The weather was somewhat better this morning. The temperature was up about ten degrees to 29 degrees, but the wind was back. The real story of the day is my achilles. Riding in this morning, it was not feeling good at all and I was very happy to be at work finally.

The pain isn't especially bad, it's more of an uncomfortable ache, but I'm so familiar with that feel that it makes me worried. The odd thing about the achilles in this instance is that I feel little or no pain off the bike. That's very different from the problems I've had in the past from running. I would feel even the mildest discomfort walking around.

I did feel it some yesterday walking around, but it got better as the day went on to where I could barely feel it. Even after the ride this morning, I had no trouble walking barefooted and massaging the area wasn't painful at all. I decided that lowering my seat may help some, so I put it back to around the cyclocross height. I'd raised it just a week or so ago, which coincides fairly closely to the pain. Of course the racing also coincides.

Right now I'm so excited to be training and racing that it's very tough to think about time off. I feel as if I'm just getting started. But that's also the reason to be smart and take a rest. I am just getting started and I'd hate to miss big races later in the season. Camp is coming up from the 9-12 of March and then I've got 2 road races immedaiately following that I'm really looking forward to. I'll have to start with some Vitamin I and see what a few days off will do.

I rode to Vienna with Will, who met me down the trail a ways. We talked a bit about our various strategy ideas for the weekend, but mostly I just complained about my achilles. Lowering my seat helped quite a bit. I could still feel the ache, but I don't think there was nearly the stress there had been coming in this morning. I raised it a bit at a stop in the ride and I'm hoping I've found a happy medium. We'll see. This really isn't like my normal problems--I've caught it fairly soon. I'm still amazed that it doesn't hurt doing some of the normal day-to-day things. I'll drive in tomorrow to be safe and see how it responds.

Dist / Time / Avg / Max / Avg HR / Max HR / Odo
23.4 / 12:24:05 / 16.7 / 27.1 / 144 / 171 / 799
[Ride Home]

Zone 1 / Zone 2 / Zone 3
32:31 / 31:39 / 19:55
[Ride Home]

Jess was coming home from Florida this morning and had the day off, so I didn't want to hog the car. That left me braving some of the coldest weather yet. Fortunately for me, the wind was down, but the temperature was a frigid 19 degrees when I got to work.

It's very hard for me to ride a base pace on cold days like today. Even though the windspeed goes up as my speed increase, I can't help but go faster because I want to get out of the cold. By the time I got to work, my hands and feet were nearly in pain. My new leg warmers did an adequate job--and I much prefer them to the baggier running pants I've been wearing. They should do better in races.

The only thing to note from this ride is that my left achilles continues to be pretty sore. The cold weather made it stiffen up and I was definitely favoring it for most of the ride. It felt a lot better after I warmed up at work, but I'll have to keep an eye on it as the week progresses.

For those unfamiliar with my past history, it should be noted that I've had chronic achilles tendonitis. It usually stems from hard track workouts and is exacerbated by wearing spikes. This is the first hint of injury I've had on the bike and I can't help but admit that I never stretch anymore. That will change in a hurry now that my achilles is making itself known.

I'm not sure what my plans will be for next weekend. I'm contemplating racing Quicksilver again and then maybe racing twice on Sunday at the Tradezone Series. It'll all depend on how my achilles responds. I don't think doing these small races is hurting anything in my training. They're so short and sweet, it's just a nice change of pace from the rest of the week. If I do race, I'm anxious to try a variety of tactics to see how they play out.

Oh how I long for warmer weather! I can't wait when all I've got to put on are my shorts, jersey and shoes. I can't wait to finish rides covered in sweat. But most of all, I'm looking forward to feeling the shifters with my fingers again. I'm so sick of full fingered gloves.

Jess picked me up from work to go out to dinner. We lifted some in the apartment gym when we got home. I'm sure I did enough to get me really sore by tomorrow. I'll have to come up with some sort of regimen in the next few days.

Dist / Time / Avg / Max / Avg HR / Max HR / Odo
22.1 / 1:21:29 / 16.3 / 28.8 / 155 / 188 / 775
Z1 / Z2 / Z3
15:49 / 14:52 / 50:48

I woke up at 8a this morning to catch Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne live on cycling.tv. It was really cool to see a big Euro race live and it only fueled my motivation to race harder. The race was won by Nick Nuyens of Quick.Step with Tornado Tom taking Third. I was about 15 mins late to church because of the race.

I took a day off from cycling of my own since today was the second round of our Church Ultimate league. My team, the Preachers, dominated the Judges 14-1. We controlled every aspect of the game and frankly I was surprised how well we played without two of our players. Our defense was suffocating and helped by the strong winds. Luis and Vitaly really stepped it up and scored almost half our points.


I was hungry after yesterday to be out riding, but the weather was really cold and windy, so I'm glad I just played ultimate. My left achilles was a bit sore, but didn't get any worse during the game. I tried to rest it as much as possible.

Speaking of rest, I needed lots of it after not getting much sleep this week. I passed out after the game and slept from 3p to 7p. I did manage to get up and cook supper before heading off to bed again. Hopefully this week I won't be so reluctant to get out of bed.

I desperately wanted to watch Omloop Het Volk on cycling.tv this morning, but I put my own training first and headed out the door to race at 7:30a. I felt like total garbage when I got out of bed seeing as I'd only been there for 4.5 hours. I managed to force down half a bagel and get out the door though. I picked up some cash from the ATM for the entree fee and then Will called. He was planning on riding to meet me and then continuing on to the race, but he wimped out, so I'd meet him there.


The first thing I noticed as I was riding was how high my heartrate was. It think it was because of the lack of sleep and the cold, because I wasn't feeling pressed and wasn't going all that fast, yet my HR was 170+ for the first ten miles or so. It seemed to settle down a bit after that. I rode well getting out there, averaging a very respectable 17.8 mph. It's a shame none of the Coppi's took me up on the offer to ride out there.

After registering, I started to freeze to death just as I did last week. All the built up sweat on my back with the wind blowing just kills my skinny little body. Fortunately, Jess showed up not long after and I got warm by blasting the heat in the car. Needless to say, I didn't do much of a warm-up other than to get out of the car and roll over to the start line and shiver next to Will. Will was all suited up in his new Whole Wheel Velo Club kit and was so excited that he forgot to pin on his number. That made for a quick dash to the car and back.


From the gun, both Will and I were intent on not repeating last week's Cat 5 like effort. We wanted to do as little work as possible. That caused a dude from Warrenton Cycling to take the lead and we all filed in behind. Eventually I started pedaling a bit on the front, but the pace was such that it made no difference. I was soft-pedaling down the hills and not going hard at all. The pace did pick up a bit after several laps and the race was split into two groups! At long last we had a break--big as it was. There were a few attacks here and there, but nothing that wasn't easy to hang with.


I ended up riding on the front probably more than I should have and definitely more than Will. But mostly it was because I couldn't fall back in line at all and was just content to hang out up front since the pace wasn't all that bad. With one lap to go, Eric Dempster, a triathlete, made an attack that had to be followed. Will and I jumped on it and from other folks' description, that was the definitive break to decide the race. Going up the hill just before the finish, I attacked hard, going for the win. I led up the hill and into the final turn when Will eased on by. I was spinning as quick as I could muster and my legs were burning from the attack on the hill. Mostly I was afraid to shift for fear of not being able to turn a bigger gear. Will ended up winning and I held off Eric for second. Brief results were posted.


As big and powerful as Will is, I think I need a bit of a longer race at a faster pace to separate myself. But we worked well together today. We didn't pull any counter-attackes, but we communicated well about others moving up and kept ourselves in a position to win the race. Noah pulled a bit today too, but I didn't see him except for that one go on the front. I was hoping to get a three-man crew working the front and pushing the pace. Maybe next week.

I cooled down with Will riding the course backwards and watching the 3/4 race after ours. It felt great to spin easy around the course and shake out the legs. I would have really looked forward to riding home too, but Jess was headed for Florida, so I drove her to the airport.

After I dropped her off, I spent the rest of the day working on building up her Surly CrossCheck. I went over to Pat's house and we cut the fork and installed the headset. Unfortunately, I don't think I have all the parts I need for the brakes and the cables they sent for the rear derailleur were too short. I'll get it straighted out soon enough though. I'm learning a lot.

Dist/Time/Avg/Max/Avg HR/Max HR/Odo/Z1/Z2/Z3
25.3/1:25:13/17.8/30.6/156/183/740/13:23/19:56/51:54
13.0/36:26/21.4/36.6/183/205/753 (Race and Cooldown)

I was up really late last night, so getting up at 6:30a for the morning ride was rough. Had it been any other morning, I certainly wouldn't have gotten up. But my Friday wouldn't be complete without the "Muffin Ride." I met the crew as usual at the Java Shack. The weather was cold and windy.

We picked up several folks along the way and were clipping right along until disaster struck. I was chatting with Bill Cusmano and we took a break from that as he went up on the sidewalk to skirt by some traffic. It cleared fast enough for me, so I stayed in the road. But behind me I heard the sound of a crash and when I stopped and turned around Cusmano was laying on the ground in pain. A few of the guys checked him out and the initial un-educated prognosis was that he'd broke his collarbone. He seemed to be in quite a bit of pain, so he just chilled sitting on the ground until the ambulance came. The only damage done to the bike seemed to be the destroyed right shifter (Campy Record).

Once the medics took Bill away, Ken Woodrow took the extra bike to his house and the rest of us continued on the ride. We finished up fine, but it was a miserable ride. After we left Bill, we hit the river and the wind was brutal. There seemed to be no shelter as it whipped around in every direction blowing us across the bike path.


As for me, I managed fine on the ride. After yesterday's hard effort, my legs needed this recovery ride. The HR was nearly always in Zone 1 or below, so I think I did what I should have done. I'm not sure my legs are as fresh as they should be for riding the mileage out to the race and then racing. But hey, it's training and I'm still fooling around.

Dist / Time / Avg / Max / Avg HR / Odo / Zone 1
16.9 / 1:07:02 / 15.2 / 28.4 / 125 HR / 715 / 51:47

Somehow I managed to wake up this morning just long enough to turn off the alarm and roll over. So when I woke up at 7a, I couldn't ride in to work. I watched the yesterday's time trial from the Tour of California on tape and then drove in with my bike in the back of the car.

At lunch, I suited up and hit the trail heading West to Leesburg. The temperature was right at 50 degrees, so things were feeling good enough to ride in shorts. Rather than dealing with temperature, I soon found myself riding with a tough cross/headwind and into a slight drizzle. I soon rode through the dark clouds and the rain stopped, but the headwind did not.

Rather quickly I realized it wasn't going to be much fun trying to keep my HR in Zone 2. I would have been riding very slow. The roads to Leesburg are long, straight, slight uphills that are open to the wind. So, being flexible in my training regimen (haha) I decided to make today a tempo ride. I focused on keeping the speed up and the legs turning smoothly.

I could really tell a difference in having the Javelin. I rode almost exclusively in the drops which gave me far less drag than I normally have on the Sirrus. I was also thrilled with the stifness of the crank and frame. I didn't feel as though I were wasting energy the way I do when the Sirrus flexes wildly, dragging the chain against the front derailleur.

I took a brief stop at the turn where the trail meets Catocin Circle in Leesburg and then cranked it up a notch coming home. I didn't have the wind directly at my back as I'd hoped, but it was definitely better than it'd been going out. I rode effortlessly above 20 mph and frequently above 25 mph. It was a lot of fun. The only real hard part was the open road just before I finished--a long steady uphill leading to Route 28 and Orbital.

I did a brief tour of the parking lot to let my legs shake out a bit and then showered and had lunch at my desk. Not bad for a lunch hour! I think I may make it a habit of doing any hard workouts at lunch. The riding is far less interrupted West of Orbital and riding only once in the day will give me better focus on any speed work I need.

I should have changed the measuring Zone on my HRM becuase I spent most of my time between 170 and 180. The entire ride was effectively in Zones 3 and 4, with the average landing at 168, the tail end of Zone 3. To make the tempo more effective, I should probably make it a goal to average in Zone 4.

Dist / Time / Avg / Max / Avg HR / Max HR / Odo
20.1 / 59:23.0 / 20.3 / 29.9 / 168 / 187 / 698

It was a blessing that the skies opened up again today. I could have done without the snow, but the precipitation kept me from riding in to work today. I'm running a bit tired, so I took advantage of the day away from commuting to sleep a bit later.

Yesterday, the group came for the bike I'm building up for Jess. The shifters, cassette, and derailleurs are all Shimano 105. The rest will be coming in from Bikeman shortly. The bike is a Surly Cross-Check. My hopes are to slowly break her in to cyclocross and this bike will at least allow her to mess around on the course before races. If nothing else, at least her back will stop hurting from riding a bike with too long a top tube.

Tonight before violin, I rode the trainer for only thirty minutes. My legs are feeling the miles of the past few days, so I spun easy. I actually had to work to get my HR into Zone 2, so I settled for some easy Zone 1 recovery work. I did a few one legged drills while watching Sportscenter.

With the rear tire holding air again and the weather still holding below freezing, I rolled out the door today. I was rolling along nicely when I realized that my rear wheel was again rubbing the brake. This was maddening and so I stopped to check things out again. This time, I was convinced that the brakes were adjusted properly and I realized how much the wheel was flexing back and forth. My hunch was that this was due to low spoke tensioning. That was disturbing because the Pro Shop was supposed to have checked that.

I rode the rest of the way with open calipers again. At lunch I put the wheels up on the truing stand and cranked the tension up to a respectable level. The wheels still flexed some as I'm sure all wheels do, but that got the flex more under control.


The wheels performed well on the way home and I was able to accelerate unimpeeded. I had trouble keeping my HR low early on in the ride and eventually gave up and decided to push the pace a bit. I didn't ride terribly fast, but at East Falls Church I passed a guy and he started racing. It wasn't much to speak of, but I started sprinting for fun to see what the bike could do. I was flying! I cooled off some after turning onto Custis, but when I finally got home, I realized I'd averaged over 18 mph! Only once before have I averaged over 18 mph and that was when I'd borrowed Walter's Brunello and rode with a howling wind at my back. To do it today on my bike--without really trying too hard is awesome. My HR actually was an average of 153--still in Zone 2. Pretty cool.

I was dog tired when I rolled out of bed this morning. I got very little sleep last night and that made me wake up with an angry stomach and feeling very cold. I was further disappointed to learn that the tape of the Tour of California hadn't recorded sound for some reason. I took longer than usual getting ready because I felt so bad, but eventually I did make it out the door.

I'm riding every day now with the intention of keeping my HR in Zone 2. Sometimes this task is impossible, but I'm managing to tone things down a bit. The weather this morning was bitterly cold. Without my entusiasm for the new bike, I doubt I would have made it outside.

About halfway through the ride, I started hearing my back brake rubbing on the rim when I stood up to pedal. This is probably my most hated sound. I can't stand the thought of wasting energy by braking when you're trying really move. I stopped several times and adjusted the alignment and clearance of the brake, but nothing seemed to work. I finally just continued on with the calipers open as wide as they would go.

It wasn't until I was about to turn into the Orbital parking lot that I noticed that my rear end was hitting the ground harder than usual. When I did make the turn, it slid a bit and I realized my back tire was nearly flat! I'd developed a slow leak at some point during the ride.

At lunch, I switched out the tube thinking that was the problem, and made the mistake of not checking to see what the cause of the flat had been. I hadn't been able to locate the puncture. When I rode home, I had to stop twice to pump up the back wheel because I had once again developed a slow leak.

Since there's no room on my handlebars for my light, I took the Custis trail home rather than ride on Wilson. It's not too bad because it doesn't get dark until I turn off of the W&OD and when I do, the Custis Trail is lit. When I got home, I found the cause of the leak. A small, but sharp thorn was lodged in the tire. I pulled it out with tweasers and patched the tube since I'd found the puncture this time.

After church, I chilled out in the apartment doing laundary and riding the trainer. I rode for only an hour, but kept the HR within Zone 2 while watching some cross country skiing on the Olympics. I did a few sets of one legged drills before calling it a day and hitting the showers.

I've got to keep an eye on my calfs. Just like they did after every major running race, they're tied up in knots and put a lot of stress on my Achilles. Right now both Achilles are pretty sore, so I've got to be careful so that I don't make them flare up to where I can't ride. It's easy to keep things easy on the trainer, but right now I definitely shouldn't be standing up and climbing/hammering.

I'm really excited about today's start of the Tour of California. It's the first time I'll see an exciting race since I caught the cycling bug. I can't wait to see how all the big name Americans do. It's a real shame that the coverage is only on ESPN2 at 1am. I guess I'll just have to tape it this week.

I got up early on a Saturday to ride out in cold weather--that's what having a new bike will do for motivation. I was able to get everything I needed for the day into my saddle bag and jersey pockets. I did not want to carry a backpack on a long day like today.

I rode out to where Crestview Dr. hits the W&OD just before Sterling. That's nearly at Orbital, so I know the route quite well. After turning off, it was probably four miles to the race course. There weren't any signs out, so I actually ended up riding about a mile past the office park where it was located. I did eventually find the place though and got in line to register.

Eric was having trouble with the software that would allow scanning of the barcodes on our licenses, so the registration took much longer than expected and I got very cold. I was nice and I warm when I arrived, but standing around took all that away. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long until the race warmed me back up.

Will Kruse showed up to try his hand at racing as well, so we ended up on the front row next to each other to start the race. The circuit was just over a mile around and the course was shaped like a D with the Start/Finish line about a third up the straight side from the bottom of the D. The course ran clockwise.


From the gun, Will and I made it our mission to do everything that's expected of a Cat 5. We rushed to the front, we pulled for no reason, we chased down every attack relentlessly, and even threw in a few of our own. It was exciting and my HR was about 180 as soon as we rounded the first turn. I was up in front the entire time, but really didn't have to pull a great deal. Will took care of that. At one point in the race, he said aloud, "Who's going to lead?" When it was obvious no one wanted to, he took it upon himself to inject some pace. I tried to tell him not to work so hard, but settled for riding in his draft.

With about four laps to go, catastrophe struck. I dropped my chain off the ring to the inside. I couldn't pop it back on with the derailleur, so I had to stop and reseat it. By the time I'd done that, I was far behind the peloton and my day was done.

I didn't realize that at first, however. I thought with a sustained effort, I could reach the main field again, but after three laps of all out hammering, I realized that would be impossible. With a lap to go, I sat up and gave up. I didn't finsh the race last as I passed everyone not in the peloton, but I was a long way from being with the front group. It turned out that, not suprisingly, Will got blown by in the sprint after pulling so much.

Next week, we'll have a better plan for racing. And hopefully that plan will involve Noah Goodall. He's a young Coppi rider (2 years my senior) that was in the Cat 5 race as well. I think the three of us can obviously race a lot smarter and get some better results. I'll have to wait until next week to see what I can really do.

Turns out that Noah lives in Virginia Square, so we rode back together. As soon as we got back to the W&OD, both of us were feeling on the verge of a bonk, so we stopped and munched on an energy bar each. I downed a Clif Bar and immediately felt better. We rode a nice and easy pace all the way back to Arlington. I had to make a pit stop just before EFC Metro because the Clif Bar gave me some serious stomach troubles. Noah turned off of Custis and I kept going to Courthouse. The final mileage total for the day was 70! And that's with nearly 12 miles of racing--my longest day ever. Pretty cool.

The bike performed really well except for the chain drop. I'm sure I'll be tuning it some--I think the shifting could be improved. The Fizik Arione saddle felt great as well. I think I've got the right size bike and the stem even seems right now too. All in all a very comfortable day in the saddle.

I finally got my bike!! At long last, I picked up the Javelin from the Pro Shop. They sized me and cut the fork and I was on my way. I wanted to attack the mechanic when he showed me a spot on my frame where they'd dropped a tool. It took off a big chunk of paint and they did the best they could to fill it in. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal--the bike still looks great, but obviously I'm not happy about it.



I have to say that the bike really does look great with the Dura Ace groupo. The crank, the tape, the shifters, the brakes and all of it look terrific. The only thing that bugs me is the red on the FSA stem. It's just out of place with all the blue. Hopefully I'll have some spare change in the future and I can put on a set of blue tires to match. For now, though, I'm riding on my 25mm Conti's. They're good for training. I'll switch to my 23mm Michelin's when the time comes to race seriously.

I took the bike out for a spin immediately after leaving the shop. I rode down to the Capital Crescent trail and rode it out about five miles and then made the turn for home to escape the oncoming darkness. I ended up chasing down a guy riding a single speed and I was shocked by his pace. I was messing around with my shifters and I had to really work to catch back on him.

The bike feels solid. I can notice that I don't have the Carbon stays of the Brunello on bumps, but really, I'm not too heartbroken. I think the stiffness is excellent and this is definitely the fastest bike I've ever owned. It's too early to say, but it's possible I might need to swap out the stem. Right now, I'm debating whether to ride out to the Quicksilver race tomorrow. It'd be a good training ride and let me see what racing's like, but man is it supposed to be cold tomorrow. The warm weather is quickly leaving us.

Matt called me at work today with some bad news. My bike will be delayed again because the seatpost diameter it needs is an enormous 32.4 mm! That surprised Matt and myself, so there'll be a delay while they order me one that fits. What's one more day?

I made quick use of the beuatiful weather today by leaving a bit early from work to get a ride in. The weather was in the sixties and nearly all the snow has melted, so I hit the Custis Trail to the W&OD ala Friday morning rides and then rode out to East Falls Church before turning around. Just past the EFC metro, there were a few patches of slush which cyclocross tires would have handled easily. Other than that, everything was clear.

Jess called me on my way back and met me on the Custis Trail. We rode that back to where it connects to the Mt. Vernon trail and took a break looking out onto the Potomac. When the sun went down, the temperature dropped and I was chilled pretty fast. We rode home following Jess' commute.
I focused my entire time of staying in Zone 2 (144-153 HR). It's quite difficult to stay within that thin band of effort, but I did my best. I rode for an additional thirty minutes on the trainer when I got home and there it proved much easier to hit the right Zone.

It's great to be back on the bike after the bad weather forced me off and laziness kept me from the trainer. I should finally--if shipping runs a scheduled--pick up my new Javelin tomorrow!

Another day of excitement turned to disappointment after I rode down into Georgetown. Somehow, the mechanics at the Pro Shop switched the priority of the two Javelin's on which they were doing builds. As a result, one of my Coppi teammates (my hunch is Woodrow) got their's built up before mine! So my bike still sits untouched. They promise it for tomorrow though, so I guess I can wait another day. I rode back home and enjoyed the warm weather allowing me to ride in shorts.

I called the Pro Shop before going to pick up my bike just to make sure everything was in order . . . but it wasn't. They hadn't started on building up my bike yet. Not cool man.

After work, I had Jess drive me down to the Pro Shop since I had no idea where I might park. I dropped off the frame, fork, and headset for the build. George Milinkovic took my order and I was quickly out the door. I should have my bike up and running tomorrow. Should be awesome!

After dropping the frame off, I headed up the hill back into Rosslyn and to Listrani's for the monthly team dinner. I was a bit early since Jess wanted to get takeout, so I listened in on the last part of the board meeting. I chatted mostly with Bill and Randy Thompson, then later met Judd and Kosta, the guys I was slated to go MTB'ing with last Saturday.

I was scheduled to go for a long MTB ride with Kosta and Judd this morning. But the weather had other ideas and we had to call it before we even left. The snow didn't start until much later in the day, but it rained until then and made for some pretty miserable conditions. After spending last night getting the bike looking great and running smooth, it was pretty disappointing not to get out there and ride.

I drove out to Fitness Concepts with Jess for testing later in the day. I did the VO2Max test which consisted of riding on a trainer with an oxygen mask on while the wattage I had to output kept increasing. My results were a bit odd seeing as my VO2Max was 87.6 mL/kg/min. That's ridicoulous considering it's higher than Lance and just below Lemond. My hunch and that of Ken Mierke, the tester, was that there was a leak in the mask. I'll be back soon to retest.

I did get some valuable information from the test and that was my HR training zones and my power at lactate threshold, 270 W. Max power was 380 W. When we left, snow as covering the ground a visiblity wasn't so hot, but we made it home safe and sound. Hopefully it won't be too long before everything melts.

Zone 1: 133-143
Zone 2: 144-153
Zone 3: 154-173
Zone 4: 174-186
Zone 5a: 187-190
Zone 5b: 191-194
Zone 5c: 195+

This morning was a great Friday ride--well attended and enjoyable despite the cold weather. I finally managed to get out of bed at 6a this week and get on my bike. The weather wasn't as bad as expected and I met up with the crew outside the Java Shack. The group was Bill, Peter Nicoll, Andrew Curry, Adrian, Reed Hopwood, and myself, with Rich picking up at the W&OD and Ken picking up later on. Quite the crew.

The real excitement of the day is the arrival of my new frame! I'm really excited to finally get this thing and bummed that I'll probably have to wait until Tuesday before it's rideable.

I rode for an hour tonight on the trainer with a HR a little below 140. It was what most of trainer rides are--an easy spin at a high cadence. I watched the second half of Prime Suspect 5 with Jess while I rode. I also did a few one legged drills to work on pedaling circles. That's the first time I've tried that one. It's the equivalent to the drills coach used to have us do against the fence to develop good form with strides. The Javelin should be here tomorrow!

 
Just thought I'd finally post a picture of my church Ultimate team, The Preachers. We're 1-0. L-R: Me, Jess, Shannon, Brooke, George, Vitaly, Luis.

I woke up this morning at the regular time of 6a and was about to put on my cheststrap when I looked at the weather. It was in the high twenties and the wind was blowing against my commute. I wimped out and decided to drive in. I'd forgotten to leave my shoes at work yesterday, so I wasn't thrilled about hauling those around anyways.

My plan was to ride with Keith and Thor at lunch. The twenty mile ride out to Leesburg would suit me just fine. Unfortunately, there was an ACS Analysis and Simulation all hands meeting at lunch, so I had to opt for the free pizza instead.

As soon as I got back from lunch, I placed my order with Javelin for a 2005 53 cm Amarone. I've been assuming all along that I'd get a Brunello since that's what the guys on the team have. But when I called Rob Henley of Javelin this morning, I found out our contract had expired and so the price had increased. The increase was enough to send me looking for options, so I opted to go with the Amarone, which was around the price of the earlier Brunello price. The only difference between the two bikes is that the Brunello is Scandium Aluminum with a Carbon rear triangle. The Amarone is all Dedacciai U2 Aluminum tubing. I figure I'll lose a bit of comfort in the rear end, but I'll still have a very capable bike. Too bad I couldn't get the '06 Amarone as it's now being produced as monocoque carbon fiber.

Tonight, things ran long and I had no time to get any work in. Frustrating, but other things took precedence. The weather this week is really sucking, so I don't know if I want to brave it all week.

I knew if I waited till Jess got home, I'd never get a ride in, so I hit the trainer as soon as I walked through the door. It was actually kinda fun since I had last years road race world championships playing on cycling.tv. I watched both segments of coverage and rode with an average HR of 140 for an hour. I rode about a five minute coold down.

Saturday, I'll be going for testing at 10:30am at Fitness Concepts. They're going to do VO2Max testing for some of the guys on the team. That should allow me to establish some training zones so I can actaully use my HRM for something. Up till now, it's just been a nice stat to look at. I'm also curious to see what my VO2Max is and then compare it to the superhumans like Lance.

It was raining this morning, so I figured there wouldn't be an AM ride. I opted to stay in bed and sleep very late--until 8:15! I needed that desperately and I felt immediately more refreshed.

When I got up this morning, I knew yesterday's mileage had killed my legs. And with that, I'd gotten up fifteen minutes early to try and meet Joe Metro at the East Falls Church Metro stop. He didn't make it out though, so I kept on trucking a pretty slow pace. I kept my HR nice and low and coasted a lot.

Just at Reston, I passed Mel Swartz going in the opposite direction. Always nice to see the team colors out riding and at that point I was half asleep. Quite the surprise. I did pick up another rider going in my direction and drafted for only a mile before he turned off.

I really need to get better food in me and more sleep at night. I'm tired and struggling along. I think I can handle this load, but only if I set it up right.

Yesterday, I noticed that my Polar cyclocomputer has developed this nasty habit of not detecting my speed randomly. It'll act as if I'm at a stop, then start back again. I tried adjusting it some, but so far no luck. That's the reason for the commute being less than 23.3 miles yesterday, and that's why yesterday's ride at lunch wasn't listed as 20.

On the ride home, I was joined for about ten miles by Will Kruse. He's a friend of a friend, working in the area around Orbital and we met up in the parking lot for a ride. There was a stiff headwind the entire way home and riding with him I was really short of breath. We weren't going all that fast, but I guess I'm worn down. As it was getting dark, Will turned to head back towards Sterling and I kept on trucking.

About six or seven miles from home, I got passed by a guy on a mountain bike. I was stunned and pissed. I sat on him though and tried to chill out. When we got to a light I realized that he was at least riding skinny slicks on it. That made me feel a little better, but still, I've got to rest some. I kept my HR pretty low throughout and was happy to finally make it home. Despite the headwind, the weather today was excellent in the afternoon. It hit temperatures at or above sixty! That was a far cry from the 28 I saw this morning.

After showering and woofing down some pasta, Jess and I went rock climbing with Sean and Jack at SportRock in Alexandria. It was a lot of fun except for the fact that I was way to tired to be doing anything that requires so much strength. After an hour I was dead and wanting to fall asleep. But I managed to hang around and we had a big snack of waffles, eggs, bacon, and toast at a nearby diner. I'm eating like a madman!

Dist / Time / Avg / Max / Avg HR / Max HR / Odo
20.8 / 1:19:20 / 15.8 / 28.8 / 148 / 179 / 461

I'm really amazed at how much difference position on the bike makes in what muscles are being worked. This was my first day on any bike since Saturday and my first back on the Sirrus in a week. Immediately, I felt more cramped up than I had stretched out on the 55 cm Javelin. My quads were working much less hard than they had on the Saturday ride, which leads me to believe the bike affected my lack of punch.

After getting entirely decked out to commute yesterday only to walk outside and see the rain, I was happy to be back where I belong and rode fine--a good average in both speed and HR.

I rode the second leg of my first ever attempt at a three-ride-day at lunch with Thor and Keith Blinn. We rode a snappy ten miles further down the W&OD and back. After chatting a bit at the start it was a nice paceline the whole way. It was probably a bit too speedy to be doing really but it was comfortable enough. You can really open things up going from Orbital to Leesburg. There's only a few crossing to slow up for and otherwise it's straight as an arrow. I can see how wind my attack you on a bad day in the wrong direction.

I knew my legs would be garbage so I did my best to ride home with a low HR. I even did the ride up Wilson and back into the city at a slow pace--ignoring the idiot who insisted on honking and then passing at a dangerously close distance. I only laughed when I ended up ahead of him after a couple lights. I'm trying to get more mellow when dealing with idiots behind the wheel.

Today I registered for my first two road races. The season will kick off at the Stasburg Road Race up in Pennsylvania on March 18th. That will be followed by the Jefferson Cup a week later. I'm obviously at Cat 5 in both, but the Strasburg race has a 4/5 combined field. The races are 22 and 30 miles long. I'm pretty excited even now, but once I get my new bike, it's gonna be awesome.

Dist / Time / Avg / Max / Avg HR / Max HR / Odo
23.3 / 1:21:57 / 17.1 / 29.6 / 160 / 183 / 398 / 23:29
19.3 / 0:58:53 / 19.8 / 27.9 / 169 / 208 / 417 / 24:27
23.1 / 1:22:51 / 16.8 / 29.6 / 152 / 178 / 440 / 25:49