Waiting....

I haven't been able to ride for the last week and a half due to a burn on my arm - not big, but deep.  I was cooking for my Mom & Dad's 50th anniversary party, and spilled some hot (200F) grease on my arm.  It's made it so I can't be out in the beautiful warmth we've had.  Hopefully it'll be healed enough soon.  Sitting around in this warm weather is driving me crazy!

Toughing it out - and peace

This last week was a week of no riding.  I had to go to a conference in Winnipeg, and when it was done I headed out with some associates for a fishing trip.  It meant late nights and early mornings.  I was exhausted by the time we headed out to Lake of the Woods to fish.

The cabin we were staying at was not big, and was on an island.  That meant no electricity, and it was far enough way that it also meant I had no cell coverage or internet.  Peace.  Totally unplugged.  I highly recommend doing it!  I went to bed when it got dark (after a chat with my associates in the glow of candlelight) and got up when the sun came up.  The outhouse was an experience all to itself.  No light or windows, so it was pitch dark with door closed - so you left it open and had a view out to the water.  It was truly a beautiful way to start the morning!!  Here's a picture of our cabin.  I wish I had a shot of it from the water.  We ate dinner on the deck, had an amazing fish fry over an open fire (from where I was standing when I took this) and fished, and fished.  Lots of action with Walleye and Jack (northern pike) fish.

Then I came home.  After a busy day at the office today I headed out for a ride.  I had a headwind, and was feeling really sluggish.  I toughed it out, got it done.  It was not a great ride, but it was great to ride.  I'm tired, but I know I got a ride in and that it's working towards getting into shape.

Tomorrow will be a long day of driving as I'll be heading up by Camrose to visit a client.  Sure makes for a long day, but it's one of my favourite clients so that makes it all worth it.

Hills make you Tough, Wind makes you MEAN!

Today was a beautiful day for a ride - temps in the high 20's/low 30's.  Just made me want to ride.  Unfortunately, I missed the morning time when there's not much for wind, so I headed out around noon.  35km/hr winds from the SW.  That meant a headwind all the way out to Leavitt.  My times have been averaging around 37 minutes out there - today it was 49 minutes!  Of course, coming back my times have been averaging 23 minutes, and I made it back in 19 - but just goes to show, the wind never gives back what it takes!

Renewal and Reunions

Wow.  It's been years since I've written here.  Some sad realizations go along with that.

I decided a little over a week ago that I really needed to get back out on the bike.  I've been having some serious knee issues that make it difficult to walk, never mind run.  Cycling is not bothering it - and I've gotten REALLY out of shape.  When I fired up my Garmin 500 and downloaded the data I got a bit of a shock - it's been FIVE YEARS since I rode regularly.  Wow.  So I've decided to get riding again - and I find it fun to write a ride-report about the ride.  However, I suspect that my friends on the Tailwinds page may get annoyed at my long ride-report posts, so I'll just post a link to it here and they can read it if they want.

This weekend was my 30 year High School Reunion.  Friday night I looked around and thought "wow, all these people have gotten old!  But I'm not."  I guess I might not have just thought it - apparently I may have said that out-loud as one of my old friends grabbed the yearbook and pointed out a photo of me 30 years ago... I guess it's time to admit that I may not be as young as I think I am.  Here's the photo that he pulled out.

Yup, that's a long time ago!  That's my friend John Karamanos - we wrestled together all through High School.  Still a great guy!

Anyway, so now I've accepted that I'm getting old.  And I've gotten fat.  So I'm an old fat guy.  I can't do much about getting older, but I can do something about getting fat, so I'm going to work on it.

Here's my last couple of ride reports.

Reunions and suicidal attacks.

Ride Report 6 June/15

As I head out the door, borrowing my wife's ipod, what does she say to me? "You can borrow it, just don't get any snot rockets on it!" - WHAT?! Please... I'm a professional, I'd never miss that badly....

This weekend was my high school 30 year reunion. So a late-night visit in Medicine hat, and drive back home made for a tough bike ride today - but I wanted to make sure I got a ride in. I didn't get out until 10:30am

As I neared the "Dr. Low's" corner I had a little reunion with one of the early members of the Tailwinds cycling club - Joseph Dobson! I haven't seen him for awhile, so I stopped for a quick visit. He's riding a fair bit, even doing the Able Dental 100mile ride coming up. (It's a fun ride from the AB/BC border into Lethbridge. A true Tailwinds ride - mostly downhill and usually a good tailwind at your back the whole way.)

Off I went for a jaunt out to Leavitt. The 80's music pumping me up - Lovin' Every Minute of It, Thunderstruck, Love in an Elevator... it was awesome never knowing what was coming next and it always being something that I wanted to hear!

I'm starting to get the feeling of where my current limits are at, so I decided to go a little harder on the way out. Okay, that may imply a little more thought than was actually involved. There was a north wind blowing, so it means a cross wind all the way out (and that's almost as bad as a head wind!) - so I HAD to work harder. But, I hit the turn-around in Leavitt over a minute faster than a couple of days ago with no wind!

That minute got taken back awfully quick, though - as a Northwind means a headwind going up Monson's hill. Yup, over a minute slower than last time. My stubborness may have contributed to it, as I decided I was big ringing it up regardless and it turned into a bit of a grind by the top.

I'm pounding down the hill after Monson's and suddenly what can only be described as an angry, demented gopher began an attempted Kamikaze run at me. I know I've killed a few of his buddies with my car lately, but trying to get himself caught in my spokes so as to flip me off my bike was really a low-down trick. I managed to bunny hop the guy and miss him, but I was on high alert the rest of the ride back and spotted a number of his compatriots trying to line up similar attacks. Fortunately, when they realized I was on to them they backed off.

My top-end speed is really being hampered by my lack of spin. I'm spinning out before 50km/hr and so am not able to get speeds as high as I'd like, and I'm not holding speed as well on the flats.- Something just occured to me and I just went and checked on what chainrings I was running. I was pretty sure I had my compact crank-set on, but that I'd put 52/36 rings on.... wrong. I'm running 52/34. No wonder I'm spinning out. Will have to do some mechanical adjustments before Monday morning!

It's always kind of bothered me that the town has changed the signs around on 2nd ave so that the Ave has the right of way. So far I've not had to stop as there hasn't been any traffic. Not so today. Even with the 1 minute slower climb up Monson's, I was still within reach of my time set last time out - so I was going pretty hard. As I approached the intersection my spidey senses started tingling and I angled away and caught a blur of white - a nice big Suburban. I locked 'em up, the Suburban went through and turned heading my direction, and I sprinted to try and catch a draft. I couldn't catch on, but it got me back up to speed.

I got home and hit the stop button - I managed to be 3 seconds faster than last time.

As one of the great rules of cycling says - "It never gets easier, you just go faster!"

Oh man, it was BEAUTIFUL!

Ride Report 4 June 2015

I headed out at 7pm. Nice and warm, not a breathe of wind. Went up the high school hill - somehow that never seems to get easy. I had borrowed my wife's ipod for the ride - first time with music in a very long time! Classic 80's stuff - good thing my kids weren't around and that I was working hard enough that I couldn't sing, cause in my head I was rocking out! Yup, I was Too Legit, and getting ready for HAMMER TIME! - then took my usual route to head out to Leavitt.

Felt pretty good, though I knew I wasn't moving as fast as the old days, (5 years ago) I felt good. I decided that today I was going all the way out to Leavitt and tackling Monson's hill.

Passed a few friends on the highway, didn't really recognize them until I was by them. That's a side-effect I run into when I'm pushing myself hard. My brain doesn't function very well.

Cruising tucked in down Monson's hill - my neck is sore in this position, but the only way to get used to it is to do it, so I stay tucked. I hit the turnaround at 37:40.

Hello old friend. Been awhile. I shift up to the big ring, and start pushing hard on the leadup - building my speed up to 40km/hr. I'm going to time this one so that I have a measurement to compare myself to. I start the time at the last white post just after the hill turns up. I slip into a quick, easy rhythm, gradually shifting into easier gears to keep the cadence high, but still good pressure on the pedals. 3/4 the way up and I'm actually not feeling too bad, though my time is dreadfully slow compared to years gone by.

Some background. Monson's Hill is the hill where I use to test my Max Heart Rate. The process is simple, you work hard at the bottom of the hill, starting at about halfway through the gear set - then as you climb you shift into HARDER gears and stand and mash your way up. Breathing gets hard, legs are screaming - and as you get to the top, and you start to see stars in front of your eyes, just before you pass out, look down at your Heart Rate and that's your max. This hill and I have some very painful memories together.

Back to the ride. I'm feeling good - maybe I should shift to a harder gear and "drop the hammer"? Jukebox Hero starts playing - oh yeah... I don't play a guitar, I play my bicycle! I stand, shift two gears down, and begin the hard, painful rocking of tough climb. Staying out of the saddle is tough when you're carrying this much weight, but the rocking rhythm feels comfortable, familiar. My legs are burning, but I don't let up... the end is in sight. I shift one more time and sprint hard for the line. 2:22 - that's way slower than before, but it's an un-wind-assisted climb that will give me a benchmark.

I do an active recovery spin down the hill and shift again into the hard gears climbing the next hill - I stand and sprint over the top, then sit back to active recovery as I head down the other side.

I do the same over the next hill. Heading back down I'm spun out. I know it's bad because I'm only going 50km/hr, and sure, I'm running compact gears, but this is ridiculous. Oh well, I tuck and coast up to 55 before it levels out.

The next two little climbs are where we used to have line sprints. I decide to give it a go. As I hit the bottom of first rise I get down into the drops, shift twice to a harder gear, and jump out of the saddle to sprint hard ... almost there, ready to throw the bike at the line, lift my head, breathing hard.... ACK! cough, cough... DANG! I hate it when those bugs go all the way down your throat and bounce off the back and get stuck there because of how hard you're breathing. I reach for the water bottle and take a few swigs to wash down the protein.

After the last hill sprint, it's a false flat the rest of the way into town. I slip forward to the nose of the saddle - on the rivet - and time trial my way into town. My legs are screaming - I hit the corners at 43km/hr - oooooh gotta have a chat with the town about gravel in those corners, that was close!

Mmmmmmmmm what's paradise? FRESH pavement. I really love riding down 4th Ave, downhill, and buttery roads... no cars to draft this time, so I keep trialing - head down, speed up. At 50 I let off a bit as I go by the school - scream down the hill (hit 60), clear the corner, sprint across the bridge - sprint home, and hit the timer - 59:30, less than an hour round trip. Not bad. Lots of lessons and times set. And such a beautiful, beautiful day. Took me about 15 minutes to get my breathe back, now to stretch out and download the data. Maybe it's time to start wearing a HR monitor again? Nah... I'll leave it for something to look forward to.

ahhhhh

It was short, but for 5 minutes this morning when I first got out of bed I felt NO PAIN in my back or neck!  It didn't last long, but it gives me confidence that I'm moving in the right direction! 

Down, but not Out!

Wow, it's been 7 months since I last posted! Oh well. the 1200 mile club didn't last long for me - did pretty well the first couple of months, and then had to make a long out of town trip that required 2 days of driving - boom, I was done. Three weeks ago I woke up with a kind in my neck. Nothing major, just some discomfort. After babbying it for a week I decided to jump on my bike (hooked up to the computrainer) and go for a ride. After 30 minutes I had to stop from the back pain - and then I ended up spending the next week literally on my back in bed. Now, two weeks after the bike ride I'm still unable to do much. I can sit up for a few minutes to type - but can't hold the same position for long. Driving, even just to Lethbridge, is currently not possible. Walking around too much really gets things inflamed. Feel like I'm on the mend, but it is oh, so slow!

 We've finally got great weather and I would love to be spending some time with my bike, but it sits all alone in the garage (okay, those who know me know that it's not really alone - it has lots of other bike company, but it really needs some human interaction.)

On another bike note, this week I said good bye to a dear friend. Some may remember my bike-trading days of a few years ago where I had a new bike every month for a couple of years, but then I found a beautiful titaniumm bike (okay, I had it custom built for me) out of Idaho - fully Dura Ace Equipped, we had some great rides together (including the Death Valley Double - a little stroll of 200 miles through Death Valley, California (took me 14 hours) That beautiful little bike got moved to the back of the line-up when I acquired my Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL in 2007, so it'll be nice for the bike to have someone who'll take it our for a ride more often - but I'm still going to miss that beauty.

1200 Club

Okay, everybody who knows me knows that I can be talked into some pretty dumb things at times - this is one of them! Last night I went on the "Resolution Run" put on by the Running Room on Dec 31 - it's just a 5km, but given that I pulled a hamstring less than a week ago, I wasn't planning on going very fast. I didn't, but it sure was an enjoyable run! Weather was fantastic, and it was fun to run in a group again. (It's been probably 20+ years since I've done a running race.) I had to catch myself from blowing snot rockets at those behind me - just not use to there being people there! A friend of mine, Patricia Beazer, started a club called the 1200 mile club. The goal is to cover 1200 miles in 2012. (That's almost 4 miles a day, 6 days a week.) So, tonight I talked my wife into a 4 mile walk with me. It was nice to get out and chat for awhile. I'm not exactly sure how to handle tomorrow, as I'm taking the family snowboarding. Not sure if I'll be able to go for a 4 mile run after a day of snowboarding (especially when it's going to be followed up with another day of snowboarding!) We'll see how it goes.