07/31/05 - Sunday hammerfest...

Todays Ride:
Today was one of my better rides of the year. The legs (and knee) felt great for the whole two hours, and I felt just as strong at the end of the ride as I did at the beginning. Very pleased. I think my knee is back to 100%... I'm still focusing on maintaining a high cadence, especially on climbs, but on todays ride I didn't feel any discomfort in my knee whatsover. Sweet!! Tommorrow will be a busy day at the office so I'm just going to do a quick 45 minutes on the indoor trainer, and on Tuesday I think I'll do an hours worth of hard intervals.

Other Workouts/Training:
None. Just did the early morning ride and crashed the rest of the day. Tommorrow will be upper body lifting for my chest and shoulders, followed by Tuesdays Biceps and Triceps.

07/28/05 - Two hours....and no knee pain!

Todays Ride:
Had trouble sleeping last night so I woke up late (around 8:30am) and didn't leave the house until about 9:15. I took the Ibis this time and did a moderate pace ride through town (where some biotch in an SUV almost ran me over as she pulled out of her driveway) and out to some local trails. Overall it was an hour out, and then an hour back. I focused on a pretty high cadence the whole time, even on the climbs, and my knee didn't seem to bother me at all. I could feel a little bit of something, but I wonder if that was me just focusing on it and expecting it to hurt. Rolled back in the driveway about 11:20, did some good stretches, and sucked down some Endurox R4. I'm pretty pleased that the knee is feeling better, but its probably too soon to be sure its healed completely. Tommorrow I plan on getting up early and leaving the house around 6:30am for a quick hour ride.... gonna be a busy Friday, so thats about all I have the time for.

Other workouts/Training
None. Still a little sore from the previous two days of upper body work. I'll hit the weights again next Monday or Tuesday.

In Other News:
Stay tuned...

07/27/05 - Rain, rain, go away

Todays Ride:
Rained pretty much all night and its still going strong this morning. Didn't feel up to doing any indoor trainer work, so I guess this will be a rest day. Tommorrows weather is supposed to be nice (ya, right, thats what they said yesterday), so I'll take the Ibis out for a 2-3 hour ride.

Other workouts/Training
Today was more upper body weight training, but this time biceps and triceps. I did a good warmup and a few acclimation sets, then the following...

• Dumbell Concentration Curls (4 sets, 6-8 reps each... very slow movements)
• Dumbell Hammer Curls (5 sets, 6-8 reps each... very slow movements)
• Triceps Extensions (5 sets, 6-8 reps each... very slow movements)

In Other News:
Stay tuned...

07/26/05 - More spinervals... and some lifting...

Todays Ride:
Real windy when I woke up this morning, so I decided to hit the indoor trainer...again. I did about 45 minutes of short intervals...nothing too intense really. Tommorrows weather is supposed to be nice, and finally back to some cooler temps, so I'll probably break the Ibis out for a 2-3 hour ride.

Other workouts/Training
Today was upper body weight training, specifically chest and shoulders. I did a good warmup and a few acclimation sets, then the following...

• Incline Bench Press (5 sets, 4-6 reps each... very slow movements)
• Flat Bench Press (4 sets, 4-6 reps each... very slow movements)
• Military press (5 sets, 4-6 reps each... very slow movements)

In Other News:
Not much else going on. The temps around here have been insanely hot and the A/C in my house conveniently stopped working. Hopefully I'll get that fixed in the next week, but the temps are supposed to cool down for a few days...finally! Nasty thunderstorms are blowing through right now so I better get off here. Out...

07/25/2005 - Spinervals!

Todays Ride:
Woke up to early morning thunderstorms today. I had planned on taking the Ibis out for a two hour ride, but it rained around 7am for about 30 minutes and it looked like more rain was on the way, so I decided to break out the indoor trainer and do some intervals. I did an hours worth of 1, 2, and 3 minute intervals... nothing too strenuous, although some major sweating was involved due to the 85 degree temps inside my house (a/c is currently out of commission). Tommorrows forecast calls for more thunderstorms, but I'll be up early to see if I can get an hour or two in on the bike... otherwise it'll be more intervals on the trainer.

Other workouts/Training
No lifting today, but tommorrow is upper body lifting...chest and shoulders.

In Other News:
Seems wierd to not have any more Tour de France coverage on OLN. They are back to their regularly scheduled bull riding and duck hunting shows. WTF?!?!?! Out.

07/23/05 - My knee is feeling better!

Went out for a moderate one hour ride today to see how the knee was doing and it felt good. I think the two week rest helped. I did focus on a high cadence so that may have helped too. I figure Lance spins at 105rpm, so maybe I should try that too instead of trying to imitate Ulrich. I'm gonna go out again tommorrow, maybe for a 2 hour ride and see how it feels then. Hopefully the problem is gone and I can get back to some more serious saddle time.

Stay tuned...

07/14/05 - Vacation time!! FInally...

I'm loving the Tour de France so far. The racing is great, but so is the scenery. The last few stages have been just beautiful. Today I went out and bought Velo News TDF Guide which has really detailed maps of all the stages... this should come in handy if I ever get the chance to go to France. I would LOVE to ride on some of the roads these guys have been on the last few days! Someday...

I'm out of here in a bit for a well needed vacation of sorts. I'll be heading to Virginia for a few days to visit some relatives. There will be no biking involved, but the knee could use a few more days off the bike anyways. Virginia should be fun, especially the trip down there and back... I'm renting a new Ford Mustang.


I'm out...

07/12/05 - Riding vicarously through Lance...

I managed to roll out of bed at 8:30 am this morning and catch OLN's live broadcast of the TDF. Wow, what a stage!!!!! Lance just blew apart the field.... lets hope he can keep it up. And how about ex mountain bike world champ Mickael Rasmussen. Lance better pay attention to this guy! Some good TDF discussions going on here: http://forums.roadbikereview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

I think this photo sums up todays stage...


Tommorrow I'll be doing my chest and shoulder upper body workout, followed by biceps and triceps on Thursday. Friday I'm leaving for a few days down in Virginia and should be back around Tuesday of next week. When I get back, I'll be visiting the local bike shop to see about getting a professional bike fit on both my mountain bikes... just trying to eliminate the possibility that my bike fit is causing my knee problems. Stay tuned...

07/09/05 - My knee still hurts!

Well, the knee is still acting up. I did a short one hour ride today and about halfway thru the ride it started hurting again. Just great! I think its time to figure out what the problem is and, in turn, take a few weeks off the bike to let things heal. I'm going to shoot for a two week rest, and in the meantime, try to figure out what caused it so it doesn't happen again. I think I know what caused this... during the Raccoon Rally race a few weeks ago, I never shifted to my granny gear and thus ended up pushing excessively high gears on all the climbs, including the two really long ones. I'm also wondering if my position on the bike isn't quite right, so I'm looking at that as we speak. My best guess so far is that I have...

Iliotibial band (IT band) syndrome
The most common cause of knee (and hip pain) in cyclists is iliotibial band (IT band) syndrome. The IT band is a thick fibrous band of tissue, which runs on the outside of the leg from the hip to the knee. Pain is caused when the band becomes tight and rubs over the bony prominences of the hip (greater trochanter) and/or the knee (lateral epicondyle). Tight inflexible lower extremity muscles may worsen the condition.

Here are some good resources I've found...
http://www.cptips.com/knee.htm
http://www.itbs.info/index.html

Stay tuned... I'm hoping this is just a temporary problem and I can get back on the bike in two weeks...

07/08/05 - Back in the saddle again...

Todays Ride:
Finally! I was back on the bike today for a relatively easy 2 hour out and back ride. I added in a nice long hillclimb toward the midpoint just to make things interesting. My knee isn't back to 100% yet and started bothering me a little about 45 minutes into the ride. I'm going to do another ride tommorrow morning and switch over to some new shoes/cleats to see if that helps at all. I've got a pair of Sidi Dominators in the closet and now sounds like a good time to break them out. The Diadora mountain shoes I currently use are great, but I did notice that the cleat placement on the right shoe is a bit funky, so maybe the Sidi's will work better. If the knee issues don't go away soon, I might give this a try WobbleNaught On-Line Fit to see if I'm not fitting the bike quite right. This is strange though because I've never had any knee issues in the past. Getting old sux.

Other workouts/Training
I'm pretty sore from the last two days of upper body lifting. I guess thats what I get for taking 2 weeks off! Next upper body lifting will be early next week... Monday will be Chest/Shoulders and Tuesday will be Biceps/Triceps/Abs.

In Other News:
I'll hopefully be heading to New York early Sunday morning to checkout the 6 Hours of Power race. I had hoped to take part, but with knee issues I'm gonna bail. I do want to see how these 6 hour races work though... I've never participated in one of these and I'm interested to see how the racers handle replenishing food, water, etc. for the whole 6 hours.

Oh, and I bought a couple of those Clif Builder bars today. Best tasting bar I've tried so far. Pretty good specs too... 20g protein, 30g carbs, 8g fat. Try 'em!

07/07/05 - One more day... and I can finally ride...

Todays Ride:
No ride today... gonna hop on the bike tommorrow for my first ride in about a week... we'll see how the knee feels.

Other Workouts/Training:
I've got quite a bit of soreness from yesterdays chest/shoulder workout. Today I did my bicep/tricep workout. Its the first arm workout in about 2 weeks, so I kept things simple...

• Hammer Curls (3 sets, 6 reps each, slow movements)
• Seated Dumbell Curls (3 sets, 6 reps each, slow movements)
• Lying Triceps Extension (3 sets, 6 reps each, slow movements)

Some Good Reading:
I printed off The Endurance Athletes Guide To Success from the Hammer Nutrition website. Tons of good info in there and I'm gonna read part of it tonight.

More later...

Withdrawl?

I think I'm experiencing the polar opposite of overtraining... it's called withdrawl! I've been off the bike for a few days now, and I'm looking forward to a ride. I just need to hold out a few more days and let the knee rest up a little more, then I'm good to go. The goal is to do a ride on Friday and see how things feel. Stay tuned...

I did get back to my upper body lifting routine today working my chest and shoulders pretty good. For the next 8 weeks I'm trying something a little different... I've backed off on the weight a little so I can focus on very slow movements. Today I just did a good warmup, then the following...

• Incline Bench Press (3 sets, 4-6 reps each... very slow movements)
• Flat Bench Press (3 sets, 4-6 reps each... very slow movements)
• Military press (4 sets, 4-6 reps each... very slow movements)

I spent a few hours watching the Tour on OLN this afternoon... good to see Lance still in yellow. The finish of these last few stages has just been crazy... those sprinters are nuts. It really surprises me that we haven't seen more pileups the way these guys go at it. I see what Lance means when he says these early days of the Tour scare him to death... he's much more at home in the mountains where he can pull away from the crazies.

Here's a cool site with some good training articles... http://www.ultrafit.com/librarypub.asp?p=library&s=Other

Oh, and here's a sweet pic I ran across the other day... Lance closing in on Jan... http://grahamwatson.com/gw/imagedocs.nsf/images/05tdfSt1/$file/10.jpg

And one last pic... here's what I want my "shop" in the basement to eventualy look like... ya ya I know, dream on, right? http://www.parktool.com/images/misc/workshop.jpg

Gonna try to get to bed early tonight so I can do my bicep/tricep/ab workout early in the a.m. I also need to get the bike ready for Fridays ride. Out...

Another boring day OFF the bike

I'm still giving my knee a rest so I spent good part of the day watching Lance and the boys kick ass at the Tour. Bummer for Zabriskie and Team CSC... that was a nasty crash. I also spent some time behind the computer looking at bike porn. I need a full suspension bike damnit. I really love my Ibis Mojo hardtail, but I'm already started to look into full suspension bikes for next year. I noticed a lot of Specialized Epics at the last XC race...very sweet bikes, but I'm really liking the Yeti AS-R SL. I've always wanted a Yeti, and the Colorado-made AS-R SL would look very nice next to my Mojo!

Could this be my new race bike for 2006? Hmmmmm....

...and while I'm getting serious about bikes, I might as well get a little more serious about training. I really should start using a heart rate monitor and the Polar S725 is the one I'll probably go with...

This coming weekend is the 6 Hours Of Power race at Holiday Valley in New York. I had been planning to take part in this race, but with my knee acting up I think I'll sit it out. I still might go and watch to see how these 6 hour races operate. I've never done one and it might be nice to see how the racers handle this type of longer event. The 10 mile loop at Holiday Valley would also make for some pretty nice spectating since the Experts will probably come thru every 45 minutes to an hour.

A week off the bike

After yesterdays long ride and the pain I'm getting in my right knee, I think its time to take a week off the bike. This is a good thing because I need to resume the upper body lifting routine I've been doing since the beginning of the year. I took a week off from lifting just before the Raccoon Rally race so I need to get going on it again. I'm planning on resuming Wednesday with chest and shoulders, followed by biceps and triceps on Thursday. I figure I'll be back on the bike by the weekend, but a few days off should do my knee some good... stay tuned...

Here's a few mountain bike sites to check out...
Jeff Kerkove - Endurance Mountain Bike Racer
Summer On The Divide (where can I meet a gal like this?)
Matt Chesters Blog

I was never a big fan of Mountain Bike Action magazine, but I picked up the August '05 issue because they had a good recap of the Sea Otter Classic. I MUST do this race in 2006!

Happy 4th... and time for a long ride...

I think I finally recovered from the Raccoon Rally XC race so I decided it was time for a long 3-4 hour ride. What better day to do it than July 4th when everybody is sleeping in and there's no rush hour traffic to deal with. I headed out around 6:45am and all was going well for the first hour or so. My right knee eventually started to bother me so I eased up a little for the rest of the day. Not sure what I did to me knee , but its been bothering me ever since the Raccoon Rally... must have been those long climbs or something. About 2 hours into the ride I headed up this long steep climb that connects the two trails I was riding, and I noticed my rear tire was losing air at a pretty rapid pace. I made a quick tube change and continued on. I finally arrived back at the house after about 4 hours, so taking the tube change into account, it was about a 3:45 ride. I felt pretty good overall and loaded up on Endurox, a Clif Bar, and some other goodies before settling in to watch Lance on OLN. I crashed early to the sounds of fireworks going off in the neighborhood. Just another day in the life of a racer wanna-be.