November Re-Cap

Already the mornings are touching the upper 30s and this week promises morning temperatures as low as 32F (0 Celsius to you Euro types... ;-) ). I'm still in knee warmers, but have already had to use full tights twice now. I know, in Minnesota it's way colder. Just remember I rode year 'round in Colorado and Wyoming. In Wyoming it would hover below Zero Fahrenheit, often as cold as -5 degrees (that's -20.5C!). I'd ride anyway, unless it was snowing, and even then I'd go out if the snow was still under an inch or two. That's what mountain bikes are for, as I understand it. I'd come in to work looking like the skinny version of the White Buffalo, much to the amusement of the Indian students (I worked at an Indian school on the Wind River Reservation in those days). So cold weather in Las Vegas. Not up to Wyoming standards, but chilly nonetheless.

November Miles: 953
Hiking miles: 24
November Weight: 149.5
Miles for the year so far: 12,054 (19,399KM)
Total Lifetime Miles: 404,084 (650,310KM)
Sixty six days until the Boulevard Road Race!

California Dreaming

I was invited out to Southern California last weekend as the guest of Bruce and Teresa Steele. I had the good fortune to stay there last summer as well. Bruce and John McKee set up a ride Saturday with some members of the Paramount Racing Club and South Bay Wheelmen. We met at Jaxx' Bicycle Shop in Irvine (?) and headed out to the Pacific Coast Highway via Laguna Beach. We rode through a part of Orange County I was once familiar with. In those days Sand Canyon Road was a rural road through orange groves. No longer. It's been pretty well developed and was unrecognizable to me. Upon reaching Laguna Beach the ride turned north and the road became a series of rolling hills and John gave me the flag to go when he said, "Here's a chance to test your legs." So I did. I felt amazingly strong climbing the rollers in big gears. It felt great. We re-grouped and headed north again, encountering heavy traffic in Corona Del Mar and Newport Beach. It's pretty scary, as the traffic is fast, and there's really no room between the cars on the road and the parked cars in the street. Once out of Newport we picked up the pace, as we had a pretty good tailwind going. We turned around at Huntington Beach and headed back south into the same wind, this time in our faces. There was a bike path that headed back inland at the Back Bay near Newport, and before long we were back for a total of 50 miles. It was great fun to ride with people my age who were of like mind about the bike.

Sunday was a special treat, as we rode out to the start of a SBW club hill climb time trial. We chatted some friends up at the start area, and I had a chance to talk to my first mentor in bicycle racing, Ted Ernst of Ted Ernst Bicycle Shop, the founder (?) and long time mentor of the South Bay Wheelmen. Ted set up my position on my first truly pro bike, a handmade Rickert from Germany. When I crashed that bike at the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix, he graciously loaned me his own bike (set up the same as mine, we were pretty much the same on the bike then) while mine had the frame straightened out. I tried rigorously to maintain that position on the bike for the next 34 years. It was only last year that I was re-evaluated and set up on my current pair of Cervelos. It was amazing how much my position needed changing! As if one's body would remain the same over 34 years! It was good to reconnect with Ted.

We headed up the same route as the time trial. It was beginning to warm up, so I unzipped my jersey and took off. I waited up for Bruce, Teresa, and Leo and Randy Longo and we continued on our way. The descent was fantastic. Imagine flying down an 8% grade, swooping out to a left hand curve that suddenly opened up a view of the Pacific Ocean hundreds of feet below, with nothing but air and space between you! If I could fly, I would have done it there. Instead, I leaned into the turn and shifted into the 53:11, the next best thing to flying. It was a great ride, coming in at 43 miles and over 3700' of climbing. Thank you Bruce and Teresa!

Seventy four days until the Boulevard Road Race!

(Yes, I've ridden everyday since the last post, but I'm not going to bore you with all the details. However, this morning's temperature was 35 degrees. It may be the desert, but it gets cold here in the dark months.)

Embrocations and Chamois Cremes

Colder weather has set in.  Morning temperatures in the part of Las Vegas I live in are hovering in the mid to upper 30s.  This morning it was 36 degrees fahrenheit (2 Celsius) at 7:00 a.m.  I have been using a variety of embrocations on my legs, as I'm still only wearing bib shorts and knee warmers on my legs.  I've already reviewed Mad Alchemy's "Mellow" quite favorably.  Over the weekend I bought a tub of Qoleum's Medium, meant to be used between 0 Celsius to about 15 Celsius (32 F to about 58 F).  (This is the product made in Belgium, and not the one made in New Zealand.  I guess there's some controversy surrounding these two product names.(  I found that it has little or no inherent warmth.  It takes a while to rub in, so one is in the position of giving one's self a massage, which has its own benefits, and it smells good and imparts a good Euro sheen to the legs, but warm?  Not there.  Maybe some insulating properties, but that's about it.  Not even when wet.  I have to give it a ho-hum and put it in the same category as Record Forte, an Italian embrocation with similar qualities.  They're not bad, just not warm in any way.  So this morning I brought out the Mad Alchemy Medium, also rated from 32 F to about 50 F.  Like its Mellow counterpart, it goes on orange, smells great, and immediately warms the legs.  I felt a pleasant warmth in my calves and beneath my knee warmers the entire ride, which was 31 miles (50 km) this morning.  It washes off easily in the shower, and left a residual warming that lasted all the way to work.  So, Mad Alchemy is still number one in my book.

I also have had the opportunity to try a new chamois creme.  While at Pro Cyclery, my favorite LBS, I was about to order more of Dave Zabriskie's DZNuts, which I've been using all year with good results.  It seems the wholesale price has gone up, so I was given several samples of Chamois Butt'r to try out.  After four days of using it, I have to say this:  it's not bad, but it's not DZNuts either.  It doesn't seem to hold up over rides longer than about two hours, there's no tea tree oil in it, and so it's just ho-hum.  If that's all that's available, it would be OK.  But I would choose Friction Freedom and/or New Butte first, after DZNuts.  Assos just doesn't cut it, in my opinion.

Sunday's Stats:
Miles: 37.8, steady
Temperature: 38 F, windy
Weight: 147.9
Pulse: 50

Monday's Stats:
Miles: 31, steady
Temperature: 36, calm

Tuesday's Stats:
Miles: 30.3, steady
Temperature: 42, calm.
Weight: 148.8

Qoleum Addendum: I used twice as much this morning (it said to use sparingly, so I had been), a full three full fingertips down to the first knuckle. It took a long time to rub in, but once I was out and warmed up, there definitely was some heat, inbetween Mad Alchemy's Mellow and Medium. It's quite a bit cheaper, but the ingredient list includes petroleum? Can that be right?

It's The Off Season?

A bunch of climbers came out today. We massed up at the front and set the pace all the way to the entrance, and then bang. I went off first. They let me get a good gap, then accelerated quickly to catch me and the field was left behind. At first there were 6-8 of us, then four. I set a personal best today by 23 seconds. In the off season! On the descent a few of us attacked (what, me, attacking on a descent???), and there were only three of us left. The guy who was first on the climb turned to me and asked me who I was, and then introduced himself. Three times today he remarked on how strong and smooth a rider I was. Three other guys made remarks like that, too, including the young guy I dropped on the final push to the top. He said, "I knew yours was the wheel to get on because you ride so steady and smoothly!" So. On the run down to the Blue Diamond Highway the pace was set by that same club, that is, the guy who took the climb, and on the descent, he and another guy from his club and myself. His club had about 6-8 riders out today, and I slipped in with them and we controlled the race to the highway.  A fun day.  Confidence has returned. 


Stats since Wednesday:
Thursday:
Miles: 30.75, steady, at 7:00 a.m., temperature: 62F
Pulse: 50
Friday:
30.8, steady, at 7:10 a.m., temperature: 55F
Pulse: 48
Saturday:
Miles: 60.25
Scenic Loop Climb: 19:33, previous best was 19:57
Weight: 147.9

Note:  I only include the fact the riders out there are making positive remarks to me because I'd been given the silent treatment for so long.  I won't belabor it anymore.  I don't think I need to.

The Scenic Loop on a Wednesday

The Off Season. A time to relax, sit on the couch and drink beer? Well, maybe for some. In the spirit of active rest I have gone hiking three out of the last four weekends (only missing a total of three days riding, I might add). Since the days are growing short, I've been riding at 6:45 a.m. most days, with the miles reduced to about 30-32 on the weekdays. I still cover about 100 miles over the weekend. Yesterday, however, it was Veteran's Day and I was off. So I rode 51 miles over the Scenic Loop. I haven't done this ride for several weeks. What I found was that I was consistently using higher gears on the climb, only rarely dropping to the 39x23 on the 11-14% sections. On the descent not only did I not brake going into the turns, but pedalled through most of them. It was exhilarating! It sometimes amazes me how far I've come in little over a year. I'll be going into next year's racing season orders of magnitude ahead of this year's beginning. Less than 90 days to go!

Recent Stats:

Number of adults seen riding bicycles on the side walk since the last post: 5
Number of hot air balloons seen landing less than ten yards from my route: 2
Number of sunbonnets out walking this morning: 3
Number of smashed pumpkins seen on my training route this month: 4
Number of tarantulas seen migrating this month: 5
Number of coyotes seen jumping over the wall into Siena, the local retirement ghetto for rich Midwesterners and Easterners: 2
Number of days it took to get my Prius back after the accident: 42

October Update

Triumph: "Competition is always a thorny problem. True, it challenges you to be your very best. ...Winning can be thought of as attainment. ...If you enter into a meet and win, then that is winning not over others, but achieving your personal best. The other competitors are secondary; it is more important that you know where you stand, that you consolidate your position, and that you look for further achievement. That is true triumph. ...Once you have had your share of triumphs, know when to get out."

-365 Tao Daily Meditations for November 2, day 306.

At this point I'm still trying to achieve the best I can be with the person I am right now. I still have some talent that I hone daily. What I have now that I didn't have "back in the day" is a belief that I can do this and won't take no for an answer. What I also have now, though, that I didn't have before is a chronic saddle sore which flares up from time to time, some arthritis, and a much older body which just simply requires more rest than it used to. My own mortality and the finiteness of my current level of fitness is much on my mind lately. However, I'm going to go until I can go no further, or until I achieve a level that I find satisfying. What is exciting to me is that already there are dates on the calendar for next year's competitions. Death and all that implies can simply wait awhile. I'm not done yet.

October's Stats:
October Miles: 1074
October Weight: 148.4
October Pulse: 51.1
October Hiking Miles: 15.7
Number of adults seen riding bicycles on the sidewalk: 19
Number of near misses with cars: 5
Number of sunbonnets: 5
Miles for the year: 11,184

Like a Rocket

I made the Starbuck's Ride today. The reason I kept missing them out on the road is because they putz around and don't really leave until long after 8:00, the so called start time. I went there directly instead of meeting them up the road and they didn't roll out of the parking lot until nearly 8:15. Bruce Balch, the intrepid tri-guy was out on his Zipp time trial bike and led the group on a fast pace up to the entrance to the Scenic Loop. I took off and never saw anyone again. I was more than a full three minutes ahead of the 2nd place finisher. The remarkable thing was that the 2nd and third place guys were the ones punishing me last year at this time... hmm. The descent went incredibly well, with my coming in with the top three (myself included), setting a personal best of 15:47. No getting dropped on the descent today! I was one who was doing the dropping. Kenny, aka Boyfriend, tried his best to do so, but to no avail. On the last 6-7% grade he threw himself into a long, hard uphill pull in the big chainring. I was content to ride his wheel. The top is a false summit and there's a fair distance to go before dropping downhill again. Psychologically it's difficult because you've just made a really hard effort and it looks like it should be over... but it's not. Instead of sitting up and catching my breath here, like most of these guys do, I've trained myself to keep the cranks turning, even getting out of the saddle and upshifting. I save the recovery for the real down hill. Since I train that way, I was able to put the screws to Kenny there. I know he fully expected me to be gone. Instead two others were dropped and it was down to three of us. Incidentally, I was over five minutes up on him over the climbing portion. I think he's in his mid 30s and has this idea he's a top rider. Ahem.

Saturday's Stats:
Pulse: 48
Weight: 150.1
Miles: 60.9
Temperature: 65 - 75 degrees, mild breeze

Month so far: 838
Miles this year to date: 10,835

Number of tarantulas seen on the road over the past week: 2 (they're migrating now, out looking for love)
Number of coyotes seen in developed areas over the last week: 3
Number of sunbonnets seen: 0
Number of near misses with vehicles: 1