Two Wheels and Other Things

Rosanna and I headed out Sunday morning to meet the IJM/ TPR team as they left from Fremont and rolled through Logboom Park.  We were super happy when we noticed there were THREE other tandems on the ride.  AWESOME!  Martha and Mick, Martin and Shelly and Clint and Allison. We also had about 10 others on singles so we were rocking.

Martha brought her camera with her and attempted the “hold the camera over the head” trick, which I thought worked VERY well!

Notice the fog?  Ummm.. yeah.  It was a tad chilly down in Snohomish.  Brrrrrrrr!  The fog lifted though as we climbed out and it turned into an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day.

Rosanna had a great time and having M&M and M&S there really helped out.

Rock on.

Ride-

40 miles.

Bike - Cannondale Tandem

Breakfast - Bagel, Eggs, ensure, water and 5 sport leg pills

Ride Food - bag of shot blocks, 1 small bottle of water and 1 small bottle of accelerade.

Oh… and if you were wondering, yes.  My leg was killing me for the first 20 miles.  I have a feeling I’ll be a little sore for the next few days.  I need a massage!

Bike - Tempo Fixed Gear 42 x 16

Thank GOD we took a different route. Props to Martin for suggesting we head out to May Valley.

I don’t have the time right now to map out the ride but I think it was about 55-60, rolling miles. Great company with Martin, Todd, Kurt and Chance. Towards the end of May Valley my right hamstring started feeling really tight then down the hill on Renton/ Issaquah it got so bad I had to ride one legged to the bottom. A few stretches and a left hand turn later and we are on Newport where it balled up so bad I almost fell off my bike. The guys turned around and gave me some time to work it out, stretch and un-humiliate myself and then kept going. Todd flatted so it gave me a little more stretch time.

I had a small problem with a d-bag driver getting onto Factoria. He almost clipped me with his mirror (even though there are TWO LANES) and gave me the “hey how ya doing finger”. So unload on him… I didn’t cuss but I really wanted to give him a piece of my mind but he just stared straight ahead with his pipe and funny hat. Bastard.

By the time Martin and Kurt pulled off my leg was feeling a little better and I was able to cruise over to Fremont and grab a cup of coffee and a Motrin before heading home.

Now it’s off to work on the house and get the tandem ready for tomorrows ride. I hope the leg can take it….

81 miles. I’m cooked

Bike - Flyte SRS2 50-34 x 11-21 Ksyrium SL wheels

Breakfast - 2 eggs, Bagel w/ cream cheese and an Ensure

Ride Food - Powerbar, 2 small bottles of Heed

Nice cruise around the lake with a great bunch of guys. I say it a lot but mean it every time… These guys kick ass and am so happy they all came over to IJM.org/ Thumbprint Racing. We pushed the pace a few times and as trashed as my legs were I was still able to rub elbows, that is, until RC jumped on LWB out of Seward.  I got BLOWN out the back.  I just didn’t have the speed left in my legs.  I caught back up to them at Leschi and we put in in cruise control for the last few miles.  Greg K road to Fremont with me since he had to head to Ballard and then it was the lonesome chug back to West Seattle.

Now it’s beer, food and football over at my mom’s house in Port Orchard.

Stay Beautiful!

76 miles

Bike - Schwinn Tempo fixed gear 42×16 

Breakfast - Leftover potatos, cottage cheese and a powerbar

Ride Food - One small bottle of water, one large bottle of Heed.

Man it was cold this morning!  The day turned out perfect, what a fun ride. Martin, Todd, Kurt, Jeff D all showed up fixed and it was so awesome.

Learned a few things today.

• Do not drink heavily the night before if you are planning on actually performing well on the ride
• Fixed gear rides should NOT be started from West Seattle.
• Martin is right sometimes.

I’ll explain some of these.

I spent a lot of last night wiring up my shop in the basement.  Added a breaker and ran new romex to the room.  3 new 4′ strip lights and switch, 3 double duplex receptacles and some clean up. Nothing makes working with electricity more fun then draining beer and scotch into my gullet… so I did.

It’s a good 15 miles from my house to the Dog in front of Husky Stadium which is the Saturday meeting place.  which means whatever route we take, I need to remember to mentally add another 30 miles before I leave the house.  I should have parked at the U.

As we crossed I-90, Martin asked why I hadn’t gone through the tunnel to head home.  He was right.  In my state I should have headed that way instead I followed them up Madrona and headed to Nickerson.

I’m cooked.

First of all… big props to my wife for her kick-ass ride on the tandem today.  It was her second time as stoker and she was all about riding with the boys and throwing down.  Nice job babe!

Ro and I woke up early to scarf down some breakfast and toss the tandem on the car to head up to U Village.  The TPR northend ride was heading out at 8:30 and I thought she would love to meet some of my new teammates and get a ride in at the same time.

We headed up north on 25th, Lake City way, the BG trail to Beardslee blvd and up to Clearview.  We got dropped on the hill coming out of Canyon park but it was all good.  I knew it would happen and all we needed was each others company anyway.  Ahhhh… the beauty of a tandem :-)  On the way back we stopped at Starbucks at LFP Village and sat outside sipping coffee and soaking up the sun before heading back down to the car.  Ride map attached-

Then it was time to work.

Got up on the roof to inspect the flashings and stink pipes.  I need to replace the flashings on the chimney and clean the gutters but that will have to wait until next weekend as I promised Ro I would finish treating the deck off the house and the steps to the patio from the master.  I love staining :-)

So now I’m sitting in the TV room, sipping on a beer waiting for my dinner to be done.  I think I’ll ride to work tomorrow as it’s supposed to be super nice.

Have a fantastic Sunday evening everyone!

Hit Mercer Island with Dustin, Alan, Allister and Alex Tuesday afternoon, catching some great sunshine in the process (even though I was in full arm/ knee warmers.  Sunny but a light chill.

I took the Klein just because I want to make sure it’s set up right and 20 miles is a good indicator.  Some small seat angle and height mods and a stem height adjustment was all it really needed and the only uncomfortable change between the BMC to this is the crank length.  Some people can’t tell the difference between 172.5 to 170 but it feels like I’m peddling a trike.  Toss in the fact that the BMC has the Q-rings on it instead of round and my legs really feel out of whack compared to the race rig.  I went through the same adjustment last year so I just need more time on it.

We took it pretty easy as Dustin’s hole where his appendix used to be is still healing.  It was really nice to just BS, spin around the island and pretty much have a great time.  The company made it so nice.

Halfway around the “Tuesday McSickness Hammerfest” blew past us at about 35 miles an hour going the other direction.  Only saw one guy smiling in that crew and it was Aaron Shaw.  He’s just a happy guy :-)

Have a fantastic day!

What a great ride! our first IJM.org/ thumbprint racing meet and greet ride went off perfectly. A spin around Mercer then around the north end of Lake WA (with a stop into our sponsoring shop uBRDO) and then back to Leschi. Alot of the folks I already knew but meeting some folks that were excited to start this team and their enthusiasm really pumped things up for us.

I started from home so by the time I got home a hit the 72 mile mark and the lack of a breakfast was starting to set in. Thankfully I got 2 Hammer gels at uBURDO and those really came in handy.

Bike - BMC SL01 51-35 qrings x 11-25 Spinergy Stealth wheels

Ride food - 1 large bottle of HEED, 1 small bottle of nuun, bag of cliff blocks and 2 hammer gells.

Breakfast - none (stupid)

What a great ride. I’m so excited for next year!!!

Woke up early enough (4am) to hop on the bike and spin to work. it’s only about 17 miles to work so it takes an easy hour.

Morning ride is here-

About 3 I left to go meet up with John N and ride around Mercer and then do some hills on the way home. It was supposed to be an easy “chat pace” ride but do they ever really stay that way? 46 miles added to my 17 in the morning.

Here is my afternoon-

The second set of hills in WS really took it out of me, I was shaking by the time I got up to 35th and I was actually seeing spots when I got home. Good times, good times.

63 miles total on the day.

Bike - Flyte SRS2 50-34 x 11-21 Ksyrium SL wheels

Average HR - 152
Max - 198
Low - 53

Jesus H Christ.

For a city that prides itself on being “Green” there sure are a lot of people that take part in the most un-green weekend this place can possibly produce.

Seafair

Jet fuel, gasoline, diesel, “who knows what just got dumped in Lake WA”

Maybe I’m just bitter because I had to climb a few extra hills since they blocked off the road. Maybe I’m just jealous because I had to bust out a 63 mile ride while all of the spectators were juicing up their liver with Keystone light. Really though, it’s a big party and I think that is pretty cool that everyone can get together and enjoy the day. If, though, I hear one more time after the thunderous roar of a blue angel comes rocking over Beacon Hill, “There’s the sound of freedom!”, I’m gonna punch them square in the nuts (or the boobs… I’ve been told I need to make my insults more equal in their address)

Anyway folks.

Hard ride today and I really needed it. I was pretty much destroyed by the time I got home. Good times with my teammates and some of my “new” teammates (more on that to come… ahem, Thumb Print Racing

took a nap while Rosanna and her two sisters had a chat out on the deck in the sun and then Ro and I busted out some yard work.

Now it’s beer time and maybe some steaks on the grill (or mystery meat hot dogs with mac and cheese… comfort food!)

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend.

Stay Beautiful-

Ride Map,

2 loops around West Seattle. 28 miles 1300ft of climbing.

Bike BMC SL01 51-35 qrings x 11-23 Ksyrium SL wheels.

Ride food - water

1st lap was an easy spin. I feel off, which I will describe later. I don’t know if I’m still sick or something else is wrong. I wanted to spin a high cadence to get the legs going and stay in the saddle the entire time which is a little hard going up Barton to 35th but I did it. I’m a “stander” and Greg yells at me EVERY time I get out of the saddle. I think it has a lot to do with my running background or maybe it’s just a bad habit that I need to break.

2nd lap went a little harder, completeing it 15 minutes faster than the first. Spent most of it in Zone 4 and had a tag along bunch, 1 guy was from Cucina and 3 others non kit around Alki which I dropped quite succesfully. I never came off the front but I wasn’t looking for a pace line, I’m sure they appreciated the draft in the good headwind we had. They guy who was right behind mewas in his aero bars, and I told him that if he wanted a pull he had to get off them. I’ve seen WAY too many accidents that way if you haven’t been practicing on them. I’m sure he thought I was an ass even though I was pretty polite about it. Hope he somehow reads this and understands I wasn’t trying to be a dick. Heading up Barton the second time kicked my ass. I did not recover from Lincoln Park Way and had a hard time breathing so I backed it off halfway up. I was feeling a bit dizzy and I knew it was time to bring it down a little.

Bike - BMC SL01 51-35 Qrings x 11-23 Ksyrium SL wheels

Ride Food - 1 bottle of Exceed, 2 shot blocks

Haven’t really been on the bike much as I’ve been VERY sick since Monday. What I thought were allergies turned out to be a full blown head/chest cold so I have been living in mucus land for a while. My body doesn’t respond well to meds, I can’t take a whole lot as it really messe with my body so I suffer through it with a spray of Afrin a day.

but I digress

I warmed up with a ride down the hill to Fauntleroy ferry, and around the park then started my repeats. I was surprised at how good I felt on the first one but wanted to keep a steady effort, never really coming out of zone 3. Each time I did it faster except the last which was 5 seconds slower then the previous and was in zone 5 the entire time. My chest was REALLY hurting and I thought I might have over done it a bit considering how sick I was.

Here is the map data, only 15 miles and 1600 feet of climbing but, hey… I just took a month off the bike AND I have been sick. Cut me some slack!

Off to go fix the bathroom sink!

b-

My teammates put on a crit clinic at Magnuson Park last night, great way to get some new comers to the sport some info before their first criterium.  It was also a chance for those seasoned veterans of the 4 corner painfest to hear a different perspective on warm-up, race readiness and tactics.  It was well attended considering the weather and for those of you who would like participate in future clinics put on by our team, stay tuned!  this is open to ALL cyclists, not just ByrneInvent/ JCV members. and I will post dates on my bloggy blog.

Anyway,

I took the BMC out for a spin, something that I haven’t had the chance to do lately (uuuhh… MARRIAGE!) and hit the road.  I can really feel my loss in fitness.  After a 15 minute warm up I did a short ladder interval set  before riding over to the park.  My legs feel stong but the lungs aren’t working so well.  I felt like I was out puke stage on the last 30 second sprint so I think I did the job.  I jumped on the trail and braved the commuter traffic past UW and was really pleased with just how many people are riding their bikes now even when the weather is poop.

Best part of the ride was passing a guy on a BMX bike carrying an old style boombox on his shoulder.  That brought back some memories :-)

I’m very happy to be back on the bike.  I might try to hang on at Seward this Thursday since the weather looks fairly good.