June 25th Ride Report

Had another good ride today. Matt, Zewack and myself did the 3 man loop. It seem appropriate since there were only 3 of us this evening. The funny thing about this loop is that no mater how many start there is always a group of 3 that ends it together. It can be a challenging loop with several climbs and lots of places to really put the hammer down.

I felt really good again today and had no heart problems either. Did a couple sprints and was able to maintain a good rhythm on the climbs, didn't attack them just steady.Looking foreword to the next couple of days, I have several big rides planned.

On a side not on the approach to the climb on Fulton Run (between 2 and 3 miles out) ,I heard Matt exclaim, grill up. I had already had food on my mind and pictured somebody standing by the road handing out hamburgers. Unfortunately he only meant that the grate from somebodies grill had fallen off and was laying beside the road. Now I have a good friend, we call him the beachcomber, that frequently gathers things he finds while riding. However this grate did not meet his criteria for picking things up, it definitely would not fit into my jersey pocket. I thought though that it would be funny and maybe set the bar a little higher.......

Bike Wars Episode 2

After the onset of the clone wars the Jedi Knights are spread throughout the universe, Luke Bikewalkers Droid, jbcj2(cousin to c3po), continues his strategy to collect debris from throughout the universe, to ultimately dump it onto Bike Vader and the clone armies, thus destroying both.

Throughout his journeys he had a set of rules that he followed that had been passed down through Jedi lour, the matter should fit in the Jedi Jersey pocket or at least be easy to carry. this rule had haunted him for many years for he new that the key piece to his ultimate goal, to find and retrieve the sacred Barbecue grill grate. This would be used as a distraction for Lord Vader and the Clone Army, a picnic lunch of sorts. Something to distract them from there goals and temporarily lower their guard for the dumping of the crushing debris. Now you can only imagine how much jbcj2 had to find one pocket full at a time but he is a hard worker and has a keen eye.

Unknown to jbcj2 in another part of the universe another Jedi knight had heard of jbcj2's plight and while cycling had come across the much coveted barbecue grate, and ignoring the Jedi cread, retreived the grate thus allowing years of planning to be set into motion........

Weekly Update

So with my best efforts I have been unable to post on a daily basis bu I will try Harder. This weeks rides went really well. I am finally starting to feel like myself again. Like i have said before my affib has gone into what I call remission, and I am pretty sure up to this point that it can be attributed to my fitness level as well as a couple of other factors.

My training and riding has been becoming more consistent with a good mix of hard and easy days with good rest in between. The variety in riding and rest between is something that was lacking last season. I get over trained and my heart lets me know.

This weeks rides went very well as I said. Nicol, Hammer, Zewack and I headed out Wednesday evening for a 30 miler. We did Luscousborough with a Power plant add on. Good long efforts to the power plant all to be rewarded with a 50 mph descent back into Coral. Did the Dark side climb to Luscousborough (3+ mi.) the another windy, 3+mil descent back into Homer City. Then some rollers back to Indiana. Hammer wont let up at all, although Nicol broke his spirit a couple of times on the big climb. I only noticed a little arrhythmia when I got back to the shop or it may just be that i was a little hypoxic.

Thursdays ride went well also. Nicol, myself and Mat did the Dixonville loop. After many interruptions and a quick stop by my house to get dressed for the ride we headed out airport road. Lots of good little climbs on this road but Nicol and I hammered along pretty steady, only slowing occasionally at the top of the climbs to let mat catch back on. Once we drooped back down onto 286 we really turned on the gas since this was mostly flat or downhill Matt was able to hang. We then jumped onto 403 to Dixonville and hammered down again. this section of 403 has a slight grade so you can really keep a good rhythm. Nicol and I dropped Matt pretty quick and switched on and off on the front. e were almost to Dixonville when I stood up and really dropped the hammer on the last climb, that was all for me for a few minutes. Sometimes when I put forth an extra effort my heart will jump into Affib, and of course it did but only for about a minute. we soft pedales to bar slope the put the hammer down again. I had no further problems during the ride and was able to at least try to beat Nicol to all of the township signs but I just don't have as much snap in my sprint as he does.

Brian and I did an easy 13 on Saturday after closing the store. I really miss him being around. Brian is a great trainign partner and a really good friend. We did double bridges JRA(just riding around) with a couple of little efforts. My legs felt like lead but no other problems.

Today's ride was phenomenal. We did a variation of the Plumville loop. Zewak, Fanning and myself headed out around 1. We started out pretty easy, but once we hit Marting road i just kind of exploded off the front. I was just riding but slowly but surly riding the 2 of them off my wheel. the gap kept getting bigger so i kind of started to soft pedal a little bit, or at least I thought I was. I made the turn onto 110 and headed to Creekside, still no sign of my riding partners. Turned onto 954 and still no Fanning and Zewack, man I love it when I'm feeling good. I just kept riding, just keeping a pace that felt good, noot too hard as to explode but hard enough to keep the others at bay. Fanning finally caught up to me in Plumville, he was close a couple of times before then but really faded on the climbs. Why could i have not felt this good at the Erie TT last weekend. (cant remember if I blogged about that one or not) . Anyway Tom and I road together for the rest of the ride. we came back across Reading run Road to Bell School and dropped back onto Five points road. We then proceeded to Davis raod and cut across Washington Church back to 119. Road 119 back to chambersville Road to Creekside, back on Fulton Run to Indiana. I really had no trouble dropping tom today if I even tried a little, I really felt like my old self today and that is outstanding, and hopefully it will last. I was a little Hypoxic again once i got home though and did have a slight arrhythmia when i arrive home but only for a minute or 2.

Erie Time Trial (Fatheres Day 2008)

Had a really great time this past weekend at the 2008 Rick Gorzynski Time Trial . Had a great turnout for Our Team, Ag3r/Indianacycling.com. Myself, Brian, Henry, Doug, T. Lyle, Randy, Rich, Ray,Hunter, Shaffer and Hicky all made the trek to the isle and had a great time.

The race venue is pretty cool, although kind of a short race. There was a great turnout though, and the weather conditions were perfect. Not to warm with a light breeze.

I had a pretty god ride, although not as well as I had hoped for. I had pretty much figured that I would be able to break the 30 minute time barrier on such a flat course and great conditions but my system had other plans for me. I am still not 100% sure that my heart went into Affib, although there was something wrong. I did about 20 minutes on the trainer before heading out and really tried to ease into the ride and was feeling pretty good. I had planed on settling in for the first 3 or 4 miles then gradually turning up the gas as i progressed and really hammer the last 3 or 4.

About 3 miles in though I started to loose my breath, this is not a new phenomena for me, but it is only the 2nd or 3rd time it has happened. The other times it has happened my legs have felt fine, I just had no air to make them go. Normally in Affib my legs go completely to mush and this wasn't exactly the case this time. I will have to continue to monitor this phenomenon and really pay attention to what is happening. The other problem I had was numbness in the saddle. This is a totally new thing for me, I have never been numb in the nether regions on a bike before so I was pretty surprised. Of course the bike I was on was borrowed and was a bit too big for me. This was the other thing that had an affect on my time, I had to stand several time to allow the boys to get some blood flow, at least now i can sympathise with those that have this problem regularly.

Overall I had a really great time and look foreword to the next TT.

Riding On Borrowed Time.....

Time trial Bike that is...Look Familiar Brian

Well this was my second voyage on a time trial bike and I must say that I was impressed. Now the route I took wasnt the best for this type of bike, and the bike deffinately does not fit me right but i was able to make due. the ride the day before was much better and flatter but i had spent most of my time trying to get the bike dialed in for this coming wekends erie time trial.

I did 50 miles from Cambria county into Indiana count and home. the first portion was pretty hilly but others that were flatter were great fun. Speeding along in the mid to high 20's, when the wind was not in my face, seenmed effortless. even the headwind did not seem quite as bad.

The seering heat was probably the worst thing to deal with on teh day, and the limited water that i could carry made me have to stop a couple of times to refill. No real heart problems today to speek of but had a little flutter near the end. I think it is mostly due to slight dehydration and gatorade type products seem to have an effect as well. I usually use ELITE but did not have any with me.

Riding On Borrowed Time.....

Time Trial Bike that is....Look familiar Brain

Well this was my second voyage on a time trial bike and I must say that I was impressed. Now the route I took wasn't the best for this type of bike, and the bike definitely does not fit me right but i was able to make due. the ride the day before was much better and flatter but i had spent most of my time trying to get the bike dialed in for this coming weekends Erie time trial.

I did 50 miles from Cambria county into Indiana count and home. the first portion was pretty hilly but others that were flatter were great fun. Speeding along in the mid to high 20's, when the wind was not in my face, seemed effortless. even the headwind did not seem quite as bad.

The sering heat was probably the worst thing to deal with on the day, and the limited water that i could carry made me have to stop a couple of times to refill. No real heart problems today to speak of but had a little flutter near the end. I think it is mostly due to slight dehydration and Gatorade type products seem to have an effect as well. I usually use ELITE but did not have any with me.