an elected official even ask this rhetorically, I would venture they shouldn't for the perception might be one of unintended influence over the matter (which we have seen in other Palin cases). I am not saying Palin has used her position in either case to influence the situation; however, I am saying there is a clear perception by many people that she has and that is not acceptable (for her or any other elected official or person in power, dare we bring up Enron). Will she continue this type of action from a higher office? I don't know, but it is worth considering before voting.

Environmental Voting

2008-09-08T14:34:00.001-06:00

So on to the facts, at least as I see them. If you don’t vote for the environment in this election you are more foolish then when you cast your first (or if really stupid second) vote for George W Bush. How can a single issue so define the election, well consider these facts: carbon output is at an all time high causing major changes to our environment; we are at war with a country that had no weapons, no terrorists only oil, our economy is tanking again and the VP candidate for one part has the oil industry wrapped around her finger as governor of Alaska.

If you take the time to vote to improve the environment (and not just at the presidential level but local and state as well) you may well help solve all these concerns. The easy view is voting for pro-environment candidates and the positive impact on global warming (human impact on the environment), I’ll save this topic until later. How will pro-environment candidates help national defense? How will pro-environment candidates help the economy? Well take a look.

How will pro-environment candidates help national defense? The less our need for oil, foreign or domestic, the less pressure we have to protect those interests. For the sake of argument assume for now we can’t live without our cars; however, if we demand (and quickly) higher fuel efficiency, and alternative fuel sources that are here today (hybrid, biodiesel, corn/plant based) we lessen our need for oil. We this reduced usage of oil for autos will allow a more self-sufficient production of heating oil as well. Other sources of power which are even more beneficial as they are renewable include wind, solar and hydro-electric. Currently all these sources of power are utilized in the US; however, the relatively minimal amount of use keeps costs high. With a pro-environmental government is place subsidies can be put in place to create more “alternative” power generation systems; thus reducing our need for foreign and domestic oil for heating. This creates the multiple benefits of a cleaner/healthier environment, a production system for energy that is more domestically focused (which creates sticky/non-transferable jobs) and deals with the cold hard fact that oil will be depleted at some point. Maybe not in our lifetime, or even our children’s lifetime but at some point.

I’ve purposely not touched on natural gas here, the primary reason being a knowledge level so low I can’t speak on it; however, any option that is clean burning energy and lessens our dependence on other nations to power us seems like an option worth looking into.

How will pro-environment candidates help national defense? As mentioned above the more energy we create on our own domestically the less the impact of unstable governments, coups, and other international events will have on our energy costs and needs to protect our “sources”. The US imports 70% of its oil, that means we have a substantial stake any time one (or multiple) of our suppliers is feuding, mad at us or dealing with a man-made or natural disaster. Do I feel the US has a duty to help protect the world from injustice? Yes, of course we do and should. We should protect those being invaded or forced into another way of life without choice; however, we should do this not because of our personal interests (oil) but because it is the right thing to do. This is no different than providing health care to all Americans; we should do it because it is the right thing to do. With less reliance on foreign oil through a sound environmental policy and creation of alternative and renewable energy sources we can truly act on behalf of the oppressed, not on behalf of our oil suppliers.

Finally an environmentally friendly president will help what is clearly a weak economy. Jobs created to find alternative and renewable energy sources will need the brains of American works to find the sources and develop the best way to harness the power. Then we will need to build facilities that harness that power (wind turbines for example) and perform on-going maintenance. All of these new “Green” jobs will be created in America and will stick in America because the natural sources are abundant and available for use here. The person that builds and maintains a wind turbine in Wyoming will spend the money in Wyoming creating a more stable domestic economy.

A sound environmental policy will protect our global environment, protect our national defense and create a sound economy. Visit sites such as T Boone Pickens to find out more and vote for a candidate who will look at alternative solutions (http://www.pickensplan.com/index.php)