More riding less blogging.....

So i have been riding more lately. Did 50 on Tuesday, 25 on Saturday and 30 on the TT bike last Friday.

Last Fridays ride was miserable. I went out hare without a warm up and fought to keep my heart beating correctly for most of the ride, so I m not sure if my tt position is bad or if I was just so uncomfortable because of my heart. Brownie, Steve and I did the Tanoma loop and Caught Music Matt just past the prison. Brownie of course is in great form already and Steve is coming along as well. They both did TT's this past weekend, Brownie in Carlisle TT and Steve the Presque Isle TT. Both did pretty well and Brownie added a hill climb TT later in the day.

Brownie and I did a quick twenty five on Saturday morning before heading out to Pro Bikes in Squirrel Hill. What a tremendous shop loaded with eyecandy, and very professional service, I highly recommend.

Tuesdays 50 miler was an awsome ride. Did 50 miles through Marion Center by myself. I tried to talk Nicol into going along, promising a LER, but he was taking a couple of recovery days. So I went alone. Fortunately for nicoll he did not come along becaus it ended up being a pretty fast ride. The MC loop is probably the flatest 50 miles you can do around here, although I still think I had over 2000 feet of climbing. Anyway I hammered the flats sections and paced the climbs. i did not PR the loop but it probably was for April.

Legstrong County invasion part II

So "The Disenchanted One" and I headed out into Armstrong County again yesterday morning. We went out through Conemaugh into Saltsburg, then across 286 to 380. Took 380 back to 819 then into Apollo. Back out Sugar Hollow then across to King Road then out towards Maysville to Edmon. Cut back through Saltsburg to Parkwood then back home. 82 miles with over 5300 feet of climbing for the whole ride, though I must say it felt like much more climbing than that. My legs were really fried form the weeks Vo2 max testing and the other 2.5 hours of testing Monkeyboy put me through, but pushing through the pain is good.

We were supposed to meet up with a couple of other guys in Apollo but we ran into "Scrawny White Pale Guy" just outside of Salstburg and chatted for a while thus throwing our schedule off but I that's OK I haven't seen Dirty mike in a while. He had just finished up a 13 mile run...I guess he isn't having enough knee pain these days. Before we dismissed ourselves he handed off a cliff bar that I later gave to Steve...Thanks mike.
So in the end we ended up finishing at a brisker pace than last weeks climb fest so I guess that means that our off season ,off the bike, on the couch, feeding frenzy type training has paid dividends...NOT. Anyway will probably do a long ride next Sunday as I am meeting Brownie and some of the other team members at the oval in Pittsburgh for some TT training.


Look out Beachcomber........

So one of our team members has a propensity to find and retrieve many numerous and sometimes odd things along his training routes. everything from water bottles to a full on pair of cover-alls. So look out beachcomber there is a new kid in town......









That's right my son found these and they are kids glasses to boot. Now if I can only get him to find his own bikes that would be great.

Well I'm of to hit the spinner for a recovery ride.

And I thought yesterday was bad

So Duane set me up for Vo2 max testing yesterday afternoon. The test went pretty good. For those of you that aren't familiar with Vo2 testing it is a test that is considered the best indicator of cardiorespiratory endurance. As exercise intensity increases so does oxygen consumption. However, a point is reached where exercise intensity can continue to increase without the associated rise in oxygen consumption, this is VO2 Max. In other words how hard can you go before your heart cant get enough oxygen to your muscles to function under stress. Oh ya, and your nose is plugged an there is a device you breath through your mouth with that records data as well. So no drinking, or swallowing for the entire test. It takes only a bout 5 minutes before you start wishing you could at least swallow properly and not nearly that long before you wish you had a drink of water. Oh and thanks Duane for standing there drinking your powerade in front of me while I gasped for air.

Anyway as I said the test was going pretty good til near the end when my heart decided to p-lay tricks on me.I'm not sue exactly at what point it happened but it felt like it started sometime after the next to the last increase in resistance. It was not bad at first but on the last 3 minute interval I was a wreck but I pushed through. I was really disappointed because it totally goofed my reading and I would have really liked to push it to another level. I did however complete the actual battery of test so I am happy with that. I ended up with a reading of 42 and they said that that was probably about 10% under my actual so I was somewhere between 42 and 46 which isn't bad considering.

That was yesterday.....

So today is another day and I really wasn't feeling up to snuff as I do some days but I thought that a ride would cure me. Big mistake....We started out on 6th street and I didn't make it to the first turn...stupid heart. So I told the guys the route and headed for the barn. I probably should have pushed through and kept going but I had some lactic cramping in my neck and just was not into it this evening, so I headed back to the barn

Looking forward to a long ride Saturday. Probably do 80 or so in the morning..

Legstrong county invasion.........

Took Monkeyboy and The Disenchanted One into Armstrong County yesterday. We went out five points to Copper Valley then across old 210 through Girty then into Brick Church. Then back across through Shady plane and into Avenmore. We then proceeded back to Parkwood and finished up on the 3 man loop through Bethel Church then home. All told it was a pretty good ride with lots of climbing and an unrelenting headwind. we ended up with 77 miles with 5160 feet of elevation gain for the ride. We gained most of our elevation in Armstrong County which is to be expected, but by no means the most you will encounter there. It always has amazed me how the rides we do in Indiana are so much flatter.

So I ended up with a pretty good 4 day stretch, no PB by any stretch of the imagination but I did brake 150 miles. I had planned on 200 but Fridays fishing outing put the cabosh on that one. we did 39 on Thursday with 2060 feet of elevation and I did 42 with 2020 feet today. The wind today and the sub 40 deg temp really put the hurt on. I had actually planned to do over 50 but time constraints adn a good meal waiting on me at the end of my ride ....well I think you get the picture.....

Speaking of pictures........

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and maybe even a few laughs. Videos sometimes have the same affect on you as well......

Anyway if I was to just tell you about the sign we saw on our ride yesterday, through rural PA you might believe me. But if I were to tell you that there were 2 of them you would probably raise your eyebrows and say..."yeah right". So we are riding along and Monkeyboy says ..."Hey , did you see that sign back there?" "What sign?" we reply. "The one that says the same thing this one does." So fortunately I had my camera and Monkeyboy and TDO were more than happy to pose. They actually kind of fell over each other to get to it. Anyway here it is.

That's right it says "GAY LOVE"

Enough said :>)

Like fishing in a barrel........

Skipped the ride today and went fishing with my son. A friend of mine keeps a nice sized pond near his house pretty stocked up with trout, bass, perch and such. We scored 6 today, 1 perch, 3 brownies, 1 palomino and 1 rainbow. All but one were really nice sized and we threw the perch back since they tolerate the warm weather better than the trout that will probably not last the summer.

And the spoils of our outing....fresh fish and chips.

Going to do 60 or 70 tomorrow with Matt and maybe Steve and another 60 or 70 on Sunday.

Please don't mistake my compasion for weekness.....

As you blow by me gritting your teeth as I slow down to wait for you. Don't get me wrong, Ill help you fix a flat, Ill stop along the road to adjust your shifting but we wont put up with that crap all summer. BTW you did not ride us off the back this evening we rode you off the front.

Rode with Wallwork, Steve, Blankman and "The Helmet" this evening. I have been sick for five days so I did no expect much tonight,but we lost Blank early on and rolled along pretty good. Steve wasn't feeling very well so we slowed to wait for him and the Helmet blew by us like we were sitting still, because that's basically what we were doing. So we waited on Steve and decided to divert the route (see what yo miss by not hanging with the group). We added Cabbage hill, Washington road and skyline drive to our outing an ended up with around 39 mi. (The helmet only got about 28). It was a good ride with plenty of climbing.

Going fishing in the morning and plan to do another 40 tomorrow. Hoping to do 200 miles, including today, and finishing up on Sunday morning. Might even try to sneak in a century before the end of the month.

I hate the wind

So I was unable to make the Tuesday evening hammerfest but did go out on my own. 38 miles of small chaining, high cadence riding. Did the Eastern Shore Loop in reverse. The ride is definitely harder in this particular direction but there are some pretty good flat sections that would be great with a group. I can remember ever doing this particular ride in a group, at lesat not in recent years. Anyway I had a pretty good ride an was plenty spent from fighting the wind by myself the whole time.

Then came Thursday evenings ride. Monkyboy, Wallwork, Steve and the Helmetless Wonder and myself actually did something other that the IUP standard Tanoma Loop. We actually did the same ride I did Tuesday straight up.

Before we even really got started Wallwork broke a front derailleur cable. So we wound it up and continued on our way. So since he now only had a small chain ring to ride with I also opted for another small chain ring ride....OUCH. It took at least ten miles before Andy and I could shame the rest of the group into doing the same. It is amazing how much harder you have to work to keep up with a guy riding in the big ring when your not. I did go out too hard though and had a heart flutter about two miles in but after that I felt pretty good. I was pretty beat by the end but had the second of two really good base workouts this week so I am not complaining.