Surgery tomorrow….finally!!!

I’ve been off the bike for over four months now and I’m going nuts.   Pretty much all I have been doing is going to work and setting on the couch.   I did have to work a week emptying out my grandma’s house when she passed away a few weeks ago but that is about it.   I’ve gained way too much weight and I am miserable.

Anyway,  I am finally getting my knee surgery tomorrow.   It should be pretty simple.   It is just arthroscopic surgery for a torn meniscus.   The surgery is at 9:00 am so I should be home by noon.

Once all of this is done they are going to decide if I need to have shoulder surgery or if I can get by with some injections.   Should be fun!!!!

Surgery next Friday (the 13th)

Just a quick update, my arthroscopic knee surgery is scheduled for next Friday.  Hopefully within a month after that I will be back on the bike and hopefully getting rid of some of this fat I have acquired.  I’m getting very tired of carrying it around!

Quick update!

Quick update, I suck!  I have been injured since Thanksgiving so I have done anything but set around on my ass getting fatter.  I managed to mess up my knee and shoulder while out riding the dirt bike (KTM 250 XC).  Before that I hadn’t been on a bike in about six weeks because I was having way too much fun on the motorcycle.

Anyway, I got on the scale last night, I’m at a whopping 221 pounds, a personal record!!!! I did manage to get on the trainer last night and I made it 30 minutes. First time on a bike in over three months. Today my knee is absolutely throbbing.

I’m still waiting for the orthopedic surgeon to call me and schedule an appointment. I would like to find out if I am getting surgery or just injections on my shoulder and knee. This setting around doing nothing is getting extremely old. I just don’t understand how people can set around all the time, I’m going out of my freaking mind!!!

On a side note, I do have the home theater / living room rocking.  It now has a 55″ LCD as well as a 106″ HD projector that freaking rocks!  On top of that I have Klipsch speakers and an SVS sub, also have an Onkyo 706 receiver.  I’m extremely happy with it.  If it weren’t for this I would really have gone out of my mind by now.

I’m still alive………

Had a few people ask if I have fallen off of the face of the earth lately.  The answer is yes and no.  I’ve been extremely busy and pretty stressed.  I haven’t been getting in nearly enough riding but more important things have been going on.  There have been some family illnesses, a bunch of stuff going on with the new house, some work stuff, and on top of that I’ve been attempting to be a good, supportive husband.  All in all riding has had to take the back burner.

I’ve been lucky to get out on the bike once every week or two.  I’ve gone as long as three weeks without even turning a pedal.  I’ve gotten slow(er) and fat(ter) over the past few months than I have been since very early in the winter.  I’m currently weighing in at a whopping 191 pounds!!!  I am trying to get in some riding but it is hurting, trying to cramp up, getting side stitches, basically just everything you get when you are out of shape.

On a positive note we (my wife and I) did get a new Olhausen pool table.  It is awesome!  We have been wanting one for eight years and it finally happened.  I’m getting back into shooting a little, trying to get my stroke back.  I also purchased an awesome new Schon CX08 pool cue for myself on my birthday, it is awesome!  Oh, my Ninja 1400 is looking pretty nice as well, it also runs like a screaming bat out of hell.  That bike is awesome!

Anyway, festival season is getting ready to start up so my riding season is pretty much shot.  I did reach my goals for the year though so I can’t complain.  I managed to get a win (two actually), a couple of seconds and I upgraded to a cat 3.  All in all the year wasn’t a complete waste.

As for those that think I’m riding slow, I’m not, I’ve just started base really, really, really early. 

Intervals suck!

After a couple of rest days / recovery I finally made it back on the bike yesterday.  I had debated riding since I have a sinus infection and I am having some problems breathing.  I decided to HTFU and get on out there.

In preparation for the upcoming races, Races at the Lake, I decided that I should probably do some short hill repeats.  I decided to do 4×2 minutes as hard as I could.  All I can say is they suck!!!  I felt like I was going to fall over and die after each one, I just couldn’t catch my breath.  My numbers for the repeats weren’t too bad, they weren’t great either though.  For the repeats my average wattage (for each) was 450, 414, 441, and 415.

After the intervals I recovered for about thirty minutes then I met up with the Wheelers for the A/B group ride.  We had a pretty good ride, did a few climbs and I managed to get some pretty good intensity in. 

All in all it was a good day of riding.  I managed to get in 52 miles and realized that I really do feel like crap.  I started antibiotics last night, hopefully that will help me get to feeling better in time for Saturday’s race. 

As for the rest of the week, today I plan on riding two or three hours.  Tomorrow will be a rest day so I will probably take the Ninja out for a ride.  Friday I will do an easy one hour ride keeping my wattage well under 200 watts for the majority of the ride.  Saturday I plan on suffering like a dog and hopefully getting some upgrade points while I’m at it.

Deer Creek Road Race – Another win!!!!

Deer Creek – Mount Sterling Ohio

Cat 4/5 road race – 28 miles

15 racers

 

The course was approximately 14 miles and we raced two laps.  The route had some small climbs and spent most of the time on top of a ridge.  The temperature was approximately 40 degrees and it was very windy, approximately 20 mph winds.   Just about the entire course was a cross wind or a head wind.  There was only about a two-mile section that had a tail wind.

 

First lap – Pretty uneventful.  There was one attack, which I went with about eight miles into the lap.  This was a pretty painful attack and it caused a couple of racers to get dropped.  When we were caught at the top of the climb I asked a few people if they wanted to go with me, everyone said no.  The wind was downright nasty and made it pretty miserable though.  I think everyone had decided that it was a good day to just ride and then have a sprint finish.  Towards the end of the first lap I launched an attack.  Two or three riders went with me but nobody besides me really wanted to do any work.

 

Second lap – Pretty painful.  Our breakaway was caught shortly after the second lap started.  I recovered in the group for about a minute then I launched another attack.  Two people went with me again but once again nobody wanted to do any work.  Once we were caught I sat in the group for about a minute and then I launched attack number three.  I was already hurting.  One other guy went with me that likes to attempt breakaways.  I asked if he wanted to work together, he said yes so we went.

 

We were doing a pretty decent job at staying away (even passed the masters) but I started to notice that the speed on his pulls were slowing down.  I started getting concerned but then I noticed that two strong riders from Savage Hills were bridging up to us.  That was going to make life much easier.  The one guy made it to us but the other one couldn’t bridge the gap.  At this time me and the other guy continued to take pulls in order to give the new guy a chance to recover.  After a couple of rotations the Savage Hill guy still couldn’t take a pull.  The other racer couldn’t either.  I said the hell with it and stood up and took off.  There was still 11 miles to go.  I was in pain!

 

For the next few miles I just kept my head down and rode into the wind and the cross winds.   I was miserable.  I couldn’t see straight and I was drooling all over myself.  Each pedal stroke was an accomplishment.  Every time I looked back I could see the group catching up with me.  I would get a little distance from them then the next time they were close again.  I just kept on pedaling, one pedal stroke at a time.  I just kept hoping that my computer was wrong and after each small climb I would see the finish line.  It didn’t happen, it seemed the finish line was never going to get there.  I was hurting more than I have ever hurt on a bike (besides the cheat mountain challenge).  I was miserable!  I wanted to give up so bad.  At times I was praying for a flat.  I just kept on going.

 

I ended up passing a couple of cat 3’s that had been dropped.  One of them grabbed my wheel.  I had to ask him twice to let go, I told him that I didn’t want disqualified, I was working way too hard.  He finally figured out what I was talking about and backed off.  I just kept pedaling.

 

I finally came to the last climb, which I somehow made it up, then a long flat section with a nasty crosswind, then a small descent followed by one shorter climb, which I started to stand up and sprint.  I then looked back and saw that nobody was there so I just sat down and rode in.  I had made it, I won!!!!!

 

The only downside was that nobody at the finish line cheered, nobody even acknowledged that I had won.  Apparently they didn’t even realize it.  They thought that I was just someone who had been dropped from another race and then decided to quit when I crossed the finish line.  Oh well, I still won and the race director knew what was going on at least.  It still would have been a little nice to have had a little bit of cheering after doing that much freaking work.  Oh well, there’s always next time!

 

 

 

Green Tour race report – I WON!!!!

The Greene Tour – Yellow Springs Ohio

Cat 4/5 road race – 42 miles

22 racers

 

The course was approximately 10 miles with a ½ mile climb at the beginning of each lap.  The climb was around 10% for the first half or so then it dropped to around 4% or so for the remainder.  After that it stayed on top of the ridges for about 7 miles then it had a short downhill followed by a short climb then flat again until the ½ mile downhill before the next lap started.  The race started and ended with a 2.5 mile prologue type road, ended the same way.  At the ending it was a small climb followed by a ½ mile flat section for the finish.

 

On the first lap I found myself in a two man breakaway right after the climb.  The other rider asked if I wanted to do make it work and I replied yes.  We went for about a mile taking 10 second pulls when I realized that I was pulling at 23, he was pulling at 19.  I quickly realized that just wasn’t going to work.  We sat up and got back in the peloton.  The rest of the first lap there were a couple of more accelerations but nothing too bad.  The downside was that my left hamstring was trying to cramp up.  It had me pretty nervous, I was hoping that I could losen it up on the next climb.

 

Lap two I found myself first up the climb and feeling pretty good.  My plan seemed to work as far as loosening up my hamstring.  I tried to keep the pace up for a little while.  This seemed to work because we were now down to 15 riders.  I managed to stay towards the front the whole lap, actually I spent way too much time at the front but that’s another story.  I launched a few more attacks trying to separate the field a little, mainly out of corners and on the small climb.  This must have worked a little since we were down to 14 by the time we started the third lap.  The cool thing about this lap was seeing the four F-16’s flying in formation.  That was pretty cool!

 

Lap three was more of the same.  I kept finding myself at the front which was not my goal.  The wind was definitely making it’s presence known but I still kept doing work at the front.  I launched a couple more attacks but nothing came out of them.  I must say that this was by far the most aggressive I have ever raced.  It felt awesome!

 

Lap four there was a small attack on the climb by one of the skinny guys but it didn’t really amount to much.  The group got back together, well 12 of us did, then we kept on going.  At one point the group slowed down a little and the other two almost caught us.  We sped back up before they were able to though.  Then one guy attacked, and it was a good attack.  He did it on the small climb and nobody reacted.  Before we knew it he had a nice gap.  We finally got organized and a few of us started taking pulls.  One guy took a monster pull, about a mile long.  It finished him off though and he dropped shortly afterwards.  After this there were three of us pulling.  Then it seemed like I was the only one pulling.  I got tired of that after nobody would pull through so I sat up.  I told them that as far as I was concerned he should win the race, if they weren’t willing to pull I wasn’t either.  Afterall, why do all the work just to wear myself out and get dropped 500 yards before the finish.  At this point we could tell that the other guy was finished but it still made some other people start working.  Now I could set back for a minute and relax, at least I thought I could.  Next thing I knew two other people had a small gap on me so I had to work.  Now we were on the final short climb.  I caught the three people in front of me (breakaway guy and the two others) and I just started grinding and trying to not get dropped.  When I looked up (and back) there were only 8 of us and we were on the final straight stretch.  I was now the last man.  I had a nice wheel and I was happy until about 400 yards to go.  That was when the guy in front of me tucked in the pace line and left me in the wind.  I had no choice but to go.  I went around to the left with all I had, I have been in this situation before.  I was just waiting for everyone to go around me.  I glanced back and I didn’t see anyone, at this point I thought I may have a chance.  A second later I noticed that to my left there was a wheel approaching and it was approaching quick.  I stood up once more and gave it all that I had left, one last kick.  It was enough, I WON!!!!

 

The other racer congratulated me and once I got my breath we talked for a few minutes, very nice guy.

 

Anyway, sorry the report was so long and hopefully you didn’t fall asleep reading it.  It’s just that I don’t win very often so when I do I want to remember it in as much detail as possible. 

 

Hill repeats were much better this time out.

The past couple of weeks I have been working on my climbing.  I’ve been doing some repeats and just focusing on trying to keep my power somewhat consistant on them.  Last night I went out and did the same hill repeats that I did twelve days ago.  The climb is a little over a mile long and a little over 600 feet elevation gain.  I had approximately 2:15 recovery between each repeat for the ride back down to the bottom.

3/6/08 wattages on the repeats.  314, 305, 295, 294, 287
3/18/08 wattages on the repeats. 322, 313, 312, 312, 320

I had about a ten percent gain on the final climb.  I feel pretty good about the improvement, especially considering how early it is in the season.

A quick update about how much I suck……

I was asked to post an update by some sandbagger named Ben, so, here it is.  :p

 I have been doing a little riding/training since my last post, not nearly enough though.  At the time of that post I weighed approximately 195 pounds.  Since then I have put in right at 1,200 miles on the bike, approximately 30 hours at the gym, and I have lost 16 pounds.  Not too bad of a start I guess.  I was doing really well with my training up until about three weeks ago.  At that point we closed on a house, moved, and started investing countless hours and money into the money pit.  Things are coming together though.

 I have done one race, finished second in the cat 4/5 race out of approximately 20 racers.  What sucks is that I was actually stronger at that race over three weeks ago than I am now.  I’m working on that though.  My biggest problem is that for some reason I cannot force myself to get on the trainer.  I’m not sure what my problem is.  I am trying to get more motivated though and I’m sure that the time change is going to help me out.

Oh almost forgot, I did make it out for some hill repeats on Thursday.  I did 5 x 9(ish) minute repeats on a 1.1 mile climb in the area.  On the first climb I paced myself at 314 watts average, was supposed to be 300 watts.  Oops.  On the fifth climb I was down to 287 watts.  I suck!  Also, the first one took me 8:35, the final one took me almost 9:30.  I really, really suck!

Anyway, this is my lame ass attempt at an update.  Until next time……..

Just completed my lactic threshold test. It sucked!

I found a cool website called Infinit Computrainer Challenge that has different courses every week allowing you to compare your results against others using a Computrainer. The courses are not all races either, some are designed to keep you in a certain power zone so it will help with base training as well.

I did my first course this morning, a lactic threshold test. It hurt like hell! I got out of bed at 5:15, messed around on the computer for a few minutes then warmed up for 15 minutes before calibrating the computrainer. At that point I started the 11.19 mile course. It took me just under 30.5 minutes and let me tell you it hurt! I’m amazed at how much power I have lost after pretty much taking two months off. I’m also a little concerned at how much difference there is in the readings of my power tap and the computrainer.

Anyway, according to my pt my threshold was 265 (was 297). According to the computrainer my new threshold is 245 watts. I’m sure that will go up pretty quick now that I am back to training but it is still slightly depressing. My average heart rate was only 158 bpm, I’m just not able to push myself as hard as I would like right now. My previous threshold heart rate was 167 bpm.

I really look forward to watching my numbers come up, I think it is going to be kind of interesting to see how quick (or slow) they increase.

I won’t be doing any more workouts today, I am going out to dinner with some co-workers and a sells rep. Tomorrow morning I will do a leg workout then if I am able I will get back on the computrainer tomorrow evening.