Friday, December 28, 2007

New Stuff

Well, I tried out the new to me mavic wheels and they have worked out great! Excepting the blow out yesterday, but that's what I get for running a tire past its prime.

I was gifted with Spurs Giftcard and the very next day Performance had a 20% off sale so I went right away and bought the airstrykes I was looking to get. Now all I have to do is get my body used to the low profile position again since it's been 2.5 years. They are working quite well and look forward to using them on one of these really windy days.

I actually had a couple of guys stop and compliment the new bike. A quality litespeed titanium steed is recognizable and I thank God. Found out the bike is from 97. I thought it was older than that, cool huh!? It turns out it was only ridden/raced for two years in 97/98. It should last a very long time and I'm blessed.

Monday, December 24, 2007

C'est Tout - The rest is gravy!

Well, 20 days later and I should hit four thousand miles on today's ride. I'm just a little gunshy since it's 28 degrees outside. I'll probably still get going here in a bit. The rest of the miles for the year are gravy and I look forward to putting in some long miles on the Litespeed these next two weeks.

I was gifted with some mavic wheels yesterday and will need to test 'em out later this week. I want to do it today, but there are still things to do and that would take time.

The litespeed titanium steed is officially mine thank you Santa. It's in crit setup right now and for a little added comfort I want to get it to a TT setup. Anyone have some airstrykes sitting around? Again I just can't see myself putting an old pos aerobar on a brandspanking bike so I will wait to get the right gear to make it right!

No word on the Caloi frame, all warranties say no satisfaction because of events this year. But that's alright because I now own a better bike. Il est un bon Dieu!

Saw National Treasure last night, very exciting! Happy Christmas to everyone!

Monday, December 03, 2007

My Longtime Running Partner of 18 Years is Dead

No I don't run that much anymore and neither did she, but after 18 years who can blame us! Gracie our Aussie Sheepherder went to run with her Bear Boy in doggie heaven. It is for the best because the quality of her life had deteriorated quite a bit of late.

Gracie was a running dog along with Bear they got me through marathon training. One of our long runs was 21 on a trail adjacent to a creek.

Life is good and we will share accordingly!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Yearly Goal Revisited

Looks like my quarterly goals will be reached despite goal changes and all kinds of setbacks with crashes and frame problems. I'm less than 200 miles away from reaching 4000 miles for the year. I feel good about being able to take it easy thru the end of the year to reach 4k.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Caloing No More

Two weekends ago my Caloi Racing Stead, which is less than two years old, cracked at the bottom bracket weld traveling to the large down tube. I found one week later when I went to double check that my bottom bracket was tight enough - I did remember from the time before that my crank felt loose. When I saw a shiny line at the crank I found out that my crank was not loose because of loose bolts by because it was torquing due to the crack. I had about one half inch left on one side of the down tube holding it together. There was another crack forming on the lower part of the down tube. These I found the next day when I saw that the crack went all the way around. It was a gift from God that I did not injure myself and end up in the hospital.

The good news is that a friend of mine had a older titanium frame which he was fixin' to put up on ebay, but let me borrow with intent to purchase using a payment plan. Today I rode 35 miles at 17.5 MPH and still felt like I could do more!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Not Bikin' to the Beach

Well, while everyone else has been bikin' to the beach I've been to a contest and two of my kids got in and I've ridden 75 miles in three days. My friends say I didn't even drive that far in three days!

Today I did 30 at 17.4 average, my maximum average was 17.7. I did this on a flat windless beatiful AM on the river.

With the addition of a seventh prep in my day I have found that I don't have the energy to get up at the crack of dawn most days. That has been difficult to get used to, but on the bright side of things I'm only about 325 miles off of my modified goal of 4k miles for the year.

If this change becomes permanent which it may I may just have to do 75 miles a week and know that the extra mileage will come from the Summer months and vacation weeks to still make the 4K for the year next year.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Recovery Happens

Well, I have recovered, but I just went back on induction on atkins and I have zero energy or it could be that I'm just stressed about work at school since we started late this year. We still have a competition in a month. When I'm stressed I sleep more when I sleep more I don't wake up at 4:15 AM to go train when I don't train I'm cranky and my work suffers and there we are back where we started!

Last weekend I did a long ride where I averaged 17.6 MPH which is pretty good. By the time I got home I was back down to 17 MPH which is still pretty good for me. That's a first this season. It's good but it could still be better.

Anyway K there's an update :-)

Monday, July 30, 2007

34 MPH Crash

Well you know how it's been raining, so on Saturday the 21st I went out and decided to make it short only an hour and a half and 22 miles. It actually had not rained on Saturday, but on Friday it had flooded.

I'm coming down this hill doing 34 mph (55KPH?!) and I'm fine I come out of the intersection at the bottom of the hill fine and trying to avoid some traffic. I get to the next light and I must have really been torquing the bike to keep up the speed because all of a sudden my front wheel starts to slip out from under me so I react, but overcorrect to the left in the direction of the slide, so then I react again the other direction and again overcorrect and boom boom I hit the pavement and end up sliding up on the sidewalk. The bike has a couple of scratches, my helmet cracked, but no sign of impact. My body on the other hand, four inch strawberry on left quad, 5-6 inch strawberry going from left shin to calf, I wrenched my thumb ( my hand was very swollen and some kind of muscle injury in my left ankle.

Went back there this passed Saturday the 28th (First day without rain since last Saturday the 21st) and looked at the area where all this happened. There's a puddle about 100 yards before all this happened and a wear pattern in the asphalt where it all happened. I'm guessing the asphalt was holding some water from the day before and the less than 1 inch tires just couldn't hold traction.

Lately on rainy days I run my tires about 5 lbs less than max for improved traction and it looks like I will need to do 10 in order to avoid this again. I'm still taking my glucosamine to help heal the soft tissue and such and taking aleve for the discomfort and daily activities' jarring. Well, K there's the whole story, this all happened about ten miles in to the ride and rode home with my @$$ hanging out like some of the racers on the tour, found a place that had a waterhose and hosed off the strawberrys and went on home. I've spent over four weeks injured this summer and this week is supposed to be Peak #2, but no dice, best I can do is toodle along at 12 MPH. I'm going to see if it improves today with the addition of my aero bars.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Resting Heart Rate

Training is going well, speed is increasing and my resting heart rate is going down! Both of these are signs of improved training effect.

Two weeks ago, the best I could do was 60 which in itself is not bad so I didn't lose that much training effect in the three weeks that I was off because of the accident.

Last week the best I could do was 53 which is a marked improvement. This is after a huge week of 160 plus miles. This past weekend the best I could do was 60 again. Obviously after a week of 160 miles then another of 100 plus I overtrained which is expected after a three week layoff.

Resting Heart Rate is your heart rate first thing in the morning before you even stretch while in bed. You count the beats for one minute. You can also count the beats in 10 seconds and multiply by 6 or count for seconds and multiply by 10. I feel you get better results with the minute count rather than either of the seconds.

Why is this important? If you look up at Heartzones by Sally Edwards, one of the pioneers of research and application of Heart Rate Monitor training you'll find that you resting heart rate number is very important in using the Karvonen Formula. The Karvonen Formula helps you find your percentages for training.

Friday, July 06, 2007

New New

Hey, I got a new top speed for the season yesterday as an average on a ride. I looked down after a spurt and we had done 16.8 yee haw. Feels good to be improving. Lots of miles last week 160 something.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Clearance

Well, folks, all the King's Men and Women have put humpty dumpty back together again.

My new porcelain crowns are so comfy and smooth! It's like I just finished brushing them all the time.

My hand doctor has given me the ok to get back on the bike, but to continue compression on each individual finger because swelling happens during excercise to a greater degree in extremeties. Why is swelling bad? Because if hinders healing and gives you more problems with arthritis later on in life. So boys and girls take your nsaids - the benefits are not always seen or felt. Example: The other day I didn't take my aleve before I did my second test ride and I could feel every little vibration. There is plenty of vibration on a bike, especially an aluminum one!

I will do my best to not do too much too soon. But I am back on track, I cheated and did 20 miles yesterday easy and am drinking my liquids more often and not on heavy drugs that I don't know about.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Que Pasó

Well, my nose we're not going to bother fixing. It will just be a little bumpy! My teeth, one of them a root canal because I killed it. The other a simple cap maybe eventual crown. My fingers are in a brace for three weeks with compression wrapping of each finger and taking nsaids with daily execise to regain full range of motion. Don't know when I'll be back on the bike?! Not being on the bike is killing me. I'll be 400 miles in the hole at the end of three weeks. Maybe Dr. Gayle will give me special dispensation.

It would seem that the various drugs did enough to change how I react to the heat and humidity. Oh well!

Saturday, June 02, 2007

The Results of Dehydration - Heat Exhaustion

Well, my friends, after over 25 years of cycling and hardly any ill effects from Heat Exhaustion on my rides I succuumed yesterday!

I did an easy 51 miler averaging 14.5 to 15 MPH most of the time on mostly flat terrain and finished in 3:25 drank four Large Bike Bottles of Gatorade in 85 degree heat with some humidity. I also had a couple of Starbucks Iced Coffees, and one bag of salted peanuts at my first rest stop at 3009 and Old Nacogdoches. Before the ride I was hydrated evidenced by my clear pee before I left the house.

Indicators during the ride that something was awry: Did not need to go during the ride and normally on a three plus hour ride I do. My heart rate coming back into town was up around 164 and 170 BPM when pokin' along at 14 - 15 MPH (I thought it was due to traffic woes in the city).

I get home finish off my last bottle, probably 8 ounces of liquid, put the bike away, take the dogs out front for a tinkle and no problem.

I go inside and crouch down to put the diaper on the 17 year old dog, I get up quickly and start to pass out, attempt to steady myself without success, and face plant in the blue bathroom, knocking a chunk out of the terrazite floor, breaking my two front teeth (Now I can sing Thither Thuthie thiting on a thithle from "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" without having to fake it!), breaking my nose, dislocating two fingers in my left hand, a busted lip, a bump on my chin and a mild abrasion on my left knee. As I came to I realized my teeth were touching the floor and my hand was under me doubled back in the wrong direction. All I could think of was, dammit, it's Gayle's turn to go to the dentist. After a few expletives that I'll refrain from sharing due to the fact that my sister Kayzinha hates this word, I collected myself and called Gaylezinha for rescue. Lars, Gayle's brother brought me an ice compact and he and Gilbert were ready to take me when Gayle arrived.

I spent the next 7.5 hours in and out of the waiting room, triage, exam room, x-ray, cat-scan (meow) and the bathroom at the Awesome Northeast Methodist Hospital in Live Oak, North-East part of town.

Initial thoughts were that it happened because of low blood sugar in response to strennuous exercise on a low carbohydrate diet or because of a drug interaction between Claritin, Dextromethorphan & Guaifenesin (Cough supressant/expectorant) and my Lisinopril to lower my blood pressure. Ehhhhnnnn! Thanks for playin'!

I still felt hydrated in the waiting room because I was cold. When I went to pee (Tupi-Panambee, don't ask) the color was dark! Not good! Remember the pee clear speech?

When exercising vigorously one must be sweating and vacating your bladder (sorry, I got tired of seeing the word pee in this post). Heat exhaustion comes before heat stroke. Heat stroke can cause your heart to stop. I had a coworker suffer heat stroke ONCE. He learned his lesson!

Dehydration got me! Even a teacher can be taught!

Lessons learned: I normally time myself on when to drink on a ride, a good idea, but one must adjust the time to your sweat rate depending on conditions.

Rates can be derived through weight checks before during and after exercise. In-fact in ultra events one gets pulled off the course if you lose too much weight during the bout. My Winter sweat rate is anywhere from 12 - 15 minutes for 3 - 7 swallows. My Summer sweat rate is 10 minutes for 3-7 swallows. My race/redline sweat rate is 5 minutes for three swallows.

Plus, caffeine exacerbates the effects of heat exhaustion due to the fact that it is a diurretic just like alcohol. Even though the liquid is in you, it's on the fast track out and not accessible to your small intestines, remember your bioligy?!

Questions: If it's a diurretic then why didn't I have to pee? Does a diurretic affect sweat rates also?

Blessings: I was blessed to finish my ride before the appointed time Gayle and I had decided upon :-)! I am blessed that it did not happen going down a hill at 33 miles an hour! I am blessed that it didn't happen in traffic! I'm blessed that my fingers were not broken! (We'll see what the soft-tissue damage is on Monday). I am blessed that I had a clear cat-scan (meow)!


So, no riding for a while, bike camp is questionable. Doctor says stay away from the bike for a bit. Doctor Gayle says stay away from the bike for a long while. Time to walk the dogs or is it the other way around?!?

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Personal Best, Season Best

Was my personal best related to stress or new goals posted by my counterpart? I believe a little of both. Charmichael training systems says do more in less time. Higher intensity makes up for time in the saddle when life gets in the way.

Today, stuff at home and at school kept me away from rehearsals at church, but at the same time forced me out the door on the machine. The work out was a reverse ladder in the big crank at 2-3 level and then to 3-4 level. I realized that I was actually doing this same workout longer than needed in the past. It pays to read your training manual more carefully.

Temps were in the upper 70s and lower 80s. I treat this route like a TT and today it payed off when I persevered up the hills in Bell Meade. Max average was 16.1 and final average was right there at 16.

The pay off was almost three minutes less on the route! Maybe it all had to do with the fact that the Spurs http://www.nba.com/spurs were playing their second game in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. The Spurs won Go Spurs Go!

More Change in the Works

Scheduling is always an issue and that's why Caloiknightrider came on the scene. It would appear that in order to do what's right more knightrides are in the works. This would mean that club rides are out. If club rides are out what's the point of belonging.

So, allow me to think aloud. Recently a change from 5 days of workouts to 4 days of workouts was made for skeleto-muscular reasons. If the max length of a ride changes to 2 hours then what is possible in training? Weekend rides would go to dawn till 10 which is thirty minutes more on Saturday than on Sunday with Cycle Logic. The maximum for the week would be 7 hours and what I could get done in that amount of time is a mystery. I need to see how that would change goals and such in the logbook.

I would go back to being the Lone Ranger like I was in college. Day rides would be few and far between. Once a week really. Long day rides would be on special occasions only. I could call myself the Lonerangercaloiknightrider and dreams of epic rides would be just that dreams. What dreams may come?

The other idea was that Caloiknightrider could become caloindoortrainer - for a hundred bucks I'd be on my way inside, but that's a problem because of lack of dedicated space. It would be hard not to have it set up all the time. I'll just have to figure it out and roll with the flow!!! C'est la vie en la grand cité!

Monday, April 23, 2007

Baited Breath

Well, I know you were waiting with baited breath to see what was happening with my riding! As it turns out all is good. After a poor and with some pain ride Thursday morning, I decided that I would do one last test and if it didn't work then I would take a full week off without riding or exercising.

So I rode Thursday night at the Bike Mojo ride and decided to work it so I would make sure and not train harder than I should. So I worked sweep and averaged 10 miles an hour and some change and brought in the last guy to the shop. The ride was miraculous, no pain and no tederness. So after taking the last guy in I was feeling strong when a bus passed me and I couldn't resist the chase. I was going so fast that my average bumped up two miles. And I caught that bus twice. Max speed was 31 yehaw!

Saturday I did my best fifty something with 54 in 3:23.xx averaging 16.3 which is a best for me for the season. Sunday did 38 with cycle logic at the verizon and felt good through 20 something.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Good News - Bad News

So I cut a tree down on Friday and then on Saturday we emptied out the garage of old crap that needed to go to goodwill not to mention the 30 miles I did that AM at an easy pace. Saturday PM I had the opportunity to do a few extra miles, but chose not to because I had tweaked it somewhere along the way.

So after some self-medication I was able to walk and sit, but before that I could barely do anything when I got out of the shower. Ohthemiraculousqualitiesofcodene!

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I wore my weight-belt all day, but not when I slept. Tuesday during the day the weight-belt seemed to be a little much so Tuesday AM I did a test ride to see where things were. I found out that the drops were out unless I changed somethings on the bike. I changed the seat height and distance from the stem and it felt better on a mini-short test ride.

We'll see what happens when I actually ride! Cross your fingers!

Saturday, April 07, 2007

CaloiKnightrider Rides in South Texas

March 31st the first night CaloiKnightrider takes to the streets in South Texas! Church, family, and friends come first and must come first. So there you go the CaloiKnightrider is born. The miles still get to be logged and must be logged in order to ensure proper training.

The CaloiKnightrider is not willing to lose training effect! He wants to ride with the wolfpack without falling apart at mile 25 or 40!

The doctor has encouraged the CaloiKnightrider to lose poundage and drop some of those cholesterol numbers off the face of the earth. The doctor has doubts about what can be done and even gave him three months to get it done. So there the challenge is on, lose the pounds, lose the numbers and ride with the wolfpack. The unattainable is there to get grabbed!

CaloiKnightrider before training in the middle of the night on the weekend would do the Thursday Night BikeMojo ride whenever he could. If you've heard about the HHH Hash House Harriers a drinking club with a running problem, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_House_Harriers then you know what the Thursday Night is about a drinking club with a cycling problem. Never mind the fact that one can get a great interval workout on a stay-together ride! On, On!

Knight training started a long time ago during marathon training when he found that the dark helps one lose constraints placed upon oneself about going fast!

Warning: Knightriding is not for the faint of bike. The bike has to be tough because the lights don't illuminate everything out there. Ask him about his latest blow-out!

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Quartely Goal & Being Behind

So here I am at least four weeks behind and yet I've reached one thousand miles with less than consistent effort on mileage. Scheduling is always a challenge, but motivation is hard when life gets in the way.

I've read alot about sleep/rest being part of training. In an effort to stay true to training concepts I have taken Wednesday off as well. Hour/Mileage goals are going to be difficult to reach with one less day during the week since I already take Monday and Friday off. Clydesdales require further rest because of size/body shape. I learned this the hard way with my running, that I have now set aside.

One other conclusion I've made is to set aside my mountain biking because of a propensity for injury. Perhaps this would not be as prevalent if I had the latest technology on my MTB.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Why Write, Porque Escrever, Pourquoi Ecrire, Porque Escribir, Because I Can, Por Causa Que Eu Posso, Parce Que Je Peu

Community

I write because of online communities, before web-based communities, I was involved in BBS communities before BBSs I wrote letters to folks as late as 1990. Some of the most fun communities that I have been a part of have been the Dead Runners Society (DRS) and the Dead Runners - Texas (DRT). One of the great ideas that made this group excellent was the no flame rule online. You can write a scathing letter backchannel or real email to the person you disagreed with, but you dare not write a flame (a forcefully worded emotional email) to the listserv (the listserv would broadcast said tirade to over 2K people) lest you anger the DRS gods (listowner, programmer, etc.). http://www.tri-drs.org is the location of the most recent incarnation of the DRS community that I frequent. One of the others that was the best was the CVRT the Clydesdale Virtual Racing Team - besides being a founding member the most fun activity we did regularly was the Frostbite 100. One year I actually came in fourth and had the most fun welcoming everyone else to our party with virtual lawnchairs and virtual keg.


Expanding Horizons

I want to improve myself and have contact with others with similar interests so that I can better myself as a humawn bean as well as an athlete. Through fostered discussion on certain topics we expand our horizons on it and are able to think beyond the task. I write to help others expand their horizons as well. I know I've learned a lot about various things just by reading what others have written.


I Write

I have maintained a tradition of writing for publications. My first was for the San Antonio Road Runners Newsletter and I believe the title was The Shoes do All the Work presenting a view of the life of a runner as seen through the eyes of a pair of shoes. I have also been published in Running Times an article about running in San Antonio and I think it was called Remember the Alamo. I have also written for Run the Planet http://www.runtheplanet.com about all kinds of places good for running in the states and in Brazil.


Bringing People Together

Sounds corny, but I know how miraculous it is to be transformed by something such as cycling. I believe this is part of paying it forward. Encouraging others to be transformed and start enjoying life more instead of living with medication.


My Friends

To share with my friends the joy that I've experienced doing what I do on the bike. That's why we started the Hike and Bike http://northwood-hikeandbike.blogspot.com at my church. We have a large group hikers and bikers. We have a dream of taking a group of seven to eleven cyclists on the MS 150 bike to the beach down to Corpus Christi, put on our own triathlon or multiple venue family event up in Vance with running and hiking.


Training

To train and be trained! To help others with their training, I get a kick out of training others or teaching. It is part of me and my makeup!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

8 Weeks Behind, But Now Back On Track

The title says it all! I am still behind, but Hell Week according to Carmichael training put me four weeks closer because of the big mileage done.

I may reach my quarterly goal with 1000 miles.

I need more hills! I'm trying to do hills (molehills) close to my neighborhood everytime I go out.

I started doing speedwork again, very limited, fartlek only, but then time was an issue. A start is a start! According to my log I still need seven more weeks of training before getting serious.

The weight is not melting off, but it is rearranging shapewise. My clothes are already fitting better.

I have decided to take an extra day off during the week for the beneffit of rest in response to training. With all the long miles on the weekend I believe this is necessary!

If you're looking for an interesting read Mr. Langley in the link above he's a regular in RBR which is also a good read.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Hell Week SA Recap

Well my Saturday ride is logged! I was going for eighty, but the "best laid plans of mice and men." I awoke later than planned and piddled around too much. Actually, the piddling is hereditary, my Mom used to do that and I got the piddle gene. C'est la vie! I ended up with 51 which is Ok, but not great!

If I log almost 40 in the next day I'll end up with 300 for my SA Hell Week and I definitely can live with that!!!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Where am I - Hell Week in SA

Saddle sore and waterlogged! After a great weekend where over 100 miles were logged, Monday and Tuesday arrived with a whimper. 500 to 600 miles is way out of question at this point for the week. It is Wednesday and almost noon and I used the excuse that I would see what the weather was going to do. Your guess is as good as mine! The beater is not rideable so it's the good Caloi Pro Road out and sloshing around and I'm no longer crazy about doing that since I no longer ride a pos bike.

Monday I was fasting for some bloodletting and that made for a ride with an excruciating headache and dirty, muddy, wet wash everything under the sun when I get back kind of ride, but still managed at least thirty which was goal for everyday this week. That puts the totals at a slight 130 plus for the week. I was in search of my epic ride, but the last day for that to happen was today and here I am still on the computer see the article on the epic ride.

Weather temps are good in the area, but the flashflooding just puts a damper on all the routes that are doable. Plus people have died. Actually stupidity killed them for crossing in to deep waters in cars. We live down here long enough you know where the low water crossings are and you watch yourself lest you be accused of being stupid for going through the low water crossing. Soooo...what to do?! I think I'll go to the dollar movie just to get out!!!