Taught SPIN in a hot, humid room this morning. Had to burn my clothes when I was done. There’s a reason my wife makes me keep my sweaty cycling gear in the garage.  It’s the same reason that when my kids walk by it they say “…it smells like dog poop”. There are 2 types…

Turns out when I couldn’t pick a line to save my life at the Southern Kettles ride on July 3rd, I paid for it with 2 cracked ribs.  Apparently this is a rite of passage after turning 40, since I did it last year too (getting launched into a tree at Crystal Ridge and cracking…

What a difference a weekend makes.  I jumped into Superweek races over my lunch hour on both Friday and today.  Friday felt like I had concrete tires and I dropped out halfway through the race.  Today, I didn’t know how early to jump – waited a little too long and ended up in 9th place.…

So for lunch today I had a Superweek Criterium, Masters 4/5.  Networking meeting at 7am, did some work then rolled over to the .8 mile Brookfield Crit.  Having NEVER done a Crit before, and only 1 road race, I decided to start at the back and work my way up through the pack as the…

Yea baby! 65 total miles yesterday for me in 90 degrees and a dew point of around 70.  Taught SPIN in a room that seemed hotter and more humid than being outside, then rode to the Networking Ride in Pewaukee and did 42 miles with a nice sized group @ around  20 mph. Finished up…

Alarm went off at 4:15 this morning, but I was already awake.  Too much stuff on my mind, and that’s why this ride is so important.  The ride itself is usually a beat down, although the pace this morning was fairly relaxed compared to the normal Tuesday pace.  The physicality of the ride clears my…

What started as a simple “rest day”, turned into hours and hours of chainsawing and hauling branches and wood for a family friend. The Eagle, WI area saw a pretty bad tornado about 3 weeks ago, and this property on the right (near Eagle) lost 46 trees.  As of yesterday, they had been clearing trees…

No bike today.  Had to use up a Personal Training gift certificate before it expired.  I haven’t hit any weights since January(?).  Megan at the WAC put me through and hour of weights, which felt really good – aside from the ab work.  I still am not sure if I have any abs, I’ve never seen…

The easiest way to smooth out your pedal stroke is to take a piece of crap old Cannondale and set it up to run single-speed.  When you do it though, make sure it has a very jacked up chain-line and use a chain tensioner.  Then do some hill repeats until the chain tensioner explodes and…

Put Meatloaf in my 6am Wednesday SPIN class at the WAC Proceed to do a “speed” class Notice that the air conditioning does not seem to be working Notice that the dew point in the room has moved to just above “Rain Forest” Continue for 45 minutes until Meatloaf passes out Meatloaf is cooked. So…

Did the North Shore ride this morning – 99% sure I have a few bruised ribs from Saturday’s crash.  Instead of feeling better, I’m in more and more pain each day.  It felt good to ride, I just can’t take deep breaths, twist or stand…  In fact, parallel parking feels like someone’s running an ice…

2000 miles, no crashes. 30 miles of Kettle Moraine today, 4 crashes. Not my day. TdF starts today – Viva Lance!!

I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  I may be killed for sharing this, so keep it under your hat.  This is the Puker: It’s a simple little route really, only a half mile.  3 blocks up, 2 blocks down, 2 blocks across.  A nice little crooked triangle… with 1150 feet of…

This morning was my monthly 2 hour SPIN class at the WAC.  it seemed like a good idea when I started doing it 2 years ago, and it always ends up being a good workout.  But on a sunny, 70 degree day, there’s just nothing right about sitting on a SPIN bike in the basement…

“Striker, listen, and you listen close: flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes.” Another 4:20am alarm clock wake-up to ride today.  This time at least, it was for a good old-fashioned beat down.  30 or so riders making hay on the…

A beautiful bike and children-free weekend came to an abrupt halt this morning when the alarm went off at 4:15am.  Time to make the doughnuts. Headed over to Whitefish Bay for an easy 23 mile ride with 4 other guys.  I wasn’t sure how far or what the pace would be, since I’ve only done…

Tour of America’s  Dairyland race today!  First road race ever!  Early morning start, perfect weather, perfect day. 40 miles (4 , 10 mile laps) with the Masters 4/5s. Started at the back of the field, worked my way up to the front dozen on the first lap.  Felt good too.  All those Puker laps and…

Taught SPIN at the WAC today.  It’s music-theme week, so I picked out some music you’re pretty certain not to hear in other SPIN classes: Wheatus “Teenage Dirtbag” Jaggerz “The Rapper” Haircut 100 ” Love Plus One” Dr. John “Right Place at the Wrong Time” Rick Derringer “Rock & Roll, Hoochie Coo” etc… ToAD tomorrow…

I rode with Koby’s group at 5:15 this morning.  I think we had around 20 guys, 33 miles or so.  An easier pace than last week, since some of the hammers are racing ToAD this week.  It was so humid, I couldn’t even keep my glasses on – but by the time we were done…

(I wrote this article for Executive Women International, but I thought I’d post it here too – seemed relevant) Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to ride bikes.  Now that my cycling season is in full swing, it’s been a while since I’ve written any (business) articles.  But I came across an old…

No ride today – all business (besides writing this post). I may not get a chance to ride all weekend, but that’s OK.  My life often lacks balance, but overall it has a lot of harmony.  I get my rides in whenever I can, I get my business done when I should and the rest…

As of today I have never even entered a road race, so I can’t tell you how to win one.  I can however tell you how to lose one. Another “spirited” ride with Koby’s North Shore group.  A very impressive showing of about 26 riders at 5:15am on a Thursday.  We headed out for a…

Taught SPIN this morning, and pulled out an old fan favorite: The 20 minute “Body for Life” workout. After a 15 minute warm-up, I used “perceived exertion” to get people to a level 6 out of 10, and then increased it to level 9, 1 minute at a time. We do 4 sets of that,…

The alarm went off shortly after I went to bed it seemed like, at 4:15.  Drove over to Whitefish Bay to meet up with 19 or 20 other early risers for what turned out to be an awesome ride.  31 miles at around 22.5 mph average speed.  I was feeling pretty good, did some work…

Trek 100 on Saturday (just did the 36 mile route on the Crap-onndale). WORS single speed race #4 Sunday – 2nd place. No gears, no derailleurs, no problems.

Met Robb Zbierski from KOVI on the Networking ride on Wednesday.  His new company has a pretty radical idea: They sell an annual memberships and for the fee you get: “…new “Pro-Tour” bike each year. The bike is matched to your profile so the right fit is guaranteed, as is your satisfaction. In addition to…

Tuesday morning rainy hill climbs @ 5:45 on the single speed. Wednesday morning – taught SPIN for 1 hour, then rode to the Networking ride and did that in the afternoon. This morning – the Puker at 6am. I am definitely tired, and happy that tomorrow’s an off day.  I haven’t really felt fatigued like…

Joined bc and Chris Beyer for the “new and improved” TMTOT route this morning, which included 11 hills in a 10 mile stretch.  I haven’t been able to ride much in the last 2 weeks, and I felt like it.  I rode the “new” 20-year-old Cannondale single speed (42×16).  I think I’ll ride that to…