500 miles in July Challenge

Seen this several places on the web.  It's a commuter challenge.  But all bike mileage counts(seems like cheating).

Starting July 1st I start a new work schedule :( no more 4 on 4 off.  But no more 12 hr+ shifts either.  I'll be semi normal working 5 8hr shifts; as normal as working 3rd shift can be. 

My point was/is if I ride to work 5 days/week that's 14ish miles a day.  22 days(without OT which there will be) gives me (hold on while I get my calculator out) 308 miles.  500 / 31 = 16.13ish/day.  500 - 308 =  192 miles.Crap this might be harder than I thought.  Ok 31 - 22 =  9 days.  192 / 9 = 21.33ish.  (Maybe all bike mileage isn't cheating).

Anyway I'm giving it a go. Guess I'll need to get my road bike out of moth balls.  Or I could count running miles too...

Weekend Update & Beginning of week commute

My chasing make up miles caught up to me Friday.  The wheels completely fell off.  Ran 8 miles & felt like crap the whole way.  Each mile was slower than the last.  I got up on Saturday & ran an easy 6 which seemed to help the legs get back to normal.  

Mia had a 4 day weekend so she went down to my parents house Thursday night with my dad.  Sat AM we met Mia & my mom half way so Alex could join them for the night so Amber & I could go to the Sertoma Chili cook-off.  Not really interested in the chili as much as the beer & Big Smith.  Their shows are starting to count down to the end.  We have tickets for the last show they’re having in May.  We wanted to go see them at Cartoons Saturday night after the cook off but the temptation to sleep more than 6 hours was too great.  

According to Sleep Bot I got 8.5 hrs.  Woke up feeling like a new man.  We planned to head to the lake to spend the night Sunday & bring the kids home.  Before we left I got out for a quick 14 miler.  By quick I mean quick.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:40:13.0	14.01	7:09
1	7:12.1	1.00	7:12
2	7:14.9	1.00	7:15
3	7:01.4	1.00	7:01
4	7:18.3	1.00	7:18
5	7:21.4	1.00	7:21
6	7:21.8	1.00	7:21
7	7:23.6	1.00	7:24
8	7:10.1	1.00	7:10
9	6:59.1	1.00	6:59
10	7:14.9	1.00	7:15
11	7:07.7	1.00	7:08
12	7:07.3	1.00	7:07
13	6:48.4	1.00	6:48
14	6:47.4	1.00	6:47

Not sure what got into me but ticked off the miles with an overall average of 7:09.  What was great is it didn't feel hard.  My January plan seems to be working.  Two more weeks in this cycle & I can start some speed work & perhaps see some real results.

My TT bike has made its way from hanging on the wall to the trainer in the spare room.  Maybe I can motivate to do some workouts on it.  Maybe...


I got super lucky & had a head wind to work last night & then a head wind home this AM. Plus I had to jump into traffic to get around this idiot. Once a month at least this company parks one of their trailers on the sidewalk.

Its good I live on top of a hill

Last night the rain across my road was the highest I've seen it in the 6+ years I lived on the west side of town.

 The water across the road flowed into the field.

From the field it was flowing across this section of road onto & covering the greenway trail.  Never seen it do that before.  The road in the first pic was closed for the better part of a year while the county was "fixing" it to stop this flooding.  Guess they should have added another culvert.

I worked two extra days this week & I had to drive to work all 6 days.  Its killing me.  Especially since the last 2 days I didn't even run.  Though yesterday I overslept.  Guess I was pretty beat.  The extra days(nights) do that to you.

Let it Rain, Let it Rain

Its raining a ton right now.  With predicted totals going as high as 9" by next Friday I'm itching for some whitewater.  Been too long since I've gotten the boats out.  These kind of totals mean Arkansas Creeking!  Hopefully I can get out next week for a quick trip down South.

I used driving to work last night to scope out a new route to work for riding.  I call it my rain route.  I have several ways to go to work but 3 of the 4 involve crossing Wilson's Creek.  Which floods pretty easy.  The rain route takes me right past one of the venues I'd love to hold a cross race at.  Maybe with all this rain I'll be motivated more for cross riding past it so much.

2011 Ride #5 Furry Legs on a sunny day

The winter fur.

Saturday was warm & not too windy.  Got out for ride #5 of 2011.  Another 2 hrs @ a Normalized Power of 214.  Other than that nothing special. I did do 20 secs @ 418 watts sprinting away from a dog (638 for 5 sec, 566 for 10 sec).  My HR never got over 150 in those 20 seconds so thats something I guess.  No rush for fitness for me anyway.  If I race more than 3x this summer it will be a miracle.

Granted I'm only up to Ride#5 but I've been on the bike for 21 straight days.  That is till Friday.  All the OT & commuting wore me out.   I had a DR. apt Friday so decided instead of making myself so tired I get sick I drove to work Thursday night.  Actually drove to work twice.  Got to work realized I left my work keys in my bike bag so had to head home & get them.  No keys means no uniform & no tool box access, can't have either of those.

I'm about to do something really stupid.  Going to go and "race" the Frozen Waffles Race Training race in a few hours.  The stupid part? Take your pick: I'm on ride 5 of the year, or the biggie, I have to go to work tonight(just an hour or two after the race). Stupid I know.  Luckily the Master's race is only 44 miles(will also be longest ride of year so far) so hopefully I can race & get home.  I might pull the cord early though if I think I'm gonna be wore out for work.  

I have laid off the coffee for the last month.   Decided today would be a good day to end that with all going on today & tonight.  Hello mass amounts of caffeine.

2011 Ride #2: A Windtrainer to no where

Damn rain put a kink in my hopes of getting in a couple hours on the road bike.  Hit the Wind trainer for an hour of steady state(195 watts avg).  Passed the time watching Letters from Iwo Jima.  I put The Pacific on my BlackBerry the other day and have been on a WWII kick.  Its unimaginable how tough the Marines in the Pacific theater of war were.  

Once I finish watching Letters from Iwo Jima I'd cue up Flags of Our Fathers but of course the streaming only NetFlix doesn't have it available for streaming.  I'm starting to think the steaming only NetFlix is only good for seasons of TV shows & documentaries.  About 90% of the stuff I want to watch is DVD only which you can't get with a streaming only package.  Hopefully it will improve some once the CBS/NetFlix deal kicks in.

Back to work Friday night for another 6 day stretch so just commuting miles for me.  Got in 5 of the 6 days last week.

Talking F1 & Commuting

The above video is pretty cool since its all different camera views than you get during practice & races. The angle looking back from the front of the car really shows the graining in the tires. The new Pirelli tires are really going to spice things up this year. More so than KERS & the movable rear wing. Everything I've been reading about the tires from driver comments is how fast the super fast go off. We could see 3 & 4 stop races. That should make some interesting tire strategies. Car wise I think Alonso is going to be hard to beat. Ferrari has put in some serious test mileage this winter. They also have been a lot more reliable. Though I think Red Bull has been playing possum. Sauber & my boy Kobayashi have been looking good, regularly near the top of the time sheets during testing. I think the passing opportunities that the tires, KERS, & the wing will suit his style.

Enough F1 now to the real reason the 6 people who still read this blog...me. I've started riding to work again. Gas hit the magic $3 mark. Having a dedicated commuter is nice. Though it has some tweaking needed. But that is half the fun of bikes. So far this week I ridden in warm high 60's, 30mph winds, rain, & sub 20f weather. Missouri is fun.

I'm also coffee free now for 5 days & counting. Coffee free not caffeine free. I've had a few sodas(not normal for me) & some tea, ice & hot; yes hot. I guess its the English in me. Not bad if you get the good stuff ie PG Tips. I've had some stomach problems lately that have been very ulcer like. I wanted to eliminate a big possibility before heading to the Dr. I drink ALOT of coffee, like 1-3 pots a day. The upside is It looks like I'm homing in on the culprit.

Work is still sucking the life out of me & the fam with all the OT. Looks like at least 3 more weeks of 72 hr weeks. With the possibility of of a month straight with NO days off. Pray to whoever you pray to that that doesn't happen. Mostly for Ambers sake. I can do it but I'm not sure she can. If that happens I'll have to burn some vacation time to get a few days off. Hopefully though the OT ends in 3 weeks.

A wee bit icy out

Last night was an adventure getting home. A drive that normally takes me 25 min from Strafford took me over an hour. Wouldn't have been too bad if it wasn't for all the morons on the road. I saw one guy heading East in front of Utility Trailer going side ways down I-44. He hit both side of the road & managed to straighten it out. Never even slowed down after he got it going East again. Moron!

This AM I figured I'd better leave earlier than normal in case the commute was another hour+, so I got up at 3:45 to be out the door at 4am. Damn that's early(I normally leave at 4:30 for work so not a huge stretch). I-44 wasn't too bad. I did hit a little traffic which I passed easily enough. I''m not sure why people think its safe to drive on icy roads 35 mph with less than a car width between them. I passed quite a few twos & threes all bumper to bumper. Morons!

Actually the worst part of my commute was the outer road at Strafford. Holy Crap it was bad. Even with the Volvo in 4WD I was sliding all over the road. Only half of the plant made it in. Most of the people who work here live out in the sticks so I can imagine how bad the country roads are.

I got to spend my first hour here shoveling ice & spreading salt. Managed to break a sweat since I was a little overdressed. I was wearing just about every piece of Carhartt I own. I look like a catalog ad but its nice to be warm when its 20F outside. I just wish Carhartt made riding clothes.

08 AR State TT

Long wknd to "race" 40k. I had ulterior motives so the full aero onslaught wasn't brung. Even without all the weapons still rode a 57:40(3rd in Cat 3's) which is only 15 seconds off my PR on a notoriously slow course. My #'s sucked but leaves plenty of room for improvement in the next 4 weeks before MO State TT. I'm going to try & shoot for 43KPH this year but my legs will make the ultimate decision. Lots of time to be spent on the TT bike between now & then (which means commuting on it yuk!). Racing a 40k with only being on the tt bike twice was not such a hot idea. Weather was good enough to use the long sleeve Ridley skinsuit since I don't have a Slimen skin suit yet. I have a feeling I'll have to break out the old multi color for State, I know how its a crowd favorite.

Amber & Mia gave me the fat hook up for Dad's day. Four wheel Bags, a new rain coat, & a blinky that can be seen from the moon. Broke in the wheel bags this weekend. Why I've never owned any till now is beyond me. It was nice not to get grease in the back of the Volvo. THe blinky I put into use this AM. Holy crap that thing is bright. Its a Planet Bike so the Dunsmuir's are supporting CX. In more ways than one. I'm going to try not to use the rain cape if I can help it. I'm too damn old to be riding in the rain but better safe than sorry with the weather we've been having lately.

Has Jimmy had that kid yet? & if so why are there no pics on his damn blog?

BUSY Weekend

This weekend was very, very busy, but extremely fun. Friday afternoon my sister dropped off the twins for us to take to meet my mom. When I got home from work we loaded up & went to the greater greater metro area of Seymour to meet my mom so she could take Mia & the twins for the weekend.

Saturday we loaded up the Volvo, drove across town to pick up Amber's cousin & boyfriend to go to the STL with us to watch the Dave Mathews Show. JP was already up there to meet up with some friends of his wife(see JP isn't my gay lover(see comment in a previous post)). Once up there & after me playing a little mind game with Amber & her cousin. Very gullible girls those two. I yelled there's Dave as we were driving past Busch Stadium & I thought they were going to jump out of the car. Made me laugh.

After getting checked into the Hyatt Regency Riverside hotel(very fancy but over priced) we loaded up a taxi & headed over to the Brewery for some free beer & I guess the tour. Its been several years since I took the tour but the outcome is still the same. Free beer & an attempt to get more than the alloted 2. We were successful on both counts.

After the tour we headed on over to the show. For some reason the Black Crowes only played for 45 minutes so we got to hear most of their set while standing in various lines. Dave came on almost straight away & did not disappoint putting on an awesome show that lasted several hours. They even had a HD screen behind the band that was bigger than the side of a tractor trailer. Busch Stadium is a great venue for concert. With the stage in center field you get the back drop being the arch & all the high rises. Pretty cool.

Sunday I got up & around to head over to the Tour de Winghaven. Cool course but needs to have the fields separated. 130 guys in a cat 3/4 race is retarded. Some of the worst, if not the worst, bike handling/sketchiness I ever seen. People can be outright dumb. Throw in a super hard head wind & everyone puts on their idiot caps. Plus it was like 102 degrees. I pretty much rode around in the pack. I did bridge up to a break that I thought might go clear but they chased us down after a lap. Ended up 18th in the field sprint. Which is all right since I was a little overheated & starting to dehydrate. Went through 2 bottles in an hour. Knew I should have carried the 3rd one. It was a chip race so got to see my lap placings. 57,36,45,2,5,61,67,53,51,18 see what I mean about riding around in the pack? Funny side story is that I got told I was looking skinner than past years before the race. Thing is I'm 5-8lbs heavier than I normally am. I guess its the Slimen Unis. Black is slimming.

After the race I had to haul butt home since I had SRC's box tickets (suite 1 on the first base line)for the Cardinals game Sunday night. Made it home in time to get to the game at the top of the second inning. Was a good time & the cards came back from a 6-2 deficit to win with a walk off 3 run homer in the bottom of the 10th. That was my first walk off homer game so that was pretty cool.

Needless to say I'm a little tired today. I'm also still suffering a little from getting a little dehydrated Sunday. All that coupled with the rain made me drive to work this AM. Feel like a slacker but can't totally cook my legs since Sunday is the AR State TT. Really want to do a descent time to see where my form is at for the MO State TT. What sucks is this will be the 3rd straight weekend in a hotel bed.

Another anniversery of sorts

2 years ago was the day that change my anatomy forever. oh well shit happens.

On to bigger things. Didn't ride into work this AM. It didn't take much to change my mind but the 40 mph winds & following deluge were enough incentive to go back to bed for an hour. Last night the winds were 30-40 mph sustained. Totally wrecked me. The last 8k of my commute went straight into the wind. I was pedaling my ass off & only going 14kph. Crazy! I did have a cross to tail wind @ one point for quite awhile. I thought I had set a 5min PR but just fell short. I'm discovering that two a days messes with your Perceived Exertion. I think I'm nailing it & really I'm just futzing along. The tiredness in the legs sneaks up & fools you. My commute in the other morning I thought I had put in a pretty good effort only to discover my average heart rate was 116. I'll write that one off as a recovery ride. All things considered I'm starting to like getting my training in by commuting. You rack up the kilometers & if your careful you can get the intensity in too. Now I just have to commute in on the internet junk a few times before I have to race it. The hills by Fantastic Caverns will be a ball on that over geared lead weight.

Bike to Work Week

May 12-16 is Bike/Bus/Walk to Work Week. Sign up if you haven't. I'm my companies sole participant. Though after a little more research carpooling counts so I might get a few more signed up. We're quite away from the SPR so its a haul. For me its about 43 kilometers one way. Makes a nice double training day, except I have to hit the road by 4:30 to make it to work in time to shower & make coffee before my 6:30am start time. Then I work till 5pm & ride home making it about 6:30pm when I get home. Makes for a long day, but hey I'm getting in the kilometers.



I've been doing it now for a couple of weeks. Usually I'll ride 3 days to work. This week I'm shooting for all 5 if the rain holds off. Had a close call last night but managed to stay dry even though the skies got really dark. One plus besides kilometers is gas savings. A conservative estimate is I'm saving about $150/ month in gas. That's almost a new CX bike by CX season. Sweet!