ej (v6b)

So!  Been a while since I posted anything here!  I mostly just post on Facebook these days, but this is going to be longer than that.

So this weekend, I rode BOTH the Conquer the Canal TT and the Langley Crit, both sponsored by Fat Frogs Racing.

I’ve been feeling pretty strong this year.  True, I didn’t ride much over the winter, but in the last few weeks of riding, I’m feeling pretty strong.  That, plus the new wheels (RS-80), I thought I’d do pretty well this weekend.  So on Saturday I did the Conquer the Canal TT.  I rode in the 40+ Category with a bunch of 40+ fast dudes!  When we lined up, I noticed that I was the odd man out:  I was the only one not on a TT bike, and in full aero gear!  The dude in front of me had wheels that cost more than my entire bike and wheels put together!

I felt that I had a good race on Saturday at the Canal.  My heart rate was exactly where I wanted it, my position was good, my speed was pretty good.  The results sheet said 34:20, but MY time was closer to 33:20, so I’m not sure if the results will be corrected when they are posted.  My time LAST year was 32:11, so I’m not really sure what that means.

Today’s Crit, was a totally different thing!  I changed to Cat IV this year, and this was my first Cat IV race and MAN was it fast!  I didn’t last long, and was out of the race in less than 10 minutes!  I didn’t feel comfortable in the group, wasn’t comfortable with the speed.  I’ve been riding this year, but apparently I have quite a ways to go to hang with the Cat IV guys!

So, I think I’ve decided this:  I’m going to continue to do the TT’s including the Wintergreen Uphill TT.  Here’s my reasoning…even if I don’t upgrade my bike, I still get a reliable indicator of how I am doing.  I like doing longer rides; the kind of training I did last summer with Matt and Noni.  That’s the type of riding I’m good at!  I think from now on, I’m going to focus on riding longer rides, and I think I’m only going to do the TT’s for the rest of the summer.  I can get dropped for FREE on a variety of rides, and the road rides (like the Bully ride) are WAY more fun anyway!

Look for me to want to ride long (Sundays are better), at all the PLT’s and maybe a few century and charity rides!

See you on the Road!

Lee

I’ve had a TiVo for years now. As a matter of fact, I think I’ve “sold” about as many TiVo’s as Best Buy over since I’ve had one. TiVo, in my opinion, is the best thing to happen to TV since cable!

Lately, my trusty Series 2 TiVo has been showing it’s age…it’s a single tuner, 40 hour DVR. I bought it for about $100 in March 2004 and I paid for the lifetime service plan. For about $300 bucks, I (rightly!) figured that in the long run, it would be cheaper than $12.95 per month. When Suzan and I got married in 2005, the TiVo took it’s place in our family’s entertainment center and has been working great. Lately, however, TiVo has been having some “issues.” The video often skips and jumps, and the TiVo doesn’t respond to the remote (we call it the ka-danker after the sound TiVo makes!). Also, the single tuner doesn’t allow us to record two shows at once, or even to record one and watch another. Alex and I have a few shows we like to watch, while Suzan and the kiddies have a couple of other shows that they like to watch, so someone always ended up watching their shows on the bedroom TV. [Read more →]

WOW!  The weather got cold, work got busy, it’s DARK at 6:30!  Did I mention the wind???  What’s up with that?  The century got “winded” out this past weekend–the folks that did it reported 35+mph winds!  I’m glad I took the pass on that!  Anyway, I ended up having a great time at THE Halloween party, but I managed to ride Sunday morning anyway!

So this week, it’s been cold and windy so I found a new way to work out.  I’ve been going to the gym riding the Net Expresso machine.  It’s essentially an upright workout bike, BUT it’s way better than that!  I has a 19″ video screen that play the course you’re on, WITH a pacer and opponents.  You can pass them, but if you slow down you start getting passed!  It has hills, and a “gearshift” that can change up or down through 30 “gears.”  It also records heart-rate from my Polar transmitter, and displays both instantaneous and average power.  The gym also has a challenge board.  This weeks course is 6.8 miles with hills.  In my first try I did 20:23.  Today I played around with some of the easier courses before I did it, and I still did 21:20, so not bad!  It’s pretty cool that it gives power readings.  I wasn’t really pushing today, but I still managed to average 165-175 watts with my heart rate at around 78-85%, so that was pretty cool.  The documentation says that it’s supposed to work online and it will automatically record my workouts, but it’s not working yet.  The employees at the Y said that they are getting more of them in December, so that will be cool.

Today marks a milestone!  After 3 weeks at 190 point something today’s weight is: [Read more →]