I reached in the back of my car to pull my race number out of my bag. I left the bag at home. No shoes, helmet, clothes or number. I mentioned it to Monte and he said he had a full spare kit in his truck. Well the shoes were a size and half too small but who can look gift shoes in the soles? Teri Berger let me use a scribbled number plate today for no fee. Jamie lent me some gloves. Off to the races I go. My class had 4 participants. Kind of sad as we started the season with 10 or so. The course was challenging with plenty of climbing. Descents were plenty fun with lots of banked turns. One turn even had a fallen tree cut off halfway through the turn in the bank. Just one more foot of sawing and it would have been off the course. The course was mostly shaded and also running along the headwaters of the Chattahoochee. That means the water was not muddy red. It was also mostly cool.
Yet again I did not have the stuff to keep up with the fast guys. That would mean the other three guys in the race. So I just did a scenic joy ride enjoying the ferns, rhododendrons, and other stuff offering shade and diversity. We rode past the jeep river crossing we used to ride across back in the day. Back in the day Helen used to host national mountain bike races which translated means mid 1990’s. That river crossing was often knee deep, maybe deeper. I vaguely recall deeper than knee high. At least one of the fellows after the race recalled crossing that section.
After the race I sat in the river for 10 minutes cooling off. I think the best mountain bike races have cool streams. After a delightful cool down I headed up to change and Paul offered me a beer.
End of the year awards banquet was up at the Unicoi Lodge. Meal tickets were $15. I had 12 in my wallet so I bummed a 5 off Jamie. Waiting in line they would only accept meal tickets as they did not know about the capacity of the room. As I am standing there a guy gives me a meal ticket. His mom was at home trying to get his truck fixed which seemed to have a massive oil leak or diesel leak. For some reason I think I should know that guy's name as I have seen him around and his face is familiar. But I am crummy with names.
So in spite of screwing up leaving my bag at home, 4 guys gave me a hand. How cool is that? Thanks guys for giving me a great day.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Flat Rock and duathalon
Early this spring the directeur sportif spoke to me about my training and racing plans. “I have no plans besides cross in the fall. Maybe learning how to swim so I can do a proper tri and getting my running pace up.” “Tri is for sissy,” he replies. Lacking a witty comment I remain mute. He glares at me for a minute and he then says “You will do all your tri things on Saturdays and you will race bicycles on Sundays. This will erase any non-sense about tri. Sissy boy race.”
“What bicycle racing will you do this spring and summer?”
“I want to do some mountain bike racing and some time trials.”
“More sissy stuff time trial. Real men road race road bicycles 120 miles and have strong sprint at end. You never achieve this doing time trials.”
“Here are the races I will do. Camp Thunder mountain bike and Flat Rock, Heck everything but end of June when I will be riding for a week in Colorado.”
“Colorado, on a road bike? How far”
“400 plus miles in the cool and heat.” I replied.
“That is manly riding. Why you not do this more?” he asks.
“OK, here is the plan. 10K trail run and then Camp Thunder MTB race. Duathalon and Flat Rock MTB. Xtera Tri and Fort Yargo MTB. 46 mile TT and 4 man 12 hour MTB race same day. That will be a good start.” It seems that his goal is to break me of my Saturday racing.
Flash forward three months. Camp Thunder weekend hurt. Flat Rock oddly not so bad. Xtera and Fort Yargo we shall see. May 1 weekend may be the deal breaker.
Duathalon report. I trotted. I rode. It took me a good few minutes to get upright after rideand I finished trotting. My friends were faster.
Blow by blow of Flat Rock. I forgot I had raced there before. Once I saw some of the course I remember this epic half pipe that launched people on the far side. They chopped that far side down so it was not quite the launcher but a fellow did break his Santa Cruz about 4 inches from the bottom bracket in that section. Oh I digressed. I looked and looked at map suggested routes to Columbus. Going I20, 285, 85, 185 seemed too sterile so I did Hgwy. 36 to Columbus. I left the house a bit late but arrive an hour before race time without any fast driving. Pleasant route. As I was riding around failing to get motivated for a race my legs felt dead. My left quad where it attaches to the interior side of the knee felt strained. Attempts to do those warm up sprints did nothing to calm my fears. Lining up at the back of the pack David calls the Grand Masters up to head out about fourth instead of last. I line up towards the left and get bumped even farther over to the left by some clown. Race starts and I do a half hearted hole shot and am in third place. Well that did not last long as my dead legs did their non-thing. Riding through the meadow I was noticing the wild flowers in bloom. The course had a half pipe section where you went up one side and back down at least 4 times. Kind of a weave. That was clearly marked. What was not clearly marked were the rest of the half pipe sections I chose to do but I guess I should have skipped as they were not clearly flagged. Well none of the guys behind me passed me so ok for that. Dink back into the woods for a bit heading over to the rock garden. In the garden there is a 180 that I was going to dab a foot as part of the turn. I screwed up and fell off my bike to the low side of that off camber turn rolling downhill. When I stopped rolling and ran back to retrieve my bike I saw a few guys also goofing up. Coming out of the rock garden I ran the last 50 feet as it was a bit too challenging for me. Off through the meadows again. The trail had a clearly marked line and for some reason I tried to take a line to the left. It had a 2 foot drop off. Panic brakes and I backed up to get on the safe course. Dr. Dan pulled away from me in a big way there never to be seen again. In and out of the woods. More half pipes taken as straight in and outs. Across road bridge, over flat rocks and climb a rock. First lap I goofed up totally and went off course before that rack. Not a big deal but a few feet shorter. Back into the woods and twisting about. 1/8 mile straight away and back into the woods for some incredibly twisty stuff. Second lap was much less dramatic. I felt a pebble in my right shoe. Part of the lap some woman I have seen at other races was in front of me showing me lines. She tried to wave me past but I was doing better having a leader. We cleared the rock ok but I goofed up not carrying enough speed. So that pebble worked its way to the bottom of my shoe so I stopped to empty my shoe. I caught back up to the lady but not enough to pass her. At the 1/8 mile straight way I pulled off and was chasing some guy in a yellow jersey, different class. He pulled away as he was taking the turns much better than I, until I saw him in a heap after missing a turn. He was ok so I did not slow down. One of my class mates was nearby so I was trying to increase my gap.
No drama after the first goof ups. My dead legs quit whining after the first ½ mile. Of course they never put out anything but they just stopped complaining. After the race I thought I saw that if I had gone 2 minutes faster I would have been in the top half of the class instead of scraping the bottom three. Every time I went by the C Town Bike pit I reviewed the leader board. Whoever was recording forgot to put racer numbers or times for any of the racers. First lap I had no clue where I was and riding a course fast is hard when you do not know it. Second lap was better as no one was hot on my wheel and I did get to follow that woman through some of the tricky stuff. I was passed by a good number of racers who started after me in younger classes. Not so sure if any of the experts passed me but I think not.
Contusions of lower right leg from first roll off bike. Right jaw is sore so I must have clunked myself. Probably some other sore spots my masseuse has not found yet, if I only had one.
Funny to me video by Dan's child? Not sure and I was clueless to ask. Look at the back and forth ahlf pipe stuff. Kind of fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcCNJnU6-OI
I am not so sure about the sportif’s plans but I will continue double races for another few weeks to see if I can come around. Now the search for a loaner wet suit for Saturday starts.
“What bicycle racing will you do this spring and summer?”
“I want to do some mountain bike racing and some time trials.”
“More sissy stuff time trial. Real men road race road bicycles 120 miles and have strong sprint at end. You never achieve this doing time trials.”
“Here are the races I will do. Camp Thunder mountain bike and Flat Rock, Heck everything but end of June when I will be riding for a week in Colorado.”
“Colorado, on a road bike? How far”
“400 plus miles in the cool and heat.” I replied.
“That is manly riding. Why you not do this more?” he asks.
“OK, here is the plan. 10K trail run and then Camp Thunder MTB race. Duathalon and Flat Rock MTB. Xtera Tri and Fort Yargo MTB. 46 mile TT and 4 man 12 hour MTB race same day. That will be a good start.” It seems that his goal is to break me of my Saturday racing.
Flash forward three months. Camp Thunder weekend hurt. Flat Rock oddly not so bad. Xtera and Fort Yargo we shall see. May 1 weekend may be the deal breaker.
Duathalon report. I trotted. I rode. It took me a good few minutes to get upright after rideand I finished trotting. My friends were faster.
Blow by blow of Flat Rock. I forgot I had raced there before. Once I saw some of the course I remember this epic half pipe that launched people on the far side. They chopped that far side down so it was not quite the launcher but a fellow did break his Santa Cruz about 4 inches from the bottom bracket in that section. Oh I digressed. I looked and looked at map suggested routes to Columbus. Going I20, 285, 85, 185 seemed too sterile so I did Hgwy. 36 to Columbus. I left the house a bit late but arrive an hour before race time without any fast driving. Pleasant route. As I was riding around failing to get motivated for a race my legs felt dead. My left quad where it attaches to the interior side of the knee felt strained. Attempts to do those warm up sprints did nothing to calm my fears. Lining up at the back of the pack David calls the Grand Masters up to head out about fourth instead of last. I line up towards the left and get bumped even farther over to the left by some clown. Race starts and I do a half hearted hole shot and am in third place. Well that did not last long as my dead legs did their non-thing. Riding through the meadow I was noticing the wild flowers in bloom. The course had a half pipe section where you went up one side and back down at least 4 times. Kind of a weave. That was clearly marked. What was not clearly marked were the rest of the half pipe sections I chose to do but I guess I should have skipped as they were not clearly flagged. Well none of the guys behind me passed me so ok for that. Dink back into the woods for a bit heading over to the rock garden. In the garden there is a 180 that I was going to dab a foot as part of the turn. I screwed up and fell off my bike to the low side of that off camber turn rolling downhill. When I stopped rolling and ran back to retrieve my bike I saw a few guys also goofing up. Coming out of the rock garden I ran the last 50 feet as it was a bit too challenging for me. Off through the meadows again. The trail had a clearly marked line and for some reason I tried to take a line to the left. It had a 2 foot drop off. Panic brakes and I backed up to get on the safe course. Dr. Dan pulled away from me in a big way there never to be seen again. In and out of the woods. More half pipes taken as straight in and outs. Across road bridge, over flat rocks and climb a rock. First lap I goofed up totally and went off course before that rack. Not a big deal but a few feet shorter. Back into the woods and twisting about. 1/8 mile straight away and back into the woods for some incredibly twisty stuff. Second lap was much less dramatic. I felt a pebble in my right shoe. Part of the lap some woman I have seen at other races was in front of me showing me lines. She tried to wave me past but I was doing better having a leader. We cleared the rock ok but I goofed up not carrying enough speed. So that pebble worked its way to the bottom of my shoe so I stopped to empty my shoe. I caught back up to the lady but not enough to pass her. At the 1/8 mile straight way I pulled off and was chasing some guy in a yellow jersey, different class. He pulled away as he was taking the turns much better than I, until I saw him in a heap after missing a turn. He was ok so I did not slow down. One of my class mates was nearby so I was trying to increase my gap.
No drama after the first goof ups. My dead legs quit whining after the first ½ mile. Of course they never put out anything but they just stopped complaining. After the race I thought I saw that if I had gone 2 minutes faster I would have been in the top half of the class instead of scraping the bottom three. Every time I went by the C Town Bike pit I reviewed the leader board. Whoever was recording forgot to put racer numbers or times for any of the racers. First lap I had no clue where I was and riding a course fast is hard when you do not know it. Second lap was better as no one was hot on my wheel and I did get to follow that woman through some of the tricky stuff. I was passed by a good number of racers who started after me in younger classes. Not so sure if any of the experts passed me but I think not.
Contusions of lower right leg from first roll off bike. Right jaw is sore so I must have clunked myself. Probably some other sore spots my masseuse has not found yet, if I only had one.
Funny to me video by Dan's child? Not sure and I was clueless to ask. Look at the back and forth ahlf pipe stuff. Kind of fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcCNJnU6-OI
I am not so sure about the sportif’s plans but I will continue double races for another few weeks to see if I can come around. Now the search for a loaner wet suit for Saturday starts.
Fort Yargo Xterra
Fort Yargo Xtera. Well I know the bike trails well enough so what the heck. I tried to splash a bit at the pool the few days before. I figured I was exactly 37 days from a swimming breakthrough and 71 days from ready to Tri. Last weeks duathalon kind of crushed me. My buddies are faster on the bike and on the run. Ouch.
I forgot to ask for a wet suit. My friend Cole is off playing with guns in S.C. in preparation for a year tour of paper pushing in Afganistan. Hopefully the only action he sees is paper cuts. But he was outshooting the expert marksman in his classes. Anyhow I got his suit from Jane last night. No time to try it on.
Got to the race with thunder in my belly. I was hoping I did not have the intestinal virus that seems to be going around. The thunder in the clouds was threatening to cancel the swim leg. That cleared up so the swim was on. I rolled into the suit with no great drama. Off to the start lane. No rush to get in the water as I know I will be slow. I failed to put together 5 strokes in a row of freestyle. Lots of dog paddle and backstroke. About 5-10 minutes into the swim I hear a call for help. Some guy with no wetsuit said he was so cold he could not catch his breath. Well seeing how I cannot swim he was on his own. I think rule number one is always toss a floaty at a person. Even a strong swimmer can be drowned by a person in a panic. Some others called out to him and a kayak went over to help. I continued with my dogpaddle/backstroke swimming amazing straight on the first leg. I have been known to swim circles on my back. I made the first turn, off to the second turn. I had to clear my fogged up goggles. I tried to touch bottom as the lake was 5-10 feet low but no luck. I was floating like a buoy with all that neoprene. On my back again and it started raining. I heard some sort of yelling but with my head in the water I had no clue. Until I flipped back over and saw I was off course. Wah. Guy in kayak said I was doing great. Well there were at least a few souls behind me. ½ hour to get out of the water. Plenty slow for a ½ mile I guess but sort of what I was guessing. All the fast folks will do 15-20 minutes so it was sort of lonely in transition.
Off and pedaling. The rain made for a bit of mud but not too bad. I started to reel people in. Got a stick stuck in back. I had to stop and use a multi-tool to dig out a part that got stuck between the spokes and the gears. Bike was totally a non-event. Some of the whip de dos were kind of slow. I saw one of my racing buddies heading back with no front tire. I thought I did not touch his bike, I did not advise tire pressure, I did not see his bike. It was not my fault he flatted. Later I heard he ran over an old lady and she started crying “You broke my bike.” Feeling guilty he gave her his ending his race. My middle chain ring was chain sucking so either big ring or small. Mainly big ring. I remembered one of my To Do things. Change brake pads on bike. Since I did not fill out a work order my mechanic forgot to change out the pads. During the ride the front started making a noise. Sounded like the return spring rubbing on the rotor. That means no more pad. Back was already making noises. Finished ride with no more new odd noises or complaints. In case you did not know I am my mechanic.
Off to trot 4.5 miles I was guessing as slow as I am it would be another hour. I was able to run upright in a few short minutes. Last week at the duathalon it took me a while to uncurl from the bike. That is weird as the mountain bike I am fairly upright. I need to actually do yoga more than once every few months. No one passed me. That is weird as I am used to short fat people passing me at tri events. As I am trotting I started doing math. 2/3s of a lifetime ago I could run 2 miles in 1.5 minutes more than it takes me to do 1 mile today. About the last mile I saw someone to catch. I started talking to myself out loud. “Long strides, you are 6 foot 2.” “You can do it” “Keep it up.” Well most of that was working but I am only 5’10” I did finally catch up to him. The fellow claimed he did 4 bonus miles on the bike. In any event I kept up my pace and actually finishing looking like I was running not trotting.
I was sore again and quite dirty. A shower with no hot water got me fairly clean. The rains washed half the bike clean. When I got home I finished rinsing the bike, rinsed the wetsuit, rinsed off muddy shoes and clothes, washed the car in the rain. Bugs come off better if they have been soaking for a few hours. Blew the bike dry and took it down to oil the chain. I failed again to fill out a work order for the brakes. But I sanded the rotors and changed the pads. I pushed the sticky pistons back so no more brake drag. Of course unbedded pads mean the brakes stink but that will be fine after a few miles of racing tomorrow. Changed the chain ring. I will clean the chain properly tomorrow but with all the mud there was no point in getting fussy today.
Big knots in my calves. Good day I guess as I did not drown.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Crossfit training?
Last late winter I was looking for some exercise to get my butt off my chair. So I went out and cleared some abandoned fenceline across the street. I mow over there anyway and getting rid of some of the old fences and brush makes mowing a bit easier as well as looking better. Lots of muscles used that I do not use when typing.
The past month I have done some dumbell curls while the dogs are eating breakfast. I noticed the last mountain bike race, or was it that epic cross bike 80 mile ride that my forearms were not complaiining when braking. Of course some dumbell curls is a long way from crossfit training. A few friends have talked about trying this training. Geez I keep hurting myself. I fear trying that kind of training would bring me more torn muscles and sore joints. Of course if I go slow maybe I would survive.
Amusing to me. I went over to Brent's house for a "He survied an ironman" party. His three year old was on the trampoline. I cannot recall ever being on one. I did not do well but I got a good workout of sorts. I was encouraged to try a pike. Now never mind that I am not sure what a pike is but I assumed it to be a jump up, land on butt and bounce back to my feet. After a few tries I did succeed. Not too pretty though.
A few weeks later at a kids playground with same three year old who is being supervised by someone else. I am trying to do the horizontal ladder bar with no success. I could do pull ups sort of but no luck swing from rung to rung. Again it goes back to what kind of playing and cross training I do not do.
Again, if i post and no one reads, have i posted?
The past month I have done some dumbell curls while the dogs are eating breakfast. I noticed the last mountain bike race, or was it that epic cross bike 80 mile ride that my forearms were not complaiining when braking. Of course some dumbell curls is a long way from crossfit training. A few friends have talked about trying this training. Geez I keep hurting myself. I fear trying that kind of training would bring me more torn muscles and sore joints. Of course if I go slow maybe I would survive.
Amusing to me. I went over to Brent's house for a "He survied an ironman" party. His three year old was on the trampoline. I cannot recall ever being on one. I did not do well but I got a good workout of sorts. I was encouraged to try a pike. Now never mind that I am not sure what a pike is but I assumed it to be a jump up, land on butt and bounce back to my feet. After a few tries I did succeed. Not too pretty though.
A few weeks later at a kids playground with same three year old who is being supervised by someone else. I am trying to do the horizontal ladder bar with no success. I could do pull ups sort of but no luck swing from rung to rung. Again it goes back to what kind of playing and cross training I do not do.
Again, if i post and no one reads, have i posted?
endorphin rush, when does it go away?
If I go out and hammer a road ride for an hour or a cyclocross race I can have a pretty good endrophin buzz. Good enough to go out and do another cross race and still be feeling good but my legs might get toasted. I did an 80 mile half gravel ride on the corss bike with the gang a while back. Steep climbs on the gravel. Steeper than the paved roads. In any event any endophins I had floating about were consumed by then end of that ride. So I ask, when does that endophin buzz get consumed. Maybe I will go off to internet research to see if anyone has tried to answer that.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Walking tall after a psoas massage
My knees have been bothering me. Pain in shoulder. Feeling a bit beat up. I went to the Chiropractor Monday. I got a long session. The person I go to uses an activator, power massage thing and no crunchy stuff. I have gone to chiropractors that just do the crunchy stuff. Problem with that is the muscles just yank stuff back out pretty quickly. This person tries to loosen things up. She hits trigger points trying to get them to release. So she did two new moves. One was working the psoas. I did not even know what that muscle was. I do not know how many massages I have had or how many chiropractors but it has been a fair number and no one has ever worked that. Well there was some tenderness there. Second move was some tugging on the face while I moved the feet towards the knees.
I walked out of that hour session feeling taller. When I got to the office I got out a tape measure and indeed I was back up to 70”. Over the past year I have been the same height as my wife when I used to be an inch taller. It has been a while since I have walked that tall. So I need to do psoas stretches to see what that gets me. I still feel tall 2 days later.
Knees are still complaining a bit. Left foot is still sore. I suppose by Saturday everything will be good enough to let me do the 3 mile run as part of my sprint tri.
I walked out of that hour session feeling taller. When I got to the office I got out a tape measure and indeed I was back up to 70”. Over the past year I have been the same height as my wife when I used to be an inch taller. It has been a while since I have walked that tall. So I need to do psoas stretches to see what that gets me. I still feel tall 2 days later.
Knees are still complaining a bit. Left foot is still sore. I suppose by Saturday everything will be good enough to let me do the 3 mile run as part of my sprint tri.
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