A work in progress

I'm almost done building up the new frame. I still need to cut the steerer tube, run new brake cables, and adjust the derailleurs.

Here's what I've done:
New frame - obviously
New chain rings
New pedals
New chain
New shifting cables
New hoods

I have a new white Ritchey stem, but I'm not sure I like the aggressive angel. Plus it didn't look as good as the black. I might get the wet black stem. It would probably look better.

More pics to come.

Motivation & Discipline

Discipline and motivation are what is needed to be sucessful in most aspects of our lives. Wether it's amature cycling or moving up the corporate ladder, we need to practice discipline while trying to stay motivated. However, this is where things become difficult.

We need to show discipline in many different ways. It could be anything from waking up at 5am to do our strength session, to foregoing that piece of chocolate cake or extra glass of wine. We make small sacrifices everyday trying to bring us closer to our goals. But what happens when our discipline starts eating into our motivation?

There has to be somewhat of a balance between motivation and discipline. I've seen, and experienced, being too disciplined. What I mean by "too disciplined" is focusing too much on achieving our goal. Tunnel vision sets in, and fun seems to leave the tunnel. We focus on doing the workouts at all costs to achieve our goal. Some of those costs include fatigue, skipping time with family/friends, and missing out on just enjoying the day.

So how do we find a balance? The reason I ask is because I'm still trying to find out for myself. I'm guessing the best way to do this is to keep it fun. We can be disciplined, but we have to ease up every once in awhile and enjoy ourselves. Our training world won't come crashing down if we take a mini-vacation every once in a while.

This is something I'm going to try to learn to do. I don't think it will be easy, but training never is.

I think I have a problem

I swear, I can quit whenever I want.

Don't ask me why, but I love these drinks. I go for the sugar free drinks because, well, they're sugar free. I wouldn't want my teeth to fall out. I don't even really drink them for the supposed energy they provide. I just like the taste.

These energy drinks are way over priced. They range anywhere from $2.19 +crv to $2.59+crv. That's frackin expensive! I guess we all need our vices. It's what makes us human - right?

While I'm on the topic of energy drinks I'll rate them.

• Redbull - the originator of the energy drink. These taste great! The regular (with sugar) is the one of the best, if not the best, tasting energy drink on the market. There sugar-free drink takes a while to get used, as do most sugar-free drinks, but once you do it's really good. Where Redbull falls down is in value. You get half as much drink for the same price as most other energy drinks on the market. I would prefer to drink Redbull sugar-free, but I'm American; I want MORE for my money- dang nabbit!
  
• Monster - I surprised to find out Monster has the second biggest market share for energy drinks. I'm not a fan of their regular drink. There sugar-free, or low-carb drink as they market it, is just okay. It takes longer to adjust to the taste than others. It tastes a lot sweeter than others, and at times has almost a vitamin-like taste.
  
• Rockstar - Third largest energy drink (in the US) and the most conservative. Did you know that Rockstar was founded, and is ran, by the son of conservative talk show host Michael Savage? I guess you do learn something new every day. Anyways, this is my drug...I mean drink of choice. I really enjoy the taste of the sugar-free drink. However, I still like Redbull sugar-free better. I haven't had the courage, yet, to try the 24oz. drink. That's a whole lot of drink.
• Full Throttle - This is Coca-Cola Co.'s venture into the energy drink market. The regular drink is my second favorite, regular Redbull being the first. The sugar-free drink is pretty crappy. It's too watered down. The only good thing is you can usually find really good deals on Full-Throttle because it's a Coca-Cola product. So they price pretty aggressively to gain market share - I assume.
  

I know in a few years they're going to come out with a study stating that drinking energy drinks will cause you to grow a third nipple, or something like that, but for now they are my guilty pleasure. Hey, at least I'm drinking sugar-free. I guess that's like saying I only smoke lights ;)

A little Q&A

Below are some questions I was asked for our clubs sponsorship newsletter. I'm not sure why they chose me, but I was a little fatter....I mean flattered. So I actually put some thought into my answers.

- What is your athletic background, what got you interested in the sport, and how do you think that helped in your success here?

In high school I played rugby. Straight out of high school I went into the Marine Corps. Physically the Marines was easy, but mentally it was super tough. In bootcamp they pushed us to our limits, and then kept pushing some more. They didn’t care if we could no longer do the exercise, all they wanted to see was that we were still trying even though our body couldn’t do the effort. This type of training has helped tremendously with cycling. It has helped me with pushing myself to, and beyond, my limits.

I came into road racing by way of triathlon. I was doing ½ Ironman distance races, and one full Ironman, when I realized I like the bike leg a lot more than the swim and the run. So I joined Alto Velo to give racing a try.

- How long have you been with AV and what made you want to join the club?

I am going on my fourth year as a member. I joined the club because everyone seemed really friendly.

- You moved from a 5 to a 3 in the matter of year, then took 1st in your second race as a 3. What would you say was the biggest factor in realizing that success?

The biggest factor was putting in the training hours, and having an awesome team to race with.

- Recently you upgraded to race with the P 1/2's, could you describe that transition from 3's?

Physically the transition wasn’t as bad as I thought. The racing is a lot faster, especially in crits. It took a little while to adjust to the higher intensity and the longer races. The goal of my first P1/2 race was to just finish with the pack. I guess that’s a common goal with new upgrades. Now I see the P1/2 races as just another race.

The biggest change in the P1/2 field is the team aspect. Most of the people who win races have a strong team supporting them. I’m really lucky to be on a cool team with such great riders. They’re teaching me a lot about tactics and race strategy.

- What are your goals for the remainder of the season?

I plan on winning the Cascade Stage Race (the cat 2 field). Winning a stage race has been a goal of mine all season. I also want to win a P1/2 race, as well as a cyclocross race in the “A’s”.

- What (if any) advice would you give to up and coming riders?

Race smart. You don’t necessarily have to be the strongest or fastest racer to win. It helps to be a strong rider, but your chances of winning are dramatically reduced if you waste your energy and race foolishly. Pay attention to what going on. The best way to do this is to be near the front. I always like to tell people be near the front, but not at the front.

- The season here in California is exceptionally long, what do you do to keep motivated to keep racing?

That’s a great question. I’m still trying to figure that one out. One thing I’ve found that helps is to indulge yourself once in a while. Take a day off the bike and go out. Eat or drink whatever you want. I’m not saying to drink a whole bottle of Chianti or eat a whole cheesecake, but enjoy yourself.

- Last question, what do you do for fun off the bike?

Fun off the bike? I like hanging out with my dogs (not my homies, but my pets) and my fiancé. We’re pretty dorky. We’re currently hooked on the videogame Rock Band. I play the drums and she sings. We both really horrible. I guess that’s what makes it so fun. I also like taking pictures of bike racing. My favorite races to shoot are cyclocross races. Blood, sweat, dirt, pain; what more could you ask for?

Room for Cream?

Why isn't there a happy medium in the space between room for cream and
no room for cream. It seems no matter where I go for coffee, usually
Peet's or Starbucks, they ask "Room for cream?". If I say yes they
only fill the cup 3/4 full; if no they fill it so full any slight tilt
of the cup will cause it to spill.

So the dilema is, do I want coffee to spill in my car, or do I want a
medium coffee in a large cup? Decisions, decisions.

Notes on Sattley

Here are some of my notes on Sattley;

• It takes around 2.5hrs to get to Auburn from the Bay Area
• The Bootlegger is a decent restaurant in downtown Auburn
• Don't stay at the Motel 6. The Comfort Inn looks like a better hotel
• It takes 1.45hrs to get to Sattley from Auburn
• There's a Starbucks in Truckee to get your morning brew (Donner Pass Rd & 89 S)
• Sattley is cold in the morning. Be sure to have enough clothes for your warm-up
• There's a slight incline at 8km and another around 13km
• Make sure you re-torque all your bolts because the expansion seams can jar your bars
• The expansion seams are worse on the way back
• There's a good Mexican food restaurant in Truckee for the return trip. It's called El Toro Bravo. It's at 10186 Donner Pass Rd. just after the Grey Hound station (heading away from Sattley)
• The drive home is long
  

Dunlap TT

This was my first my first time doing a TT of this distance (31km). With six turns, two left and four right, the course could be considered technical by some. We got to the race site with plenty of time to get ready. We were almost too early because I was filled with all this nervous energy with nothing to do.
The first thing I did was to make sure I set my watch to the race clock. I've missed my start time before at a local low-key time trial, and it's not fun. I made sure to pin my number in the most aero way possible, not really, but I'm sure there's people out there who have figured the most aero way to pin their race number.
I hopped on to my trainer for my warm-up 1:15 before my start time. I wanted to make sure I got in a solid warm-up. It seems it takes a lot longer for me to get warmed-up these days. I guess it's old age.
I jumped off the trainer 15 minutes before my start. I threw on my disc wheel, helmet, and headed for the start. I did a couple of laps up and down the cross street before lining up at the start.
At the start I made sure not to go out too hard. I kept my power a slightly lower than my FTP for about 3mins. Then I slowly started to pick it up. I made sure not to go too high. I tried to keep it around my FTP (for my TT's). Just as I started to pull up on my 30sec man I was passed by the guy 30secs behind me. This is when it became a cluster. My 30sec man started drafting off of the guy who just pass me. Then I passed both of them. This is when the constant passing started. Me and the guy who started behind me would pass each other every once in while, all the way to the finish.
Mentally I was feeling good. I was pushing myself, but not too hard because I didn't want to blow myself up. I think I played it a little too safe. Halfway through the race I noticed my power start to drop, but then I would pick it back up.
Not knowing the course made it a little difficult to know when to start pushing harder.
I started to push harder after the final turn. I was still battling with my -30sec man. I finally passed him for good at the 1km mark. This is where my calf muscle started to twinge like it was going to cramp. At the 500m mark is where I started to run out of gas. However, I continued to push on. I wanted to stand up to sprint but I didn't want to cramp, plus I'm not sure I had any gas left.
I finished with a time of 42:09. I placed 14th of 31. The winner, Roman Kilun posted a time of 39:XX - that's fast! I feel I pushed myself hard. I also feel I might have been a little too conservative during the middle of the race.
I'm excited for Sattley. I wonder how much more painful the extra 9km will be. Plus we'll be at a higher altitude so that means less oxygen and less power.

An Awesome Commercial

Will Ferrell Bud Light Commercial - Watch more free videos

Looking good

YAY! It looks like I'll get to ride outside tomorrow. It will be my first time doing Spectrum this year. I'm looking forward to riding with the rest of the team. I'm just hoping there won't be too many sketchy riders out tomorrow.

It also looks like I'll get to ride outside today after all. I thought I was going to have to ride my TT bike on the trainer. That would have been interesting.
I'm not too excited about today's workout. I have 1.5hrs in zone 1 with some pedaling drills. These workouts tend to be boring. At least I get to be outside.

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.