…Faster than Last

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 of sweat – apocrine & eccrine, and the following factors can make the stinky (apocrine) glands a lot more active:

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 2 ribs).

It’s been 3 weeks, and every time I ride I can barely sleep or move the next day, so I thought I’d better have the doc take a look.  The only remedy for cracked ribs is rest and pain killers.  Rest is for dead people, so I went all in on the pain killers.  At least I’ll get some sleep now.

WORS race on Sunday, then no racing for a few weeks.  I should be good as new soon.  Besides, my new bubble-wrap uniform will make me indestructible.

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.  Not bad.  I had the legs and lungs, but instead of just going for it on the last climb to the finish, I was hanging back waiting for someone to go.  When they did I reacted, but I wasn’t able to advance.  Experience will build a little more confidence, and maybe the next race I’ll try to jump before someone else does.

Before the race, I had a sales meeting and 2 appointments to make, so getting there and getting prepared left me pretty stressed out.  Next year, I’ll definitely take a little more time on race days to get a little more focused, hydrated, etc.  It’s not fun jumping out of your truck, throwing your dress clothes off in the middle of a park and hauling butt up to the registration table in order to make it in time.

Unlike Friday, today was a lot of fun.  I really enjoyed myself, felt up to the task and raced well.  I lack experience – anticipating moves and even cornering in the pack – but all that will come.  Overall, pretty happy with how I did.

WORS race Sunday – looks to be a MUDFEST.

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 race went on.

Yea.

I do not recommend that plan.  A Crit is a 20 mile long sprint and there are no hills (something that would have helped me tremendously).  We started and immediately the pace in the 90 degree heat went to Mach 1.  I was just hanging off the back, working 2x as hard as the guys in the front.  After about 7 laps I was able to work my way almost halfway up when the guy in front of me wobbled in the melting tar on the road and almost took me down.  Back of the line again.  After that, I knew it was over.  I dropped after maybe11 or 12 laps.

I have a ton of respect for those guys, not that I didn’t before, but even more so today.   I doubt I’ll try another Crit anytime soon, I need a little more road race experience and a few less cheeseburgers.

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 with some Guinness and music at the Rum Bar while we watched the Tour de France.

All in all, an awesome day – even if it was like swimming in an armpit.

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 mind, gives me purpose and focus, and makes me sharper for the rest of the day.  But the real benefit of these rides is the quality of people I meet.

I had a great conversation after the ride today over a cup of coffee.  It’s amazing how perspective changes with age.  Most of the 40+ year old guys I ride with now could have kicked my 20 year old ass around the block.  They all manage to balance families, careers and a passion for cycling.  None of us take our time on the bike for granted at this age, and we all seem to want to squeeze everything we can out of every ride.  But aside from that, we all realize that there are more important things in life than ourselves.

Anyway, it’s pretty empowering to start your day with a 33 mile bike ride as the sun rises with 30 or more people, then coffee and deep conversation about helping others, all before starting a regular work day at 8am.

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 off the house and property almost every day for 3 weeks now.

Today, my still tender bruised ribs feel like I just crashed again.  Not the smartest thing to do, but when people need help it doesn’t really matter.

Today is a rest day for sure.

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 them.  After I was done I ran 10 sets of stairs just to burn out.  I could stand to lose a few pounds before Superweek.

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 you’re left with a slack chain halfway through the ride.  Then you have no choice but to either pedal as smooth as a baby’s butt or stop and put your chain back on every 50 feet.

…not that I would know that from this morning’s ride, I’m just guessing that’s how you do it…

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

So glad to get back OUTSIDE tomorrow for the Puker.  Could be a wet one.

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 pick through my ribs – much worse than riding in a straight line.  I fractured a couple of ribs at Crystal Ridge last year, and this feels very similar, although not quite as bad.

First massage in years on tap for tomorrow night, long overdue.  I just hope I start feeling better soon.

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 climbing today.

Thanks to the Tosa Spokesmen, I am now addicted to the Puker.  Every Thursday morning I wake up, jump out of bed and get ready for an hour of hill repeats.  Climbing has historically been a weakness of mine, but this weekly ride has forced me to attack that weakness, and I’ve improved tenfold.  Up the hill, over the top, rest and pedal, up the hill, over the top, rest and pedal…

I think the appeal is much the same as golf to some people: no matter how many times I do it, or how fast I go, or how good I feel, there will always be someone who can crush it and make me look like I’m going backwards.  And as long as I keep striving to be that guy, I’ll continue to improve.  And as long as I continue to improve, I’ll inspire the next wave of guys to work a little harder…

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 of the WAC for 2 hours.

Anyway, it’s done for June.

Puker tomorrow!!  Can’t wait!!

“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 North Shore of Lake Michigan for 33 miles.  Still no computer on my bike, but based on last Tuesday I’d say we did at least 23mph average speed.  I felt a lot stronger this week, but I would like to start doing some end-of-ride sprinting to see how I do with that.  We took off at the end of the ride today, but I’d like to try a few hundred yard sprint to a line to get the feel of it.  Maybe next week, now that I am starting to know the route I can give it a shot.  I know there are about 5 guys that would jump with me and grind me into a fine powder.

2 hour SPIN tomorrow, and then finally a return to the Spokesmen for a the Thursday Puker hill repeats.

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 the faster, more heavily attended Tues and Thursday routes.  It was actually the perfect remedy for a weekend spent sleeping late and drinking beer.  Felt good to be back on track again.  The 7% grade hill climb at the end made me realize just how “off” I was.

Looks like a Spokesmen ride tomorrow in Tosa, work schedule may prohibit the North Shore ride.

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 single speed mountain biking have really helped my hill-climbing.  Stayed right there for the next 30 miles.

Around the last corner and into a slight uphill sprint to the finish line, everything was golden.  I was probably in about 10th or 11th place at the start of the sprint.  100 yards from the line, my rear brake seized up.  I thought someone grabbed my seatpost and yanked me back.  I came to a complete stop 50 yards from the line.  Somebody ran out and flipped up my brake release to let the wheel spin, then I jumped back on and coasted over the line.

Wow, talk about anti-climactic!  I was not in a position to win the sprint, but I was right there.  Not disappointed, but now I don’t know how well I actually would have done.

This just means I’ll need to do another one…

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 – Greenbush…

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 it was 70 and sunny, and I didn’t want to stop riding.

For me, it was fun and it’s a great way to get my work day started.  But when I look at what I’m able to do, and the speeds that we cruise at, it makes guys like (Team WI/MC2 teammate) Frankie Dierking seem superhuman.  Winning the Elkhart Lake Pro 1/2 road race like this, with no one even near him:

I was at the Shorewood Crit ToAD opener, and the first lap came around at  32 mph, and they had an hour and a half to go.  My non-cyclist friends look at what I do and they’re amazed, but as an avid cycling enthusiast, I look at guys like Frankie that same way.  Way to represent, my hat’s off to you – I couldn’t even keep up with your shadow.

(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 article from 2007 that sparked a thought today…

Pre-1990, most kids had a bike by the age of 6, and knew how to ride. A bike was their first step toward independence.  Trips up and down the driveway quickly gave way to trips down the block, and suddenly the world was a whole new and wonderful place.  Cable TV was still relatively new, and pagers were something that only doctors carried.  The daily world view of adults was limited to the nightly news and the newspaper.

Occasionally, something bad happened, but that was the law of averages, and it usually happened to someone else’s family.  Mother’s would lean out the back door when dinner was ready and yell for their kids, and minutes later they would appear – fresh from hunting frogs or whatever the other innocent mission of the day was.  OK, maybe that’s a little “Beaver Cleaver”, but not too far from the truth.  This gave our children stronger self images, a greater sense of optimism about the world and its people, and a truer sense of their own unique identity.

Fast forward a mere 20 years, and we live in a constant state of paranoia.  Cable TV, the internet and the fact that we now have access to everything, everywhere, all the time has practically driven parents off the edge.  Every stranger is a child molesting murderer, ready to snatch up our kids the second we glance away from them.  We have replaced “play” with “play dates” and structured activities from sun-up to sun down.  We make sure our kids are safe by mandating helmets, not keeping score in kickball and… providing them all with cell phones.
Technology once reserved for NASA, government operatives and on-call heart surgeons now feels right at home in grade-school backpacks, shielded from the elements by “Chowder”, “Flapjack” and “Hello Kitty” covers.  Everywhere we turn we see and hear about the worst horrors of the world, and it’s our duty – no our natural instinct – to protect our children.  If only we could watch them all the time (video baby monitors), or know where they are (GPS tracking) or at least be able to call them and check up on them (BINGO!).  Every parent I talk to that buys a cell phone for their kids says the same thing:

“I just want to be able to call them…”

And your kids are 3 steps ahead of you.  THEY want phones so YOU can call them too!  Right.  The minute after your child gets his or her first cell phone they will have downloaded custom ringtones, snapped un-flattering pictures of siblings and sent out 563 text messages.

Here’s where the author of the article I read and I part ways; he gave his 7-year-old a cell phone.  His claim was the reasons I stated above: the world is a much better (safer) place now that Johnny has the new Motorola Zipper Zapper (insert flavor of the day here)!  My youngest kids (4 and 10) do NOT have cell phones – they have bikes.  They don’t have a computer at home – they have freedom to go outside and see the world through their OWN eyes.  I love my kids, and I would sacrifice my life for theirs in a millisecond.  They don’t need a cell phone, they need a strong sense of purpose, a strong self-image and the empowerment to make mistakes.  I need to do my best to let them be people, to let them grow and to let them follow their dreams.  I believe that if they are so insulated from reality that they don’t have the intellect to make the right decisions if (God forbid) something terrible would happen, a cell phone is not going to help.

Someday, when they are older and we all agree that a cell phone is a useful tool for them, they’ll have one.  I’m not looking forward to it.

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 of the time goes to my family.

As it turns out, I have been doing quite a bit of business on the bike.  I’ll be doing the eppstein uhen ride again this year: http://www.eua.com/bdbt

The ride is a 100 mile business networking ride, started by Rich Tennessen, who gave me the idea to start my Networking ride 3 years ago.

It’s amazing how many people I’ve met in the business world through cycling.  When you do business with people who share your passion, it makes every day a lot more enjoyable.

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 slower ride than Tuesday, and wouldn’t you know it – it was faster.

33 miles, 23.1 mph average speed.  I wasn’t anticipating that, but OK, I’m game.

I don’t know the route, and I was feeling fairly strong at the end so I decided to make a move with a little over a mile to go.  How did that work out for me?  Not so good.  My legs didn’t get the message.  I jammed for a while then coasted to the end as old ladies on 3 wheelers screamed by me.  Lesson learned.  I will try to remember that next Thursday at the Tour Of America’s Dairyland Race.

Unless I can see the finish line, I have no business being off the front.

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, and for the last one we took it all the way to a level 10 out of 10.  Obviously, not everyone was at level 10, but there was a lot of sweat and a lot of hollow looks in their eyes after that effort.

Not sure which ride to do tomorrow – the Puker is off this week, so I may go back to Whitefish Bay and ride with Koby’s group to get a few miles in.  hopefully this beautiful weather holds out.

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 at the front, but I was nowhere near the strongest rider of the bunch.

Great group of guys, I don’t think I’ve ever met any of them previously either.  Had some coffee in Whitefish Bay with a few of the Geargrinder riders. I have yet to meet anybody on any of the rides I’ve done in the past few years with a bad attitude.

I will definitely be back to take part in the beat down again.  It’s nice to start jamming like that right away at 5:15am – makes the rest of the day seem pretty easy.

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 the bike, you will receive additional products throughout the year to test. You will be able to keep some of the products, others you will return to KOVI at no postage cost to you.”

So, instead of the manufacturers giving their crap to Teams for free, and getting limited feedback, KOVI has riders put some skin in the game, and the manufacturers get real world feedback on their bikes and gear.  Sounds pretty cool.  I’m anxious to hear more on next month’s ride…

http://www.teamkovi.com/how-it-works/for-cyclists.html

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 this in a long time.  It’s a good feeling, but I hope I’m fresh enough on Sunday to don the Team WI jersey and make a podium appearance.

Saturday is the TREK 100 and Sunday is the Kewauskum WORS race.

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 the Puker on Thursday, and probably ride it at the TREK 100 on Saturday too.  The brakes on that thing are unbelievable – as good as the Ultegras on my Madone.  Even in the pouring rain this morning, I could stop on a dime.

After the ride, I headed to the WAC to get my blood drawn for the “Fittest Executive” contest: https://www.biztimes.com/site/fittest-execs

This is my 3rd or 4th year doing it, it’s been cool to look at the testing results year after year.

Tomorrow is a 6:00am SPIN, and then the 2:00 Networking Ride: http://wibikelaw.com/detail.php?c=170871

I’m hoping that the miles I put on this week will be a good warm up for the WORS race on Sunday.