Rock Climbing

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

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

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

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

Firecracker 50 Recap

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

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

Firecracker 50

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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.