Chasing Points

I got a one page article and a front page photo published in Team Evergreen's Bike Beat Newsletter (The wife takes nice photos). It's a monthly newsletter that goes out to all Team Evergreen (TE) and Team Evergreen Racing (TER) members. I don't know the distrubution numbers but it's a respectable number, for a local cycling group.

As some of you know, I am currently the cyclocross director for TER. My intention for this article was to let people know about cyclocross (more importantly, get them to come out) and I figured the best to do it in the limited space was to tell my story from the past season. TE and TER are one of the largest, if not the largest, cycling groups in the front range. Unfortunaty we only have a small cyclocross group of about 5 riders. Hopefully this will grow our group... considerably... at least that the goal.

If not, I've been tring to network with other CX'ers in the area.

Check out the newsletter here, my article is on page 3.

Let me know what you think.

A little fun

Today was going to be a recovery day. But since it was the nicest day
of the year, so far, I had to get out. So I took the CX bike out and
hit some of the local trails. Including this BMX track... Oooh that
was fun. What an energizing ride.

Time machine..?

Wow! The stock market is down to what it was 12 years ago. Now that's progress! Twelve years of economic success, up in smoke. Tell me... where did all that money go? I know they've been printing it for the past twelve years. China? The middle East? Are people hording it under their beds?

Now that the government has a couple of bailout/stimulus packages, they're going to reduce the deficit. People across America have been discovering the limits to living on credit. I'm glad some of those folks work in the government. Now they know what most people already knew, bad things happen when you spend more than you make. Oh wait, that's what the bailout is for, if you haven't played by the rules you get a pass because the economy needs you to keep breaking the rules. Hmmm... is that fixing it or just pushing the reset button?

On a lighter note, I did get married 12 years ago. While life hasn't been perfect, that part has been pretty enjoyable. So, I think I'll go home and hug and kiss the family, because in the end its the only thing that really matters.

Lookout..

I made my first trip over to Lookout Mountain. This little gem isn't too far away and I've been using it to gauge my fitness for a couple of years. I didn't pushing things too hard but looking at the data after the ride, things are right on target if not a little ahead. In my quest to improve, its good news.

The ride started out a little cold but I wanted to get out early. I was on tap for Daddy time this afternoon.

Lots of folks out enjoying the day. The most I've seen this year. I have been surprised by the number of people riding on the road without helmets. As far as I am concerned, its their thing but I have blown out a helmet and walked away, making me a believer.

No pictures, the camera is still at my parents but the route is below. 4300 ft of elevation gain and 57 miles total. This time I went up lookout then down grapevine, I think next time I would go up from Morison to grapevine, its a nice quiet road but has a lot of gravel and dirt.

On a side note, I got a twitter account. You can see some of my posts on the left side of this page. Its been fun to play with. Still trying to figure it out. Check me out if you have an account.

I'm not watching the weather any more....

I have a new tool that is 100% accurate. If the weather folks here used it, it would improved their accuracy.

The Weather Rock

"dry rock means fair weather.
a wet rock means it's raining.
a dusty rock means a dust storm.
a swaying rock means it's windy.
a shadow under the rock means it's sunny.
a white rock means it's snowing.
if the rock is jumping up and down, an
earthquake is upon us.
if the bottom of the rock is under water it's a
flood."

Cycling Shorts… Part 3 – Sizing

Part 1

Part 2

Another area people believe they need to cut corners is in short sizing. They don’t want them to be too tight so the temptation is to get something too big. Can you get a short that’s too big? Why yes you can! Some places were you would notice a short/bib that is too big is in the waste, leg grippers or that sagging in the butt (just waiting to get hung up on the saddle).

A properly fitting short will be supportive of your muscles. After wearing them for a couple of hours you should have lines on your skin where the seams where located. Some manufactures are moving to “flat lock stitching” to eliminate those seams.

A final reason to ensure a correct fit…. It will keep the chamois in the proper location. No short will be comfortable if everything is sloshing around down there.

Blog

I came across an interesting article today concerning social networking. It's interesting because I have been quietly chewing on what I want to get out of this blog. While I originally put this blog together to just tell stories about bicycling, it's "collected" more than that.

This made me wonder if I had the proper outlet for my .... stories. I was wondering about Facebook but I'm really not looking to get back in touch with long lost friends. I am more interested in keeping and maintaining the friends I have. Before they become long and lost. I was looking for a way to keep in touch with people and meet others that have similar interests.

So far I don't think the stories suck (at least no one is complaining ... or reading).

Anyway, I think I'll keep posting about my interests (family and bicycling). - The family stuff will likely end up on the family blog. Maybe we'll get our camera back from my parents so we can add more photos.

Thanks for reading.

A get away..

It's in the books. A cycling/activity oriented get away. Melissa planned it all out. We are going to Moab this spring... No kids. We havn't done that in just over 4 years!

We both love Moab. Lots of outdoor activities! I love the mountain biking out there. She wants to do some road riding because last time we were there she road the slickrock practice loop and got a little freaked out. In all fairness this was just after Nate was born and she hadn't been on a bike in almost 2 years. Maybe this year? Maybe I'm pushing my luck.

More details when they become available.

New Chain

Last night I checked the chain on the bike, it was getting pretty close to needing a new one. After last year when I went a little too long, and had to replace my chain rings, I just bit the bullet and put on a new one. Today, the bike was riding great.

Got in a short lunch ride. So much warmer than yesterday, felt great to avoid all the extra clothing and really be able to feel the warmth of the sun.

Hope everyone had a great Presidents Day.

Down History Lane

We were in Loveland today for my sister-in-laws Birthday. After a giant helping of cake, I bundled up and hit the roads. I love riding up there. We used to live in Fort Collins; there are many roads, they have good shoulders and are generally quite. A great place to ride. After the ride it was back to the party.

Valintines Day

This ended up being pretty good. I would buy it again. Nice and
smooth, not too dry. We enjoyed it with chicken parmesan and pasta.

On another note, I road the trainer while watching American Fliers.. Wow, that movie has some bad lines. But the scenery of the races is great. I love that they shot it on sight and I can ride most of those races from my house.

Polar Power Meter

I was looking to try out a power meter to see if I could improve my training. This past year I picked up a polar power meter. I selected this device primarily because of the cost. It's cheep (compared to other power meters) Basically it measures the tension in the chain and rate the chain is moving to get power.

My setup was to their specifications, including weighing the chain on an analytical balance.

Experimental:

To quantify how well it works, I carried out a test. Basically I put my bike on a trainer and pedaled to maintain a constant speed. A trainer is a fixed resistance; the wheel speed was maintained and then I shifted through the gears, pedaling at different speeds to maintain the same speed. The idea is, if the resistance doesn't change and the wheel speed doesn't change then the power output should be the same in all gears.

Results:

I mantained the wheel speed at 15.4 +/- .2 mph in all gears.

Obviously there is a nice trend in the data. Nice S curve (actually thats not good).
The average power output was 144W with a standard devation of 23 Watts. At the maximum the power meter was off by +35 W on the small cog side and -29 W on the large cog side.

Conclusion:
This device... Sucks. A 64 watt range was generated just by shifting gears. Most power meters on the market publish an accuracy of 1.5-3%. This polar power meter is accurate within 25%. I bet most people could guess better than that!

Full Disclosure:
The power meter I had was the older wired version. I went through two of them because the wires are a real weekness and they broke. Both had the same performance so don't think you'll get a better one. The new power meter might be better, at least they did away with the wires.

Future Plans:
I purchased a PowerTap. Looks for more updates soon.

Last Saturdays TER Team Ride

Last weekend on the team ride I was wearing my wife's Garmin Forerunner. This thing is pretty cool. I was really blown away by how accurate it is, for both speed and location.

51.37 miles and 3897 ft of elevation gain. The coach also does a super job displaying all the data from the Garmin. I am impressed!

Sweet

I'm looking forward to this. I just hope they don't mess it up. In some of the movies I have seen lately, it feels like there has been a big push for crazy action and no story. I think it has the potential to be a big hit... I'll be there.

Family Time

The pendulum has swung. It was time to focus on Family time last night. Today both kids had well baby checkups. We all went to the doctor. Everyone checked out as healthy and Kailee was super happy when the doctor said she didn't have to get any shots, although she had done a good job preparing herself. Nate on the other hand, after having a poor nights sleep, was not so lucky. He still did a good job.

Nothing brings me more joy than two healthy, happy kids.

Sometimes its a challenge to keep life balanced. I came across a good reminder today "Remember racing is a part of the collective joy. Not the joy. " Well said.

Cycling Shorts… Part 2 - Style

See part 1 here.

Disclaimer: I am writing this from the perspective of a male cyclist. If you are female or not a cyclist, i.e. you ride your bike sometimes, please disregard.

There are 3 different styles of short I’ll discuss.
1. The baggy short
2. Standard Lycra cycling short
3. The Bib short

The Baggy Shorts:
You would only wear these shorts for two reasons. 1. You are too concerned about the size of your posterior (eventually you will discover they aren’t hiding anything we can’t see). 2. You’re doing some hardcore downhill mountain biking through rock gardens, where if you crash you'll rip your shorts and have to walk home naked.

In my experience these shorts are not very comfortable as the extra fabric makes them too hot, gets hung up on the saddle and jammed into places I don’t want it. In addition they are like having a parachute attached to your butt... no good if you want to ride fast.

The Standard Lycra Cycling Short:
This is the workhorse of the cycling short. Everyone gets it… it’s a short. For the most part, this is a great choice to ride in. People tend to be a little nervous when riding in cycling shorts; they’re afraid their jersey might slide up and leave them displaying plumbers crack. This fact appears to inspire folks to get jerseys that are too big for them... to keep the crack safe.

The Bib Short:
To my amazement, these shorts appear to be under appreciated, at least in our racing club. The majority of folks get the cycling short, ignorant of the advantages of the bib. I have found bibs to be much more comfortable compared to the simple short. No need for a tight waste band to hold them up; very handy on long rides.

I have heard people complain, “how do I pee?” There are 3 holes in the bib, same as the short…. pick one. Another common complaint, the extra fabric will make me hot. Actually no, it’s a wicking fabric that helps you stay cool when hot and warmer when cool.

In addition to the added comfort, the bib gives you confidence. No more worrying about the plumper in the back. Thus you can wear a smaller jersey that actually fits. Again making you more comfortable because the fabrics are allowed to work the way they were designed, wicking away sweat next to your skin. Ultimately it makes you faster because you don’t have a jersey blowing in the breeze like a blouse.

Weights

I wasn't moving very fast this morning. I was sore and tired. Reluctantly I hit the gym anyway, figured I would just see what happened.

To my suprise, things improved greatly. I was even able to squat 230lb! Nice.

Exercise is so good for you.

Weekend Update

The weekend ended up being successfully. Saturday morning I went out for the team ride, we basically hit the usual route. We finished the route 20 minutes faster than the week before. Not sure our average speed was much faster but the weather was getting cooler as the day went on. I think that helped keep people moving.

The team rides always seem to be a balancing act between riding and talking about how we should ride. My thought is getting people through the basics, pacelining, staying out of the wind, controlling the pace... and then letting people go, hoping they will react correctly when the situation arises. Others want the ride mapped out in detail so nothing is left to chance. What do you think it will be like in a race? I have never seen a detailed plan get past the start line.

Spent the rest of the weekend at my parents house. They had everyone at their house. Dogs, kids and aunts. We had a good visit and the kids had a blast. They were so tired from the weekend activities they slept in past 8am this morning. That never happens.

A recovery day on Monday means the weekend was a success.

Finally

I got some time and spent it on maintenance.

The VIPs at work left, the family went to the grandparents to visit with my Aunt. Giving me a couple hours of free time. I was exhausted but.... when am I going to get another chance?

My road bike needed some TLC. Re-cabled the brakes and shifters, new bar tape, new saddle and new wheel. Got her cleaned up and ready to go.

That bike is really starting to show its age. Perhaps it will be time for a new one next year.

Busy...

Busy week! Have some VIP customers visting this week. Workout early
then to work early. All day presenting and keeping folks happy. Home
late and to bed... Then repeat.

More updates later.

Sent from my iPhone

Just for fun....

I have dreams like this all the time.... weird.



My wife would say this commercial defines my life.



Why do you do what you do?

Saturday's Team Ride

Wow! What a day. Look at that Sky! Super day for a ride.

There was some new candy for everyone to drool on. Nice ride Russ.

52 miles, everything started out great and everyone came home tired. Awesome

I am Back!

Finally....

For some reason this blog was selected for harassment by google. Their "robots" decided this was a spam blog and I got blocked. I requested reinstatement but it took them 10 days to get it done.

10 days! That's a long time. I was looking to start up a new blog. I tried wordpress and even another blogger blog. However, everyone knows about this one.... so I am back.

Check out googles nice note.