Assos ClimaJet Breaker

I recently received the Assos ClimaJet Breaker as a gift. I had a chance to test out the jacket/breaker for about a month now. At first I wasn't too impressed. The jacket wouldn't breath and it was really difficult to get on. The cuffs are really tight. If you're wearing gloves it becomes a struggle to get the sleeves over the gloves, and especially the cuffs of the sleeves. This makes it difficult to get the jacket on, or off, while riding. It takes a while to get used to the process of putting the jacket on and taking it off while riding. It helps to have a thin, to no, gloves while putting the jacket on or off.
Now back to my other gripe. I would start to sweat a lot whenever I put wear this jacket. At first I thought this jacket was made of some super material that kept wind and water out while allowing it to breath. Well that's not the case. Yes, the jacket is made of a "highspeed, low drag" material, and it does an excellent job of blocking the wind and keeping you dry in light rain. However, protecting you from the elements has it trade-offs. It loses it ability to breath. Here is what the Assos website says:
"Attention however! The climaJet protects from the outside, but this also means that the moisture transfer from the inside towards the outside is slowed down; this regardless from how breathable the wind and/or rain breaker material is. Consequently, we recommend not using shells (regardless of brand and make) when riding hard for a longer amount of time because the body will sweat more, dehydrate and in the process loose essential minerals. This will cause cramps and loss of power. To reduce and minimize this effect, we have incorporated lateral air vents for efficient cooling and evaporation."
After reading this I realized what the jacket is designed for. It's a great jacket to wear at the start of the ride, while you're still warming up. It's even better to wear on long cold descents. The jacket is NOT good for hard rides or interval workouts.
I wore my jacket the other night on a nice easy recovery ride. I wore over my longsleeve jersey and it kept me comfortably warm in 50 degree weather.
In conclusion, I recommend this jacket as an additional fall (or winter if you're on the West Coast) layer. It does a great job of protecting from the wind and light rain. However, it's not designed to worn on long hard rides; it will cause you to sweat - a lot. It can be difficult to put on and take off while riding. Overall, it's a great jacket. That is, if you can afford the $240 price tag. Like I said, I received mine as a gift.

Positively False (a review)

I'm just finishing up Floyd Landis' book Positively False. The first 3/4 of the book is really good. It has the usual biographical format: the early years, the struggle, the victory/triumph. This book add an additional element - the excuses. The last part of the book is about how WADA/USADA are evil anti-athlete organizations who are only interested in unfairly prosecuting accused athletes.
One of the on-going messages throughout the book is how Floyd has irritated the different cycling organizations; leaving the reader to believe they may have it out for him. For the most part you believe what Floyd has to say. It sounds like WADA/USADA is only out to crucify Floyd.However, already knowing the outcome of his case makes it hard to fully get behind the Floyd cause.
Overall the book is a decent read. If you're a cyclist you'll like a majority of this book. It kept me interested for most of the book. It was written really well, and felt as if Floyd was dictating his story to me. After reading this book I found new motivation to get out on my bike and train harder.

Trainer Life

Well, I'm on day three of my trainer hell. Last night's workout wasn't too bad. I actually had a prescribed workout to do. After a 10 minute warm-up I did 15sec zone 7 sprints every five minutes. I was a little disappointed I didn't break 1000watts. I probably could have gone harder, but I was afraid of jolting the bike from the trainer.
Today I got together with some of the guys from the 1/2 team and we all suffered on our trainers together. It made the time a lot more bearable. I also got a chance to ride rollers for the first time. They took a little while to get used to, but once I got going it was pretty fun. It's a lot of easier to spin at higher RPM's on the rollers.
After the class I went straight to the bike shop and bought myself a pair. I went with the SportCrafter ZRO rollers. I originally wanted the Kreitler rollers, but they didn't have them. These looked pretty good and at a great price. I will write a review after I've used them for a while.

Integrate Performance Fitness

I'm happy to see Al excited about his new business. He recently took over the lease at the location he where he was a trainer. Now the place is looking better than ever. He's painted the walls, had a new logo designed, and launched a new website: http://www.integratefitness.com/.

I really want to see him succeed. I think he does a great job of putting us through "muscular discomfort". My body has adapted to most of the workouts. However, I still get sore, but just not as long. I highly recommend checking out one of his Functional Strength classes. The classes are one hour long, with about eight people per class. It's a great workout that will challenge your body and make you sore for a couple of days(But in a good way).
His classes changed the way I look at training in a gym. We use weights with some exercises. The weights are usually integrated into movements are bodies would make if we were cycling or running, so there's none of this bench press or leg curls type workouts.
I've been going twice a week now for three months and I'm noticing some results. I'm feeling more powerful and more flexible. My girlfriend has noticed I've become more a little more muscular. I guess I've gone from a skinny dork to a skinny dork with some muscle definition.
Definitely check out one of his classes. Here's the website again:
www.integratefitness.com
and the address:
2624 Faytette Drive
Suite D
Mountain View, CA
94040

(The location is set back off the street inside this little commercial business park. Don't look for some fancy looking gym. The quality is with the talent on the inside.)

A Wet & Cold Weekend

I guess I get to look forward to riding my trainer this weekend :( I might venture out in the rain, but I'm busting beating a cold and don't want to make things worse. Plus there was recently a memorial ride for someone who had died on New Year's day. It was two years ago and we were experiencing another bad storm, similar to the one we're in now, and the high winds broke a branch which landed on the rider. There's no reason to risk death or injury just to get in my prescribed workout. I'd rather suffer on the trainer. It may time to invest in some rollers to help break things up. Do one hour on the trainer, then .5hr on the rollers, and repeat. It will also help to get a good movie, maybe Eastern Promises.

Glad I'm Not There

I've been officially out of the Marine Corps for 3 years (4 years from end of active service). Every time I see a video clip of the fighting going on in Iraq it makes me so very thankful to be out of the service. I couldn't imagine the stress of being in a combat zone. Being in a combat situation (real or exercise) is similar to being in jail. You're told what to do and when to do it. There's hardly any free time, and there's no excuses of why you can't get something done. It's tough, both mentally and physically.


Army Live Footage From Iraq - Watch more free videos
Watching this video really makes me glad I was lucky enough to dodge the "activation" bullet. The whole time during the troop build-up for Operation Iraqi Freedom I was in a state of purgatory. I had no clue if I was going or not. Every time my phone rang I thought it my be my unit telling me to "pack my trash and report for duty".
The worst part was not knowing what's going to happen. Being unable to plan your future leaves you feeling anxious and scared. Luckily I never received the call to active duty. I was able to get out about six months later when they ended "Stop-Loss". I was even luckier to get completely discharged, honorably, about a year later, which removed my name completely from any lists for possible call-up.
My unit ended up being called-up for deployment three months after I was out of the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR).
I'm not sure if my unit suffered any causalities. All I know is my close friends made it home safely, but not before having there whole view of life and the World changed drastically.
So when I see videos like the one above I am thankful. Thankful to be home, and thankful to be able to do what I want when I want. This mindset helps me get out the door on hard training days. Whenever I'm feeling lazy or in a funk I think to myself how I could be in some foreign country acting as a bullet sponge for our Politicians, with no idea when I will be able to come home or if I will ever make it home. This usually gets my ass out the door and on my bike.

Those Crazy Japanese

This is the craziest movie trailer I have ever seen. It's so over the top I'm not even sure it's not a joke. Check it out for your self.

Rock Star does it again

The new GTA4 trailer is out and it looks like it's going to be an awesome game. Hopefully it will be better the last one.
The graphics look amazing, or at least the cut scenes look amazing.




I wonder how many times it will be pushed back.

A cold day of riding

I had a really good weekend of riding. Saturday started off really cold (High 30's is considered really cold to a Californian native). I made sure to put on a lot of layers, including a full face mask, and I finally got to use my thermal vest.
I met up with the P1/2 team and rode with them around the Polhemus loop. The ride was at a "social pace". People still went for the town-sign sprints, but for the most part the pace was pretty moderate. I made sure to sit in as much as possible and shoot the shit with as many people as possible.
Once we got back to Woodside we split up. Most of us headed up Kings Mtn., bypassing Huddart park :( . I kept a steady zone 4 pace for most of the climb. I was the first to the top, but I'm sure if anyone else could have caught me easily if they wanted.
From there we took 32 to 84E. I was suffering on 32. My legs were starting to fatigue, but not to the point where I would have been dropped.
On Sandhill Rd. I was almost dropped. I was taking a pull and started to fatigue. Everyone passed me pretty quickly on the downhill and my legs didn't have much "pop" left to jump on the train. Lucky for they hit a red light.
The rest of the way home I maintained a zone 2 effort. My legs were just about done at the 3:45hr mark. I'm sure if I had done a better job of fueling during the ride my legs would have felt better. Fueling is something I really need to work on.
By the end of the day I ridden for 4:15hrs and 80 miles. Not bad for a quiet Saturday.

BASP#4

This was my third CX race of the season. Originally I wasn't looking forward to doing this race. My last race, BASP#2, was horrible. I had been sick the week before the race, and wasn't able to maintain the intense efforts during the race. That race left me with a really negative feeling towards CX. However, yesterday's race changed all of that.
I decided to race in the A's, that way there was less pressure to podium. The first thing I noticed when I lined up for the start was the small size of the field, only 44 racers.
The start of the race was a little bit sketchy. Someone locked up there brakes during the hole shot sprint; then racers were going too hot into turn number one and pushed a lot of people wide into the course tape. After the initial chaos I settled into a good rhythm and started passing people. I moved my way up to the middle of the pack, continuing to pass people, but then my peddle hit a root and sent me flying off my bike.
I imagine my crash looked pretty funny because I was just riding along and then all of a sudden I'm bucked off my bike. Well I pop up and start to get ready to mount my bike when I'm stopped by shouting spectators telling me my chain was off. It was off in a way I've never seen before. Luckily a spectator helped me get it back on, allowing me to get back into the race, but not before being passed by numerous people. It took a while, but I started to get back into a rhythm. Once again I started to pass some people who had passed me during my crash.
I was doing well getting back up towards the middle of the pack, until I crashed - again. This time I went down in a sandy section. This did me in. I was passed by a lot of people while I tried get my chain back on.
Throughout the remainder of the race I had some mechanicals (my rear quick release came loose - twice), but I managed to stay upright. Even though I ended up 39th of 44 I had a ton of fun. It really rejuvenated my CX racing spirit. Now I'm looking forward to the last race in the BASP series. I'll be racing the A's again :)

The "Non-Competitive" season

Well I'm still at it. Training for the '08 season. It's somewhat disheartening to not be as strong of a rider as I was during the racing season. It's much more of a struggle to get up hills. My lungs can handle it, but my legs get tired more quickly than during the racing season. It probably doesn't help I haven't been doing much climbing during my training rides.
Almost all of my training is done on flat/rolling terrain. I guess we're trying to build/maintain my aerobic engine. The strength work will come closer to the start of the season.
I guess it's not reasonable to try and maintain my fitness all the way through the non-competitive season through to next season. I would get burnt out, and I've already been close to burn-out once this month. It doesn't matter if I can kick-ass on the bike now, it only really counts during races.
Speaking of races, I have my first CX race in over a month this Sunday. I'm not too excited about it. I don't know why. I had a blast last year, but for some reason I'm not getting that into it this year. It's probably because I didn't train last year, I only raced.
Maybe my experience would change if I could hydrate during the race. My mouth gets so dry that I start mentally breaking down. I'm going to try to carry a small flask of fluids during this Sunday's race and see how things go. Speaking of which I need to get my CX bike ready for this weekend.

Road to recovery

After four days of being sick I'm finally starting to feel close to 100%. I rode my bike for the first time yesterday after being off my bike for three days. I felt really week. I'm hoping I didn't lose too much fitness.
I mostly noticed the loss of fitness when I was riding up HWY 9. I thought about riding up to Skyline, but decided to not chance it and went down at Redwood Gulch. Overall the ride went well, minus the flat tire, and it felt good to be back on the bike.
We'll see how I do today. I'm doing a 3.5hr ride with attacking sprints every 15minutes. I'm not really looking forward to the long ride, but the sprints will help break things up a bit.

Oh Where, Oh Where Have My Legs Gone?

My past two workouts have been garbage. On Tuesday I was able to do the minimum my workout required, but I was in a mental "funk". There was a lot of negative self talk during the first set of my intervals. The fact I was riding an 11-23 cassette on a steep climb probably didn't help much either. I think that contributed fatiguing my legs.
Another contributing factor was the previous day's strength session. It was the first time I have done a gym workout in over 1.5yrs and it really made me sore. That coupled with the two races I did this past weekend really drained my legs. I only hope my legs recover enough for this weekend's long rides. I have three 4hr + rides with lots of climbing scheduled for Fri, Sat, and Sun.
Getting back to the previous day's trainings, I haven't felt like this in a long time. Granted, I only started a structured training schedule a month ago, but I still don't like it. I don't like this feeling of not having any power in my legs. I also don't like not being able to complete a quality workout. It makes me feel as if I'm letting my coach down. I've been really strong up until this week, and now I can hardly ride at threshold for 6 minutes. Something is definitely wrong with my legs.
My legs were so weak yesterday I couldn't complete the minimum amount of prescribed intervals. I did two instead of 3 sets of 1-3. Oh well, at least I wasn't in my mental "funk".
As I write this my legs feel better. I'm looking forward to my recovery ride today. No pressure to complete intervals. Just a nice relaxed ride for time.
I'm somewhat nervous about my long rides because they are going to be done with some strong riders, and as I said before, up until now I have been thought of as a strong rider. Hopefully I can continue the facade throughout the weekend. Even if I don't it's not a big deal. It's training for God's sake, not a race. Racing is what counts. As long as I can continue to have good results I'll be happy.
I can't expect to have perfect workouts all season long. There will be crap workouts, and there will be high quality workouts. I still have five months of racing to train for, so two days in the "Valley" (low point) isn't a big deal.
Tonight I will get focused and relaxed for my hard workouts this weekend. I need to remember, it's only training, not racing. I'm not trying to show off how strong I am. I'm out there training for ME, to make myself stronger so I can continue to win races.

Escape from Alcatraz Race Report

Escape from Alcatraz is a race I have been wanting to do for a while. It was one of my goals in life to complete the Escape from Alcatraz race. Now I can check that goal off, because today I completed the Escape fro Alcatraz race.
Eventhough this race was one of my life goals I didn't take it too seriously. I didn't train too hard for the race, plus I've been eating like crap. Going into the race I told myself I was going out there to have fun. I didn't care how I did as long as: 1) I finished the race, and 2) I finished close to 3.5 hours.
I didn't stress too much about packing for the race and the night's stay in the City. When I did my Ironman Race I started packing four days in advance, checked and rechecked everything I packed. This time I just threw things into my transition bag and called it a night.
I spent the night at my friend's place in the City. He and his girlfriend live in a nice little studio in Nob Hill. It was me, my friend Cecilia, and the two who live in the Studio (Alex and Natalie). My bike and gear made for a tight squeeze.
Alex is a super good artist. He's making some extra cash painting shoes. I know it sounds weird, but people are willing to pay upto $300 for a pair of shoes. Here's a pair he's currently working on:
Cecilia and Natalie decided to go out last night. They didn't come back to the studio until 1am. Of course they came home drunk and loud which woke me up. They stayed up for a while talking and laughing. They finally went to sleep about 1:30am. As soon as they passed out Alex started to snore, and it was SUPER loud. I couldn't fall back asleep. He finally stopped snoring around 2:30am; that's when I finally passed out.
I woke up at 5am. I had my hammer shake and 1/2 bagel with Nutella. I grabbed all my stuff and headed Downn to the race site.
Race day morning started off looking beautiful. The sun was shining and it wasn't too cold. I went to the transition area (TA) and found my spot on the bike rack. The space allowed for individuals to set up their TA's were super small. It made organization a requirement.
I threw all my gear down on my TA towel: running shoes, race belt, helmet, and I racked my bike with my bike shoes attached to the pedals.
After setting up my spot in the TA I jumped on the bus over to Pier 3 where we would load onto the ferry to Alcatraz. The ferry was full of nervous energy. Some people looked as if they were on the boat ride to storm Normandy beach.
I wasn't worried about the swim. The only thing I was nervous about was the water temperature. It was reported to be 55 degrees, and that's freaking cold.
The ferry pulled up next to Alcatraz. That's when we were told to jump overboard. I wanted to get it over with, so I jumped within the first couple minutes of the swim start.
I hit the water and started swimming immediately. The water wasn't too cold, but that didn't stop people from freaking out. Within the first 50 yards of the swim I could hear people yelling to be pulled from the water.
About 10 minutes into my swim my goggles started to leak. It made it difficult to spot landmarks to know where I was swimming to. I stopped about four different times to drain my goggles and figure out where I was supposed to go. I also had to stop a couple of times because I swallowed a lot of water. There were some rolling swells, but other than that the water was relatively calm.
The swim went by quickly. Once I reached shore I had to run 1/2 mile to the TA. I decided to run barefoot. I thought "It's only 1/2 mile. Plus it will be on grass". Unfortunately it was on cement, and it was rough cement. Towards the end of the short run I could feel the bottoms of my feet start to feel a little raw.
I quickly found my bike, threw on my helmet and took off on the bike course. By now the fog had rolled in and it was overcast. The cooler weather turned out to be a blessing; it prevented my from overheating.
I didn't push too hard on the bike, but I didn't take it easy. I kept my power output around 270 watts. I was surprised at how many people struggled on the small hills around the Legion of Honor. I pushed a little harder on the uphills to pass people.
One thing I wasn't used to in this race was ability to draft off of people. I'm used to keeping a 4 meter gap in between bikes. The ability to draft off of others made passing a lot easier. What didn't make passing easy was the roads.
The roads on the bike course were so jacked up. I wish I was riding a bike with suspension. A couple of times I felt as if I were going to be bounced off of my bike. I'm just glad I decided to ride my older bike without my race wheels.
There was a lot of people out there that had their super expensive bikes with super expensive race wheels. They must have been freaking out on some of the rough roads. I've heard stories of carbon race wheels breaking on this race course because of the rough roads.
The fun thing about the course having some steep hills was going down them. It seemed like a lot of people had a hard time descending. Not me, I just peddled harder. My max speed on a downhill was 40mph.
The return course back was uneventful. As I followed the course back the towards the TA, I could see the majority of people were just starting the bike leg of the race. Heading the opposite way I could a steady flow of people. It looked like a mid day's flow of traffic on a freeway. People were trying to pass each other any way they could. I'm sure there were a few crashes on the course.
As I approached the final straight away of the bike course I peddled harder. I was going 26mph on the flat road towards the TA. Once I neared the TA I unstrapped my bike shoes, took my feet out and put them on top of the shoes. This allowed for a quick dismount at the TA.
I ran into the TA, racked my bike, put on my running shoes, and took off onto the run course. I forgot to put my heart rate monitor on so I had no idea how hard I was pushing myself. I pushed myself at about a 7 on my RPE scale. I loved the run course. I used to run that area all the time when I lived in San Francisco, I lived .5mi from the run course.
I hit the 4mi mark and stepped up my pace. We were running on the beach so it made it a little more difficult. At the end of the beach there was a sand ladder. A lot of people struggle on it, I know I did. However, I ranked 17th overall on the "Sand Ladder Challenge".
I maintained my pace up until mile six, that's when I turned it up again. The last two miles I was pushing hard. I finished in 2:41:24.
After the race I still had a lot of energy, which leads me to believe I could have pushed harder earlier on in the race. That is something I need to learn to do. Overall I achieved my goal of going out there and having fun. Maybe next time I can take the race more seriously and place in my age groups.

Race Weekend

One of the races (Escape from Alcatraz) I've been wanting to do for a while is coming up this weekend. However, I haven't really been training that hard for the race. I almost don't really care how I do in this race. I have no doubts that I will finish, but I don't know how hard it will be. Hopefully I struggle to much to finish the race. I know the swim is going to be hard.
The swim is the whole reason I wanted to do the race. Not many people can say that they have swam from Alcatraz. I've done the swim last year at a different race. It wasn't too hard, but it was warmer than it will be this weekend. Last I heard the water is going to be in the mid 50's. Damn, that's cold!
The last time I did the swim I almost got sick. The water was super salty, like a pirate - arrrrr!, and the rolling swells really did a number on my stomach. I'm hoping this time around it won't be that harsh on my stomach.
After I'm done writing this I need to pack. Here's my list:

• Wetsuit
• Goggles
• Squid Lid (Hoodie)
• Body Glide
• Bike
• Helmet
• Shoes
• Spare tube
• Co2
• Levers
  
• Glasses
• Run shoes
• Visor/hat
• HRM
• Pump
• Towel

That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure I will think of more. I planning on having my hammer shake for breakfast (2 scoops of Sustained Energy, 4 serving of Hamer Gel, and 12oz. of Water). I will also eat a bagel with Nutella for breakfast.
Well, it's time for me to pack. Oh, so much fun.

So Much Anger

The boss strikes again. It started at 7am this morning. As soon as I walked through the door his negative attitude covered me like a dark rain cloud. He was upset because three employees were not going to be in today, and he had plans to leave early.
He said his usual "I can't ever leave. I can plan something six months in advance and some one will call in sick and ruin it". There is a grain of truth to this statement. In the past people have called in sick on days he had planned to leave early, but it happens less than 5% of the time. However, it's that 5% that sticks out in his mind and sends him spiraling into pissy rage.
I really need to give him the number of a therapist. He's making me lose my mind.

Another day at the office

Work has become such a depressing place to be. I wish I could find a new job because I need to get out. There's only one problem though, my boss is my father. That's right, I work at a family business. Don't get me wrong, working as a family member in a family business has its perks, but lately the negatives have been way out-weighing the positives.
The root of the problem, both for me and the business, is my father. He is such a negative guy; he's negative about everything. If an employee messes up, or a customer does something to upset him he takes it personally. In his mind he feels that they purposely do these things to say "F-you" with their actions. However, that's not the case. Most of the time the employees make an honest mistake.
The problem is when an employee does something the boss doesn't like he doesn't address the issue when it happens. Instead, he bottles up his feelings which usually turns into anger. Then every time the employee makes the same mistake, which they don't know they are making because the boss hasn't addressed the issue, the boss becomes more and more mad. Then the employee who was making the same mistakes will do something minor and the boss will blow up at them. The employee usually has no clue why the boss tore their head off. The boss really makes a hostile work environment where every one is walking on egg-shells.
Almost all of the employees are afraid to ask the boss any questions because he usually gives off this vibe that the person asking the question is stupid for asking the question.
I really wish I could get him to go to therapy, but my half-assed attempts have been ignored.
There's way too much to write about my work situation. This will definitely be a work in progress.

Swimming and the Gym

This morning I went to the gym to do a swim workout. This was a tough workout. I had the pleasure of doing an 800yd timetrial (an all out effort). I remained consistent for most of the timetrial (TT), but my muscles became super tired after the first 200yds.
Thinking back on it, I probably could have pushed myself harder. I have a hard time digging deep in workouts, and especially for swimming.
I swear, my TT speed is the same, if not slower, than my normal pace. I guess my form goes to shit when I try to speed it up. Plus I waste a lot of energy.
Anyways, after my workout I was in the locker room at my gym getting ready for work. In the locker room there is a TV, and it's usually tuned to ESPN. I guess they were talking about the Duke Lacrosse rape scandal.
While I'm getting dressed I hear some douche-bag (DB) say "exotic Dancer?!? Why don't they call her what she is - a stripper? She's probably a whore too!"
The guy who said this was super loud, and every one in the locker room could hear him. The gym I belong too is a little more affluent than most other gyms. The people here are supposed to be educated, but this DB sounded like he was some frat boy. The sad thing is this DB was a 40 something man.
I have no clue why this bugged me so much, but it did. I guess it had to do with the fact the DB was so loud. Some of comment is true, the accuser is a stripper, but the anger in this guy's tone just rubbed me the wrong way.
I'm usually a really chill guy. I don't usually automatically dislike people that I haven't met, but there is the special few who send out that vibe. The vibe that says they are obnoxious a-holes. The same vibe this DB sent out.
The good thing about this country is we allow people to be obnoxious a-hole DB's and say what they want. The bad thing is some people take up this right to be obnoxious a-hole DB's.