The Mt. Weather Ride on 3 bottles and 3 bars. Ride data.

We covered the, apparently, well-known 55 mile ride in about 3.5 hours.
I do not go uphill very well.  This fact was overwhelmingly obvious when we hit the base of the main climb about 23 miles into the ride.

Love My Garmin Edge:  In the morning I get to the parking lot and Ian's Garmin Edge 705 has the route stored in it as a GPX file under "Saved Courses".  We "beamed" the course to my Garmin and Todd's Garmin in about 2 minutes each.  That was the first time I had wirelessly shared data between head units.

Quote of the day:
Steve: We know that some of you cannot climb, so the rest of us will wait at the top.
Me: Steve, how will I know when I have reached "the top"?
Steve: It is where we will all be waiting for you.

Time:	03:13:21
Distance:	54.57 mi
Elevation Gain:	4,642 ft

Back to Greenbelt after many years; racing without computers

I started racing for UMD a long time ago.  Greenbelt park was "ours."  I first saw Eric Fetterman and Neal Bahmba crush the Greenbelt hill and it was the first time I had ever seen an absolute power fest on road bikes; I was impressionable.
I was a Greenbelt Wednesday junkie for a while.  One summer I even won the B series and got my very first pair of carbon soled road shoes (Nike Poggio 2).  In the years to follow (around 2006), an act of God (or nature) and school/work issues had me move (back) to Montgomery County.
Last night I returned to race the A race at Greenbelt after 1 hour in my car.
I sent my Garmin Edge 705 to Garmin on Tuesday for repairs- it was frozen, they received it Wednesday and I am waiting to hear the prognosis- so no computer for me (I did wear my polar watch with HR strap for some data afterward; avg HR 158, pretty high for me).
The bathroom at Greenbelt still sames the same. Being back there was like going back through your elementary school as an adult... just different smells.  I was glad to be back there (the park, not the bathroom) and I felt GOOD on the bike.  Racing with no data except my breathing was very freeing.  Being back on the Greenbelt hill was awesome.  I am happy that the race is still going on and well run (bagels, nutella, water, hell yeah).


My car is starting to get that summer race season funk-stank.

It's Tuesday and I am still tired (I tri'd in Columbia, dropped in Baltimore)

I used to be better at riding my bike than I am now.  We were looking at 40K time trials coming up and a teammate wanted to borrow some wheels.  He said he was trying to have a good time on that course (Ch. Cr. June).  I suggested he get some tires that I used to use (hi presure, light, thin, clinchers, 700x20).  Then he told me that I once got a 56 on the course!  I haven't verified that because I don't need to and I don't really care because the damage is done.
I was never THAT good, and now I am struggling to get back to where I was.  Uggg.  I guess I'm feeling whiney and pity-party-ish.  Oh well.  This brings me to the purpose of today's post: major snappage of the elastic and droppage.
Sunday 7:29am tried to swim a mile, had a wierd breathing panic thing, took me a 1/2 hour. 5 minutes slower than 2006
7:59am hopped on the TT bike in the windy warm rain on a hilly course and tried to rock out a true 40k, horrible pacing on my part.  Several minutes slower than 2006
then ran a hilly-as-poo six miles (oddly, faster than 2006).
10:15a, got in the car, drove to Patterson Park, arrived and kitted up at the registration table, 10:55a.
Bike Jam Cat 3 Race, 11:30a.  I was doing ok with my positioning, nailing it out of the chicane, coasting down the hill.  Was caught behind a crash halfway through (on the uphill near the line), and simply and absolutely had nothing to offer.  I chased for a lap or two, then waited to get scooped up again, then the motorcycle official pulled me out.
Got pulled for two reasons: 1-it was a no lapped/dropped race, 2-registration folks put me in the 35+ 3 race.

What do they call it when the Redskins screw up 2-5 seasons in a row, fire everyone, hire some questionable people, then try it again?  Oh yes, a rebuilding year.

Holy Haines Point Bus Routes...

What on earth was going on today?  If you were at Haines Point then you saw buses going every which way including jamming on the brakes to turn left from the right side of the road- with the whole peloton behind it.
I got pinched so bad I had to u-turn to go back and wait for everyone to come back by.

I had the TT bike out today with the super geeky sleeveless jersey.  Got some real sun.  I have a hilly 40k on Sunday with the new Zipp disc- I THINK I can get in right at 1 hour.

Definitely the nicest weekday of 2010. 

Progress: chart since Jan 1, with Tanita BC-1000

If you read that correctly, you'll see that the line for "weight goal" (picked by the software) is about 22 pounds away.  So fat to go; oops so far to go.

Today was a new low.

In case you were wondering: April, body weight, new bike,

I had a rough start to the season.  Thank goodness we have many, many races across as many seasons as our bodies and lives will endure.  I will not be whining here today. 
I have dedicated part of this season to getting lighter.  This is going well, for the Fort Ritchie criterium 2010, I have a goal of weighing 13 pounds less than I did on the morning of Vint Hill and Richmond.  I am so close already.

I have gotten really good at losing weight while training and increasing power.  I would like to share some of the fundamentals that must be considered.

1. Fewer calories, relatively, is stressful on the body.
2. The additional stress noted above requires more SLEEP.
3. Your mood will go ape-sh*t if you begin making serious changes and don't get enough rest.  Consider a mood supplement.
4. Chili's restaurant has a salmon entree that is fantastic "guiltless", just have some iced tea and go easy on the chips and salsa.
5. Power:  as you get lighter and stronger, you'll be hitting your goal wattages more easily, therefore, you MUST return to heart rate and RPE (rate of perceived exertion) to keep your intensity up.
6. Rely on the following foods for protein: fish, fish, fish, greek yogurt, eggs, egg beaters, regular yogurt, chicken, lean meats, protein powders
7. You will have to consider glycogen.  All things glycogen involve eating for recovery: plain pasta, veggies, oatmeal, all the grains like rice and rice-type foods, good breads.  Frequent feedings!

In other news, the new GT frame is hott but it still is not fit right for me; you'll see several of us on the new frames this year.  I ordered a new TT wheel, more on that later. I keep raising my FTP as my races and workouts indicate (Intensity factors above 1.05 and 20m and 60m outputs are pretty high).  After Tysons, which was my worst day on the bike ever (2 laps??), I raised my FTP again, my CTL has crept up into the 70s since then.  Nice.
By the way, I shouldn't say this here, BUT, I did the Lake Anna Olympic Tri. I am doing the famous Columbia Tri in May, sorry Bike Jam :-(  and The Nation's Tri in September, and the Army 10-miler in October, the Turkey Chase on Thanksgiving morning.