Monday, August 25, 2008

the conflict of running

Tonight, the conflict was between the inside of my running shoes and the epidermis that covers my feet. For many weeks i've run without socks, for over two and half weeks i've taken part in the Rocketboy Big Chainring Circus sans chausettes. So, tonight, the first night of Jenni's Half-Marathon training program i figured i was ready to become what i've always dreamt of ... the sockless runner. Well, i was, and i'm not. I slowed down over the last 2+ miles and i'm not sure if it was the lack of fitness, Ryan's increase in body weight, or just the pain in my feet. When i looked down at my white and red Nike's, i noticed there was red on white, where it hadn't been before. BAD NEWS. I took my shoe off and it looked like my foot had met a pirahna or something. Needless to say, i will not continue the sockless runner experiment. I'm going back, get ready sockguy.com

Sunday, August 17, 2008

"Brother, you are some brave!"

That's what the sheriff told me, as i chilled out at the corner of Bluebonnet and Highland at 5:25 am Saturday morning. With only my two meager blinkie lights going, i explained to the officer, "I've got this helmet light, but it runs so hot, i can only turn it on while riding". We laughed and he asked where i was riding to, probably so he could later accurately answer the question, "Where did you last see David Alexander alive?" All went well though, Charles and Norman stood me up, at first i figured it was an initiation rite, to make me ride in the dark by myself, later i deduced that Norm had probably drank too much the night before, which was true. We all regrouped at Alex Box stadium for 6:00, a nice sized group that continued to grow the longer we went. My favorite addition was Ed who greeted us with a deafening "F YOU!" Classic. Anyway, this ride is the bomb, you get 3 hours in before your significant others are even close to awake. Also, i find Baton Rouge is really beautiful in the pitch dark, so that works. Finally, no more being the only guy on a road bike, all these people are just blasting me on their tt machines. Norm put it best, "it feels like you're being motorpaced" except with conversations going on.

Finally, it's really inspirational to see SOOOO many groups out riding before the normally huge 9 am group ride. Our group was big, but we probably saw 4 or 5 groups of 5 to 10 riders going out while we were coming in.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

olympic thoughts

We're completely addicted to Olympic coverage, watching everything including handball and field hockey, it's all good.

A couple of observations though,
synchronized diving, what's up with the synchronized shower footage after each dive? It's the only sport i know of where you're treated to the competitors "cleaning up" after each round. It's odd to say the least.

It was great to watch the girls playing beach volleyball apparently in their underwear, but who would have thought that James Carville would have showed up to represent! Unreal

ridin like an amateur (dumb-ass)

Training races are always filled with ups and downs, tonight was no different.

The turnout was awesome considering we were under a tornado watch. Consequently, winds were everywhere. Right after we started going hard, we were forced to snake our way through a state trooper blocking the road and a tow truck preparing to extract a car out of the ditch. The driver looked to be ok, then we started up again with a huge tailwind at our back.

I know this, b/c i pulled through spinning hard, pulled my shifter a few times and realized i had no more gears. I looked down to see i was going 36 and was now alone. I tried to tuck this deep into my anaerobic consciousness and not think about what implications it might have later when the wind changed.

It wouldn't be long before i found out. Nearing the split my spin stopped working and it went to squares. Winds picked up, Chris kept it honest and voila, i popped off. Ride over in 25 minutes! The fastest i'd been dropped since i was a cat 5! After two training races last week and the crack of dawn ride Saturday, he spin home was probably more of what i needed.

Friday, August 08, 2008

Mitch at the Training Race


Just a few observations from last night's River Road training race

* mitch has never lost a race, been slow or dropped. The last 30 years have been one complex periodization training program culminating in yesterday's training race as the peak


* in the 1970's, mitch was known as Mitch "Dope" Evans. Out of respect, people who ride as fast as him today are called "dopers", it's only a coincidence that they also use epo. no one could ride as fast as mitch clean.


* mitch is so fast, chuck norris tried to roundhouse kick him once and missed


* mitch has tried to grow a beard for the last 10 years but the friction caused by cutting the wind on his tt bike has permanently depilated his face


* i don't think i've ever seen mitch and troy porter in the same room together, coincidence?


* mitch can ride as fast as he did yesterday at any time, but the folks at the levee board asked him to only do it once a year, so that the wash produced by his bike not harm the structural integrity of the levee.


* i asked mitch what he had for lunch yesterday and he replied "Sea Bass", only later did i learn that he had actually eaten Sebastian Alvarez and channeled his unearthly cycling powers into his performance at the training race.


* when i bridged up to mitch and tom, with tre and benny, i told him "there are five of us now". He thought i said, "35 go now" and obliged me with a 35mph pull, such is the power of mitch