Suck It Up, Jim

Is what Julie Ann (Women's Category 1) said to me at a rest stop on Tuesday's ride.  A group of us met at the local SBX and we headed up to the Red Rock Canyon Loop and parts beyond.  The majority of the riders were from the Allegiant Air racing club, Julie, myself, and a couple of others.  When we hit the loop, a young rider named Ken took off on his own.  I might have done the same, but I've only just returned to riding hard, and haven't honed my climbing skills since October (I've only returned to climbing in any fashion this December).  What happened on the way up is that one by one everyone else dropped off my pace and it was Ken ahead of me, and everyone else behind.  I was closing in on Ken when he hit the false summit.  That's where I typically stand up and upshift and kick the last couple of hundred yards to the top, and I expected to close in on him because that's also the spot where the locals sit up and relax, as that last 10% upgrade is a killer.  Not so.  It seems that Ken has the same proclivities as I do, and he kicked it up a notch there too, so I came in about ten or fifteen seconds behind him.  I was feeling out of shape and didn't expect to come in where I did.  Unfortunately I had a Garmin malfunction (read that, user error) and didn't get a time for the climb.  Judging from the last timed climb done two days prior, I'd have to say that Tuesday's climb was in the ball park of my three or four fastest trips up the Loop.  We regrouped and began the descent.  It was fast and furious leading into the Wall (a short but very steep kick up on the way down, about 11%), and it was a maximal effort to stay with the leaders.  Shortly before the last fast downhill section there is another longish grade (about 7%) that puts everyone up off the saddle and again it becomes a contest to see who can put the screws to everyone else.  These kinds of grades require a lot of strength and power, and don't necessarily favor the climber in for the long haul.  We were shedding riders all the way to the false flat and I had become the new "end of the pack" when Javier punched it, and then Julie came through and punched it again.  I came off there and had to chase with a vengeance down the last stretch back to the highway.  I finally caught them where the road started tilting back up again, and on we went down to Blue Diamond.  We typically take a short break there and refuel.  That's where I mentioned that "someone punched it near the top of that grade, and you, Julie, had to go and do it one more time!"  I could have handled the first one, but it was the second hard acceleration that got me.  She turned and said, "Suck it up, Jim!"  And she's right.  Climbing by itself does not make one a bike racer.  It helps, but it's still speed, strength, power, and the willingness to use it at the right moment that can make the race come together, and that moment saw several of us come off the back.  Sure, I might have been the last one to come off, but I was still off, and had all the wind to myself.  If I was to get back on, it would be at my own expense.  Ah, the lessons of pre-season training!

Yesterday and today I was treated to cold, windy conditions.  Thirty five degrees Fahrenheit (1.6 C) today with winds out of the north at 22 mph (35 k/h), gusts to 41 mph (66 k/m).  I'm beginning to believe that the bicycle is an instrument of mortification rather than an instrument of joy and pleasure!  Six days straight of rain and wind, and now wind and cold.  Yes, yes, I know it's way worse in (pick your location).  I'm just sayin'...

I'm going to count the golf balls between now and Sunday (I'm heading out to Death Valley for a couple of days... , yes, it's cold there too.  Here's a thought:  on my other blog (and my other life) I post photographs.  I make greeting cards from the prints on acid free paper and archival quality ink.  They sell for $5 in local stores.  If you are the winner, you might peruse the pictures; look around, there's nearly two years worth on there and they are good, if I may say so myself.  I'd be willing to either a) make a set of five greeting cards, or matte an 8x12 inch print.  If that doesn't suit you, well, I could always ship the balls to you!

(Almost) Year End Stats:
Miles (so far) this year:  13,913 (22,399 km)
Miles (so far) this month: 1176 (1893 km)
Lifetime: 418, 907 (674, 440 km)

Six Days Straight

Nearly two inches in the past 24 hours in my zip code.  Sure, I could be in the U.K. where it's been know to rain for weeks at a time, but this is Las Vegas where four inches a year is the average, and it hasn't even made that total for some years thanks to global warming.  I'm not complaining, it's just that it's unusual.  I'm going out in it anyway.

This is a view of a piece of highway leading to Red Rock Canyon that I train on daily..., except when it's closed!

Back.  Dripping on the table as I write this.  Wettest day on the bike in some time.  Brr!

The Rainman Cometh

Today makes four days straight that it has rained here in Las Vegas, meaning that it's the fourth day straight I've ridden in the rain, and more is on its way.  Not that I'm complaining, it's just unusual.  I found a hole in the rain for awhile today and was able to get in 35 miles or so before it started up again, so I was only rained on the last seven miles for a total ride of 42 miles.  Yesterday it was for the whole ride, Saturday wasn't much better, and the bulk of Friday's ride was wet as well.  One could argue it's good mental preparation.  I would respond that it makes me and my bike a muddy mess!  Or some such thing.  The Velominatis' rule #9 (John Lennon?) states that : If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass.  Period.  So if that makes me baddass, or just have a bad ass (from soggy riding clothes), it still remains to be seen.  In the meantime, I soldier on.  I'm hoping to do some 600 miles over the next two weeks.  Rapha is having a Festive 500 between December 23 and December 30.  That's about 310 miles or so.  Easy, and within my plans, barring a major wash out of the roads (already Red Rock Canyon has been closed twice in the past two days on account of flooding...).  As soon as it dries out I'm putting the heart monitor back on.  Climbing will be back on the agenda, as will hill repeats and longish intervals.  


In the meantime, here's a little contest.  Over the course of last year I indulged my obsessive/compulsive nature by picking up golf balls that I'd see while training.  Don't ask me why, because I couldn't tell you.  It's non-verbal and even I don't understand it.  But here's a basket full of them.  Guess the number of golf balls and you'll win something. I don't know what yet, but I have some good ideas...

The dimensions of the basket are 34 cm x 15 cm, and the golf balls are, well, golf ball sized.


Stats so far this month:


Total miles as of 12/20/10: 736 (1185 KM)
Total miles for 2010 as of 12/20/10: 13,473 (21,692 KM)
Golf balls picked up this week: 1
Golf balls picked up in December so far: 3
Number of riders seen out in yesterday's rain: 1
Number of riders seen out in today's weather: 1 (and no, they weren't the same one)
Number of riders staying indoors on the trainer:  way too many!  Movies, hot coffee, room heated to 70 degrees.  I know how it is.  I could name names...

November Re-Cap, or It's December Already!

It's time to start pre-preseason training!  In other words, I'll start pre-season training the last two weeks of December over the two weeks I have off then.  In the meantime, I've started riding harder over the course of each ride, and last weekend returned to climbing, i.e., the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Loop and Mt. Potosi on Saturday for a total of approximately 5,900' of climbing (1798 meters) over the course of 69 miles (111 KM).  I did this as part of the Starbuck's Ride that often accumulates on Saturday mornings.  This group was in the order of about 20 riders, give or take, and they were out to make a point.  Although I felt out of shape on the climb, I was still able to do it in a good time and finished in the lead group of four who had a large gap (minutes) on everyone else.  The subsequent descent and run in to the highway was very fast, probably the fastest descent off the Loop that I've been on to date.  Once we got down to the turn around, only two other guys were up to heading up the road to Mt. Potosi, a nine mile climb.  So we let the group go on its merry way.  I ended up at the top about ten minutes ahead of the next guy, and it was a bit longer for the third to show up.  At 5475' of elevation, it was quite cool up there, so the descent was pretty cold for quite awhile.  My two companions, while not quite great climbers, really drilled it on the trip back down and I was searching for my nine and ten cogs... not to be, so I had to rely on the existing 53:11 to keep up!  Sunday I went out on my own and rode the Loop once again.

November Stats:

Miles: 1073
Average Weight: 149.9
Miles this year through 12/5/10:12, 975
Lifetime miles: 417, 934

Prowess

At any point in life it is prudent to contemplate the nature of prowess. ... it is good to meditate, and to accumlate not victories, but the experience of those victories.  Savor them.  No one can ever take that away from you.


365 Tao Daily Meditations - Day 335

You will die.  You will not really see it coming.  You wouldn't recognize it even if you did; death is something that happens to other people.  We all believe this.  I think of these things, nearly daily.  Some time there will not be a me inhabiting this body I've grown accustomed to, the one that will (mostly) do my bidding, the one that sometimes seems to have been made for the sole purpose of riding a bicycle.  Of course, that's not even remotely true.  It can do other things as well.  I've had a good long run on the bike, though.  It's not the same as "back in the day", but I'm often surprised at what it can still do.  It won't always be this way.  So I'm accumulating experiences each and every day.  Every day is a good day, even when it's not.  So get out and ride.

Two windless days in a row.  Twenty seven degrees Fahrenheit yesterday, a balmy 36 today.  It was wonderful.  Damn, I love to ride my bike!