Morningside...an old man died

(yeah it's a very obscure Neil Diamond song)

This morning I decided to turn a different way and give my climbing legs an early season test by crossing Red Mountain via Morningside Drive, a nice 4/10's mile of 15% torture.

Test result...close to failure. Maybe in another month I'll take another crack at it.

It's good for you!

I remember sitting at the dinner table aghast at the slices of purple beets staining everything on my plate with their unholy blood-like juice. My parents said I wasn't allowed to leave the table until I'd eaten them, and thus ensued a battle of wills that lasted for years. Oh, I ate the beets, that time...and any other time I was unfortunate enough to get caught at the dinner table on a night we were served this vile weed, but I managed to skip dinner more often than the times I had to eat the wretched beets. Though I never cried about it, as one young man I know did once when I told him he had to eat the tiniest piece of broccoli I'd ever seen. Why did my parents make me eat beets? Why did I make my son try his broccoli? The reason given in both instances was that they were good for us.

Now, the question is, was it the vegetable itself that was good for us, or the growth we experienced from sucking it up and trying something we knew we'd never touch again?

Which brings me to my next thought. If you have a competitive nature, humiliation is good for you. Yesterday I mentioned that I had followed up one of my worst seasons of riding ever with one of my best ever, and that following last season's debacle, I was hoping for a similar effect in 2010. As I pondered this question on my ride to work this morning, the reason became clear.

A few years ago, my friend Russ bought a bike and started riding. I hadn't done much on the bike the year before, and one day we were out for a ride, and I found myself dropping further and further behind on a climb I should never have suffered on. Russ beat me to the top of that road by several minutes. I was humiliated and swore that he would never again beat me to the top of a climb. I worked and trained and had a great season that year, with a personal best at Cherohala.

Similarly, 2009 was a disaster for me, fitness-wise, with the coupe de grace coming in late December when Jon was in town and we went for this ride together. Jon kicked my trash all over the road, and the Beast even felt the need to pace me on some of the steep rollers to keep me from falling too far behind. I don't believe I've been as embarrased since the day Russ beat me up Dolly Ridge. I followed it up with an equally humiliating climb up to the Peavine Falls road the next day on mountain bikes (again, Jon and the Beast enjoying lots of time to chat while waiting for me to join them atop the climb).

So, like the previous episode, I'm once again motivated. Motivated to ride strongly, to avoid the shame of barely being able to finish a 35 miler. To that end, I took a longer route into work this morning, a route with more climbing and miles. I've eaten my year's helping of humiliation and I'm hoping it'll keep me fueled up for a long time.

Is it Spring yet??!!

Sure feels like it is...

Yesterday was a beautiful 60 degree day here in the land of BCS Euphoria. I had determined that I wouldn't let a day away from work go wasted and managed to slip in a 2 hour ride in the late afternoon.

As I climbed out of the hole in the mountain in which we live, I thought I might be feeling pretty good, a few minutes later as I summited at Col du Station de Essénce, I was convinced I was going to have to get some climbing in because who knew when my legs would feel this good again.

I met up with my youngest child, Molly, at the Lakeshore trail and we rode to the other end together. It's only 2.5 miles each way, but it's been a long time since she rode and her legs were sore (she claimed). When it was over, she wanted to do it again, but I knew it wouldn't be as nice as the first time, since the legs were sore. We'll do longer next Saturday. But she had fun, and that's what's important, right?

Leaving her to catch a ride back home with her mom (oh settle down, Cathy was waiting at the end with the car to take her), I headed out on a short tour of Mountain Brook. I managed several shortish steep climbs with some effort, and noticed on Dell (a nice steepish climb to the top of Shades Mountain) that I wasn't feeling quite as good as I had previously thought I was...but the weather was so nice that I didn't care. After descending Cherokee, and then descending Smyer, I got my first look at the gate that was erected to keep cyclists from using a certain parking lot to get to the bottom of Smyer. It's sad to see that despite many level heads trying to work out a way to keep out access open, a few pinheads managed to screw it up for everybody. And I do mean pinheads on both sides of this issue, pinhead riders who refused to accept the property owner's requests to stay away until the issue was resolved, and the pinheads who work in the office building who were threatened by spandex clad hordes traversing their parking area.

Anyway, climbing Smyer was actually not too bad. I pushed it hard at times and got the speed ramped up, but couldn't sustain the effort for more than a few seconds at a time. But all in all, I think the fitness will be coming back this season. I was looking at my riding logs (which I have going back nearly 10 years) and noticed that my previously worst season (before this one) was followed up by one of my strongest seasons ever. Of course, that was before baseball and football became part of our lives, but I'll just have to find a way to work around those things.

The only downside to yesterday's ride is that it left me without the legs to ride to work this morning (as I had planned). They're sore, but it's a good sore.

One Commute, hold the ice

It was cold this morning. 15 degrees as I wheeled out of the driveway, bundled up and feeling like the Michelin man.

I still froze the whole way to the office...especially on the downhills. But at least the lack of moisture for the past few days meant I didn't have any ice on the roads to deal with (unlike last week, when it was all over the place)...so I had that going for me.

Still nice to be out burning calories and putting in a few miles anyway. At least it was sunny.

Over the river and through the woods...

The day before Christmas Eve I returned to the MTB with a ride out at OMSP. It wasn't as nice as the day before, weather-wise, but it wasn't bad. Just overcast.

Jon joined the Beast and I once again, and we left the South trailhead, riding the trail clockwise. I love the first section of this trail, lots of twists and turns with short climbs and descents...it's a nice fast section of singletrack.

As the day before, I struggled to keep up with the clearly stronger riders (Jon and Jeff) on the climbs, especially the climb up to Peavine Falls road from the North Trailhead, but I learned long ago that when I'm riding with the Beast, I simply let him ride off the front if that's what he wants to do...if I try to match him, I'm going to kill myself sooner. So I let him go, set my own rythm and work my way along, getting a good workout that leaves me enough to survive later.

Jon impressed me by cleaning through Blood Rock, though never having seen it before. I opted to walk through rather than risk a fall, since I was effectively riding with one hand. On the plus side, I killed the downhill section before and after Blood Rock and really had a great time.

Halfway through the final section, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, there were signs pointing to a new trail, and it appeared (to me) that the old MTWR was closed for some reason. Turns out it wasn't closed, but I was going too fast to read the sign, so I made the turn onto the new trail. Soon we found ourselves in a mud bog that was both long and deep. Then a creek without a bridge. It appears we had found the new trail that is being cut around the northwest side of the lake that will eventually cross the dam and link with the South Trailhead. It wasn't too long, and we ended up back at the parking area after fooling around in the weeds for a while.

We were pleasantly surprised to see that there have been changing stalls, and a bike wash station built near the parking area. We really liked having the chance to wash the mud off the bikes before heading home. A very nice touch.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy doing the loop out there. I've got to get on the MTB more often. Last year I had ridden at Oak Mountain most Saturdays since early September, but this was my first time out this year. It's a good workout, and I need more of that.

And it was a pleasure to have Jon along, as he experienced southern mountain biking for the first time. I think he had as much fun as we did. I hope we get the chance to do this ride again when I'm more fit to keep up.

Holiday Road

Wasn't that the name of the song in "Christmas Vacation"? Anyway, it was 3 days before Christmas, and Jon was in town from Utah. The morning broke on a beautiful sunny day. The weather channel app on my iPhone said it would be 61 before the day was over, so I happily tossed my tights back into the drawer and finished putting things together for the ride.

On my way out the door, downstairs heading into the garage, I smelled a funny odor...I asked by two oldest boys to make sure they cleaned their bathroom. But then decided to go see why it smelled so badly. The floor, and the tub were filled with backed up...you know what. After putting the two teenagers in charge of clean-up and taking on "get a plumber here pronto" duties for myself, I finally headed out to pick up Jon about 30 minutes late. I wasn't too worried about it, I knew we had plenty of daylight to ride with, and a little later start meant warmer temps as well.

We finally hooked up with Doug and the Beast at our predetermined meeting spot, out at 280 and 119. Got Jon's loaner adjusted to fit, and headed out.

Because the Beast was in town, and we were only a short ride from his favorite hill, I was resigned to the fact that we would indeed be climbing Hugh Daniel drive, from the Greystone side. Words cannot express how much I loathe that hill. The pitch constantly changes, and the easiest parts are 8-9%. I just can't ever get a good rythym going on it. After that climb and down the other side, we headed southwest and down through the Narrows, which is a particularly scenic road that has no traffic and a nice little river running along next to it. Heading down 43 toward Vandiver, I found that I was having a really tough time keeping up. Months of no riding were paying off for me in exactly the way I expected. My superior Mass/Strength ratio helped me close the gap on the downhills of the rollers, only to lose it again when the road turned up.

Finally pulling into the BP station at Vandiver, I pulled out my phone and started checking to see what was happening with the plumbing disaster. I also grabbed a plastic bag, put ice in it, and iced down my nagging elbow for 15 minutes while Jon, Doug, and the Beast all did a little loop that added some mileage to their ride. I met them at the top of Coosa Mountain, where they had already descended and climbed back up the north side from Dunavant.

We headed down and I think Jon was a bit surprised with the short but steep climb after the descent back up to the "town" of Dunavant. We turned west again and after riding 41 past Shoal Creek, headed back up Hugh Daniel (the side we had descended earlier), then down the other side and back to the cars.

A good ride, that motivated me tremendously to do something about getting back in shape. Jon was strong and didn't appear to have much trouble keeping up, so I'm told he had a good time and learned a little bit about what it's like to ride in the south.

All in all, you couldn't have asked for better weather, or friends to ride with.

Holiday Riding

Okay. I'm fed up. I've finally decided to ignore whatever shape my body is in and work at doing something to improve my fitness regardless of the lack of complete functionality. To that end, this past week, I started riding my bike again, and keeping track of what I eat to better keep control of my caloric intake every day.

So far, even with holiday eating, I'm down 3500 calories from my budget this week. My goal is to lose 20 pound over the next 20 weeks. This seems reasonable...no? I'm using "Lose-It" for my iPhone...the app I used last year to lose some extra weight before our cruise so I could eat away without worry while on vacation. It worked for me then, so it should work for me now.

How am I down 3500 calories? Riding. After riding to and from work on Monday, on Tuesday I did a 35 mile road ride with the Beast, Doug, and Jon. We had a great day with spectacular weather (low 60's, sunny, light breeze), and some strong climbs, and lots of rollers. Yeah, I spent most of the day off the back, but it still felt good to be riding again. Wednesday we rode the loop out at Oak Mountain State Park...a tough mountain bike ride, technical with a long steep climb, and fun fun fun descents on twisty single-track.

I took the rest of the week away from excercise, but I'm back to it tomorrow with a lunchtime swim.

On the Road Again...

I haven't been on the bike since October 3. It's not been any fun. I find I sometimes need external motivation, and three things have conspired this week to provide that for me.

1) Jon, of Lactic Acid Threshold, is in town for a wedding, and we're going to get a couple of rides in while he's here. I've never ridden with Jon, and while on any normal day, he would kick me all over the road, I'm hoping to use the home court advantage to keep the humiliation to a tolerable degree. We'll ride MTB at Oak Mountain, and a do a road ride, both with the Beast.

2) I stepped on the scale two days ago and discovered that I was cursed with an additional 12 pounds, aquired since returning from a cruise back in March. It's got to come off. No wonder I feel so tired lately.

3) That bright round disc in the sky has returned, and I'd better take advantage of it while it's here. Who knows when we'll start getting rained upon again, and how many weeks it will last before seeing sunshine again.

So, with that in mind, I put on every layer of cold weather gear I owned this morning for my "in the 20s" commute/first ride in nearly 3 months. Turns out I didn't need all that layering as the aforementioned 12 pounds insulated me sufficiently.

In short, the ride hurt. From the first mile of 8% climbing to get away from my house, to the little rollers along 10th South, it was as if I had never ridden before.

I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to the ride home tonight.

My Favorite Weather

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, cool and sunny with a cloudless sky. A perfect day for a nice easy 35 with Jake. It feels good to be back out riding again, after an endless summer of injury.

Where did the summer go?

It's been a loooong time since I've been on my bike. May's 3 State 3 Mountain put me off the bike for 3 weeks. Just as I as ready to start riding again, the weather went bad, and I had a crash on my scooter that seperated my left shoulder, bruised ribs, hip and knee. That meant no riding for 6 weeks (according to my doctor, I was planning on 4). The next set-back came early in July while I was at the lake with family for a week. I decided I'd go ahead and waterski. Overcompensating for the shoulder, I managed to tear muscle away from my ribs, which has only this past week stopped hurting enough to let me sleep on that side.

So. Summer is gone. And it's been several months since I spent any time at all on my bike. Sure, I've put in 5 miles here and there (about 3 times over the past month), but nothing to write about.

So I went this morning with some friends. They took it easy on me. We did 33 miles. At times it was faster than I would have liked, but that's just the way it goes. I suffered on the climbs (my shoulder hurt a bit when I would pull on the bars just the right way), and my legs were quite sore when I climbed the stairs after getting home. It's been a long time since I felt that burn.

I like it.

Wet

Saturday was the 3 State 3 Mountain ride in Chattanooga. The weather forecast when I left Friday afternoon was for a typical summer type day, with 50% chance of rain in the late afternoon. Since I planned to be finished and long gone on my way home before late afternoon, I figured it was going to be a nice day.

Following baseball practice (my Dodgers are 8-3-1, and have won 5 in a row by the way), I got off to a late start when I couldn't find the wrench I need to attach my rack to the van's hitch mount. Cathy found it for me, and I left to pick up Jake. Discovering along the way that I forgot the GPS mount. So Jake and I headed back to my place to retrieve it. In other words, an already late start got later by the minute.

Finally out of Birmingham, and on our way, The Beast called wondering where we were. We were about an hour short of Chattanooga, just outside of Gadsden. 5 minutes later, it started raining. Then it began to rain harder. I had the wipers on as fast as possible and couldn't see a thing. I started checking the weather radar on my iPhone (love that feature) and discovered huge bands of orange and red and yellow stretching all the way to Arkansas. Sigh. Maybe a miracle would happen.

The next morning, it was barely raining at all. Encouraged, we headed off with 2500 other riders through downtown Chattanooga. We were near the front, feeling good, even though it was beginning to rain a bit harder. Then The Beast had a flat. We'd gone maybe 3 blocks. We pulled over and changed that flat in less than 3 minutes. Hundreds of riders had passed us, but we were still well within the group. We jumped out and started off again. Less than 2 blocks later, The Beast was stricken with another flat. Again, a very fast change and back into the group, but near the back this time. Heading past AT&T field (where the Lookouts play), Jake had a puncture. His tire was a little harder to change, but eventually it was repaired and while inflating it, the tube blew. So we pulled the whole thing apart again, and installed our last tube. So, if you're keeping score at this point, it's now raining pretty hard, we've gone less than 1.5 miles, and had 4 flat tires in our group of 4 riders. There was talk of packing it in right there, but...

Finally on the bikes again, a few blocks later, we passed a bike shop, which opened for us to replenish our tube and CO2 cartridge supply. Jake and I also got cheap rain jackets...the clear rubber/plastic kind that we discovered kept the rain out, but the sweat in. I know.

We made it to the outskirts of Chattanooga, without another rider anywhere in sight. All 2496 riders (besides ourselves) were up the road. We were dead last. A motorcycle support guy pulled up alongside us and warned us about some railroad tracks up ahead. He said they'd had several crashes there and suggested we walk across. When we came to them, I pulled my right leg over to the left side of my bike and coasted across them, ready for the bike to slip. Jake on the other hand, chose not to dismount, and sure enough, he went down. I looked back to see him picking himself up and trying to get going again.

As the first climb began at mile 10 (Suck Creek Mountain), the rain was falling pretty hard, but things seemed to be looking up as far as making some headway on putting some miles behind us. This climb lasts 5 miles, and 3 miles into it, the bottom fell out and it couldn't have rained any harder. There was lightning and thunder, and I'll admit that being on a bicycle near the top of a mountain in such conditions was not exactly comfortable. I'm no coward, but I have a healthy respect for things that can kill me...like lightning.

All along the climb, we had been passing riders. We probably passed 2 or 3 hundred on our way up. Now we started seeing large numbers of riders coming back down the mountain heading back in (abandoning). I have to admit, a dry, warm car was an enticing thought at that point, but we kept on going.

Skipping way ahead, to mile 45...my knee had been bothering me for about 10 miles. By this point it was almost unbearable. In the cold and wet, it had never warmed up properly (and I'm too stupid to bother to stretch properly before I ride). We had a discussion as a group and decided that I'd head off and do the 100K route (63 miles) while they finished the full 100 miles. So we split up at that point. About a mile into the shorter route, I decided to abandon that plan and go back and finish the full 100 miles too. I rode back and rejoined the 100 mile route.

About a mile into that, my chain broke. I took that as a sign I was making the wrong choice. I started walking back hoping a support vehicle would be along soon, when another rider offered to help my fix my chain. We got it together and I managed to make it back to the finish without it breaking again.

It isn't the way I'd hoped to do the ride this year, but sometimes things happen in a way you don't expect. On the plus side, there were Physical Therapists at the finish who finally pointed me in the direction of what is causing my knee problems. Hopefully, if I break my bad habit of not stretching and start building better flexibility (particularly my IT Band, which is causing my knee pain), I should have it beat.

I'm hoping to enjoy the full ride next year.

Yeah, it's been a while...

But I have been riding...some. I've been mostly doing the commute to work and back, interrupted by frequent days on end of rain and storms. Then a cruise to the Bahamas took me off the bike for 10 days, and added some of the weight I'd been working so hard to lose (admittedly, so that I could enjoy the cruise without so much worry).

But back in Birmingham and back on the bike now for a few rides. I did 4 days of the work commute last week (Tue, Wed, Thur, and Fri). I had some vague plan to work a ride in around B's baseball practice on Saturday, but nothing concrete until Jake called me and set up a ride for early Saturday morning.

I arrived at the appointed start as the sun was coming up, and was completely unprepared for the cold morning. After JB showed up and I repaired a flat on his rear tire, we took off, and the cold became freezing. At least until the sun started shining over the ridge we were riding next to.

I was a bit curious how this ride would go. Usually Jake and JB, who are runners, very fit, and 10 years younger than me are off the front on these rides, especially the climbs. But when the road turned uphill on 25 toward Sterrett, I found myself riding away from them on the front. When we got to the final climb, up Hugh Daniels Drive, once again, riding away on the front (and the hill didn't seem quite as steep (it's 16% at the top) as it did the last time I rode it with them).

All in all, it was a good week, and I'm encouraged with where I am fitness-wise with 6 weeks to go before 3 State 3 Mountain.

Starting off right

I slept late yesterday...up late New Year's Eve and into the morning, so it was around noon when I finally started putting my stuff together for an afternoon ride at Oak Mountain. Unfortunately, most of my important stuff was awol. So I ended up leaving without it.

JB and I met up and started a nice comfortable pace. It didn't take long before we stopped and I pulled my tights and stuffed them in my pocket. Now wearing a short sleeve jersey and shorts, I was still very comfortable. It wasn't hot by any stretch, but it was warm enough that summer wear was working. As I said to JB along the way, let's see you do this on January 1 in Minnesota (from where he moved last summer).

JB's headset loosened up a bit so we stopped to tighten it (one of my "essentials" that I did manage to find was my multi-tool). 30 seconds after stopping for that, he called out that he had a flat. One of my "essentials" that I was unable to find was my pocket pump. Since he didn't have one either (the day just gets better) we were out of luck, although I did have a spare tube. Another rider came along and he let us borrow his to air up the repaired tire and we were off again.

Climbing the jeep road up from the North Trailhead, I noticed that it seemed as though they had taken a bulldozer to the trail and scraped up all the rocks that used to bedevil me on this climb. It was nice and smooth, at least up to the bridge, which made the climbing much easier. I decided to walk through Blood Rock after cracking my elbow trying to ride through it last month. No sense starting out 2009 with a bruise, right?

JB crashed hard on a stair step set of rocks on Johnson's Mountain. He planted his front wheel, it stopped, he kept going, landing square on his forehead, opening a small gash, and taking a large chunk out of the front of his new helmet.

My legs had that first twinge of cramping as I climbed the last hill up the girlfriend trail that leads to Mr. Toad's section. But we had ridden pretty steadily (effort-wise) and I wasn't surprised to have them notice the effort and protest a bit.

It was a beautiful afternoon for riding, and we had a great time. Best of all, I feel like I started off the season right, with a good 2 hour effort. It's raining today, but tomorrow is supposed to be sunny again. I think I'll take the Tarmac out on the road in the morning for a couple of hours.

My resolution for 2009, ride like I'm 35 again.

Lean and Mean

Yeah, I wish.

No it's not a description of me, it's the Spinerval workout I did on the rollers last night while C was at BCC rehearsal.

A few years ago, 7 of our family all did a triathlon together. Part of the swag was a DVD of a workout program called Spinervals. Everyone gave theirs to me. So last night I was looking through the DVD case thinking that I'd stick to the easier, but longer, workouts. Then I saw the workout called Lean and Mean and thought, hmm, I've never done this one. I don't even know what it covers. So I decided to give it a try.

It was a thigh burner. I'll definitely be doing it again. I'm thinking it'll be my regular Monday night workout.

In other news, I've done a couple of rides recently, nothing major, but one two weeks ago out at was epic only due to the extreme cold. JB, The Beast, Doug, and I did the OMSP loop. It was around 20 degrees when we began and didn't warm up much by the time we finished the loop. JB left when we reached the North Trailhead (he had to work, apparently there's a great demand for Botox treatments on Saturdays). The rest of us continued on up the climb to Peavine Ridge where the wind tried to blow us off the side, and ensured that despite the sunshine, we wouldn't notice any additional warmth. I cracked my elbow hard against a ledge at Blood Rock, which summarily ended my attempt to make it through without putting a boot on the ground. It was a good ride, and I noted that my climbing, while not "fast", was steady enough to maintain gaps without letting them get out of hand.

On Thanksgiving morning, Jake and JB and I did the TNPT route. It wasn't too cold, but the low 30's means bundling up enough to take a bit of speed off. What normally takes 1:45 took us 2 hours. Add in the climb up Smyer and across Shades Crest and when I got home it was a solid 2:30 workout.

The best news of all, for me, is that since the Monday prior to Thanksgiving, I've lost 3 pounds. 11 more to go to race weight!

Early Morning Cold

The best way to combat a cold Saturday morning is to meet some friends for hill repeats on Smyer. I decided to do alternating intervals high cadence, low gear and big gear, low cadence. 2 minutes for each. Jake and John and I did 5 repeats each (2 miles each climb). By the time the local club boys (and girl) came along at the end of our last repeat, my legs were shot. But I hooked up with Dirt Dog and the rest for the ride back home, since they were headed the same way. It was a good Saturday morning...but I'm still struggling to find a regular routine of training that doesn't get clobbered by an increasingly busy non-cycling schedule.

A Little Better Day

This morning I met JB at Oak Mountain and we did a modified version of the trail, starting with Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, the Johnson's Mountain. Then up the Peavine Falls road to the fire road which leads to the top of the BUMP trail (where Blood Rock is located), down the BUMP trail, back onto the road and finishing up with Mr. Toad's back to the parking lot.

It was a good morning to ride...the weather was overcast, but it wasn't threatening to rain, just cloudy. Temps were moderate, and there wasn't any wind at all. It was almost perfect.

It was a better ride for me today than last week. I felt a little strained on Peavine Falls Road. I still need to work on dialing in my position on the MTB, and better fitness will help as well. I've got to excercise more than once a week if I want to get any stronger.

On The Trail

Saturday I went to Oak Mountain State Park to ride my mountain bike. It's been quite a while since I've done any off-road riding. It was also my first time on a bike since Hunstville two weeks earlier.

My friend John and I went together. We ran short on time and had to skip Johnson's Mountain, but otherwise, we had a good time. It was a tough ride, but if I can motivate myself better, I'll start riding faster.

But it was a beautiful fall day in Alabama and even if I'd crawled the trail, it would have been a pleasure to be outside on such a pretty day.

Huntsville 2008

Saturday was the annual Huntsville Century. The Beast arrived Friday evening to spend the night, just as I was finishing up a tear down, thorough cleaning, and rebuild of my bike. He brought me a wheel to use after I pulled a spoke nipple through the rim of my rear. I mounted a tire and put the wheel on and enjoyed the nice shiny silver drivetrain parts. I love a clean bike!

The next morning I went outside at o'dark thirty to load up the bikes to find it had been raining. Not such a big deal...the forecast was for partly cloudy and 80 degrees. Just a storm that had been passing through. Jake showed up, and Doug just a few minutes later, while the Beast stumbled through his morning routine. All loaded up, we pulled out for the 2 hour drive north.

It started raining. Then it started raining harder. I pulled up the weather radar on my iPhone and there were big orange/red spots covering up Hunstville! This was really looking like a bad day. Eventually, it slacked off, and when we got to the start, it was just drizzling. Following a quick change of clothes, and a not so quick wait in line to use the facilities, we were off.

This year we started mid-pack. The pace settled out and we were having a good time sorting out our legs and chatting with Jake (who was on his first century). It was still drizzling lightly, and my cleaning efforts from the previous evening were entirely negated as my ride was soon covered with mud splatters thrown up by my own tires, as well as those of riders around me.

The Beast suddenly realized that the group had split and there was a faster group a quarter mile up the road. Clearly that wouldn't do, so we began moving up until we were clear of the group we were riding in, and we began to chase. We closed down the gap quickly enough, and were soon riding with the first group on the road. As we settled into the rythm, I felt compelled to mention to Beast that I didn't consider the post ride meal to be sufficiently high quality to inspire me to arrive at the finish with the first group, but that he was free to get there as quickly as he wanted.

As the miles went by, our group began to dwindle. At some point, Jake and Doug had fallen out of the group and as I looked back over the fields on a left turn, I could see no riders within a mile of us. The Beast and I discussed it and decided we'd wait at the second feed stop for them to show, but we (especially me) felt pretty good and wanted to get as many miles in at this racing pace as possible before backing off to finish the ride. I kept telling myself I should ease up, that I'd pay for my efforts later, but I just couldn't do it. The drive to be the first one to reach the Elora Pentacostal Church (where food and drink supplies awaited) was just too strong. I wasn't first, but I was with them when we got there.

The Beast and I began riding back toward the start after 15 mintues had passed with no sign of Jake or Doug. We soon found them making their way toward us. Reloaded, and relieved, we headed out for the Lexie Crossroads Steak and Seafood house, where the third food stop was located. I was feeling the effects of covering the first 35 miles at an average 22mph for the most of this leg. My glycogen levels were depleted, and so I had to focus on taking in more energy sources than I was using, to get myself back to better levels. Lots of longish rollers and permanent rest stops (cemetaries) populate this part of rural southern Tennessee. It's scenic and, oh by the way, the rain had stopped about 15 miles into the ride, we were dried off and the weather, while cloudy, was very nice.

At Lexie Crossroads, we found the grill going, complete with the bacon wrapped filet, but in a new wrinkle this year, also bacon wrapped scallops. The beef was wonderful, and while I normally love scallops, the combination of hard aerobic excercise and seafood odor just don't quite mix. 18 miles later, through the northern-most loop in the Valley That Time Forgot we arrived back at Lexie Crossroads for yet another surf-n-turf snack before tackling the last 40 miles. One long climb awaits just a 1/2 mile from the stop, and then it's (theoretically) smooth sailing from there.

With 30 miles to go, my left knee started to bother me. I should mention that I'd fallen and hit it into the elevator door at my office on Friday, twisting it and making little pop sound. But after a few steps, it seemed okay so I didn't give it another thought. Until now. Every mile that went by it hurt worse. It finally got to the point that on any little rise I would be ejected out the back of the group like a paper bag out a car window. The Beast would roll back and help me get up some of the long rollers, while I was okay for a pedal stroke or six on the shorter ones and could handle those okay, for a while.

With 10 miles to go, every pedal stroke my knee felt like it was going to explode. Again, The Beast was an invaluable ally at this stage, making sure that I didn't fall too far behind, moderating the pace when I asked and generally keeping a positive attitude.

In the end, I finished. 107 miles in 5:46. It kind of makes me wonder what kind of time I lost from my knee bothering me. We finished this ride fast, but not as fast as we could have, so I'll avoid elevators next year and we'll see what we can do.

My ride with a TDF Champ

Just because a couple of lawyers lack the mental capacity to understand the science doesn't mean that Floyd Landis is a doper. On the other hand, just because one lawyer does undertand the basic freshman physics behind the assertion that the test result was flawed, doesn't mean he isn't a doper. The point of this, is that ASO and the UCI/WADA/USADA not-withstanding, Floyd Landis is a Tour De France Champion, who won (in 2006) after unleashing one of the most incredible breakaways in Tour history to gain back most of an 8 minute deficit. What Floyd did that day (Stage 17) is bigger than 59-0.

Saturday morning, Floyd Landis joined the weekend version of the Tuesday Night Pain Train. I had the chance to ride alongside Floyd for quite a bit of the ride, we chatted and I listened as he talked with other people in the group. At one point, a rider came the other way and hollered, "is this the Landis group?" Floyd who was right next to me suppressed the urge to respond, "I think so".

We took it easy (the way we used to) out through the neighborhoods of Mountain Brook and Irondale. Floyd rode near the back of the group, and camly drank his Starbucks at 18 mph, while carrying on multiple conversations.

By the time we hit Ruffner Road, the coffee was gone, and the caffiene had begun to kick in as Floyd moved to the yellow line and went to the front. I stayed glued to his wheel as the pace continued to increase. Coming over a small (to me, most likely un-noticed by Floyd) rise in the road, I shot over to the left and went as hard as I could. Going down the other side, I looked back to see a small group of 6 riders chasing me hard, Floyd camly sitting in with them. Further back, I could see the effects of the stick of dynamite I had just tossed into the group, as they began to break up, some chasing the chasers, others deciding they were done, or couldn't follow.

I was caught and the sat in on Floyd's wheel again until the last hill on Ruffner, where once over the top, Floyd came past me like a G5 passing a private single-engine, and eventually I lost sight of him for good.

I rode along by myself for a few minutes as some of the other riders began to catch me while I recovered from an effort I hadn't put in for a looong time.

My biggest impression of Floyd is that he is a geniunely nice guy. I spent nearly 30 minutes with him talking and listening to him talk. He was kind and gracious to everyone who approached him. He offered compliments and positive comments to everyone. I contrast this with talk that I've heard about some of the other successful riders and "world-class" athletes, and some that I've experienced first-hand. I put Floyd even ahead of Mario Cippollini (with whom I've also ridden), who probably only suffered from a language barrier that made him seem a little pre-occupied.

Anyway, to sum up...I rode with Floyd, Floyd is a nice guy, Floyd is very fast. I hung with him as long as I could. It wasn't enough, I wish I could have hung longer, but it was fun anyway.

Sometimes you're the nail...

Only one word can describe tonight's pain train.

Ouch!

I missed last weeks first pullout (coaching the Dodgers that night), but I thought it would be much the same as last years weekly sell-your-first-born, kill-your-own-grandmother-to-get-ahead ride. I was wrong.

Within the first mlle it became clear that this year's pace is designed not just to drop those who can't keep up, but to kill them first, then spit them from the rear.

Last year it was always my goal (while riding with the A group) to stay with them through the neighborhoods and to the end of Ruffner Road.

This year it looks like the goal is going to be to arrive at the neighborhoods with the group. Never mind staying with them the whole way through.

Why was it so fast? I really have no idea. I'll say this though, it isn't very often that you look over next to you and see a rainbow jersey (a world champion) riding next to you. I guess this makes two WC's I've ridden with (Mario Cippollini at the Tour De Georgia in 04).

Tonight I was the nail. Give me a few weeks. I'll start swinging the hammer.