I'll take my chances on the road

The temp jumped to 82 degrees today so I had to ride. A 30 mile loop with 20 of it into the wind was nearly enjoyable if I wasn't pushing the pace. My only real fitness check came just outside of Oregon as a group of 4 caught me. I bumped up my pace to sit in on them and it was easy. 25mph sheltered behind them was a breeze but unfortuanely it was short lived. They turned east and I was headed west. After coming back throught the Arb I made a big mistake when I went to the bike path to go home. Anyone with a pulse migrated to the bike path. Generally I only use the mile or so from the east edge of the isthmus over to Olin Park so its not like I'm raging at 20mph amid all the squirrels on wheels. After dodging oblivious morons half the way I decided I'd take my chances on John Nolan Drive with the 45mph SUV's and cell phone addicts. It was nearly serene as I rolled through the Monona Terrace tunnel. Previously in the day I had a pretty good day with the new employer. It's doing low voltage control work for HVAC and the schedule looks very full for the future so hopefully I won't be idle due to lack of work with them. Gary at Village Pedaler ordered my 17, 19, 20 and 21 tooth Surly cogs for the King rear hug on the Rig as well as a 25.4 to 31.8 handlebar shim so I can run the Mary bars with oversized stems.

Why am I feeling pressure?

I've gone and set myself up with expectations for the up-coming season. I'm done dorking around with the Rig so now it is time to accumulate milage. 4:14 in the saddle today. The legs are feeling it. It'd be nice to see the result of my workouts in a month.

Well what'd ya know?

My legs finally feel like they're being taxed. I intended to head south to New Glarus and hurt on some hills, but the wind direction gave me pause so I changed the route. I went to Oregon, Stoughton with a shot up Cty N to Cottage Grove. Then I turned homeward on Cty TT. 3:20 for 49 miles. Not stellar, but with the final hour being at 25-30 mph I feel very good about today's effort. Cty N & TT were aided by a strong tailwind and the rollers were climbed on the big ring. Tomorrow I'll shake out the lactic acid and continue building my fitness. I got a call yesterday about starting a job on Monday, So I'll be back to evening workouts next week... and I'm really jonezin for a beer. I haven't had one since Karen's birthday. I told myself I could have a beer AFTER the race in Dacorah on April 29th. Wow, I can almost taste a fresh one from Ale Asylum.

"Now what are you doing?"

I broke out the bucket and water to clean the very sandy Seven from yesterday's ride. When I was done I felt motivated enough to whack a hole thru the EBB of the Rig ala Gary Fisher/Trek's new EBB. It worked.






So after drilling, sawing and filing I had it done, otherwise I could have spent more time and eventually bled on something. I'm happy enough with it and after weighing it on Cronometro's scale it's right at 194 grams.

The unHoly Trinity of road riding

I rediscovered the unholy trinity of road riding...
Big Ring
Little Ring
SufferRing

I got up as planned and dressed accordingly for 38 degrees and intermittent rain. Except for my booties. I wore my new Nike booties I picked up at the bike swap and boy do they suck. They were warm enough until they got wet and then the only parts of my body that were miserable were from the balls of my feet to the tips of my toes. I should have worn wool socks or better still my 12 year old Performance neoprene booties, even if the zipper on one boot is toast my feet would have been warm.

I did have a nature moment. While I was finishing my coffee I had to stop for a group of 8 turkeys out for a walk on the road through the UW Arboretum. I whipped out the phone in time to get a shot of the straggler.


The rest of the group waited for him and gave me a look as if to say "take a hint buddy, we're walking in weather like this." But I was freshly fueled with Nicaraguan so westerly I went. I looped toward Verona with the intention of going to Spring Green by way of Mt Horeb and County T. By the time I reached Mt Horeb my toes were pleading for me to turn around. So I swung north to Black Earth. Upon reaching Black Earth I checked my watch and saw I'd been riding for 3 hours. I did the math and accepted "plan B." I'd ride east to Cross Plains and home and that would make my ride roughly 5 hours... unless I pushed it harder. Right. My toes were hanging-in and by the time I reached the west side Trek Store I was feeling better. I had a quick cup fo the free "coffee" the Trek Store has, called home and had a brief chat with Creepy Friendly & the Darkness. As I reached for the door CF asked "aren't you going to wait for a ride?" Nope, it's only rain and I don't want to be a weenie. Besides, I need the saddle time.

I almost hit every light perfectly on the way home and hopped into a warm shower without even looking at a clock. By time I had dry clothes on it was 12:15. At least it will be warm going to my night school class. It's 55 degrees now, dammit.

It's always good time in the saddle

After noodling over to the Dept of Agriculture driveway/hill I did a few hill sprints and noodled home. I found I'd opened a can of worms on MTBR over the uberEBB Jesse's published/installed in his Rig. After getting clarification from Gary Fisher/Trek's Technical Support I felt better. I can understand everyone wanting to save half a pound for $30 but I don't want to do it at the cost of a new team/teammate. I'll lug the extra weight if these guys would put a cork in it and wait patiently for GF/T to release the new EBB.

Oh, Sephie's feeling better. The med's have reduced her pain and she's sleeping soundly.

As for my "time off" this week. Since finishing the new Copp's grocery store in Sun Prairie I got laid-off last Friday. I'm not going to sit on my ass and wait while the Apprenticehip Office looks for a new shop for me... So I'll grind away the down time getting in shape. So I'll get up at 5:30 as usual but I'll be drinking my coffee as I head off toward Spring Green tommorrow. Should be a solid 100 miles or 6 hours. Unless I keel over first. hmmm... everyday 'til I'm working again? Sure. Why not.

Trapped in a classroom

Today is a "school day" for my apprenticeship. I sit on my ass being fed answer after answer for a workbook that is essentially worthless for field use. The additional downside is sitting in hard plastic chairs so my left hamstring/gluteus is tightening with every passing minute. I'll go for a ride after this BS but I'll need to keep it short as Sephie was up all night with a bacterial ear infection. Her Doc prescibed Amoxacillin so she'll be feeling better by dinner time but hopefully she'll catch up on her lost sleep.

I felt like Jan Ulrich today.

Yup, I went for a 3 hour road ride this afternoon and I felt just like Jan Ulrich. Bloated and slow, even on the downhills. It was nearly 50 miles but I didn't feel good until the return leg outside of Cross Plains. I was able to cruise at 20mph most of the ride but the hills sure showed my lack of conditioning. Creepy Friendly of the Bare Knuckle Brigade asked for my bio and a few images for the team website, so I sent that to him yesterday.

Finally some SSsaddle time!

I took advantage of the extra hour of daylight and the 57 degree temp to get out on the upgraded Rig. After changing many of the parts over the winter it needed a shakedown. Since I've been lacking in base miles I took it out instead of one of my road bikes. I took it out to the west side of town on city bike paths and surface streets before turning around at an hour. Once I was within a mile of home I took it down the center of the railroad tracks... without an on-coming train. I'd done that last year when I had the Reba on the frnt, but with the new Bontrager Race X Lite fork I wanted to see if Jesse's claims were true. Why should I have doubted him? He was spot-on. Between the 29er wheels and the carbon fork the ride was not bad. It'd have been better if I had 2.1's on the new wheels but I'm running 42mm IRC's , but they did fine. On the whole the bike did fine. The new wheels stayed true, no plinging spokes, no creaking headset or stem, no creaking drive train or other funky noises.

If the weather holds I'll be able to get more saddle time after work every day. The first race of the year is approaching quickly, and I'm in no physical shape to race at the moment.

With a cat in my lap

I'll get the ball rolling with Fella sitting in my lap. Not much to do today- workout, go to LowellPaloolza and arrange more work area in the basement. If I can hit 66% today I'll be happy. LowellPalooza is the fundraiser for my daughter's school. It's held at the Harmony Bar just down the street. She's got a crush on the bass player in one of the bands- The Shrunken Heads, so we have to go. I'm not too worried, she's only a 1st grader and he's a 6th grader.