Group ride with the team

Not a whole lot to say.  Spent most of last week riding the bike to work.  Getting chilly out, but still pretty manageable.  Kind of nice, actually.  Even though it's dark for my ride home, it's not really that bad.  The roads I use aren't very busy.  I did alter my route just a bit to avoid one of the busier roads.

Yesterday, I went for a ride with the PSIMET/Zilla race team.  This was my first real group ride with them, and it went well.  Truthfully, they were riding a little slower than I had hoped for, but that's fine.  Per my training plan, I should have done a few hours of Zone 2-3, but I spend most of my time in Zone 1.  Oh well.  We also ended up stopping way more than I typically would.  When you get that many people together (11 or 12 for yesterday's ride), you seem to end up stopping more.  It was a nice ride anyway.  A lot of roads I've never been on before.

That's it for tonight.


Stuff:

• Wednesday:  Commute to work
• Thursday:  Commute to work
• Friday:  Commute to work
• Sunday:  50 miles with the team
• Monday:  Spinervals 18.0 - Aero Base Builder III

Skilz

Haven't posted since last weekend, I think.  Not much to say.  Instead of doing my recommended Spinervals training videos every night, I have opted to substitute some bike commuting.  These days, most of the workouts in my program are aerobic-base workouts - typically fairly long, low-intensity workouts in Zone 2.

Instead of 90 minutes on the trainer in the evenings, I'm doing about 90-100 minutes outdoors.  Approximately 45 minutes in the morning, and 45 minutes in the evening, to and from work.  It's been a little chilly in the mornings, but not too bad yet.  We're supposed to be getting some snow early next week, so we'll see how it goes.  I'd like to keep riding though.  Although it might not be the most fun thing to do, it definitely beats getting on the trainer after dinner.  Once the suggested workouts change from aerobic base to more high-intensity intervals, I might have to change my plan a bit.

So, I ended up riding to work four days this past week.  That's one more than I was scheduled for with my workout program.  Then, today, I did a skills clinic with the PSIMET/Zilla racing team.  Working with Coach Randy Gaffney from Peaks Coaching Group, we spent about 4-5 hours doing paceline work, cornering and sprint leadouts.  We had a group of 15 riders today, and we all had a great time and learned a lot.  It was pretty awesome, and I'm looking forward to doing something like this again.

Paceline work out on Hwy 119.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day.  I'll probably do some resting, but I also might get out for a run, or do some strength training here at home.  We'll see.  But it will almost definitely be a day off the bike, which I think I need.

Bike commutin'

Late again.  I really should try to write these earlier.  Not going to write much tonight.

Spent most of last week commuting by bike.  27 mile round trip.  Did that 3 times last week.  Chilly, but not too bad.  Sunny and cold is pretty nice for a bike ride.  Should be able to do that all this week, too.

I decided to participate in something called the Icy Bike Winter Commuting Challenge.  Essentially a somewhat informal group united by their intent to bike commute through the winter.  I'm keeping in touch with them on their Strava and Facebook pages, and they have a log online to keep track of everyone's rides.  Seems like it's based nearby, maybe in Boulder or Longmont, so there are a lot of locals participating.  I think I'm pretty well-equipped for winter commuting, but I've still got some things to figure out over the winter.  We'll see how it goes when it gets really cold.

Recent stuff:

• Tuesday:  27 mile bike commute
• Wednesday:  27 mile bike commute
• Friday:  27 mile bike commuet
• Today:  2 1/2-hours on the trainer, Spinervals 30.0 - Muscular Endurance Plus.  Managed to increase my average speed for this workout from 17.3 mph to 17.7 mph since last time I did it a couple weeks ago.

Don't feel like weighing myself tonight.  Going to bed.

Run and ride tonight

No time to write a post tonight.

Exercise:

• 5.5 mile run during my daughter's soccer practice.
• 75 minutes on the trainer.  Spinervals 21.0 - Aero Base Builder IV

Today's weigh-in:  181.2

Couple weekend rides

Although the weather wasn't the best, it was nice to get outside for a couple rides this weekend.  According to my training plan, yesterday was supposed to be a couple hours on the trainer, and today was supposed to be about an hour.  Because my Thursday and Friday rides got switched, I decided to switch my Saturday and Sunday rides, too.

We had kids sports most of the morning and early afternoon on Saturday, which meant I couldn't get in a morning ride.  But once the sports were over, I was able to squeeze in an hour ride before dinner.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to get out last night to see Gravity, like I had planned.  We were planning to attend Parents Night Out at Lifetime Fitness, but they required us to register in person, before the activity desk closed at 1pm.  We tried to do it over the phone between football and soccer games, but no dice.  And with everything going on, there was just no way to get up there to register, so we had to skip it this time.  Maybe next time.



Today, I went for a ride with my friend Dale.  We rode together back in the spring, but hadn't had a chance to ride again since.  So, it was nice to get out again.  But, just like the last time, we had pretty miserable weather to deal with.  About 40 degrees, a little breezy, and completely overcast.  At least we managed to get in our ride before the rain, which came later.  The route itself was really nice.  It was a modification of a ride I did with Lifetime earlier this year, along some of the nice roads in east Boulder.

A couple weeks ago, I had a complete overhaul done on my bike.  Basically, they took it all apart, cleaned and adjusted everything, and put it back together.  But ever since it was done, my chain was acting a little funny.  It kind of had a little skip to it, wobbling a little bit while pedaling.  It was annoying, but not worth the long drive back to the bike shop to get it looked at.  And it really looked like the chain, not the cassette or chainring.  But the bike was still working ok, so I kept on riding.  Well, today I was riding pretty well, with just a little creaking from what I think is just a crappy rear wheel (I'm hoping to replace the wheels soon).  When we were about 10 miles from Dale's house, about 40 miles into my ride, my chain skipped really bad while pedaling off a stop light.  And from that point on, it was a complete mess.  The chain was skipping back and forth between gear, and just making all kinds of racket.  I had no idea what was happening, but it wasn't good.  But since I could technically ride, I figured I'd just limp back home and take a look there.  But about 4 miles from Dale's house, I decided to pull over and see what was going on.  I hopped off the bike, spun the pedals a little but, and saw this:

That's not good.

After seeing that, I decided I wasn't going to be riding home.  We decided to just get back to Dale's house, and he offered to drive me home from there.  In the car, I made a call to the bike shop.  Fortunately, they were open all day today, so after getting home I grabbed some lunch and then drove my bike to the shop for them to take a look.  They quickly put on a new chain while I browsed around the shop for a bit.  This one seems to be spinning nicely, so I'm looking forward to getting out for another ride again soon.



Also, today I decided to try my sample pack of Generation UCAN.  The taste was ok, and the texture a little thick, kind of milky.  As for how it worked, I have no idea.  I guess I felt fine during my ride.  No idea if it was any better or worse than I would have felt if I had just done my normal nutrition routine.  I'd be interested in trying it again to try to get a better sense of how well it works.  I can't really judge a nutrition product from just one test.

Today's weigh-in:  181.8

Not a rest day :(

Today was supposed to be a rest day, according to my training plan.  However, I ended up missing my workout yesterday.  Yesterday, I was supposed to do Spinervals 43.0, a 2-hour aerobic-endurance workout.  But I decided to attend a seminar at Lifetime Fitness with sport dietitian Bob Seebohar. Bob is the author of "Metabolic Efficiency Training", a book I read back in January or February, and I believe I have discussed once or twice here on this blog.  Basically, the focus of the book is how to use your body's fat for fuel during endurance sports, instead of using carbohydrates.

The human body can contain about 80,000 calories worth of energy stored as fat, and only about 1,400 calories of energy stored as carbohydrates, or glycogen.  Previously, endurance nutrition plans had been based on consistently replenishing the carbohydrates to provide fuel during training and racing, by "carbo-loading" for days before a big race, and fueling with carbs throughout the race.  This causes sharp spikes and crashes throughout the race, as these sugars provide fast energy, but get depleted just as fast.  Consuming calories in this method also tends to cause GI distress, especially in long-distance events.

The idea behind "metabolic efficiency" is to train the body to depend on fat-burning for long lasting energy.  If the body can use the fats it has already stored, you will not be burning as many carbohydrates, and will not need to consume so many calories during your training or event.

The presentation I went to last night at Lifetime Fitness was mostly related to "metabolic efficiency" as discussed in his book, but the event was sponsored by Generation UCAN, a nutrition product containing something they call "superstarch".  "Superstarch" is a kind of slow-release carbohydrate, and when used in the Generation UCAN products, it is a powdered drink mix that provides long-lasting carbohydrates for endurance training and races.  The idea is that your body is burning it's own fat for most of the energy, and using the "superstarch" for carbohydrates.  But these carbohydrates last for a long time, limiting the insulin spikes you get from other sugars.  It also lets you consume far fewer calories during your event, so you are not sucking down gel packs or bananas for hours as you run and ride.


So, there was a big push at this event for Generation UCAN products, and Bob's presentation was a mix of information from his book as well as promotion of Generation UCAN.  I really didn't want to sit through a sales pitch, but I knew this was a sponsored event, so I had to assume he was going to be pushing the product.  It was great to hear Bob speak, and I really like some of his ideas.  Not too sure about Generation UCAN, but they had free samples, so I may try some during a ride this weekend, and see what I think.  I'll post an update here when I get a chance to try the stuff.

Anyway, that's a long way of saying that I didn't get a chance to work out last night, so I moved last night's workout to tonight, which was supposed to be a rest day.  That's fine for now, but it kind of messes with my weekend, too.  This weekend is supposed to be a 2-hour workout on Saturday and an easier 1-hour workout on Sunday.  I may flip those to use the easier workout tomorrow as a recovery from this evening.  And I was already planning on a 60-mile ride on Sunday, so moving Saturday's workout to Sunday will actually work out perfectly.

Tonight's workout was Spinervals 43.0 - Aerobic Engine Builder.  I really like this workout.  It is basically a Zone 3 workout, but for some reason it doesn't seem as painful as other Zone 3 Spinervals workouts.  I was feeling pretty good the whole time.  It looks like I've done this workout two other times this year, and today was a slight improvement over those two other workouts.

Three sessions of Spinervals 43.0.  Not a dramatic change, but slight improvement each time.  Click image to enlarge.

I'm looking forward to getting in a couple rides this weekend.  We'll see.  Tomorrow, we have kids sports for much of the day, and then my wife and I are going to dinner and going to watch Gravity in the evening.  Hoping to get in my 1-hour ride between sports and dinner.  Sunday, I'm planning on a 60-mile ride with a friend of mine.  Stay tuned for updates.

Exercise:

• 2 hour ride on the trainer.  Spinervals 43.0 - Aerobic Engine Builder.

Today's weigh-in:  183.4.  I'm going the wrong way.

Just on the elliptical tonight

Quick one again tonight.  My program said to just do some light aerobic work, not necessarily on the bike.  So, I ran on the elliptical for another episode of Burn Notice.

Exercise:

• 45 minutes on the elliptical

Today's weigh-in:  182.0

Late night

Not going to write much.  It's late.

Did the wrong bike workout tonight.  My program said to do Spinervals 23.0(A) - which is part 1 of a 3-part, 30-minutes-each, set of workouts.  This was supposed to be a relatively easy technique set.  But I screwed up the filenames, and ended up doing workout (B) instead, which was a tempo/time-trial set.  Hard, anaerobic work.  I was a few minutes into the workout when I started thinking I might be doing the wrong one.  Oh well, it was a very good workout, even though it wasn't what I was supposed to do.

After the bike workout, my program said to get in a run and a swim, kind of a mini-triathlon.  If you couldn't do the swim, they recommended a strength workout.  I couldn't get to the gym tonight, so I did 45 minutes on the elliptical, followed by about 15 minutes of upper-body strength training.


Exercise:

• Bike:  30 minutes, Spinervals 23.0(B) - Time Saver, Tempo/Time Trial
• Run:  45 minutes on the elliptical, watching an episode of Burn Notice on Netflix
• Strength:  15 minutes of weights in the basement

Today's weigh-in:  182.6

A new Spinervals video

Tonight I did Spinervals 39.0 - Aerobic Base at 10,000 Feet.  Pretty good video.  Seemed like there was enough going on to keep it interesting for 80 or 90 minutes.  Not much else to say about it.  Looks like this might be the first time I've done this video, so I can't really compare it to other efforts.  But off-season is all about aerobic base work, so I assume I'll be seeing this video again soon enough.



Exercise:

• Spinervals 39.0 - Aerobic Base at 10,000 Feet

Today's weigh-in:  181.6

Run the Rocks 5k

I haven't posted for a few days, mostly because I hadn't really done anything very interesting.  But today was different, and figured it was a good day for an update.

I just checked the blog, and it looks like I last posted an update on Monday.  Like I said, I haven't done much since, but here's a quick update:

• Tuesday:  Commute to work.  This allowed me to skip the scheduled trainer ride that evening.

• Wednesday:  My training plan calls for a "wildcard day" on Wednesday, which means I should do something other than cycling.  I decided to do another P90X+ workout, "Total Body Plus".  I've posted about this workout before, and I really like it.  Upper body, lower body and core.  Just a great overall workout.
• Thursday was supposed to be an aerobic base workout on the trainer, but it got a little stupid.  I hopped on the trainer to start the workout, and had problems pedaling.  I looked around to try to figure out why, and noticed that I had a broken spoke.  I didn't really know how to replace a spoke, and besides, didn't have any spare spokes, so I had to give up on the workout for the evening.  Instead, I jumped on the elliptical and ran for 45 minutes.
• Friday, I took my wheel to the bike shop in the morning, hoping to get it back in time for a Friday night workout.  The shop called while I was driving home from work, and my wheel was ready.  Friday was also when I received my latest download from Spinervals, and I downloaded one of the few videos I didn't already have:  Aero Base Builder VI.  This was the workout I was supposed to do on Thursday evening, but was going to have to find a substitute.  Since I moved Thursday's workout to Friday, I had the video I needed.  After dinner, I got the wheel on the bike, and managed to get my workout in.

• Saturday:  Just no time to work out with all the kids sports going on.

That brings me to today.  This morning, my daughter and I headed out to Morrison, Colorado and Red Rocks Park to participate in the Run the Rocks 5k, a fundraiser for the American Lung Association.  This is the 4th race we've done together this year, and our third 5k.  She really loves to run, and I love to run with her.  And out of all the races we've done this year, this had the best scenery by far.  Red Rocks is a spectacular place to run, and even better early in the morning, with the morning sun and just a hint of fog.  My daughter did awesome, coming in 5th in the 10-and-under age group.

The race finishes by climbing the steps of the amphitheater.  Definitely the most difficult 5k we've done.

Showing off our finishers medals and bags o' swag.

On Saturday, I was supposed to do a 2 1/2-hour aerobic endurance workout on the trainer, but the training plan gives me the option for an outdoor ride instead.  Due to our schedule, I wasn't able to do anything yesterday.  Instead, I had some time to ride after the 5k and lunch today.  I went out for a nice 50 mile ride north of home a bit.  Not any climbing or anything, mostly a lot of flat with some occasional rolling.  A nice ride; sunny and cool.  A nice way to spend the afternoon.  Definitely better than sitting on a trainer in my garage.




Today's weigh-in: 182.6

Tonight's workout powered by: WingStop

Feel like crap right now.  Crazy night with kids sports, so decided to pick up some dinner instead of cooking.  Got a bunch of wings and fries from WingStop, then did a Spinervals workout.  Ugh.

I was actually feeling pretty good before dinner.  I did a nice 5-mile run during my daughter's soccer practice, and felt great.  Then ruined everything with a bunch of buffalo wings.  And just finished an 80-minute Spinervals aerobic base workout.  Feel like crap.  Wanna go to bed.

Exercise:

• 45 minute run, 5 miles
• 80 minutes on the trainer - Spinervals 17. 0 - Aero Base Builder II

Today's weigh-in: 182.2.  I'm that's partly from the wings, but mostly from all the water, milk and juice I drank because of how thirsty the wings made me.

Tough workout today

My wife is out of town for the weekend, which means I'm on kid duty.  And being on kid duty means I'm not getting to do any outdoor riding this weekend.  But I managed to keep plenty busy anyway.

Yesterday was my son's football, lunch, movie (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2), dinner, and froyo.  Today was a tough Spinervals workout, lunch, grocery shopping, a jog with my daughter, tossin' the football around with the kids, then dinner.  All in all, a jam-packed weekend.

Oh, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 wasn't very good.  I ended up napping through some of it.  First one was much better.  I really, really wanted to go see Gravity, but I'm pretty sure that's not one I can take the kiddos to.  Have to wait for the next Parent's Night Out for that one.

Today's Spinervals workout was pretty tough.  I just wasn't feeling it.  It was a long one.  Two and a half hours, all in Zone 3.  That's crazy.  Well, it was supposed to be Zone 3.  I just couldn't get there.  My heart was rarin' to go, but my legs just couldn't seem to push hard enough.  I basically ended up in Zone 2 for almost the entire time.  But a 2 1/2 hour Zone 2 workout isn't that bad.  Good aerobic base work, and lots of fat-burning, which I really need.

Looking ahead on the Spinervals Super6 calendar, it looks like I get to do this workout a few more times over the next month or so, so I've got some chances to get it right.

Exercise:
2 1/2 hours on the trainer:  Spinervals 30.0 - Muscular Endurance
2 mile run with my daughter.  We took it pretty slow, as we had bellies full of Chipotle, and she was cramping up quite a bit.  Just a few more days until the Run the Rocks 5K next weekend.  Can't wait!


Today's weigh-in:  179.6

Wildcard Friday

Another Wildcard day in the Spinervals Super6 program.  Today I opted for P90X+ "Total Body Plus".  This is a really fantastic workout.  It really covers everything.  Upper body, lower body, and core, with strength and balance moves, all while really keeping the heart cranking.  Love it.

I decided I needed a little more than just a 45-minute workout, so I jumped on the elliptical for 15 minutes.  Not much, but it's better than nothing, I suppose.

Exercise:

• 45 minutes:  P90X+ "Total Body Plus"
• 15 minutes on the elliptical

Today's weigh-in:  181.6

Bike fixed!

Well, the mountain bike is still broken.  Really broken.  Not sure what to do about that yet.  But my road bike had seen better days.  I've had it for two years, and it's had a couple tune-ups in that time, but that's about it.  After about 8,000 miles of riding, and a couple crashes, it was time for an overhaul.  Took it in yesterday, got it back this afternoon.  The folks over at Louisville Cyclery did a great job, and the bike it back in tip-top shape.

And just in time for an aerobic workout tonight.  After a day of work, kids sports, dinner, and putting kids to bed, it was time for an 80-minute ride on the trainer.  Today's workout for the Spinervals Super6 program was Aero Base Builder 16.0.

I was really happy with the workout today.  This was intended to be a pretty consistent aerobic-level workout.  Basically, Zone 2.  I managed to stay pretty close to where Coach Troy needed me to be, in terms of heart rate, gearing and cadence.  And I was able to compare my results today with the previous three times I've done this workout, and my performance today was significantly better.  Here is a comparison chart (you'll probably have to click on the image to see it full size, if you want to read it):

Weather is looking pretty crappy tomorrow, so I won't be riding to work.  Not sure if I'll get any riding in this weekend, either.  My wife is traveling for a couple days, so it's just me and the kids.  I'll probably get in a trainer ride, but probably nothing outside.  Who knows, maybe we'll try to get out and see some fall colors or something instead.

Exercise:

• 80 minutes on the trainer.  Spinervals 16.0 - Aero Base Builder I

Today's weigh-in:  182.0

Spinervals Super6 - Wildcard Wednesday

Still on the first week of Spinervals Super6 training routine.  Today was "Wildcard Wednesday", which involved doing something other than biking for an hour.  I opted to do P90X+ Kenpo Cardio Plus, which I really like.  Then, I followed that up with some various push-ups and pull-ups.  Pretty decent workout overall.

My road bike has been having some problems lately, so I took it to the shop for a complete overhaul.  I've had it for two years, and have only taken it in for one tune-up, I think.  I've probably got about 8,000 miles on the bike, and apparently you need to start thinking about replacing the chain every 2,000 miles, or you could damage the cassette.  So, I figured it was due.  I should have it back tomorrow, ready for my workout tomorrow night.

Exercise:

• 45 minutes - P90X+ Kenpo Cardio Plus
• 15 minutes of various push-ups and pull-ups, until my arms stopped working

Today's weigh-in:  182.4.  Oops.

Ride and run today

Day 2 of the Super6 training program was supposed to include a 1-hour, 5-mile run, and an aerobic bike workout, Spinervals 35.0.  Spinervals 35.0 is a 1-hour technique and aerobic-zone workout.  The training plan also offered the option of a 1-hour road ride instead, so I decided to do that.  My commute is about an hour and a half, total.  I was pretty spent after last night's workout, and didn't have much recovery time before getting up this morning and riding to work.  So, it was a pretty slow, steady ride.  But I suppose it counts.

And this evening, I got in my usual run during my daughter's gymnastics class.  I only managed my typical 4 miles, instead of the 5 miles recommended in the training plan, but that's fine with me.  I'm not a runner.  Four miles is plenty.

I'm having a few bike issues and not sure how to deal with them right now.  As I said yesterday, my mountain bike has a cracked frame.  So that's out of commission.  I need to replace it somehow, but don't really have the money right now.  Veloswap is coming up, and I could get a new frame there, and move all my components to the new frame, but that's a little beyond my abilities.  I may give it a try anyway.  Or, I could just get a whole new bike on Craigslist, for about the same price as I'd pay for a new frame.  Not sure how to move ahead with that.

Also, my road bike needs an overhaul.  I really need to take it to a shop to work the kinks out.  It's making a lot of weird noises, shifting strange, and I need to true the wheels.  I think my crash a week ago messed up my derailleur.  But I'm in the middle of this training routine, and don't really have the time to be without a bike.  I'll have to figure something out.

Here's today's workout info:

Exercise:

• 28 mile round trip to work, pretty easy ride.  Although I did get passed by a guy on a mountain bike, which annoyed me.  I let him pace me for a while, then passed him again.  Then he rode my wheel for a while, which made me go faster.  It was annoying, and harder than I wanted to ride today.  But I don't like getting passed by big mountain bikes when I'm on my road bike.  I did get a 9th-place overall on one segment, though, so maybe it was good that he was pushing me.
• 4 mile run during my daughter's gymnastics

Today's weigh-in:  180.4

Change of plans . . .

It's late . . . don't feel like writing much.  But wanted to say my plans have changed.  Done with P90X+ for now.

As I've said before, I am a member of Spinervals.com, a cycling training site utilizing training videos.  I had been trying to figure out what my off-season workout was going to be, and decided to do some bike commuting along with P90X.  But the other night, I got an email from Spinervals with information about their Super6 training program.  This is a 6-month off-season training program utilizing their videos along with a training calendar on TrainingPeaks.com.  I decided that following their program would be better than anything I could come up with.  I like the fact that it mixes in cycling workouts with the occasional day for some running, swimming or weight training.  Seems like it should work well.

Tonight was Day 1 of Super6, which was a Spinervals threshold test.  This is basically a 20-minute time trial effort.  I did this back around the end of February, so it was nice to do it again and compare my efforts.  In February, my total distance for 20 minutes was 6.36 miles with an average speed of 19.1 mph.  Tonight, my distance was 6.53 miles with an average speed of 19.6 mph.  That was a nice little jump.  I assume I'll be doing this test at the beginning of the next phase of the Super6 program.

I've also managed to get in a couple commutes lately, too.

I still plan to do some weight training and some P90X yoga, when it fits into the Super6 program.  But since I decided to join the racing team next year, I think I owe it to them to train right.

Some recent rides:

And I figured it was time to start tracking my weight again.  Been a while, and I've put on about 7 or 8 pounds.  I do much better when I post my weight every day, so here goes...

Today's weigh-in:   181.5

Couple rides, and more P90X+

Haven't posted in a couple days.  It was a pretty busy weekend, but managed to find some time tonight.

Saturday was supposed to be P90X+ Kenpo Cardio Plus, but we had a day full of kids sports, followed by an event for my wife's work out at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  I just never found the time.

Sunday, I got up for a bike ride with Lifetime Fitness.  It's getting close to the end of road riding season, so I want to get in some rides when I can.  Finding routes in the area is a little more difficult with the recent flooding, but we were able to get in a decent ride.  Unfortunately, it didn't end very well.  I rode 7 miles to Lifetime, then rode about 37 miles of the route with the Lifetime folks, and then ended up crashing.   So close to the finish.  It was really annoying.  It turns out I had gotten a flat tire at some point, and didn't know it.  I had finished a small climb and was taking a right turn, and the bike just slid out from under me.  Turning on a flat tire doesn't work very well.  I went down hard right in front of a bunch of cars sitting at a traffic light.  I've got some serious road rash on my right leg and right hip, and a little bit on my right arm.  It's pretty painful.

Ouch.

I've got myself wrapped up in surgical dressing right now, trying to get the road rash healed up.  It stings a lot right now.  Hoping that goes away soon.


After my morning ride, my wife and son went to a Broncos Play 60 camp at the Broncos headquarters down south, so I decided to take my daughter for a bike ride.  I had been wanting to check out the Platte River Trail since the flooding a couple weeks ago, to make sure the trails were open and commute-able, so I could get back to my bike commuting this week.  We went for a nice 8-mile out-and-back ride on the trail and everything was looking good.  The river was definitely still running high, and there was a lot of damage (and garbage stuck in trees) on the banks.  Along the way, we stopped for a break at a picnic table, and watched the crazy whitewater.  This was definitely higher and faster than I've ever seen the Platte River running.  But it made for this great little video clip:

Like I said, I was supposed to be doing Kenpo Cardio Plus on Saturday, but never found  the time.  I intended to do it Sunday night instead, since that was supposed to be a rest day.  But after my crash and my second bike ride, I just wasn't feeling ready for a P90X workout.  So, I had to do it tonight instead.  I liked the workout.  Definitely better than the Kenpo workout in the original P90X.  But now I'm a day behind, and need to figure out how to catch back up.

P90X+ - Yoga X

An easy day today, thank goodness.  Well, easy is somewhat relative.  This was "easy" because I wasn't doing push-ups, pull-ups or insane core work.  But some parts of Yoga X can be pretty strenuous.

I've done this session a bunch of times before, back during my 12-week P90X routine a couple years ago.  But this is the first time I've done it since then.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy it, and how good I feel afterwards.  Sure, it's a long session at 90 minutes, but I don't really mind it.

The first 30 minutes or so of the session is the hardest, consisting of a series of vinyasa sequences leading into various warrior poses, among others.  It takes a long time, and is a little tedious.  And some of the poses require significant strength and balance, which I just don't have right now.

After that sequence, it moves into some balance poses, and then into some nice stretches.  After the stretches, there is a sequence they call Yoga Belly 7, which are a series of positions aimed at strengthening your core muscles.  My core muscles have already taken a beating this week, thank you very much, so I wasn't too happy with this section.  But it doesn't last very long.

Finally, Yoga X finishes up with some more stretches, and some relaxation poses, like Child's Pose and Corpse Pose (lay on your back, close your eyes, and don't move.  Awesome).

Because Yoga X is so freaking long, I really need to get to bed.  I'm beat.  Back to a hard workout again tomorrow night, unfortunately.

P90X+ - Total Body Plus (plus 4.5 mile run)

Another round of P90X+ today.  Not sure if I'm going to be able to stick with this.  It's really beating the hell out of me, and I'm getting really sore.  I've just been really uncomfortable, and having trouble doing normal daily tasks because my arms, chest and shoulders are hurting pretty bad.  Fortunately, tomorrow is Yoga day, so I get a little break.

After work tonight, I had to speed home to get the kids and drive my daughter to soccer practice.  My son came with us tonight, and we just bought him a new bike off Craigslist yesterday, so he was eager to ride it.  I decided to bring him with me so he could do some riding.  While my daughter was at practice, my son and I went for a run/ride.  He rode his bike with me while I ran about 4 1/2 miles.  We had a really good time, and he loves that new bike.  I'll post some pictures of him with the bike in a few days.



After dinner and getting the kids to bed, I headed down to the basement to crank out P90X+ Total Body Plus.  This was yet another pretty tough workout.  Basically, it's a mix of push-up, pull-ups, lunges and weights, in various configurations and combinations.  There is really nothing as simple as plain old push-ups and pull-ups.  I like the variety in this workout.  Like the other P90X+ workouts, you move quickly from move to move, with very little break or explanation between.  This makes the workout go really fast, but can be confusing the first time through.


That being said, I am not feeling all that great, and might prefer the original P90X instead.  The original seemed to have more focus on specific muscle groups, with longer breaks between each type of workout.  For the first three days of P90X plus, there have been a lot of upper body exercises each day, and ab/core work every day.  Although the general focus of each day has been different, they are still using a lot of the same muscles.  Three days in a row without recovery time is a little rough.  But we'll see how I feel after yoga tomorrow.

P90X+ - Interval X Plus (plus 4 mile run)

Day 2 of P90X plus today.  But first I started off with a 4-mile run during my daughter's gymnastics class.  I can't post the data today, since I forgot my GPS at home this time.  But after gymnastics, we came home and made a quick late dinner.  Kids finished homework and went to bed, and I squeezed in Day 2 of P90X+.

Today's workout was called Interval X Plus.  It's a pretty good cardio / plyometric workout.  This really seems to take the place of Plyometrics from the original-recipe P90X.  There are 15 moves, each done for one minute at a time.  Twenty seconds at a low intensity, 20 seconds a little higher, and 20 seconds all out.  There is no break between each move, which really keeps the workout moving.  Then, just when you think you're done, you take a quick water break, and do the whole thing again, in reverse order!

Overall a pretty good workout.  Unfortunately, after today's schedule calls for a follow-up of Abs/Core Plus, just like yesterday.  So, after that 40 minute workout, I had to tack on another 20 minutes of abs and core.  The workout was just as hard as yesterday, but at least I knew the routine a little better, which made it a little easier.

Tomorrow is Total Body Plus.  Stay tuned.

P90X+

On Sunday, I was supposed to participate in my last big organized ride of the year, the Good Sam Bike Jam.  This ride consists of a 100-mile, two 62-mile routes, a 45, 32 and 20 mile ride.  I was going to be doing the 100-mile ride with a bunch of people from my office, and a few others were going to be doing some of the shorter routes.  After a great time at last year's event, we were all looking forward to another great ride this year.

But Mother Nature had other plans.  As I'm sure you've heard, much of central and eastern Colorado has been slammed by massive rainstorms over the past week, causing unprecedented flooding throughout the region.  In addition to flooding, the rain has caused mudslides, rockslides, extensive road damage, power outages and more.  The devastation is really beyond description.  Roads have been washed away, making some towns completely inaccessible.  The Denver Post has a really good photo gallery.

Much of the damage from these floods has occurred in areas that the Bike Jam was supposed to ride through.  Initially, the organizers canceled the longer rides, leaving the 45 mile and shorter rides in place.  But after driving the route on Friday, they decided they needed to cancel the ride altogether.  While I'm disappointed since I was really looking forward to it, I completely understand.  There's not really any place to ride if the roads don't exist any more.

On Saturday, we had a little break from the rain, but the kids sports were all canceled.  So, I was able  to squeeze in a short ride.  This consisted of a 10 mile ride up north, a 10-mile time trial loop, and 10 more miles back home.  The time trial loop is pretty nice, but I got slowed or stopped at a couple stop signs, which was disappointing. I did the same route a couple weeks ago, 40 seconds faster.  I need to step it up a little bit next time.


With bike season slowing down, I don't need to focus as much on bike training, and decided to shift focus a little bit.  I plan to keep riding, just for cardio and general fitness.  And for fun, of course.  But I want to improve all around, so I decided to start a round of P90X+.  I did a full 12 weeks of P90X a couple years ago, and really liked it.  I mean, it gets a little boring after a while, but it's a fantastic program.  This time around, I decided to try the P90X+ videos instead.

P90X+ is a similar routine to the original P90X.  Three months.  Three weeks of one routine, followed by a "rest" week each month.  Each week includes some strength work, abs/core work, some cardio work, and some yoga.  Like the original P90X, there is a "classic" routine, with a mix of strength and cardio, a "lean" routine focused more on cardio, and a "doubles" routine that includes both a morning workout and an evening workout.

My plan is to do the "classic" P90X+ routine every evening after the kids go to bed.  Not the ideal time for a workout, but that's all I've got.  I also plan to supplement these workouts with cycling whenever possible, including bike commuting.  I'm not sure about the status of my usual bike commute at this time, so I need to figure that out before I start planning to ride to work regularly again.

Tonight was Upper Body Plus, followed by Abs/Core Plus.  Upper Body Plus is a series of exercises focused on chest, shoulders, back, biceps and triceps.  Rather than the individual moves in some of original P90X workouts, these seem to be more combination-type moves, working on a few different muscles at once.  And moving from one exercise to the next is faster than P90X, with less explanation of each move.  For the first time through, that meant a little extra time for me to watch and figure out what was going on before I actually starting the exercises.  I'm sure I'll get the hang of it in the next couple workouts.

After Upper Body Plus comes Abs/Core Plus.  This kind of takes the place of Ab Ripper X from the original P90X.  It's a 20-minute ab/core routine that you do after one of the other longer workouts.  While Ab Ripper X consisted of basically sitting on a yoga mat the whole time, Abs/Core Plus has a lot of variety.  Some yoga mat stuff, some pull-up bar stuff, some weight stuff.  The variety is nice, but moving quickly from one setup to the next is kind of tough, especially in a small space.  Once I get the routine figured out, I'm sure it will get easier.

Tomorrow is Interval X Plus, a cardio type of workout, along with another round of Abs / Core Plus.  Wish me luck.

I hope to get back on the bike again this week, but I need to drive to work tomorrow.  Maybe Wednesday.  We'll see.

Rain, rain, go away

If you live here, or you have been watching the news, you'll know the Denver/Boulder area has had a few days of insane rain.  Last night into today have been the worst.  Major flooding, building damage, road damage, dam failures, etc.  It's nuts.  Oh, and as of this writing, there are three dead and one missing.  HERE are some pics that viewers submitted to the local news channel.

I can't believe I was riding in 95-degree heat and blazing sun on Sunday, and starting on Monday, it turned around completely.  It had basically rained for three days straight.  And we are supposed to be getting more rain overnight.

On Sunday, I am supposed to be taking part in the Good Sam Bike Jam, a fundraiser for the Exempla Good Samaritan Foundation.  My office sponsored a team of 10 riders, and we actually have 11.  Most of us were going to be riding the century ride.  This would really be the last big ride of the year.  Unfortunately, due to the flooding in the area damaging roads and buildings throughout the region and some towns being evacuated and declared disaster areas, the plans have changed.  The organizers have gotten rid of the 100 and 62 mile rides, because they were going to be going through some heavily damaged areas.  So, it looks like we're going to be doing the 45-mile route instead.  Not sure yet, but maybe we'll do it twice.  The team is meeting for lunch tomorrow to discuss our plans.

With all this rain, I haven't been able to get out and ride since Sunday.  I was feeling like I needed to get on the bike again, so I hopped on the trainer for a 1-hour workout tonight.




 I was pretty happy with my ride tonight.  I compared tonight's workout to the last 3 times I'd done this particular workout, and was happy to see my average speed faster than the previous times.  I've included the comparison chart below.  You can click on it to see it larger.

Wacky W

Today I participated in the Wacky W ride.  This is a ride to benefit Douglas County Schools, with a 45, 62 and 100 mile route, along with a 6-mile family ride.  Last year, I did the metric century, 62 miles (100 kilometers).  This year, I opted for the true century ride.

I was feeling really good at the start, and was riding very strong.  I was skipping a few of the aid stations, fine with what I was carrying with me.  Or I made a quick 2-3 minute stop just to grab a quick Clif Bar and some Oreos.  By the time I got to the turn-around aid station, at about 57 miles, I was still feeling really good.  I took a little longer there, since it was starting to get pretty hot out.  I chatted with a number of people, ate and drank plenty, and had a bathroom break.  Then, back on the bike.

From that aid station, it looked like a lot of people took off in the wrong direction, while I followed the signs.  I was pretty comfortable that I was going the right way, and I ran into various signs and staff who assured me of that.  But when I looked at Strava this afternoon, I could see that a lot of the people went the wrong way, which actually cut about 4 miles off their ride.  Whatever, I was still feeling pretty good.

I headed back the way I came, passing the aid station at mile 76, figuring I had a pretty easy ride back.  Last year, on the first half of the ride, I was heading south on highway 105, climbing into a headwind, so when I turned around and headed back north, it was smooth sailing, downhill with a tailwind.  I was expecting more of the same today.  However, the ride north on 105 was into a headwind, making that section of the ride much harder than I was planning on, even though it was generally downhill.

I was starting to feel pretty miserable, a combination of a long day in the saddle, along with the increasing heat.  I slowly made my way to the last aid station, at 90 miles.  I was desperate for a break, and grabbed a lot of water and food, and took a chair away from one of the Campus Cycles guys that were on hand for emergency bike repairs.  I figured I'd take a nice rest, and eventually feel better so I could finish up the ride.  But it just never happened.  It was about 95-degrees, with sun beating down.  The shade was nice, but it was still hot.  I got up and walked around a little bit, but just wasn't feeling any better.  And the last 10 miles of this ride are really tough, with a thousand-foot killer climb up to Daniels Park.  If the last ten miles were going to be easy, maybe I could have made it.  But I really didn't think I'd be able to do that climb.  It was time to give up and call it a day.

So, I hung out for a little bit, and one of the ride staff came by in a car, looking for people like me that weren't going to be able to finish.  I threw my bike on a rack, and got a very comfortable ride back to the finish, passing all the riders I had recently seen at the aid station.  Watching them struggle up Daniels Park Road, I was glad I didn't give it a try.

I grabbed a late lunch of Tokyo Joe's at the finish, and plowed through a bottle of Gatorade.  Then, back in the car with an ice cold Coke for the drive home.

Overall, I'm disappointed that I didn't finish the whole ride.  Especially because I came so close.  But it was crazy hot out there, so whatever.  I have one final century ride coming up next weekend, and the weather looks to be significantly cooler.  Looking forward to it.

Here's today's ride:

Another commute, and a new run

Took the day off yesterday.  I knew I had a late meeting at work and was going to need to get home quickly to get kids to sports, so I had the car with me.  Today, I knew I would have some more time, so I rode to work again.  Just an easy ride today, no intervals or anything.  But I apparently got my PR on a segment called "Buttsmell Sprint".  Nice.  But I have to agree about the smell.  Definitely a stinky ride.


After getting home tonight, we had to turn right around and get kids to soccer and football.  I took soccer-duty.  I had a nice long running loop planned, but the weather was a little sketchy, and I didn't want to be too far away if it started raining and they canceled practice.  So, I stayed a little closer to the field.  Maybe I'll do a longer run next time.


After practice, things went a little crazy when my car wouldn't start.  I had someone come by to jump my car, but that didn't work.  Battery was just dead, dead, dead.  My wife had to come by and pick me up after my son's football practice.  First, we went home to grab a few tools, then she took me to the auto parts store for a battery.  Then we drove back to the soccer field to change the battery in the dark.  I got it taken care of pretty quickly, and everything worked like a charm.  Back to the auto parts store to give them my old battery while the wife and kids ran to Wendy's and picked up some dinner.  At this point it was probably 8:30pm, and we definitely didn't feel like cooking.  I had enough sense to get a caesar salad with grilled chicken.

Ready for another ride to work in the morning.

Couple more rides

I didn't end up posting anything yesterday, but I did end up doing another ride.  Since I did a nice trail-a-bike ride with my daughter on Saturday, it was my son's turn for a ride on Sunday.  He hopped on the trail-a-bike and we rode the smelly Platte River Trail into Denver, stopping at REI and grabbing a drink at Confluence Park.

Stopping for a snack at Commons Park

Then I got up this morning and wanted to get in another ride.  The Lifetime Cycle group has posted a few challenge rides lately, generally time-trial type of rides.  I decided to try my hand at a new 10-mile time trial route they set up.  Before I started, there were only three people listed on the Strava segment for this ride.  When I finished, I ended up in third place out of the four, just missing second place by 4 seconds.  But within a couple hours, the guy in fourth place had ridden it again and moved up to first place.  So, now I'm last out of 4 riders, which is disappointing.  I'm going to have to try again soon.

Racing?

Well, today was an interesting day.  Earlier this year, I decided I was feeling pretty good about myself, cycling-wise.  I was feel strong in the club rides with Lifetime Fitness, and on various event-rides I had been doing, like the Triple Bypass.  I had noticed that I always seemed to be leading out the group on the Lifetime rides, with maybe one or two others riding with me, while the rest of the group stayed behind.  It's not that the rides aren't challenging or fun, but I've been hoping for something more.

I decided to think about racing.  As may have seen in an earlier post, I looked around for races I could enter, but it's pretty late in the season and there aren't many road-type races left.  We're getting into cyclocross season, and road events are drying up.  I managed to get myself into a time trial, which was pretty fun.  And I was pretty happy with my results, considering it was my first racing event.

After that time trial, I started thinking about next year, and races I could enter.  I could just enter races unaffiliated with a team again, but I thought it would be cool to actually get onto an actual team, to get race training and advice.  So, I started looking around to find out what I could about local race teams.  I started by finding all the Colorado teams by looking at the USA Cycling web site.  From there, I narrowed it down to teams that were somewhat close to where I lived.  That left me with about 5 or 6 teams.  After that, I looked at their team rosters on USA Cycling, to see if it was a big or small team.  I was hoping for something with a decent-sized roster, so there would be a variety of people, with lots of ability levels.  Basically, that narrowed it down to just one team:  PSIMET/Zilla Racing.

I sent them an email to see if they were looking for new members for next season, not knowing that they had just posted an entry to the BRAC site saying they were looking for a few new riders.  They emailed back the other day, saying they were having a meet-up and ride for prospective members this morning.

This morning, I got up and headed over to Two Rivers Coffee in Arvada, where I met four current members, and two other prospective members.  We headed out on a 40-mile ride in the Arvada/Golden area, then back to the coffee shop.  We sat around and chatted for a bit over some delicious smoothies, asking and answering questions.  Basically, I'm in.  Just need to pay the membership dues and order my team kit.  I should be getting a team handbook soon.  This should make for an interesting year next year.

Hey, look!  I figured out how to embed Strava rides instead of the Garmin Connect version.  I like Strava better. 


After getting back home, my daughter and I went for a ride, with me pulling her on the trail-a-bike.  The ride was actually pretty difficult, considering:

• I had already ridden 40 miles today
• I was riding my mountain bike, still with big knobby tires
• Some rain started rolling in, along with a lot of wind.

Aside from all that, it was a good ride.  It's nice to get out with the kids one-on-one every once in a while for a good long ride.

That's all for today!

Commute, rain, crash, flat

I think the title of this post says is all.  Another day of bike commuting.  This afternoon, the rain started coming down, so I had a bit of a wet ride home.  My ride is mostly on a multi-use path rather than roads.  In a couple spots, there are a couple wood-plank bridges to cross, and one of those has a pretty sharp turn onto the bridge.  The bridge was wet, and when I made the turn at a pretty good speed, my bike completely slipped out from under me, sending me down pretty hard.

Other than a giant bruise on my ass, and a brake hood that was knocked out of place, everything is fine.  I made it all the way home without incident, but then ended up with a flat tire while riding down my street.  I patched it when I got home, and it was a weird one.  It was on a seam, but on the wheel-side of the tube, not the tire-side.  This has me a little worried that it could be a defect in the tube, and not any kind of puncture.  It's patched up good, so we'll see how it holds up.

On a brighter note, I received a photo today from the Best on Hess Time Trial.  They had hired a photographer to shoot the event, but when the date changed, it put this event up against the USA Pro Challenge, and the photographer was already scheduled to shoot that race instead.  So, one of the sponsor's employees was out there shooting instead.  Here is a shot of me at the starting ramp.

Best on Hess - ready to start my first race

Commute training

So, like I said yesterday, I decided to try to turn my commute into a training ride.  The plan, at least for the morning, was to do a 5-minute warm-up (or as long as it took me to get to 104th and Riverdale), and then alternate between 5 minutes of low-cadence work and 5 minutes of high-cadence work, until I got to work.  Well, that was going great, until I got a flat tire.  First time in years that I've gotten a flat during a commute.  It was pretty annoying, but I dealt with the heat and the bugs and got my tube fixed, and got to work.

On the way home, I just did a steady-state ride, trying to get home to get my daughter to soccer practice.  I'll try another interval workout tomorrow morning, and hopefully keep my tires intact this time.

Ride / run

Not much to say today.  I rode to work again today.  Then, I ran my usual 4-mile loop during my daughter's gymnastics class.

Something I'm looking into this evening... how to turn my daily commute into a true training ride.  Coach Troy, the guy who does the Spinervals videos I use for training, wrote a response to a letter in Triathlete Magazine that I thought was pretty interesting.  Basically, trying to turn what is normally just a flat, steady commute into some interval and technique training.  Maybe I'll come up with a routine and trying to incorporate it tomorrow.

USA Pro Challenge

On Sunday, the USA Pro Challenge came through Denver for their final stage.  We look forward to watching every year, and this year was no different.  The race started at 1pm downtown, so I figured I had a little time to get in a ride of my own beforehand.

Baseline-Valmont-Lookout
Lifetime Fitness was doing a ride in the morning, but they were starting at 8am, and I was hoping to start a little sooner.  Instead of riding with them, I decided to basically do their route, but I started at 7am from home, instead of 8am from Lifetime.  By the time I got to the first major intersection of their route, at Huron and Baseline, it was still probably about a half-hour before they were going to be starting, so I had a good head start.

I cranked through their scheduled route, then kept on riding, taking a bit of a long way home.  I ended up stretching their 40-mile ride into a 60-mile ride, and was still home by 10:30AM, with plenty of time to take a shower before heading downtown for the race.



USA Pro Challenge - Stage 7
We gathered up the family and headed downtown to catch the race.  After finding a parking spot, we walked to Civic Center Park to get some lunch, and hopefully weave our way over to the starting line.  Unfortunately, it apparently takes 20 minutes to make a quesadilla for some reason, so we missed the actual start.  The race consisted of 8 laps of a 9-mile circuit through downtown, so we'd still have plenty of time to see them.

We ended up finding a good spot around Colfax and Lincoln where the race would pass by twice on each lap.  We were in the middle of the road, so after the race passed by in one direction, they passed the other direction about 10 minutes later, and all we had to do was turn around.  It made for some pretty constant excitement.

After watching them for four or five laps, we started to wander closer to the finish line, looking for a good spot along Broadway.  We had a hard time finding a spot right along the fence, so we ended up a few feet back, behind some other people.  We put the kids on our shoulders, so they were able to see fine for the last couple laps.  And from this spot, we were able to hear the race announcers talk about what was going on, so we were able to get some race updates the whole time.

After the race finished, we were close enough to the finish that we were able to go and watch the final podiums.  That was pretty cool.  Well, actually, it was really hot.  Especially with kids on our shoulders.  The temp was approaching 100-degrees yesterday, and there really wasn't a breeze, so it was pretty stifling down there.  After the final podiums, we stopped back at Civic Center Park to get some ice cream and water, and wandered back to the car.

At home, we watched the race on TV, trying to see ourselves.  We actually got a few split-second shots of ourselves a few times during the race, and could see the back of the kids' heads during the final podiums.

All in all, a pretty fun day.  Here are a few photos.

At our pretty good vantage point, where we watched most of the race.

The breakaway, probably on about the second lap.

Between laps.

It's tough to get a good photo with a phone, so Lisa was pretty excited that she managed to get both Peter Sagan and Tejay Van Garderen's butt in this picture.

Waiting for the peloton.

The final podium.  Tejay, Tommy D and Matthias Frank.

And a quick video of the riders coming through on one of the laps.  This should give you a sense of how close we were, and how fast the riders were going.  They averaged about 30mph throughout the entire race today.

That's it for this year.  Looking forward to watching again next year!

My first race!

It's been a while since I posted anything.  Sorry about that.  I hope to start posting more regularly again.  But I'll use this post to get caught up.

Looks like I posted my Crested Butte report, then just one other post since we got back.  And that was just for some time on the trainer, which isn't that exciting.

You know what else isn't exciting?  Biking to work.  I've commuted to work quite a bit since I last posted, but it just doesn't seem worth it to write a whole post just to say I rode my bike to work.  That's not to say I don't enjoy it.  I love to ride to work when I get the chance, and it's a lot more enjoyable than driving.  I can typically ride to work in about 40-45 minutes, depending on how I'm feeling.  And driving usually takes about a half-hour.  So, riding takes a little longer, but when I get home in the evening, I feel like I actually did something, and don't feel the urge to get on the trainer that night.

So, I might use these posts to mention that I rode to work, but I don't think it's really worth it to post ride data or anything.  I mean, it's just the same ride day after day.  I'd rather post when I do something interesting, like today . . .

But before I get to that, I'll mention a couple other rides I did recently.  And before I do THAT, I'll mention that my office has sponsored a 10-person team for the Good Sam Bike Jam, a bike charity ride  that happens every year.  Last year, my office sponsored a 6-person team.  This year, we had enough interested that we are sponsoring 10 riders.  And it looks like we're actually going to have 11, which is cool.  Most of us are doing the very-difficult 100-mile route, and a few of us are doing one of the shorter routes.  The ride is on September 15, so stay tuned for a post about that.

Lookout Mountain
But on August 14, a group of Bike-Jammers decided to get in a training ride after work.  We rode from our office in Denver out west to climb Lookout Mountain.  The ride was a mix of busy Denver roads, country roads, and a big climb of Lookout Mountain at the end.  Then turn around and head back the same way.  I felt pretty good, except for riding on occasionally busy streets in the dark on the way back.

 

Pole Hill Road
The following weekend, I did a ride with Lifetime Fitness on Sunday.  We did a ride up to Carter Lake, near Loveland.  At first, I was a little disappointed at how short the route was.  Last time I road to Carter Lake, we started at Lifetime, for a nearly 90-mile ride.  This time, we were starting near the town of Hygiene, making for a 40-mile out-and-back.  After my initial disappointment, I took another look at the route and elevation profile and saw that we were tacking on a really big climb just past Carter Lake, before turning around.   That extra challenge made it worth it.  The ride to Carter Lake is pretty nice, and that climb up Pole Hill Road was brutal.  It was really hot out, with no breeze, which made it that much tougher.  All in all, a good ride.



Best on Hess Time Trial
Then, after another few days of riding to work, I just rode in my first race today.  A month or so ago, I thought I might want to try racing, instead of just solo or club rides.  I looked on the local racing calendar, but couldn't find much.  Most of the road races in the area take place in the spring, and currently the season is coming to a close, getting ready for mountain bike and cyclocross season.  But I did find a time trial that sounded like fun, called Best on Hess down in Castle Pines.  They had a separate category for folks like me that didn't have "aero" time trial gear.  And it seemed like a time trial would be a good way for me to race without endangering other riders due to my lack of experience.

Since this was my first race, I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I had one of the first starting times, so I had to get there pretty early.  The parking lot was pretty empty, so I got myself a good spot and started getting ready.  I kept an eye on everyone else, to see what they were doing.  First, I stopped up at the registration table to pick up my bib number.  Then, back to the car to get my shoes on.  Someone at work advised me to bring my trainer with me, so I pulled that out of the trunk at set it up.  I rode for about 15 minutes on the trainer, watching other riders slowly trickle in.  Then, I took a break, grabbed a Clif Bar and some water and walked around for a few minutes.  Then back on the trainer for about another 20 minutes.  Then it was time to head over to the starting ramp.  The start line was about a quarter mile down the road, so I rode over there and got in line.  We all got ourselves in order by our start time, then I just waited for my turn.  This race actually had a real start ramp, like I see on the pro time trials, which was cool.  I walked up the ramp, and someone held the back of my bike for me while I clipped into my pedals and waited for the countdown.  The timer counted down, the started said "go", and off I went.

It was a short but difficult course, about 9 miles with some tough hills.  If you look at the details of the ride below, you can see an elevation profile showing you what I was dealing with.  I was doing my best to use all my training from this year, and keep a close eye on my heart rate, to make sure I didn't overexert myself to the point where I collapsed before the finish.  I think I ended up doing ok, finishing pretty strong and leaving nothing left in the tank.  I didn't completely collapse at the finish, but I was pretty close.  I headed back to the parking lot and got off my bike, taking some time to walk around bit.  After checking out some of the bikes in the parking lot, and chatting with a few other riders, they posted the results.  I ended up getting 9th out of 26 riders in my "non-aero" category.  Top 10!  How about that!  I thought that was pretty good for my first race.  Not enough to win some beer, but I'm happy nonetheless.  Yay for me!

**Update:  The results were just posted online, where I could see more info.  Looks like other than one person, everyone who beat me was a Cat 2 or Cat 4, so that's pretty cool.  Online results HERE.


This week was the USA Pro Challenge.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to go watch any of the race in person yet, but I've watched on TV every night after work.  Tomorrow is the final stage, and it's in Denver.  I'm going to go for a ride first thing in the morning, then the whole family is heading downtown to watch.  We've had a great time the last two years when we've gone to see the race, so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's race.

This is my longest post in a while, and that seems like enough for tonight.  Stay tuned for more!