Gooooooooood Morning Minnesota!

Amazing what proper sleep does to a person.

early to bed, early to rise...never really believed that myself but today it worked. With the windows open all night, I slept solid and true. This time of the year is full of bliss for us bikers...umm cyclists. Found myself in a familiar place in the dark hours prior to the sun making its way upward, stumbling through the room to find where Tina had now placed my cycling clothes. I guess I graduated to a "new" Rubbermaid thing for my clothes - how nice.

old cycling shorts, khaki cargo's, long sleeves and a vest....a bowl of honey-nut cheerio's with Pete and a solid high-five from the little monster and I am out the door. dont you just love this weather? It could be like this ALL year and I would be just fine.

The brisk miles wore like a favorite pair of jeans - it was smooth and easy. The hustle of business men and women careening off to work in their cars as they stared with jealousy - passing with care. The pedal strokes became like rushing water - quick, with purpose to a known end...its nice to not think about it but to rather enjoy the early morning views. Once to west river road (aka Eddie Z's secret training ground) it was a treat. The smooth roads with views of the river were superb. Commuters here and there, people out for a walk, a deer in the residential area enjoying apples in someone’s front yard as the owners watched with coffee. They gave a friendly wave and a smile...my gears whizzed on and so did Van Morison in my ears.

I am reminded that all it takes is to just "Get" on the bike and go because mornings like this are worth a million road rides. this weather also speaks to me of the race in Sept...cool morning, slightly damp with dew and bikes...Cheq, if you are listening - we are ALL excited to ride your trails no matter the conditions.

The final steps into work were perfect and solid. Awake and ready. Alert and focused. Add in a cup of java and some oatmeal and I am set for anything. Now if I can get my mind off of biking long enough to be productive then I am set!


AC

math on a bike

in the game of gears, there are "gear inches" and these are things i cannot really explain. i can, however, relate these gear inches to one another in how hard they are to pedal, climb etc...i have been riding the single at 64.5 gi (36x16) and plan 2 ride this if the ground is dry at cheq...if i am wiped , not ready for or otherwise hesitant i will drop the gear inch to make the climbs easier on the lungs.

tonight i was happy 2 say that the 36x16 was a perfect gear for 2.5 hours of riding. its a silly game of math and wits to dial it in for one gear for the entire race. too much to try and forecast. we will see in the next couple weeks how it pans out. the other good measuring stick is how good do you feel after 2, 3, 4 hours of riding hard in the hills on a gear. this is getting annoying to type on a phone. see ya l8r.

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

M-F notes

Monday - 13mile ride to work...ran into some turkey's on the road (actual turkey flock on west river road) and enjoyed a moderate effort the whole way. back feeling better thanks to the seat being set just right. I think i saw Jorge in his car - someone honked and I looked over to see a black jetta with Thule rack on top...if it was you Jorge - thanks for the beep of the horn. Simple food intake at work - kashi with berries and two tall-boys of water....i hate Tyme road pedals.

lunch - mac n cheese and a bad haircut - gotta love it...pretty amped to be riding home via bike today...

13 miles home with a pit stop at the haircut place to find out they "couldnt get me in" until wed to fix my botched hair cut...seriously? after some back and forth - it was clear they didnt have time to correct their error and then she hinted at having to pay extra...i about lost it and just went to my regular place to find out she charged me 5 bucks - i expected to pay full amount - and she made me a life time customer. no more going to anyother place other than Unique Cuts...stellar... barely ate today so now I am going to devour a pizza.

TUESDAY
13 miles to work - uneventful ride in. a bit chilly but perfect. plan on riding 20 over lunch with the boss and about 40-60 with the group after work...it could be a century today!
*** sitrap*** ok - 26 round trip miles, 25 at lunch with boss (1 min Z4 intervals x 6, 6 min Z5 intervals x 3, warmup cool down) 50 miles with the group - fast group tonight! and a kicker in the park to crest 105+ miles for today. i bonked big time on the ride at dayton river road - hard...like in KS on RAAM...seeing stars the whole shabang...in looking at what i ate today - lessons learned here...i had a serving of oatmeal once at work, 5 total cups of coffee, 2 total cups of water, a chicken burrito and some gu-shots...thats it. Maybe 600 calories for the day with guessing at 6000 cal burned...too much of a defecit and total red zone...hats off to the DAVE's tonight as they owned the road - they teamed up against the group to chase down all primes - i snaked out 2 primes of the 6 but fell apart like stick of butter in the microwave - actually passed out in my front yard once i got home for 20 mins....i must have looked like a drunk (good thing it was dark). recouped and wont ride tomorrow...lessons learned today as a reminder to eat.

WED and THUR - felt like total horse crap on Wed despite the recovery food / drink etc...it was not a good day outside of being reminded that daily nutrition is just as important as time on the bike. Tornado in downtown - major rain...no bike...on Thursday - too much to get done at work and lots of rain - finally found the hydration that seemed to part ways a few days ago...much better now. will ride on Saturday.

Friday - a mess...had to stop biking. Cramped up from basically head to toe.
Saturday - biked a bit and suffered from major back pain...cut it short
Sunday - biked about 5 miles and had tears in my eyes...yeah..it was that bad.
monday - chiro and hydration - much better
Tuesday - No pain and eased back into a routine again...what a week of going from a place of familiarity to a place i dont want to go again...nutrition is a good thing to stay on top of...it takes a while to recover and it affects much more than you may realize.

back to the basics

today i got my back tied up like a knot...maybe its the lack of biking this past week (surprisingly cycling helps me stay away from the back pain) or maybe it was the garage make-over the past few days crawling around like a spider up in the rafters of the garage...either way today I was limited in movement and is sucked!

last year - spring - i really blew my back up which led in turn to going to the chiropractor for about 5 months prior to RAAM. It helped a TON and since RAAM I have not gone that much and had adopted many routines to counter the "long torso" syndrome I have lived with my whole life. I must have missed some the daily routines, maybe lacked the water intake...so many things...so today was a perfect day to ride but alas I was here...watching a movie and doing back stretches and things commonly reserved for rainy days.

So to counter this great day, I am all about cycling the whole week - commute to work each day with training rides tues/thurs/sat...get back to 250-300 mile weeks for starters. Cheq is ready to start but I dont think I am...ramp up and peek just right.

Kids are heading to grandparents house for the week - they have had just the most amazing summer - especially David with this trips with boyscouts, canada, nine mile lake up north and so on...hope to see you on the road!

ac

very funny - thanks Tim for sharing.

quest....

it seems my quest to find a few pounds to loose is well under way. i have always said - when looking at uber light / fast bikes - that i could stand to loose 5 -10 lbs on my body before worrying about 2-3 lbs on a bike...how true.

with that being said, i am encouraged by EZ at work to stay the course with staying away from fast food...how boreing but it will work. mix that with some ramped up interval efforts prior to cheq...the weight loss will be easy and result in a bit better power to weight ratio....just thinking about those climbs on cheq make me cringe a bit.

ok - done with the prose

Two Timer

Had a good day on Tuesday in riding with Eddie during lunch - darn near puking for both of us and after work with 12 on the group from the shop. Ed and I headed for 1.5 hours of specific training on intervals...man, sounds familiar. It was all hard effort, broken down intervals that had us both seeing stars....then back to work for the rest of the day.

Tuesday at the shop was great - we did Albertville and had MANY many people there for the ride and some new and familiar faces...sorry if i have forgotten your names as I think there were 3 I didnt know. It was a fast ride with many chompin at the bit for signs and hard efforts. Team Strong Heart rider and crew from 07,08 and 09 were there and based on the output, it felt like when we were in MO chasing down surfin USA.

Great night for a ride and plenty of talk time between us all and everyone did GREAT.

Andrew

Heading to LaCrosse for some biking and family time...

Heading to LAX with Maria and Pete to get to mom's place while the boys are fishing in Canada...so that means I bring bikes and play!

Saturday morning ride is 45miles at least from LaCrosse to Viroqua the long way

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3064144

Can turn it around and bike home for a century in some major hills...i mean some big hills...nothing like WVA of course but enough to get your attention. Meet the family in Viroqua for some farmers market thing with the Amish and some bike talk with Pete...then home. busy Saturday but heck, all the plans may change and I just drive to Viroqua...the beauty of time off.

cya

persomal bests today! DIYTT -

personal bests today! DIYTT - MTBIKE. andy 5:02 on the 36x16....9:03 david age 12

Took David out for a dirt lap in Elm Creek. We ended up doing a full lap plus a few errands to boot! This kid doesn't give up at all...Making our way around the east side I asked if Dave would like to put down a time on the TT track (off road) and he was all game. We cut in and out of the woods and showed up at the top of the big climb on the course and lo-and-behold here comes Neil up the course with two of his friends from Church...sorry I forgot names. They are doing Cheq for the first time this year and it they were getting some first hand knowledge of the course from tour-guide Neil....couldn't ask for a better guide!

Dave and I headed to the start line while Neil and group headed on the track for a 2nd lap. David was glad to take a break and he readied his stopwatch. I took off on the 36x16 29er and headed out to beat my last time. I was feeling sluggish at first and then cramped pretty tight but rode through that part (thanks to RAAM). in the wooded section it took a bit of maneuvering to get around the group on the course but it was a clean pass.

On the last stretch I was able to pick up some pretty good speed and I beat my time by 1 sec...(5:02) looking to break 5 mins on a single and I think it can happen.

Then it was Dave's turn and what a trooper. I rode with him kinda coaching and whole gear thing and he made it strong without dismounting at all - very cool. When he crossed the line the only thing he said was "THAT was so COOL!"..... yet another convert to the cult we call biking. David posted a 9:03 to which he said he WILL beat next time.

saturday...a quick twenty

woke up whenever....empty house and a mid morning 20 miles on the trails! wonderful day to ride.

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

the guys and the ride

Had the privilege of riding some of the greatest guys tonight out in Elm Creek. Billy V, Dahl, Hogland, JayT, Audi TT Matt were there to tear up some double track in the ongoing quest to prep for Cheq...I am most impressed with Dahl's superfly single...I want one of those for sure but alas i have a colnago...wait...a Fauxnalgo as it has been renamed.

We met at 530 or 600 and rode for 2.5 hours mixing in the hills and trails and hill repeats and more hills. Three of us had singles the rest gears and we all hung in pretty good. I tried out the 36x16 ratio which is about 4 or 5 gear inches more than the 17t rear and on that terrain, i felt really good on the steep climbs so i will keep it on for now and see how it rides out over the next few weeks. the psi on the tubeless was about 27 or there abouts and that seemed to be good for my weight and do i ever love that carbon rigid fork...amazing.

It was great to have someone to ride with out there as usually its just me and my mp3's...its also great to have some people to chase down here and there so as to not get lazy...but i kinda like the meandering rides out there - very reflective to say the least.

Not sure about the miles but some were very hard efforts and some were casual - mix in a stop here or there for some water and we had a BLAST...so it seems that every wed at 6 we ride from the chalet until further notice.

Thanks guys for the great ride and Jay, nice to see that mt bike again..... :)

Andrew

choices and options

trying the larger of the two this evening

Time Trial on Dirt

missed getting to the TT course on the road so I did a lap in the park on the ss mt bike and mixed in the DIYTT Mt Bike course with the 36x17 single. I was able to drop 22 sec off my best time on the 2.something mile course. I was happy. I will try the 36x16 next to see what happens.

where i have been mentally....the vortex of raam

In Talking With Brett

One of the best things about RAAM are the friends you take for a lifetime. I am sure that many who go through such an event feel the same way about the people they shared it with - but this was something that stirred deep inside. This RAAM thing was a compilation of excessive planning and a tight-wire balancing act of emotions, family time and personal readiness. With all of that jazz and sooo many stories to be told and things I wish I could just let go, I am blessed with the people I shared my time with pre, during and now in the present.

Thanks to blogs, facebook, emails and the marvel of cell phones...I have been able to keep tabs on the lives of those that mean so much to me and I would guess that many feel this who are part of the many years of Team Strong Heart.

I have found I still talk often with Tim and Brett and it seems every time I am at the bike shop........so is Steve. Go figure. A big kudos to Brett on the GC overall win on the 3 day stage race in NH. I have been mainly on the mt bike these days with a few days of road riding to mix it up a bit. Chequamagon Fat Tire Festival is soon to be had and it is a blast at the same time it hurts but the fellowship with good friends is what it is all about.

This blog posting is really going nowhere so I will cut it short - just some thoughts buzzing in my head that needed an outlet.

The ride tonight was dark and in the rain and was almost too perfect. Its amazing how gutsy you are when you cant see the trail that well ahead. If it were light out I would have taken it a bit slower but I didnt know better.

see yall later.


ac

perfect day

got out with the kids all day on the bike...well, most of the day. left at 11am got home at 5pm...good stuff. we took our time getting through 21 miles with stops for lunch, bike shop, mc donalds for the brownie melt, rest stops here and there and so on...but to have this time with the three kiddo's is perfect. did another 20 this evening on the single - bit faster - and called it a day.

ac

workin my way down...

spent time with friends on the TT course tonight. with the winds between 18-27 mph I was not expecting all to be that responsive to riding - but hey, 8 showed up for a brute-fest and all did a GREAT job. That turn into the head winds was a bit unnerving but the pain didnt last that long...

i was able to drop some time on my last time which was great considering the wind. What i have learned from RAAM is that nutrition is a key factor to performance every day, min or second. so with that said, e-caps, perpetuem and water were my staples today. Tiagra (the new name for my bike for obvious reasons) carried me through the wind and i really miss aero bars. I figured i started without them on this TT thing so I will continue to do so through the summer/fall to be honest with myself on times.

Thank you all for coming out and thank you Amy and Melinda for tracking the times!

Andrew

amazing yet again...Danny is nuts and fun to watch

first road ride in a while...

it was nice to get on the road bike tonight. it hasnt happened in a while since raam but once I was on the bike...it seemed all to familiar. I was getting comfy with the mt bike...which is good as the geometry is a bit different and cheq is right around the corner.

like neil said, no rain and i was fully expecting rain. it looked like we rode right in the midst of two super-cells with some sun even. i was so used to riding in raam with the expectation of maintaining a lead or chasing down some team - day/night. it was nice to get out without the pressure to perform at some level but push it when i wanted to or when others took off. we ended up doing a series of wind-sprints here and there. we all joined in the sprints and practiced a bit of bridging...eventually the group split for a while here and there but we all finished together just fine. rumor has it that there is a four person team time trial coming up in wisconsin - perfect time to lay down some efforts prior to cooling down prior to the ride.

the cannondale did a good job tonight but i do miss the full carbon bike - there is a difference but the cannondale will never leave me - it is a trusted friend. great to see friends tonight and to spend time with erik afterward was a treat...talk and laughs...food and drink...relax and rest...it was a great night with all the things that make a day great!

andy

more on the mt bike

got home in time to mow the grass...the slightly brown grass. Noticed the creeping charlie has worked his way into my yard more and more. I guess its time to some how convince the moles in my yard to tunnel just under the creeping charlie so it dies off. I hate spraying all the needed weed killer (of only one that i know of that kills that stuff) when i have kids on summer vacation. we have enough chemicals in our lives that adding to the grass - then drinking it later from the well - just messes with my mind. anyhoo. did the normal off road loop tonight in the dark and forgot to tighten the chain on the single and it was loose enough on bumpy downhills to pop off a few times - i hate that and I hate that I didnt check it first.

I do appreciate good lighting on a bike as it allows for taking advantage of the dark hours allowing for me being home when the family is up. As of late - the riding has almost taken a spiritual turn for me. I think everyone can say that cycling is spiritual so say I took it a few steps further than before. Without sounding all spooky, it [cycling] has allowed me to breath deep and assess the issues in my life. you know these issues, the ones we normally dont broadcast at all to anyone but keep deep inside until it tears you apart from time to time. Maybe that is why I loved RAAM so much b/c it forced me to disassociate completely from everything BUT cycling and moving forward. I think the only time I had time to think about these issues was early on while moving through monument valley at like mindnight. Struck by the silence of the night and the inspiring display of stars [no equal in my mind], I found myelf talking through my dysfunctionalism.

Tonight was no different. Since RAAM, I have found a way to deluge myself into cycling within minuets of being on the road - almost catotaonic in seconds. It almost sounds new-age but not really - its just a focus that is found quickly. What I love about it is that I can just "be" and not "do" anything but ramp up my efforts for the hills, flats or whatever is just ahead. It isnt about that rider or their bike or anything - me and the bike alone with God.

So when yesterdays wipe out happened - i guess it didnt really bother me too much. Yeah walking home 4 miles was a drag in cycling shoes but the time alone was needed and maybe that accident - or lack of single track ability - was just what the doctor ordered. Tonight was a treat - short though it became - as it was fast and smooth, racing in the dark, no competition except my accelerated heart rate and sewing machine type cadence.

I am glad I have and hope others will find a way to escape the day when needed...be it a book or music, a walk or a bike ride, sitting alone or with friends...the escape allows us to not be locked into the rat race without end.

ac