schedule update

So to keep myself on schedule I resorted to extremes, that's right I made a training schedule wallpaper for my computer. That way I will always feel guilty about not riding.


Image best viewed when listening to this

Lunch-time lawyer ride

Thursdays, the day when around 40 of Portlands finest lawyers, attorneys, rich guys, and masters go for a group hill ride from downtown.

This is the ride where you realize your bike is not worth enough, when some of them show up with their "B" bikes and it is a Pinarello. Interesting note a guy on a recumbent showed up.

It is about a 16 mile steep hill climb adventure with 45 mph winding descents through the west hills of Portland.

I am starting to feel good about hill climbing again, my 39:25 isn't very efficient for me, the new build will definitely have a compact crankset. Tomorrow is more base miles. Looking forward to the upcoming season.

Overall it is a fun time, everyone seems to string out up the hills and then regroup on the top. Some of these guys are fast and can drop the hammer. I usually finish about 3~5 on all the hill climbs, which is a good start for this early in the season considering I have a few more pounds to drop, a slow bike, and an endless amount of excuses on losing.

Side note: This is the Urban Dictionary definition of "dropping the hammer"

	dropping the hammer
	when sitting, you get up and fart on a persons head while they are watching tv, or playing a game, then you yell the name out

Training update 2

I have been putting on lots of base miles as of late. Around 200 miles a week

A good effort almost every day. When it is nice out I put on 30 miles of flat little-ring riding to Sauvie Island and back. Other days I have been riding the trainer in the basement for 45 minutes.

Overall I think I am over-exerting myself with training and commuting. The commuter miles lately have been the worst, from towing many larges pieces of wood in the wind, to lots of wind miles in general have really been taking a toll on my recovery. The commuter miles will lessen up real soon.

I started jumping on the Thursday lawyer ride, I forgot how much more interesting riding hills can be. It is also fun to be riding in a group again. This ride is probably more exertion than I need for training, but it is more of a mental exercise than physical right now.

Training update

I was using my roommates rollers for a week and I must say rollers are much better than a trainer. At first they were awkward to ride but they really honed in my balance in only a few sessions. The bad part with these is that the drum diameter is tiny, approximately 1 inch diameter, so they are really hard to spin.

Taking advantage of this freakish January weather I have been outside every morning putting in 25 miles. Right now I am feeling slightly tired, so I am going to take a day off and then hit it again. It feels good to be riding outside again and is making me really excited for the road season. As much as I love cyclocross and want to peak for the season, I am really drawn to criteriums and road races.

I am still trying to get the body back into training shape, drop a few pounds, and generally get back my snap.

I am dreaming about building up a new racing machine for the road season. The Bianchi is heavier than most, the wheels are heavy, and everything is incredibly flexy. Great for training on because it is soft and supple but there is a lot of power loss due to the flex.

Lusting over the new Dura-ace as gruppo, use my carbon tubulars, and build up a custom carbon frame.

Start of the off-season

Back in Portland and about to officially start up the off-season base miles.