Trying something new

So I'm trying this new thing where I don't destroy my wrist.

Oh, in case you didn't know, ever since I started joining rides on the weekend (3 whole weeks, WOO HOO!) my left wrist has been in agony.  I don't know what I did when, but it's been in pain for most of the summer.  It's most apparent after (and sometimes during) longer bike rides.  Also, changing my position on my roadie by dropping the handlebar height, made it even worser.  I love that position on the bike since I feel most efficient that way, but it's murder on my hands/wrists.

I could look back in the archives of this blog and find the time I originally sprained my wrist on a ride, but that would require some work.  I remember not being able to ride the Corporate cycling challenge and getting a lot of flack from Shim, for the "real reason" I sprained my wrist.  Ha ha.

HHHmmmmm...there's the time this last spring when we had the freak snowstorm and I went on a drunken bar hop ride with Scott, Pell, and company.  It snowed all day, we met downtown at 5pm when they were closing things down, we "rode" (and by rode I mean walked mostly) up the hipster highway to the Homey Inn. Afterward, I putzed home on Saddle Creek since no cars were around.  The whole ride no one really fell.  But right by Bakers, there was a crack in the cement I couldn't see because of the snow.  I fell over slowly, but of course I braced myself with my arm and I think I damaged the wrist right then.

I could go see a doctor, but I'm pretty sure they'd just say, "Stop riding your bike, you idiot."  So that's what I've been doing since last Sunday.  I've only ridden to work a couple days this week rather than every day.  I'm also not riding on Saturday since I'll be a groomsman in my brother in law's wedding.

Sunday ride?  I dunno.  I may flip my stem back over and see if the upright riding thing is any worse for my efficiency or any better for my wrist.  If not, I may have to go see the doc for some suggestions.

Intended usage Part 2

Shomer Shabbos +1!!! (Unless it's raining at start time?)

Meetup - Crane Coffee at 78th and Cass?

Time - 7:30am?

Riders - the GJ!T - Good Job! Team. (or anyone else who wants to show)

Up for suggestions on other times/places to meet.

Intended usage

Not that anyone will see this or anything, but I've been thinking that a 7:30 ride that mimics the WNW (Ft Calhoun ride) route tomorrow (9/14/2013) morning would be just perfect.  The reasoning here is that I have a commitment to my neighbors to be around during the UCLA college football game tomorrow.  If the ride lasted until 10:30, I'd be really surprised.

I'm tied for 4th

I now know how to Strava.

I've only done 3 rides - commutes, but I'm giving myself some time to ramp up the training.  I did lotsa miles last weekend and I plan to do more this weekend.  I'll probably do a couple more weeks like that before I start going after KOTMs.  This is mainly because I want my body to acclimate to the new/old road bike.  I've been strictly riding the Super Commuter (Its Slices! It Dices! And it's usually in a state of disrepair due to heavy use and abuse!).

Old Blue has been dusted off, made into my typical franken bike(with all component manufacturers represented - Campy, Shimano, Sram), and brought up to date with a GPS donated by Fred.

I decided on a whim, before I knew any better, to create a "segment" - ie KOTM section - on the little hill up 42nd street between Leavenworth and Emile.  I mapped it out and forgot about it.

Going back to check it a day later, I found that I was in 6th place with an average MPH of 9.7 or something.  I'm usually trying to creep up that climb as it's a block or so away from walking into work, so I'm trying to cool down by then.  Who did I find on the top of the list? One Eric Brunt; with an average MPH of 27!?!?!?!  I should have known better not to create a segment anywhere in Eric's workplace.  See, he delivers Jimmy Johns to this area and is always in a bit of a hurry.  Apparently someone needed sandwiches really bad at UNMC the day that Eric set that record.  I don't see myself ever beating him on that KOTM.

But there are many other KOTMs out there.  And I'm really looking forward to dropping about 20 lbs, ramping up the engine, and going after some number one spots.  Hey that reminds me:

Do you even Stava, Bro?

So now that I've ridden more than an hour for 4 days in a row, which hasn't happened in years, I feel like I'm back in the swing of things.  For some reason, where there used to be no motivation, I'm now really looking forward to my next ride.  I'm not sure what prompted the light switch to flick on.  Possibly my weight topping out at 186 lbs and feeling like a lazy sack o' crap?  It can't be the goading I get from my friends, because they've been trying all kinds of tactics for a few years - being nice, being mean, tempting me with bacon, etc.  But nothing stuck.

In any event, I'm back on the bike and having fun.  I don't see racing happening in the next couple years till I get more out of debt and my wife gets done with school and gets a nice job.  But I'll be working at getting faster and lighter.  I've never been good at structured training, but I still need goals and such - enter Strava.

As some of you may know....

Tangent: How many people even read this blog anymore? For that matter, who reads blogs in general aside from a few word smiths?  I like complete thoughts, wordiness, and run-on sentences, so blogs work much better for me, rather than Twitter or Facebook.  Other tangent: The race summaries of Gravel Worlds on Facebook were quite annoying.  I know that's some people's only means to convey their thoughts to friends and family, but Facebook is meant for annoying game requests, all things cats, and political misinformation - you know, nothing really useful, just entertaining - not really long descriptions of how epic the race was(I'm not bitter and kicking myself for missing that race...no). Original tangent: So if you read this blog, that means we're probably friends on Facebook and/or connected in some sort of social networking fashion so you'll know that...

I have recently joined the Strava movement.  It's pretty cool since it's basically Facebook for GPS strapped cyclists.  You follow (and if they post something you don't like, unfollow) people to see what they've done and where.  There's KOMs - King Of Mountains (why not KOTM for King Of The Mountain??? What makes "Of" so much better than "the"???) which tracks how fast someone rides a specific length of pavement/gravel/dirt/etc.  I've kinda always wondered who creates the KOTM courses?  Does someone just create it, then other riders happen upon it and Strava automatically knows they're attempting to best the KOTM creator at "That one hill on that one street?"   I guess I'll figure it out eventually as all I've entered into Strava world is my measly shortened commute to work.  It's pretty pan flat aside from the hill from 42nd and Leavenworth to 42nd and Emile.  I guess I could create a KOTM for that?  Why not?  Then I could try to best myself for that half a block every weekday.

Oh, by the way, the only reason my joining Strava was possible is because Fred lent me his spare Garmin.  What a pal.  Now I can attempt some of my favorite climbs around town I used to fly up when I was in shape and see where how I stack up to the current elite riders.  Hmmmm...  Maybe this is another mean tactic used by Fred to force me to get faster as I'm guessing my current times up those KOTMs will be pretty lame.

Meh, either way, it should be fun as I'm really looking forward to putting all the time I can on the bike.  Woohoo!!!

4 days in a row?

Beer soaked socks.  Different than GSV, eh?

On Saturday, Fred convinced me to take a "leisurely" ride with him on the Greenstreet Tuesday night route. I guess for Fred, it might have been leisurely, but I sure felt like I did after every Wednesday night ride I've ever done - a wobbly mess of tiredness.

It was a fun ride, no doubt, but I had to keep telling myself, "Boy! Fun sure is hard work."

After the ride I had my normal recovery drink - almond milk with a good heap of chocolate syrup.  I then showered*, fixed myself some leftovers, and of course had a beer.  Well, since I was all wobbly and tired, I first spilled gravy on our couch which I cleaned with my napkin, then I spilled beer all over our floor.  Since I was out of napkins, I moved on to the next best thing - random socks on the floor that had not been put into the clothes hamper yet.

So there you have it - beer soaked socks.

Anywho, I have ridden 2 days in a row, which goes against every training book in the world, as you're only supposed to increase your weekly mileage by 10% a week.  But that would mean going from my normal commuting 24 miles a week to 26 miles, then 28-ish, then around 30(or 31 if you want to round up), etc, etc.

I did the ride with Fred for around 55 miles on Saturday.  Then today, I rode down the Keystone, around to Hayworth park, up the Bellevue Blvd, through Spring Lake, to the South Omaha trail, to the Keystone again to home.  It was a mellow ride with my next door neighbor who's gotten in pretty decent shape.  I needed that ride after the "leisurely" ride with Fred.

So my plan is to ride Monday since it's a holiday and going to be much cooler, and also hit the Greenstreet Tuesday night ride and hopefully not embarrass myself too much being that it's a fast group road ride and I haven't been on one of those for at least 3 years.

That's 4 day's of riding with an increase of weekly mileage by about 2000% or something?  I might be undercutting that estimate a little.

So who wants to go on a mellow, not "leisurely" ride on Monday morning, or afternoon, or whenever?

*this is probably TMI, but I'm now adhering to rule #33.  Guess it's time to get serious again.

I'm never riding my bike again.

This last weekend was a doozy in terms of my part time job - that being chip timing for bike races.  2 evening crits meant the days were filled with data processing, setting up, working, tearing down, then more data processing.  Sunday brought the Corporate Cycling Challenge.  They wanted timing for that too, so after collapsing into bed at midnight Saturday night, I trudged downtown at 5:30am to get things setup for the chaos that is 4000-ish people becoming cats needing to be herded around.  After I got a very small percentage of the cats chipped up, all were loosed upon the Northern regions of Eastern Douglas County.

Good buddy Peter Boyd won the timed 42 mile trip in 1 hour 42 minutes.  After they cooled down a tad I chatted with a few of the guys I used to paceline with on this ride. Brady and Fred said it was a blast and I let them know I was hoping to join them for the event next year if someone else can do chip timing, or chip timing just doesn't happen.   Brady of course pointed out that I should say I'm not riding in next year's CCC since I always do the opposite of what I say I'm going to do.

Thanks for the gut punch, dear friend.

My last post was in the Spring and I was all giddy about training for Gravel Worlds.  There's something about going on a long bike ride that gets me all euphoric and gung-ho to ride more.  I start having grand schemes about training hard, getting faster, possibly trying racing again.

Then a week or 2 (or 3 or 4) will go by without any riding aside from my measly 3 mile commute to and from work.  Things happen - family comes into town, I have a month long stint where every weekend I do chip timing for races which takes up a ton of time over the weekend, the weather gets too extreme (wet, hot, cold), or I just generally feel lazy and don't want to ride.

So when the "registration deadline" for Gravel Worlds came and went, I let it go.  I was on the fence about a friend's wedding to attend the night before GW, but now I'm committed to it.  Originally in May, the whole month of August looked clear, race chip timing-wise, so I figured I could get some good long rides in leading up to GW.  Then in July, the NCA schedule all of a sudden filled up with races, and I was glad I didn't need those weekends to get things dialed in to survive 150 miles of gravel.

So next weekend, when everyone is having an EPIC time GRAVEL GRINDING away(obligatory overly used terms) I will be at the vet, getting our kitten her rabies shot.  Yay.

Then, I might just go for a bike ride.  I mean, I'm never riding my bike again.  Yeah, that's it.

3 Months

3 Months = roughly Gravel Worlds weekend.

I here by, do declare, I'm participating in this event.  It isn't official official as I haven't sent in the post card yet, so I first have to find a post card.  Then I can start training for it. Wait, what?

Really, I haven't been training or riding much at all, as if my shape didn't give that away.  I did a couple longer rides (literally, a couple; not the normal "couple" by roadie standards that involves 4+ hour rides once a weekend instead of twice) over the winter and spring.  So my endurance needs some help.  That, and figuring out how the hell to survive 150 miles on gravel.  I need to figure out food, hydration, and comfort.  So I will need to do long rides to test things out and see what works and what doesn't. It's pretty daunting to attempt this within just 3 months, but I need to start somewhere.

And so it begins.

SHABBOS RIDE!!!!!

Fred, Brady, and I are riding from 6:15am to 8:30am as per Fred's time limit.  So no later ride inquiries will be entertained.  Ass crack of dawn, or no dice.  Meeting place is Aksarben - nothing's open then, so get your caffeine fix pre-ride.  Road bikes are the weapon of choice.

I know Brady and Fred are fast, whereas I'm not at this point, so speed will hopefully be near conversational pace so I can catch up both on breath and in talking with good buddies.  Route will be decided as we go, but probably somewhere Southish.

EDIT: My general rule of thumb is ride if it's intermittent rain, but pass if there's thunder boomies.  As of 5:30am, there's thunder and lightning, so I think we'll go ahead and cancel the ride.  Seems like the last post I did trying to plan for a Shabbos ride ended the same way?  Is this blog cursed?!?