Monday, August 31, 2009

Fun riding at Herbs and some numbers.......

So, this weekend, I get the hall pass from the wife, and its time to head out to Herbs.

First lap around, I was all by myself and I was absolutely flying. I was carrying speed through that course like I've not done since I was in college. I also did the entire course without a single stop and felt strong enough to easily do many more.

Then I ran into Jacob. We've tried to get together to ride so many times, when the opportunity came up, I could not pass it up. Jacob was riding very strong that day. Compared to last winter, he's made a huge improvement in his strength and his fitness. In all, we did 2 laps. (He had already done one lap also). For him, that was his longest ride ever (over 25miles) I'm glad I was able to be part of that!!

When I got home, I pulled out the cross bike and headed out around the neighborhood to see if there was anywhere I could build a 'cross course. No beans though and the wife called me home....

What about the numbers? Well, I found a cool website, www.bicyclecalculator.com, which gives watt numbers based on other inputs you fill in. So what did it say? Well, according to the calculator, it says that on my last group road ride, I averaged 223 watts for the ride. Interestingly enough it also said that during the 'shake n bake' sprint, I was cranking out over 500 watts for approx 2 mins. That my friends is some serious power!!!!

All good fun!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Milestones and Upgrades!

This past week was full of killer riding, and hitting milestones.

First off, I'm finally down to 195lbs - no longer a clydesdale!!!!!

Next up, I rode a total of 126 miles last week. Highest mileage in quite a while! Started with doing the BikeWorld group ride on Tuesday night. We kept up a blistering pace and I almost stayed with the A group.

A 22 mile ride from the house the following Thurs felt great and encouraged me along.

Saturday, I did the LifeTime Metric Century, and we averaged just under 20mph. That was a good ride.

Then Sunday, I went out with the guys and we hit Herbs hard. I rode my SSCX while everyone else was on suspended, geared 29'ers. I held my own though!

Finally, last night, I hit the Tuesday night BikeWorld Ride. To my amazement, I finished with the A group. That included two signpost sprints that went over 33mph, and we finished the ride at 20.3mph!!!!!! This is the first time I've stayed with the A group on the ride. It feels good!!!

With my weight what it is, and finally staying with the A Group, I upgraded my bike a bit. I added a DA7800 Rear Shifter, along with a SRAM 1090 chain, and a SRAM Red 11-26 cassette. That cut the weight down, and lessened the gap between cogs : )

This has been a fun couple of weeks. I hope the MS150 goes as good as I intend!!!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Legend of Stanky Creek!!!!


Awesome race this weekend!!!!!

When I got there, I walked a few parts of the course to check out the best way to ride them. Frankly, I was scared of this course - really. There were a couple sections that were simply hard.

At the start, I knew I had to get a jump on everyone to get into the woods fast. Succeeded big time on that. Managed to get a jump on everyone in the start line sprint and entered the woods first!!!! Yee haw

As soon as we entered the woods, I turned up hill and promptly detonated at the top........ I guess I put too much into that sprint.

Later on, after the tougher blue section, I started to open it up a bit and find my groove. I was really pretty happy with how fast I was able to get moving. Then I started catching some people from my group and other groups and started rolling as hard as I could.

In the end, I took 8th place in my age group. I'm excited, and looking forward to the next race! (6 hours of Herb in October)

Friday, August 14, 2009

Legend of Stanky Creek this weekend.....

Can't wait, Legend Of Stanky Creek mtb race is this weekend.

I'm gonna leave work early today and go pre-ride the course so I don't have any surprises.

This will be the first MTB race I've competed in in about 8-9 years. My only goals are to not get hurt, ride fast and have fun!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Interesting day riding.....

Went out Sunday morning with a bunch of buddies from down south that are entering the triathlon this weekend. Rode with them around the sprint course road section. We had a fun ride and got home safe. Only bad news was losing several of the group at different time. Could not keep everyone together.


Anyway, when I got home, wife was taking our daughter to go swimming.... So seeing an opportunity, I headed back out to Herbs to do some SSCX riding. I ended up doing two laps, but was totally bonked at the end because I did not eat right. I guess you have to eat right even when you're just bombing around the trail!