Intervals

You know the drill: If it's Tuesday, I'm doing intervals. They were not fun today; in fact they kicked my butt! I got off the trainer, laid down on the floor, and fell asleep! Weird.

Anyway, I also got to make a return trip to the dentist. Not an endurance event this time, as they only had to replace a broken temporary crown. Note to self: Don't eat toffee bars with a temporary crown...

Next week is an 'off' week for me. That means short rides during the week, no intervals, and short rides on the weekend. I do this ever fifth week during my pre-season training. I can feel that I need it right about now, as the trainer session tonight felt harder than it should have. Of course the following week I will be down in Florida for the first race of the season, so I guess the down week is coming at the right time for more than one reason!

Spring is in the air...

It felt like spring today. Long miles in the saddle, I wasn't freezing during the entire ride, and people yelling at me out of their car windows. Yes, it was just warm enough that three separate times, some young man in a pickup truck felt the need to roll down the window and shout out that I ought to "Ride that F**king bike on the sidewalk!"

Lame.

Anyway, I was out for six hours of pavement-pounding fun. That totals out to 85 miles on the singlespeed. Not fast, but the course was pretty hilly. Think 90% as hard as the last 30 miles of TI. Throw in some moderate headwinds, and we got ourselves a training ride!

Food consumed on this ride included 2.5 liters of Gu2O, 1.75 bottles of Perpetum, with 8 scoops per bottle (what I refer to as a "4-hour bottle"), and two hammer gels. And 3 Endurolyte tablets. This worked out well, but I was starting to crave some real food (with some salt!) near the end of the ride. Hmmm, I wonder if I can get a slice of pizza at about the 6 hour mark at TI...Need to check that map again!

Tomorrow I have an easy 1-hour spin and some painting prep work to do around the house. Some people are coming over for dinner on Friday, and I promised to have a couple of things painted before then. Of course, I made that promise back before training season really kicked in... Ah, the joys of home ownership. :)

Run

Went out for a quick run tonight. Did about 3.5 miles with Becky. Now it's time to eat some food and head out to run some errands. Gotta do them tonight, since I will be on the bike all day tomorrow.

The weather looks good for the long ride: temps above freezing, with just a chance of some light rain. If the wind is favorable, I'll head over to Saugatuck and back. I think I can stretch that to six hours.

I should get my first set of parts from White Industries next week. I hope to get a wheel built up and some cranks installed before Razorback. I won't be rockin' the disk brakes yet, but I will post photos as the rebuilding project moves forward.

Dentist

I had an 'endurance' visit to the dentist yesterday. I was in the chair for just under four hours! I had a cleaning, a temporary crown and a pair of fillings. The right and lower left sides of my face were numb most of the day.

It could have been worse; at least I have a great dentist. Dr. Brennen is a master with the drill! He is, in fact, the only dentist I have every felt comfortable with. He also has a good track record when it comes to recommending other dental people; he recommended my orthondontist who turned out to be very good as well.

Anyway, all that is just to make the excuse that I didn't exercise yesterday. After the dentist, I was inclinded to just chill out and recover.

Intervals

Intervals are not fun. I would much rather ride slow and steady for three hours than one hour of intervals. I didn't do any interval work last year, and I felt like my top-end speed suffered. I also lacked power on climbs. I'm hoping these once-per-week interval work-outs combined with once-per-week hill repeats should solve those problems.

It looks like the weather should be good for riding long on Saturday. I think I have a six-hour ride scheduled. Low and slow, I am led to believe, *is* the tempo.

I am just about ready to order my White Industries parts. Also looking forward to some Magura and Kenda orders in the near future. I hope to have some of the new gear for Razorback.

Recovery

I had a nice one-hour spin yesterday. A three-mile run is on tap for today.

Tuesday is another interval session, endurance miles on Thursday. With a bit of luck, I will have a nice six-hour ride this coming Saturday. I might even bring a camera...

Trainer Time

Five hours on the trainer. Ugh. Not something I want to do again soon. Time to shovel some food down, and then get busy shoveling the 7 inches of wet snow on the driveway and sidewalk.

I have a nice one-hour spin on tap for tomorrow, hopefully outside. Need to clear some of the lactic acid out of the legs.

Speedy Update

Ran yesterday. Did 1.5 hours today.

The legs are feeling good, and the heart and lungs are feeling better. I believe I am ahead of last year, and on track for Iowa.

Run tomorrow, and long ride on Saturday. The weather looks interesting; snow and colder temps. Welcome to January in Michigan!

Interval Session

Ouch! Did my first interval session last night. Now I remember why I took up endurance racing--doing intervals is hard.

Legs felt pretty good. It was 34F and raining all day, so I was on the trainer and not outside. It looks like I will be indoors for a while, with the rapid return of my least favorite kind of weather. Cold and raining, with some heavy wet snow thrown in.

MLK Day

Today, no riding. My legs are still pretty cooked.

Tomorrow I ride two hours, down at yankee. Most of that will be in the dark. More leg-toasting fun!

I did have a change to do some bike maintenance today. Wiped off the mud, lubed the chain and regreased the Eggbeaters. I'll need all the help I can get at Yankee tomorrow!

A little jelly with that toast?

My toasted legs, that is.

So I went for a long ride today. It started at 9:30 AM. I met up with Danielle at 10. We rode north for an hour or so, and then headed back to town. Danielle had an urban assault ride schedule with another rider, and I had to meet up with the Singlespeed nation folks.

I was a big crybaby on the ride with Danielle. My legs are shot, and I just put a nice, heavy set of 'training' tires on my bike. As a result, I was slow as molasses. So I started complaining. And whining. And pissing and moaning. I felt a little better by the end of that portion of the ride, but a week of harder riding had taken it's toll.

Then I met up with the Singlespeed Nation folks. About 13 people showed up. The pace started out moderate, but got harder when we got to the 'secret trail'. I was fun, but after the secret stuff I had to head out. I got another hour or so of solo riding in, for a total of around 5 or so hours. Not bad, but I wish the legs felt better.

Tuesday a bunch of us are heading down to Yankee for some night riding. That means I have to take it easy tomorrow, or I will be double-toast for that ride.

Is there such a think as double-toast?

Snowcross?

There was no snow, but the snowcross race went ahead anyway. Details will be available here (www.kisscross.com) soon. I raced in the 'A' group. Should have raced with the 'B' group. In fact, I should have formed my own 'C' group and chilled. The pace was hard, the mud was thick, and the air was pretty darn cold. Everyone seemed to have a good time, even those of us off the back.

Tomorrow it's Singlespeed Nation ride (singlespeednation.bolgspot.com), with a few hours either before or after. Or maybe both.

Just for the record, I was supposed to get up early today and do a long ride. I did'nt, and someone wanted to make sure I confessed my lazyness on the blog. So there it is; I am a lazy turd. (Of course, the party responsible for this admission will pay a price later. Oh yes, they will pay... )

Dirty Thursday

Did 2 hours off-road tonight in the dark. Man, I love this weather. I was 55F when I left the house to ride tonight at 5:45 PM! Crazy...

Anyway, I get to the trail head and unpack my bike. My main bike had a flat tire, and I didn't have time to mess with it, so I took the backup bike. The backup has a Rollenlager singlespeed conversion device. I was running an old 17t rear cog that I tore off a used road cassette. Can you see where this is going?

The chain would not stay on! Of course I forgot the wrench that would have allowed me to make a tension adjustment. As it turns out, my riding partner Dan Jansen had brought two bike to the trailhead! I got to ride the 26er surly 1x1. He used the Karate Monkey and enjoyed the 29er experience.

I have to say that the surly performed like a champ! It was heavy, and had superlight wheels with super-heavy tires. 180mm cranks were also an interesting change from my normal ride. All things considered, it's performance exceeded my expectations. Specifically, it was stiff but not harsh. It had very neutral handling; I was able to get it sideways in a two-wheel drift without any problems. The downside? All those extra pounds in the frame and tires made climbing torture! The long cranks helped, but it was still a struggle.

I was a surly doubter. Not anymore. I don't know that the 1x1 would make the best race bike, but for tooling around in the winter, it more that fits the bill.

I plan a quick spin on the trainer tomorrow for active recovery, and they riding like crazy on Saturday (Snowcross) and Sunday (Singlespeed Nation). Should be a fun time!

If it's Tuesday, I must be riding the trainer

Quick 1.5 hour spin on the trainer today. My legs felt a bit tired after the Saturday/Sunday ride-a-than. I still feel about 2.5% sick. Not bad, but I can still feel it in my throat just a little bit.

I plan a nice easy 1 hour spin tomorrow, and if the weather cooperates 2 hours outside on Thursday. No bike time on Friday, but lots of riding on Saturday and Sunday. Singlespeed Nation ride + whatever it takes to get in 5 hours on Saturday and Snowcross on Sunday. Lots of good fun and good riding.

I noticed that White Industries has a slick new website. Check it out here http://www.whiteind.com to see some of the cool parts I'll be riding this year. ENO Eccentric Disk hubs, ENO freewheels, ENO cranks; the list is long cuz the parts are good!

First Crash of 2006

I went for a trail ride today. Yes, that's right, I was trail riding. In Michigan. In January.

Anyway, Dan Jansen and I went to Yankee Springs. Dan was on his Karate Monkey set up as a mountain bike. I was on my Trans-Iowa rig. The trail was in great shape. Better, in fact, than it is most of the summer.

The first lap was at a moderate pace. The second lap was at a bit faster pace. We caught another singlespeed, and I wanted to make the pass stick. As a result, I pushed the pace on a slick downhill. Next thing I know, I'm staring up at the sky. My knee scraped on the ground, so I got to donate some blood to the trail. It's good to get the first crash of the season out of the way.

I got to ride the Karate Monkey for a bit. The 29" wheels were...Interesting. They smoothed out the trail, but they were hard to get up to speed. Climbing was a chore. I'd be interested to try one on a longer ride, more in the 8 to 12 hour range. It was not love at first ride, but I'm open to trying again under different circumstances.

Freezing Rain? No Pain, No Gain!

Just got done with 4 hours on the bike. The temp was just a bit above 32F, and frozen rain/snow/sleet was the order of the day. I felt good for the first 3.5 hours, but the lasat 30 minutes were a bit rough. I am not quite over that cold yet...

The legs lacked power, but that is to be expected after an illness. The lungs and heart were good.

The new Craft S3 jersey was awesome! The windblocking front worked just as advertised. Could be great Trans-Iowa gear if the weather conditions are similar to last year.

Not quite better yet...

This cold just won't go away! I think I started training again too soon. That, and a bunch of stress at work and I just can't shake the last of this cold.

So, I am taking it a bit easy. Trying to go to bed early and drink lots of fluids. I plan to ride long on Saturday, so this cold has got to go.

On an unrelated note, the parts for my new computer should be here tomorrow or saturday. Let the Battlefield 2 trash-talk begin... :)

Getting Better Every Day

Another day, another hour on the bike. Still a touch of a sore throat, still a bit weak. I do anticipate being able to have a long ride this weekend.

I got some new winter gear to try out this weekend. A Craft S3 undershirt and some Hind medium-weight tights should help keep the wind and cold at bay. I should recieve some new Goretex oversocks soon as well. The quest of warm feet continues...

Happy New Year!

Just a quick note...

I am about 90% healthy. I rode for an hour today, and felt pretty good. I am still a bit weak, and I don't want to push it just yet. I have a long ride scheduled for Saturday, and I anticipate being at nearly full strength.

The holiday party season is over, so I can stop eating all this junk food! I bet I loose five pounds in the next week. :)

2005 Sponsor Highlights

With the start of the new year, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about some of the great people and companies that supported me in 2005. I won't get a change to talk up everybody, but here are a few of the very special folks that helped make '05 such a success.

2005 Sponsor Review

Mega-Sponsor: Becky Hulst

No married amateur endurance racer can be successful without the support of their spouse. I was fortunate to enjoy such support from my wife Becky. Not only did she make room in out budget for me to register for, travel to and compete in all my races last year, she was often in the pit pulling support for me. Without her, there is no Partridge Racing.

Lighting and Travel Sponsor: Rich Partridge

My dad. He put money on the table that allowed me to get the sweet Niterider Digital HID/LED light and two batteries that I used all season. He then put more cash on the table when I needed to get to Whistler for Worlds. I could have raced without his support last year, but I would have had to hold a flashlight in my mouth and take Greyhound to Whistler.

Not from the Industry Sponsor: Art of the Table

Art of the Table (AotT) is a great store that is owned by my friend Amy Ruis. They sell high-end beer and wine, as well as a bunch of other cool stuff like stemware, linens, cooking supplies and gourmet food items.

Amy and her husband Steve are not bike people. They do appreciate the cycling scene, and they saw some overlap between their target market and the folks that show up at MTB races. They picked up a portion of my entry fees at a bunch of local races.

Shop Sponsor: Alger Cycling and Fitness

I have been riding on the Alger team for the last three years. Alger is a great shop, with a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They have a wide selection of parts on hand, and are happy to order the stuff they don’t have. A special thanks goes out to Brad Bacon. I can always count on Brad to get me what I need in a pinch.

Team Sponsor: Founder’s Ales/Alger Racing

Founder’s has been a great sponsor! You can click over to the team website to see all the team sponsors, but Founder’s stands out in my mind. The beer is great, the bar is a hip place to hang out, and the rest of the guys on the team at top-notch. I look forward to riding for them again next season.