Cross-training 101

September 12, 2009 in Friends, Health by CyclistRick | No comments

As stated earlier, I am attempting to rebuild my hip and get back to some form of normality by the end of the year.   So it is cross-training season as I work on strength and flexibility, but most activities took a back seat this past week as I spent some time with The Wife.   She is off for 10 days shepherding her parents on a little bike tour of the Olympic peninsula, so I wanted to ensure we had some time together before the period of separation. U.S. Highway 101 is the link between us now; our house is just off the highway, she is riding the northern end of the Highway several hundred miles north of here.

Mt. Diablo from Windy HillI had planned to get up early and do a longish bike ride today, but I was not sleeping well as it was then the light and sound show (lightning and thunder) started in earnest just before 4AM and that was all she wrote for my night of sleep. As I sat around trying to get motivated our friend Erika called to plan a ride, then as I was getting things together to go out she called back to ask for a change to a hike since it was raining at her place, and rationalized it on the basis of us both needing to work on bone density. We met up with another of her friends for a nice, but brisk, trek up Windy Hill from Portola Valley then looping back down. A very pleasant day, and something I should do more often. Now I need to get out tomorrow, and then possibly help to arrange for The Wife to get a spare tire since she had to use her’s today after getting a blowout early on her first day of her tour. Anyone going to Port Angeles area who can carry a 700×32 tire and deliver it to her?

Life happens

September 6, 2009 in Announcements, Cycle Touring, Cycling, Employment, Recreational Cycling by CyclistRick | 1 comment

It might appear I have forsaken this blog, moved all my ramblings to FaceBook with so many others.   Such is not the case,  I have just been caught up in life.  My spring was dominated by a job search, as I worked to remove myself from the unemployment statistics.  It was an up and down process, one that was more work than a daily job, and I ultimately succeeded in garnering three job offers.  The job I took is an easy commute distance: 20 minutes walking, less by bike.   As soon as I landed the new job, The Wife changed jobs and returned to her previous employer.  Her commute is almost as short, being only about a half mile north of where I toil daily.  It is truly wonderful to be commute-free for the most part.

Once I had a new job I threw myself into the task of fully rebuilding the strength I lost last year.  I said ‘au revoir’ to the orthopedic surgeon who was opposed to physical therapy and started hitting the gym (at the office, 20 minutes from home) twice a week for weight training.  And I have returned to the occasional yoga session, hopefully stepping that up as the fall progresses to winter.   With the new job, working on full recovery, and helping the wife in her goals, and working on long neglected home maintenance, there has not been much time to sit down and tap at the keyboard much less anything of real interest to write about.  Now it is time for me to get back to some basics.   I will be participating in some century rides this fall, both organized and self-directed, getting the house and yard in shape, and working on trying to establish a new doctor-patient relationship with the objective of developing a plan to get the metal out of my hip.   I’ll have a bit more time this month, as The Wife will be taking her parents on a cycling tour of western Washington starting next Saturday.   Now to buckle down and get started.

O.T.A.

August 9, 2009 in Employment by CyclistRick | 1 comment

I have negelected this blog for a while, a combination of not much to write about for a while, then too busy to sit down and do some scribblin’.   In June I was busy dancing between starting a new job on weekdays and ferrying The Wife to the TT’s she entered in preparation for the District pursuit championship at Hellyer.  More of the same through July, and now we are to August.  Where has the time gone?

For the past couple of weekends my time has been sucked down by a divorce.  No, not from The Wife, but a divorce from the cable provider with the local franchise.  I have had some issues with the whitewash poor tech support, but that is not the reason.  It is a pure dollars and cents decision; we have decided they overcharge substantially for what they provide.  Five+ years ago I had an old analog TV with an indoor antenna with poor reception on two channels, but that was OK.  Then as The Wife and I got married and started a home remodel we bought a digital TV, and got cable primarily for the Tour de France coverage on OLN (now Versus) and for HD.   At the same time we transitioned our separate DSL lines to a single cable connection to the i’net.   At the time we got all we wanted, cable internet and basic cable with HD, for less that $50/month.  Probably more than it was worth, but not exhorbitant enough for us to complain.  The 13 months ago they informed us we had to transition to a digital package, much more expensive, in order to get HD, but that we would get a lower price for the first 12 months.  Well the Tour de France ended a couple of weeks ago and the low introductory price on their digital package ended about the same time.

Given the high cost point of the cable, The Wife wanted something cheaper.  Satellite will put us in the same high price boat after a short introductory period and leave us with a decision about internet connectivity.  AT&T has perhaps the worst customer service in the country, which coupled with their high prices put them out of the running.  With the digital television transition over (for the most part, still some fallout) the question was: could we get sufficient reception O.T.A.  (over the air)?   I was tasked with the project, and have been busy evaluating antennas (bonus for smaller sizes) and getting everything installed, wired, and running.   While going down that road we came to realize the cable company wanted $42/month for the internet connection; we could go cheaper with lower bandwidth but I found a reputable DSL provider that will give us the same bandwidth for $20/month.

Last weekend my spare time was given over to getting the antenna installed and wired to the demarc box at the outside of the house with a temporary trial connection to the TV in our bedroom.  Lots of work on the roof, including some work tacking the cable from the antenna under the eave while laying on my back in an inverted position.   Then during the week I did the footwork to get DSL connected on Friday in preparation for moving off the cable.  Yesterday (Saturday) I spent a couple of hours under the house doing the shoulder crawl from place to place as I laid new RG6Q cabling all interconnected via a single 5-2300MHz splitter.  After terminating all the interior cable ends and adding new 3GHz faceplates we are all digital running O.T.A. for television and off the DSL for network connectivity.  Guess in a couple of days The Wife will serve the cable company with our notice of separation.

We will not be total luddites.  As part of the transition I acquired a TiVo HD so we can now plan our TV viewing around our schedule, not the schedule of the networks.  With everything in place it is time to pick back up on the riding schedule.  I did a nice 46 mile loop through the hills in the heat today, and am now relaxing while watching the first NFL game of the season.

My cup runneth …

June 9, 2009 in Cycling, Employment by CyclistRick | No comments

I may be coming to the end of the search for meaningful employment.  I have received, and accepted, an offer.  There are contingencies and I have to wait for those to clear, so it will probably be another week or two before I actually have to make the regular trip to an office.  Before I can rejoin the workforce I have to pass a background check and a drug test.

Back when I was an employee of my good Uncle Sam he decided that too many of the lads in his service were using illicit drugs, so project ‘Golden Flow’ was born.  One iteration of the project involved supposedly random testing;  4 digit sequences were published daily and if they matched the last 4 digits of your Social Security number and you were under 27 years of age you had to go in to the testing center and provide a urine sample.  But, and this was a big but, you had to fill the jar with your own personal monitor watching intently.  I suppose I was not exhibitionist enough so this was always a problem for me.  I would drink several glasses of water before heading to the testing center, go in to provide a sample, and as soon as the monitor locked his gaze on my, ummm, apparatus the valves would clamp shut and nothing would flow.  One time it took me over 4 hours to fill the admittedly small sample jar.

The some court decided that the ‘random’ testing was not sufficiently random, so the next version of ‘Golden Flow’ was even more laughable.  One morning we would wake up to the notice that everyone under 27 years old (who decided that no one over 27 abused substances?) had to make their way to an airplane hanger for testing. In the hangar we would queue up in lines behind a circle of 55 gallon drums.  Once you were directly in front of one of the drums it was your turn to fill your cup, all under the watchful eye of the circle of monitors sitting inside the circle. I always wondered what happened to the overflow in all those drums.

Today I had to go to a local lab to fill the cup for the current pre-employment drug test, the first time I have been tested in over three decades.   I consumed plenty of water before driving to the lab, then drank constantly while waiting to be called.  Fortunately there was no private monitor, but I had to empty and evert my pants pockets before going into the room to do the deed, presumably to make sure I was not smuggling in some contraband.  And I was warned not to flush the commode or run water in the sink while in the room, either of which apparently would result in a non-test.  Fortunately I was sufficiently hydrated and spent what was probably less than a minute in the room.  No performance anxiety this time! Ahhhhh.    A slightly better experience than my past, which makes me happy I do not have to be subjected the the USADA ‘provide a sample in front of a monitor within 2 hours’ type of testing on a regular basis.

Homage to St. Lawrence

May 20, 2009 in Cycle Racing, Cycling by CyclistRick | 3 comments

When the Roman Emperor Valerian had Laurentius (now known as St. Lawrence) executed on the gridiron in 258 AD it is rumored that Laurentius told his torturers “This side’s done, turn me over and have a bite.”  After this weekend’s heat fest in Kern County I was saying the same. You would think Bicycle Bob Liebold would arrange for some better weather for the Kern Women’s Stage Race, but maybe he enjoys the heat.

Bellas relaxing before the TTIn spite of the heat there was a good showing of women to battle each other, and the weather for glory and Bicycle Bob trophies. The Wife did her second Kern, and finished all stages this time, battling the triple digit temps (her new nemesis), hills (her old nemesis), and biting insects to secure a ‘Lantern Rouge’ for the mantle. But there was a lot of grittiness and sports(wo)manship on display, so it is hard to single out any one rider. So just a few general comments and observations.

  • Never stay at a motel next to an all night amusement area.
  • There is never enough water, or ice, in the feedzones at this race. Note to self: bigger ice chest, more water next year.
  • It is amazing the effect of a couple of bottles of water to spray the heads and jerseys of the riders at the start line.  It can even elicit the ‘L’ word.
  • Good to have all manner of accoutrements  (e.g., wheels, tubes, a pump, bottle opener, and food) as well as water and ice in the feedzone.
  • Perhaps follow cars should tow port-a-potties.
  • 1 minute starts for the TT make for a long afternoon.  Perhaps a return to 30 sec starts could be negotiated.
  • It was nice to see a healthy sized Cat 4 field; now a few more Cat 1,2, and 3’s would be nice.
  • I need to get a better stage race organization schema for the Toaster.
  • Great mutual support vibe from all involved.

Connected

April 27, 2009 in Cycle Commuting, Cycling by CyclistRick | No comments

We live in a neighborhood that has suffered from the late 20th century suburban sprawl mentality, the mindset that set LOS (Level of Service) for automobile trips as the most important transportation planning metric.  Our little neighborhood was built in the late 40’s and into the 50’s to provide housing to a nearby military base, and was bounded to the south of a U.S. highway and to the north by a relatively small east-west route across the valley.  In the 60’s and 70’s the U.S.  highway was converted to a freeway to enable faster movement for automobile traffic, at least that was the theory.  And in the 70’s the area to the east started transforming into bedroom communities for growing businesses in Silicon Valley, and the quiet little cross valley road became an expressway, then in the late 80’s and into the early 90’s was converted into a freeway.  And the quiet little neighborhood became an isolated island, trapped between two freeways with the north-south streets to the west and east becoming high-speed arterials feeding more and more automobiles onto those freeways.   There are few services in the neighborhood, unless your idea of service is a “men’s club” (aka “exotic dance establishment”), so trying to get from here to places of employment, shopping, and services has meant a trip in a car for most folks.   It took a truly brave soul to try to exit from this ‘island’ on foot, on a bicycle, or in a wheelchair.  Those who planned for moving more automobiles over greater distances never conceived that folks might want to use some of these alternative transportation modalities as they went about their lives.

Borregas Ave bridge over 101Last Wednesday the isolation ended.   A few forward thinking folks started a process almost 15 years ago to provide an alternative north-south route across town, a way to avoid the high-speed arterials feeding traffic onto the two freeways, a way that would be friendly to bicyclists, pedestrians, and the disabled.    The key piece to using this route, a street that once had intersections with the roads that are now freeways, was to get either under or over the freeways.  And it is much more cost-effective to go over, and much easier to keep open year-around (most undercrossings around here are closed during periods of heavy precipitation).   After a long process, with some opposition, bridges over both freeways were built and they opened last Wednesday.   The Wife and I can now exit and head to the northeast without having to fight our way past the 9-lane ‘monster’ intersection where the nominally 45MPH Mathilda Avenue intersects with CA-237, or we can head south to the grocery store without having to fight freeway off and on-ramp traffic on either Mathilda or Fair Oaks, both posted at 45MPH with no accomodations for cyclists or pedestrians.  It is so much more pleasant.  About the only downside is that the U-shaped bridges are trash magnets; the openings face east and the westerlies tend to blow trash that gets trapped on the bridge.  Maybe it is time for an ‘adopt a bridge’ cleanup program.

And it is bridge opening month as another new bicycle/pedestrian bridge will open over I-280 on the south edge of town this Thursday  providing better access into Cupertino and points to the southwest.   Now if we could get better access to get around the entanglements surrounding the San Jose airport then the thorniest issues I have had riding in Santa Clara County will have been mitigated.

Failing the test

April 19, 2009 in Cycle Training, Cycling, Recreational Cycling by CyclistRick | 2 comments

For the past three or so months one of my primary goals has been to rebuild the strength on my right hip and to get back some endurance. The main problem with the former is some restrictions on the types of strength building activities I can undertake, and the main problem with regaining the endurance I had in the past is just finding the hours to spend in the saddle. A couple of months back, during the rainy days of February when it was hard to get motivated I knew I needed a nudge. To push myself towards spending the hours on the bike, and to assess my progress, I signed myself up for a couple of local century rides. The first of those was held yesterday, the first really warm day we have had this year by coincidence.

Tierra Bella elevation and grade profileMy current assessment is I failed the test. Early in the day I thought things were good and I was thinking of extending the ride to be 120+ miles. In the end I took a cutoff and rode a mere 76 miles and change. The problems stemmed from the one significant climb of the day, to the park headquarters of Henry Coe, a net gain of 2200′ in about 9 miles. I felt good at the start of the climb, weaving my way around other riders and progressing steadily. But the consistent 10-17% grades took their toll and by the time I hit that 17% section just before the summit there was nothing left in the legs and I had to fight for every inch of elevation gain. I still thought I was alright, took on some food and hydration and stretched out before starting back down, but the small climb out the basin of Anderson reservoir showed how depleted the muscles were. There was no power, and every time I attempted to push them they surrendered and their counterparts cramped in defiance. I stopped, rested a bit, stretched out some more, but there was nothing.

I headed southward to continue, aided by a nice tailwind, but everytime I tried to push it a bit the problems cropped up. A few miles down the road my teammate Derrick caught up with me, suffering his own similar problems related to his knee. We discussed and decided the better part of valor was to cut off the second climbing loop, to Gilroy Hot Springs, and head to the cars. Calling ourselves the ‘gimp patrol’ we passed the turnoff to the Springs and limped back to where we started. Not exactly the result I envisioned, but my body made it clear that it was not ready, yet.

Now it is time to assess my plans for two weeks from now when I will be joining The Wife and a bunch of friends on another similar test. The early discussions have revolved over who is doing the 100 mile, who is doing the ‘official’ metric century, and who will do the ‘unofficial’ sort of metric cut-off version of the 100 miler. I’ve been in the 100 miler camp, alone, all along. Now I have to decide whether to give in to what the body said yesterday, or push for a better result.

Enduring

April 2, 2009 in Cycle Training, Cycling, Economy, Employment by CyclistRick | 7 comments

My attempted return to anything close to the fitness and form of last spring is progressing slowly. The muscles of the right leg and right side of the hip seem resistant to my attemots to build strength. The right knee is still a bit dodgy, sometimes feeling fine, sometimes feeling ready to throw in the towel and buckle. Overall I see the need to attack the issues on at least three fronts: strength, flexibility, and endurance. Add to that the additional impact work the orthopedic surgeon assigned me, and you have a recipe for a full-time endeavor. But my other responsibilities have limited the time I can spend, so the recovery continues at a pace much slower than I desire or anticipated.

A couple of months back I tried to push myself towards working harder on a return towards what I consider ‘normal’, putting a couple of endurance events on the calendar for this spring to force me to get out more. But life has gotten in the way and I have not been able to spend the time necessary to prepare for these events, leaving me wondering what is realistic at this point as the dates for the events draw close.

I did get an unexpected surprise this week which will, at least in the short term, free up some time for me to work on the recovery (as well as some yard and house projects that have been delayed for far too long). My employer reduced the payroll, so I have a bit more time for endeavors beyond earning a paycheck. And the time I have will be allocated differently. More work on the recovery, balanced by working on networking with friends and acquaintances in an effort to find a new challenge (read job) to pay the bills. Lat month I was able to get in a mere 280 miles or so on the bike, and I have almost 70 in the first two days of this month. Perhaps I will be ready for the first of those endurance events in a couple of weeks.

Will I be ready?

March 2, 2009 in Cycle Racing, Cycling by CyclistRick | 7 comments

My attempt at a racing season ended in a thud last year. On June 14th I attempted the Pescadero Classic Road Race when the body was fighting something and ended up doing most of the race as a solo training ride. Four days later I crashed in a points race at the track and the season was over. A bad week one could say. Since that fateful week the question ‘will you race again’ has come up frequently, both from others and myself. I am a bit of the ‘need to get back on the horse’ type, so I have always told myself ‘yes’, but with others I have been less willing to commit. The Wife chose the Bariani Road Race as her first race of the year back in the early fall and at that time I told myself I would be ready and would race there, too. The recovery has been no where as swift as I would like, and Bariani, later this month, is out of the question.

The bone shattered last June has healed, but the muscles that operate the hip joint are far from being back to normal. The orthopedic surgeon told me on the last visit that I should expect a one year recovery period, and that the last step was rebuilding the musculature. She said the gluteus in particular would take time, but the one’s I can detect are not back are the knee extensors and the hip adductors. Until I get the strength back attempting to train hard much less race is out of the question. Complicating matters is that ever since the accident I have had trouble getting comfortable on the road bike, specifically trying to get a spot where the arse is comfortable without pinching a nerve in my left hip (opposite the side that was injured). I am attempting to build bone mass (weight bearing activities), increase muscle mass and strength, get back flexibility, and try to solve the position problem in an effort to get back to close to where I was last year.

The obvious race for my return is the Pescadero Classic Road Race. It was my last road race before the accident, I was embarrassed by my showing, and it is a hilly race that tends to get strung out thus lowering the risk of another rider taking me out. The date for that race is June 13th, still 14 or so weeks away. But for some reason race registration was opened a couple of weeks ago, almost 4 full months before the event! In NCNCA it seems that with the exception of a couple of distant early (Cantua Creek, Pine Flat) and late (Henleyville) races that the men’s fields fill up in the first hours or days of registration; he who sleeps gets on the waiting list at best. Within a day of the opening of registration for Pescadero the baby geezer (35+) 4/5 field, the one I raced in last year, was full. That left the E4’s (e.g., race with the young bucks), the geezer 4/5 (about 90% full at that time), or the ultra-geezer (6 of 10 slots taken at that time) available if I wanted to register. It was fish or cut bait, so I threw my hat (aka $30) into the ultra-geezer field.

I now have 14 weeks to get myself prepared, physically and mentally, for that bit of abuse. I will not exceed the limits that my body imposes on me as I prepare, and if I do not feel ready for it I will not take the line. But now there is a more concrete objective out there that I can work towards. So now the question that hangs over me is, will I be ready?

Confessions of a food-a-holic

February 23, 2009 in Cycling, Food by CyclistRick | 5 comments

I admit it, I love food. Wonderful, tasty, edible items are a weakness. I know that if I were to become less active and let the love of food take over that I would likely be on the larger end of Clydesdale cyclists. One look at family photos and it is apparent that if being overweight has a genetic component then I am doomed. And that is a great thing about doing so much cycling; I do not have to pay extreme attention to the intake side of the equation as the burn rate helps to counter balance what I eat. The motto of the San Luis Obispo Bicycle Club ["Volamus ut Edamus, Edimus ut Volemus" (We Ride to Eat, we Eat to Ride)] sums up my relationship with cycling and food; they are part of a duality that serves me well.

One of the great things about cycling in western Europe is that there is a bar and/or restaurant at the top of virtually every major pass. After climbing 4000, 5000, or 6000 feet up some mountain having a refueling station close at hand is great. Here at home, if I climb Mt. Hamilton the only caloric items available are what is in the candy machine at the back of the visitor center. That is rather lame, in my opinion. We need some mountaintop restaurants here in the states. In 2004, as The Wife (then friend) and I got to the top of Passo dello Stelvio in a light snow storm it helped the psyche and the bodies to go into the restaurant at the top and fill up on Pasta Carbonara chased with a helping of Strudel before descending down the other side. Much better in many ways than a Snickers Bar from a machine.

I am a bit of a food agnostic. I will eat most anything if necessary. I’ve consumed cuy (Guinea Pig) in the Andes and macaw soup, crocodile, agouti and several other wild animals in the Amazon basin. And I am sure I do not want to know the identity of a number of things I ate in Southeast Asia. When push comes to shove, however, I have a preference for the cuisines of the mediterranean region. Don’t make me choose a country, just give me all the tastes of that part of the world. Besides being my favorite region, the cuisine works well with our attempts to become localvores as much as possible, eating what is grown and produced here rather than having For my last birthday The Wife gifted me the book ‘mediterranean Fresh’ by Joyce Goldstein which pays homage, for the most part, to salads of the region. We have started making our way through the book, but slowed down until some of the key ingredients become available from local sources.

Part of my food obsession is watching cooking and food shows on PBS, which are usually a great source of inspiration for things to cook. This fall I had high hopes when PBS debuted the series ‘Spain… on the road Again’. But other than the eye candy of Gwyneth Paltrow and Claudia Bassols there was not much to recommend the show; too little time spent on the food, scenery, and culture, and too much time on Mark Bittman and Mario Batali (in either florescent green or fluorescent orange crocs, depending on the episode). But, I am totally hooked on “José Made in Spain” with José Andrés. Not much of a looker, but that is fine as the show is all about food and it is evident that he is very passionate about the subject matter. We usually catch it just was we return home from 3-4 hours of riding on Saturday, in a caloric deficit and all too willing to be seduced by the rich, flavorful looking food he is either eating or preparing. Last Saturday it was roasted rack of lamb with sauteed potatoes and garlic. Every episode is a call to buy a plane ticket to Madrid or Bacelona from which to launch a culinary adventure. Until I am on the plane I will be attempting to recreate as many of these dishes as possible. Of course a good bottle of Tempranillo will help me get in the proper mood.

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