There was a character in it, Latrine, who was part of the French Resistance. Latrine always burst into the scene severely wounded from one thing or another, covered in bloody bandages. Someone yelled out “Latrine!”.

This is what my week felt like.

Cut the back yard Sunday. We’ve got an old apple tree in the back yard which used to be very nicely pruned before we bought the place. We don’t know enough about pruning so we’ve let it go a bit too long. Being tall I need to crouch down real low to get around it. It’s a rare landscaping day in the backyard when I don’t drop an f-bomb about that tree.

So this week I’m picking up the dropped fruit and stood up too fast. I took a sharp 2″ thick branch point that was pruned years ago right in the back, just below the scapula. Dropped me like a rock. I don’t recall seeing that branch before but there it was. The aftermath is that there’s pretty sharp pain when I pull back…like on handlebars for example.

Yesterday I’m at home in the kitchen after work putting stuff away and getting ready to prep dinner (oven-fried chicken). Got the recipe book out of the cabinet and I’m leaning over my backpack. Again, I stood up fast…right into the cabinet door. Within a few seconds I feel blood dripping through my hair and down my head. WTF. 5 minutes later I get the bleeding to stop but there’s a nasty 1 inch gash on the top of my head covering a big lump.

Still hurts like hell.

I swear I’m more of a menace to myself than anything else in this world.

What else…

In between maiming myself, I see that the ‘cross forum is slowly starting to warm up. There’s discussion of modifying the schedule. I haven’t chimed in yet but I’d rather see the races a little earlier in the day. With a 2:30 or 3 pm race, I figure to get done by 4 and home by 5-ish. Doesn’t give much time to help with dinner and the kids. Plus the A race is a couple hours removed from the kiddie cross, which both my kids really like. I’m not sure how the logistics of having them participate will work out yet.

Been getting adding VO2 interval work in to my workouts. Did 5×5′ this morning through the cemetery. It’s just about 6 minutes top to bottom so the length works out just fine. First few were ok. Last 2 started to get very, very uncomfortable.

As I was coasting down to start one of the last couple reps, a glorious revelation came over me. Cross is almost here. It’s tough to fathom with temperatures flirting with triple digits this week, but it’s coming. And putting it very bluntly, you can’t go fast unless you put this sort of time in.

I’ve transgressed through the 5 stages of interval training over the past month or so:

1. Denial - “I feel fine. All I need to do is straight lactate threshold work. I don’t need to go anaerobic during a race”
2. Anger - “This is bullshit. I f-ing hate intervals. They suck. They’re uncomfortable. F.U. I don’t need ‘cross.”
3. Bargaining - “How about I start easy. Maybe one interval this week. Add one more next week. I’ll be at peak form in no time at all…like January. Do you think anyone will notice if I sandbag in the B’s?”
4. Depression - “Is it rest week yet? I need a break. I’m so tired.”
5. Acceptance - “It’s time to get ready. Pain and suffering are what this race is all about. I am going to be ready for whatever this season throws at me”

Yep. It’s close. You can feel it.

What is exciting, at least right now, is harvesting veggies and getting the garden ready for the fall and winter.  Having been in our current house for a couple years and gotten used to the space I have (5 raised beds), I’ve finally settled on a nice rotation for each of the beds.  I’ve got a sense for what the family likes and how fast (or not) we go through things.

I think putting a little more effort this year than most came about during the early summer when I saw how exorbitant food prices were getting.  So if a couple hours a week is all it takes to harvest a reasonably steady supply of organic food year round, I’m ok with that.  Plus, it’s just good old fun to play around in the dirt.

This year’s late spring threw a lot of people off, myself included.  I’m not expecting a lot out of the heat lovers this year - cukes, tomatoes, peppers, etc.  Part of it was the weather.  The other part was the 6 truly naughty chickens we have.  It is utterly amazing to watch the speed at which they can shred a small patch of foliage if left unattended for 5 minutes.

So between them and our cat who continually likes to shit in the raised beds - I swear we were close to roast chicken with spicy cat sauce - I had a rough start this spring.  I’ve since fully caged the chickens.  I also place 2′ x 4′ wire fence segments over the little amount of bare earth where I put seeds down.  For the most part, I manage to keep the beds covered with a cover crop when they’re not in use.

Anyway, most stuff has recovered and we’ve had no shortage of lettuce so far this year.  The fall plantings are in full swing; cauliflower, walla wallas, kale, chard, lettuce, carrots and spinach.  I’m still learning how to plant seed in the heat of the summer so coverage is a bit spotty.  Should still be fine though.  Plus, I have slugs.  Slugs!  From what I’ve read, they’re likely hiding in the lettuce bed and are able to move around on the soil that I keep moist for the seedlings.  The bulbs, garlic and shallots, and winter cover crops will be later in Sept. and Oct.  Very exciting.

Just some fun commuting antics on the way to work.  Rolled up to the Hawthorne Bridge where the barricades were down and the traffic was backed up to Grand.  As I got to the bridge deck, a few commuters were heading the other way.  I saw that the bridge was still down and that a barge was backing away from the bridge.

Based on the angle they were at, I’m assuming they came in too sharp to make it through the opening.  Looked like it was the Revenge of the Worcester Speedball (a joint & a coffee with a shot of espresso in it).  That’s a terrible assumption.  And probably dead wrong.  Screw it, I’m going to run with it anyway.

So I turned around and did a quick sprint over to the Morrison Bridge which (wisely) didn’t lower it’s gates yet.  Got up and over.  By now the barge backed itself up to the I-5 overpass.  I thought I could barely make out a “Student Driver” sign on the barge.  Maybe not.

Made my way back to Main.  By the time I did that, the gates were still down and traffic was still parked.  It was pretty sweet to have Main all to myself.

Whew.

Yesterday was a shitty day.  Today - armed with new coffee and a fresh batch of granola - I’m ready to finish out the week…hopefully in one piece.  Short but hard 5×5′x5′ intervals today.  2×18′x6′ tomorrow morning.  Saturday off.  2-3 hour ride out Dirty 30 to Logie Trail & back on Skyline early Sunday am.

Called Saris and spoke with tech support;

“You do this?”
“Yep.”
“How about this…?”
“Yep”
“Well, did you see this on the screen”
“Yep”
“Hmmm, you have another powertap handy that you can check the signal against”
Yes, of course, I have them coming out of my ass, “Um, No, I don’t”
“Well, that doesn’t sound good.  We’ll need to look at both the hub and the head unit. Go ahead and send it back to us”

So that’s where we’re at.  It’s not the end of the world.  My bike is good.  I’m healthy.  Everyone’s doing well.  It’s all good.  I was, however, really enjoying using it and was thinking about covering up the unit’s power readout with black tape to avoid getting analysis paralysis during rides.  Ultimately, it comes down to how you feel when you’re riding.  I’ve been riding long enough to know that I’m pushing as hard as I can on a 20 minute interval.  I don’t need to know how much power I’m putting out to feel that.  So it’s on it’s way back to Wisconsin.

What else.

Called Merrill Lynch to get an old rollover IRA transfered to my regular one.  30 minutes and 4 transfers later, I was told that I couldn’t.  Apparently the address change I submitted 2 years ago never got entered.  So they were getting statements bounced back from my old address and subsequently put my account on hold.  It now needs to be reactivated before they can do anything.  I hate Merrill Lynch.

I’m on a roll now.

You know, I’ve been slowly coming to an uncomfortable conclusion that I really, really, really dislike other bike commuters.  It’s been building for some time now and I think this summer it’s coming to a head.  We hear commonly that drivers feel that most cyclists ignore the rules of the road.  In my opinion, I think that’s a pretty fair statement.  The shit that I see people do on bikes - day in and day out - sometimes defies logic and explanation.

I think the Portland area drivers have been becoming adjusted to bikes on the road for some time now.  We belong.  And while it’s not the same everywhere, I see and hear less of cyclists getting swerved at or honked at & told to get off the road.  Again, this is not a universal statement but it’s just what I see when and where I ride (east side, west hills, Clackamas Co).  Your mileage, especially in the ‘burbs or up in Vancooter, may vary.

But…I do see and hear far more anger and tension from drivers from people on bikes doing dumb shit.  Blowing lights & stop signs.  Swerving in and out of traffic.  Crap like that.  And while I try not to let it bother me, sometimes it does.  The drivers that I rely on to give me a little extra space or consideration is starting to feel they no longer want to anymore.  In some cases, it’s getting hostile.

I’m probably in the minority where I follow all the rules of the road.  Really.  I don’t clip out & foot down but I do stop & track stand for a split second before moving on even when no one’s around.  I’m even more anal when I have my team kit on.  Doesn’t cost any time but I do know that more often than not, it gets me waved through by any other cars in the area.  I guess I just don’t understand why it’s so hard to just…stop.

I’m not really sure where I’m headed with this although I could write about it for hours.  I certainly don’t have a solution.  I wish I did.  Education?  Stricter enforcement with steeper fines?  I don’t really know.

Whew.  Moving on to the little stuff…

It’s hot.  And being the delicate flower that I am, it’s a little rough on me.  Enough of this 90’s shit.  Gimmie 60’s and 70’s and I’ll be happy.  I don’t like hot.

All of my taps at home are dry.  I need to put a call in to Belmont Station to see what they have.  Aside from the “Pssssst” of a flat tire, there are fewer depressing sounds I know of than a sputtering blown keg.

Lastly, I’m out of coffee here at work.  Great.  I can’t believe it’s only Wednesday.  I gotta go.

Sunday was OUCH.  Got myself and the bike ready and headed out to Corbett.  I must have done may math all wrong because I figured out a little too late that I was running behind.
As a side note, tt’s a small goal of mine to make sure that I get a decent warm-up in before races this year.  I had a nice 40′ set all ready to go:

• 15′ easy spin
• 10′ gradual build from tempo to TT pace
• 3′ easy spin
• 5′ at TT pace
• 3′ easy spin
• 1′ hard, high cadence
• 2′ easy spin.

My start time was at 33:00.  I found myself sitting in the porta-potties when the first rider went off.  Crap (literally).  I need to get moving.

Jog back to the car.  Do some quick math to cut the warm up short a bit and start spinning.  This doesn’t feel good.  It was a little chilly but after the first 10 minutes, the sweat was starting to run and things were improving.  I stopped the warm-up at 26 minutes in, figuring I had a 2 or 3 minutes to get over there.

Mmmmm, nope.  I got over there at 36:30.  So they just sent me off.

I don’t do many time trials but from my understanding a big part of doing them well is avoiding the temptation to go out too hard, too fast.  I had a decent idea of where I’d set my power at for the full hour or so.  So I got in that range and just set to work.

There’s not really all that much that’s exciting about time trials.  You ride hard until you cross the line.  And for OUCH, you go up.  And up.  And up.

About 2/3 of the way through, the batteries on the head unit went out.  By then I was about 40 minutes into the race so I knew what level of effort it would take to finish out.  Plus, I thought, it’s never a bad idea to just unplug once in a while.

Since I started 4 minutes late, I was out of the range of the 4/5 group and solidly in the middle of the 3’s and the 1/2’s.  I passed a couple 3’s pretty early on and got passed by a 1/2 shortly after that.  The rest of the race was fairly quiet.

Finished up at the top and kind of spun around.  I felt decent.  Exhausted but not totally spent.  Checked the time: around 1:11, which I’m assuming included the 4′ dipshit penalty I assessed myself.  so realistically I finished the climb around 1:07. Pretty good.

As a side, for the life of me, I can’t figure out why more ‘crossers aren’t in this race.  It’s an hour long at just at or over your threshold.  It’s uphill so there’s a little more muscular strength involved as opposed to just tucking in and spinning.  If nothing else, it helped set my 60 minute threshold power in a race environment.

Not much else to say about the race.  I downloaded what was left of my data and have adjusted my workout ranges for the next few weeks.  I’d like to get 1 or 2 PIRs in before they shut down for the year.  This week is a little busy but hopefully next Mon. or Tues.  We’ll see.

Also, August is just around the corner. Shit…August? Really? Like every other year, I wonder where the hell my summer went. What *have* I been doing? Riding? Check. Camping? Check. BBQs? Check.

While I’m trying to enjoy the moment, I’ve tried to make time to look ahead. The garden is planned out for the fall and winter. Plantings have already started for the fall stuff like cauliflower, spinach, lettuce & carrots. The winter stuff is going in over the next couple weeks. The new hot tub has been deep-cleaned and is full and ready for the cooler late summer and fall evenings that, realistically, aren’t all that far away.

Cycling, well, more specifically ‘cross, got me thinking about the fall way further in advance than I have in year’s past. I’m very thankful for it. I remember very clearly the past couple fall’s where I’d be starting at some empty raised beds, wishing for something – anything – to pick and eat. Or shaking my head at the teeny little seedlings that weren’t planted soon enough going dormant in the alternating crisp/wet October weather. I’m ready for it this year which feels good.

The catalyst for all of that was that I’ve been thinking about and approaching the fall race season with far more respect, planning, and discipline than I ever have. The races will be longer. The field will be much faster. I figure if I repeat last year’s training effort, it’ll be good for somewhere in the middle of the A35+ group. Unfortunately I want more than that. I simply don’t have enough miles on my legs over my short 2 year career to just show up and do well. So while I’ve put in fairly solid tempo at first and gradually added lactate work over the past few months, I feel it’s been rewarding work.

A big part of it was splurging on the used power tap wheel this spring. You can pooh-pooh them all you want but when you start seeing numbers go up and see yourself respond to training with more strength and endurance…well, I’m just saying it’s a huge carrot to stick in front of yourself as you ride. I like to consider myself somewhat of a nerd (engineer) and a motivated athlete so interpreting the data has been pretty easy. Needless to say, I’ve been drinking the Power Tap Kool-Aid.

With that, I’m ready to make a strong run at OUCH this weekend. I’m also feeling more charged up for the next phase which starts after this week’s rest week. No matter how you sugar-coat it, setting out on a ride to do anaerobic or VO2 max work – whether it’s 85°F & sunny out –50°F and raining – or pitch black and you’re indoors on a trainer - is suckalicious. It’s ugly but oh so very necessary. I’ve been talking about it for a couple weeks now but. Just. Haven’t. Done it.

Started running last week.  20 minutes to start and then hit the gym for some maintenance lifting.  That took a few days to wear off.  It felt strange.  I’ve played ultimate for years and then ran marathons, the last being in ‘02.  I used to run, well, sprint actually, for a full weekend.  Haven’t run for any length of time on purpose since.  It was mildly uncomfortable then and it’s slightly more so now.  Ah, the joys of being in your 20’s.

One other exciting tidbit is that I joined up with Presto Velo last week.  I’m excited as I’d something I’ve been looking to do for about a year or so, although I admit it was a pretty passive search.  Last fall I went on a group ride with Ironclad but that went nowhere.  This spring I’d throw out a few e-mails, talk to a few people, and then let it go.

Part of me felt that, given my current lifestyle (dad…full time job…other things, hobbies, etc going on) that I’d have a hard time making team rides and perhaps racing enough to justify it.  I wonder if that was subconsciously holding me back.  I’m obviously not the only person in this situation but trying to fit racing into my life is still a work in progress.  I guess it always will be.  I find I need to be extremely creative in how and where I squeeze training in to stay competitive.

I guess the breaking point was that as much as I like riding alone, I missed the team aspect of sports.  In the back of my mind I wasn’t looking forward to going through another ‘cross season solo.  I like teammates that you can help, work with, learn from, motivate, and support in races, and vice versa.  I’m really looking forward to that.

I’ve only started racing competitively over the past couple years and I’ve ridden by myself in that time.  I’ve been feeling that it was time to expand my community a bit.  But having joined this sport in my mid 30’s, I’ve found cycling to be, well, not entirely accessible to new riders.  This isn’t anyone’s fault and I don’t think anyone has to do anything about it.  Part of it is my personality (slightly introverted) but also that it just is what it is.  Granted, Cat 4/5 riders in their mid 30’s who also race ‘cross aren’t exactly an endangered species either.  However, I’ve noticed that riders generally tend to stick with and around their team.  This isn’t surprising nor should it be.  For someone on the outside looking in, I resigned myself to it after a while.

Anyway, I’m real happy about it.  New team kits just got ordered from Castelli.  Should be in hopefully by September.  I’m also very excited to represent a team, particularly this fall in ‘cross, but also next year in mtb and road.

Lastly, training is proceeding on schedule as I’ve been getting solid work in lately, particularly in the 2 hour rides I take on the way into work.  It’s hard work but it feels good.  I need to give a little love to the bike this week: derailleur tuning, general lubing & tuning, stuff like that.  Everything seems on track for my next race (OUCH) in early August.

So I’m finally getting around to taking a closer look at the data from last weeks (7/2) Cat 4 Tabor race.  The graph above is just a snapshot of the race itself and is smoothed by 5 seconds.  The raw data is pretty noisy and I think the 5 sec. is a little easier to interpret here.

7 laps, each of them lasting about 3 minutes making a 21minute race (give or take).  I don’t bother hitting the lap button anymore usually because I can never remember to be consistent in doing it.  So I’m ballparking from the peaks.

For reference, I have a threshold power of 355w (the dashed line).  Granted, I’m just under 90 kg so the 355w is nothing earth-shattering here.

The nice thing about this race is that it’s pretty clear where the uphill and downhill is.  Each uphill portion seems to last just under 2 minutes.  I was peaking just shy of 700 watts and averaged about 400-450w for the full effort.  Based on the limited anaerobic work I’ve been monitoring, I’m confidant that I was in the match-burning range.

The uphill of lap 4 (around the 48:00 mark) was where I tried for a break.  I didn’t peak as high, not because I was tired but from keeping a very strong but steady pace up the hill.  It was a between-prime lap and the pack wasn’t going that hard, which was primarily why I went for it.  I hammered it down the hill, skipping the 30 sec rest in an attempt to open up a gap.

The next uphill (51:00), I had maybe a 3-5 sec gap so I thought that if I dropped power output a bit to something more sustainable over the rest of the race, it would work.  I felt 450 watts or so could possibly do it.

Well, it didn’t.  There’s a teeny little sag around 51:30 where I got sucked up.  Going by the flat at the start line, I let it sag a bit more (52:00) and absolutely struggled up the hill to keep up with the pack.  There’s a little blip at 53:00 where I needed to put some effort in on the downhill to hang on, hitting almost 37 mph.

The 6th lap at 54:00 was about hanging on.  The bell rang and I was fairly well cooked at this point.  HR was at or neat 180 which is a few beats shy of my max.  I stayed with the pack around the reservoir until the pace picked up.  I made a very, very brief attempt at keeping with the front group but gave it up pretty quickly and just coasted in.

So what did I learn from this…

• Excelling at Tabor is an exercise in anaerobic endurance.  Any training plan to do well here needs multiple 1-2 minute intervals well above threshold power.
• From the first few laps where I was fresh, it took about 450 watts to stay near the front of the pack.  That’s about 5 w/kg average.  Surges in the ballpark of 700 watts (7.75-8 w/kg) are close to what’s needed to win some of the sprints.  I didn’t seriously challenge many of the sprints so I’d plan for even more.
• Right now, I’ve got a pretty lean matchbook when it comes to hard efforts.  Granted, I haven’t done a shred of consistent VO2 max or anaerobic work since last fall.  So we’ll just make a note in the training log [Needs Improvement: anaerobic endurance] and call it good.
• I don’t think I have enough info on what it would take to make a break and stay away.  A better way to look at it would be to look what I did…and not do it.

Looking back, despite concentrating mostly on tempo and a little bit of LT interval work so far, I managed to stay competitive.  I stayed with the main pack, did not get dropped, and even managed to push the pace a bit.  I knew full well that I’d done no training to date that was relative to this type of race.  But I went for it anyway and got some good info on what my current limitations are.

Tabor was great last night. I didn’t win. Didn’t even come flippin’ close. I’m not even sure I’ll get an “honorable mention” in the standings. But it didn’t matter. I went out, fooled around a bit, tried for a break, and finished out. Good fun.

So let’s recap. We had a 7 lap race. My thought was to see what sort of pace the pack was keeping and feel out if I could go on a break and make it stick. I thought attacking right after a prime could work so I figured somewhere on lap 2-4 could conceivably work. I needed to make sure I was close enough to the sprinters to draft without burning a match just to keep up.

The first prime came and went and I got cold feet. I got caught a row or two back and didn’t want to sprint through. I then had a brain-fart and pushed up to the front of the pack for no reason. Great job Mike. Actually ‘dumbass’ was the more accurate term.

Lap 3 came up and the pack held a fairly steady pace up the hill. The prime bell rang and I kept accelerating past the playground and briefly saw that we were pretty strung out. It didn’t seem ideal but I took it and went for the break.

I pushed it down the hill and around the corner to the reservoir. I peeked back and had a 3-5 second gap. I set a strong and what I thought was a sustainable pace up the hill.

I had a millisecond vision of making it stick, of all the glory, the crowd cheering a successful break, and more importantly, a delicious bacon and mushroom pizza from Hot Lips that was up for grabs on the prime.

Ohh, how I loves the bacon.

This would be about where you heard the pop.

The pack picked me up, chewed me around a bit like a warm piece of cud, and efficiently pooped me out the back over the rest of the hill. 25 meters short. Crap.

I spent a fair portion of the next lap trying to sit in and recover. My head was down, solely focusing on staying with the lead pack. The final bell rang and I sort of knew that I’d probably not be challenging for the final sprint. Heading up the hill as the pace picked up significantly, I backed off and eased it in. 20th…25th…something like that. Didn’t really matter.

What did matter was heading out for a beer. I met up with Bob Jacobs and we went down to Belmont Station for a couple post-race beers. Bear Republic Racer X (ridiculously hoppy) and Stone Oaked Bastard (good…not too oak-ey).

Beer never tasted so good.