your daily bicycle log

it's not a road race.

― sir ilx-a-lot (cutty), Monday, January 11, 2010 6:10 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

oh my bad it's a street race

no, it's a criterium!

ok cutty

* Criterium – short course (usually under 5 km); mass start
* Circuit race – medium course (5–10 km); mass start
* Road race – long course (usually over 60 km) can be several laps or a single lap; mass start
* Time trial – medium course (usually 20–50 km); solo start. Also known as the "Race of truth."

missing: stage race

sigma road race

missing: alley cat (4 gbx)

missing: passing a pootling vicar. (This isn't your race log.)I hope to get in shape enough to wear out my antiquated equipment. I live right in the middle of a big hill area, major inclines in either direction and anaerobic finish home either way. I hate to put a bike on a car unless it's for a paying race and I'm too old for that. Sure do miss NYC area riding. A+ place to get your early-season miles and spin on, fairly flat and fixed-gear friendly, though how unfortunate that turned out to be. Need encouragement.

My Winter Cycling Log:

Finish season in early November with 2nd place in club hill climb championship. Feel good.

Britain is battered by gale force winds and torrential rain for more than a week. Stay inside.

Get hideous winter vomiting bug. Feel terrible. While immune system is weakened pick up sore throat/cold/cough from baby.

After 3 weeks off the bike, go for a ride. The weather is icy. I crash, injuring my leg and damaging the bike (main problem: rear mudguard permanently rubs on tyre). Pay bike shop to fix bike.

Britain is covered in a sheet of ice and snow. Stay inside.

The weather thaws a bit between Christmas and New Year. Ride 120 miles. Feel good, but mudguard is still rubbing on tyre despite the efforts of the bike shop.

Britain is covered by another sheet of ice and snow. Stay inside.

Pay bike shop to fix bike again. Explain for five minutes in detail how it's possible to get the mudguard off the tyre by pulling it, but that it inevitably sinks back onto the tyre within a couple of minutes of starting riding. Man writes "rear mudguard?" on job sheet. My faith in the problem being solved falls.

Get new vomiting bug / suspected food poisoning from scallops. Feel bad. While immune system is weakened pick up cold from baby.

But apart from that, it's been great, right?

(poor dude)

oh, blaming a baby for your own weakness...

motivation, i dunno. im planning on doing a local tt series. i think i'll just throw clipons on my old pit cx bike. box rims.

while i was still racing, i quit the tt series, since the weather is often super miserable. and the time- midweek after working hours. also, it consisted mostly of rich masters dorks in midlife crisis flashing thousands of $ of aero gear.

trying to get within a couple of minutes of my old best time might motivate me.

doing a TT on a CX bike haha

i know, it's sub-lolz! but i HATE putting clip on aerobars on and off my bike. and im def not buying a tt bike.

dont know how i'll get the front end low enough i need a negative rise stem.

i still have an old disc and trispoke, how would a crappy cx bike look with those? will post if i do it.

Can always flip the stem upside down.

off early yesterday and it was sunny (yet a cool 50F in the shade) so i decide to do an easy 60 miler with the intention of keeping my HR between 140-150bpm.

all is fine and dandy until after about 25miles i sneak up unsuspectingly on a group of four racers right before White's Hill, a 1 mile climb @ 7% grade. (note: I'm wearing my lol optic jacket but going about 18-20mph). I fall in with them up the hill (note: they're all gossiping and talking to each other, and i look down at my HR: 177... 90% of max... well there goes my easy ride).

On the descent a 5m gap opens up initially but I'm a lot bigger than them so I catch up and fall in pretty easily. I only have a few miles left before I need to turn around and we're going about 28mph on the flats and I barely have to pedal. I hate to tailsuck but I figure I may have already beat my PR on White's Hill, why not go for another PR on the next climb (the peak of which was my intended turnaround point)...

they end up going straight and I make a left for my last climb, it's about one mile: short sharp ascent, false flat, then long windy climb. not too steep: 5.5% avg. grade. when i crest i look at my speed 10mph, then my heart rate: 177bpm again!

Pretty sure I have PR'd two climbs already I turn around and head home. I have two routes to go home, one is a skinny shouldered mountain pass that I haven't ridden in many moons as I prefer a more scenic and out of the way route with virtually no cars. So I choose the more trafficked one because hell, I can get maybe one more PR climb out of it.

after the climb i take it realllll slow on the way home 15-16mph because my heart rate is 150-160 just on the flats. i don't feel TOO bad today, should have enough for a 60-80 mile group ride saturday and then a 32 mile crit on sunday.

how about you try not doing the 60-80 mile ride before the crit? go out tomorrow and do one hour of riding, easy, with some short efforts.

i suggest doing ONE easy hour of riding with 2 sets of 3 x 1 minute max efforts + 1 minute rest

this is coach cutty talking

i don't take the crits seriously though, i am not racing to win, just to get in "race form", experience with crit cornering. I really like my club ride, total bros, epic views usually, good times. my early bird crits are just to get points basically for showing up. i'll be a (weak) cat 4 racer by spring!

basically i never take a pull (nor do i intend to), i just try to hang on and then outsprint whoever i can at the end.

like, once i'm in much better shape, i will take the races more seriously, right now i just want to have fun and enjoy the weather (60F today and i'm off in an hour!) the crits are probably most useful for the pre-race clinics which go over all the racing 101 info/protips. if i was taking these seriously, i'd probably be burned out by june. i wanna peak around august, ya know?

OK

The sun came out. Most of the snow is gone. My cold is over. I did a pleasant 25 miles at 17mph. The year starts here.

The sun came out. Most of the snow is gone. My bad chemo effects are over. Last night in a dream several people asked me out for a group ride- Cutty, my county supervisor ( 50-ish lady I've never met riding a mixte with wicker basket), lesbi*n mortgage banker friend wearing vest and cravat, and some others. We were going to Prospect Park to ride 36 miles. I thought I had died and gone to heaven, but realized that in heaven Cutty would have made lunch. The year starts here, will pump the tires.

:D

lesbi*n mortgage banker friend wearing vest and cravat

fantastic

went for a bit of a roll around just before sunset last to test adjusted seat position. maybe did 12km? bit windy. seem to be having trouble getting new computer to register speed + cadence - at least the heart rate monitor works.

My bad chemo effects are over. Last night in a dream several people asked me out for a group ride- Cutty, my county supervisor ( 50-ish lady I've never met riding a mixte with wicker basket), lesbi*n mortgage banker friend wearing vest and cravat, and some others.

well i want whatever drugs cause dreams like that then. glad to hear things lookin up.

i reset my odometer before my ride today. 0000 mi.

ha i love it!

Dear Hunt3r OT but you do not want these drugs. You DO want the magical chemicals you can already make your body provide 2 u plus perhaps some others (Cutty brings a vape to the dream ride). I'm not really tuff enuf to hang with y'all but appreciate the inspiration. Thank U thread, for I will be riding this weekend.

ah, bless you, i know i dont want the chemo drugs thats for sure.

have some great rides soviet

wow that soviet dream ride . . . nice! go get 'em dude!

so i got a flat right in front of the practice space building last night, on the front tyre this time. and this morning i pulled 13 slivers of glass out of the tire, but only one went all the way through. fuckin chicago streets!

Fantastic day - first big ride of the year round the coast from Glasgow to Largs, then back on the train. About 45 miles.

It wasn't the best weather when we set off, but we got some lovely views en route when the mist/fog cleared at points and round Largs way it was sunny and incredibly beautiful seeing the snow-capped mountains across the sea. Wonderful ride.

Happy, happy, happy.

This was fixed-gear, as ever, so I'm well chuffed with my 45 miles, especially after such a non-cycling festive period with the arm injury and snowy weather.

First ride of the year around the usual haunts, holmbury hill *2 and leith hill. Quite a distance, quite a lot of climbing, quite a lot of mud, quite a lot of fun.

V jealous of all of you, heavy rains all week here in SF. Was supposed to be mostly clear today but the two cloudburst-showers in the early am have flooded almost everything again... Might go for a couple hours this afternoon but I'm not really feeling like dodging puddles, mud and horrible traffic. Tomorrow's supposed to be ugly as well. Bah.

Did 34 miles this morning. Krakow - how's your elbow? Ledge - is that on-road or off-road?

http://www.bacaro.com/pdf/January%20Bike%20ride%20&%20Lunch%20Poster.pdf

supposed to do this tomorrow, but its supposed to be below 30 degrees. italian style.

xp, offroad \m/. this route pretty much, at least 25k i reckon:

http://www.cakeriders.info/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/dorking.jpg

4 hours, 70 miles, sunny but cold

I had a change of heart and went out and did 40 miles on the driest roads I could find, 20mph headwinds on the way out, mostly flat but the sun was out and it felt good after a week off.

rode 4mi to the gym, warmed up, straight up SHAMED the geriatrics on the cybex machines, oiled up and flexed a couple of times, rode 4 mi home

^^^love this guy

cutty, did u ever tell us if weight room time counts for our training hours?

ha it does!

Ledge - it's good round there, isn't it? I stayed at a youth hostel in Holmbury St Mary on a cycling holiday about 20 years ago. As I remember it it's all narrow country lanes, twisting through forests, endlessly going up and down dangerously steep hills.

Aye, tis our regular haunt and there's plenty of good and varied riding, considering the modest size of the hills. Lots of dedicated singletrack as well as the aforementioned lanes.

The elbow is much much better thanks NBS. The time off over christmas & new year seems to have done the trick, thankfully.

did 20 miles this morning which was excellent until the skies opened up about 30 minutes in... hence 20 miles. Soaked.

50km loop around connecting bike tracks. all good except for running into a fence at the start while i was trying to clip into new pedals, haw

lol