Belgium Ride in Wisconsin

I had a great weekend of riding this past weekend considering the weather. Saturday I rode 85 miles and my route went like this. I started from my house in West Bend with one of my team mates and then we headed towards Cedarburg to get together with some more teammates. It was flurries to light snow which made the roads very wet. Besides the roads being wet they were actually perfect. No ice on the roads, but very dirty with lots of salt.

We met two other teammates in Cedarburg and we were going to meet up with another group that was going out at a later time, but they cancelled their ride. So, we rode down to Altera by Bradford Beach in Milwaukee.

This was a very wet ride with temperatures in the mid to upper 30's. Stopping at Altera was a great idea, coffee and snack break along with a little warming up inside. The place was surprisingly busy, but I don't think that place is every slow. This is a very nice bicycle friendly community, but we still managed to get a lot of looks as if we were completely nuts!

After our little break we headed back. My feet were completely soaked and my toes were swimming and they became miserably cold. I kept wiggling them to try to keep blood flow in them to get them to warm up, but to much water in my shoes. I couldn't wait to get home to warm my feet up.

When we made it to Cedarburg we dropped on guy off and the other one proceeded with us back to West Bend and then he had to turn around and ride back to Cedarburg (what an animal). All in all was a great ride with great people with crappy weather, but what are you going to do? Sick of riding inside on the rollers. Can't winter be over?

On Sunday some of my teammates planned a ride, and I was going to pass on this one and clean my bike from the previous outing. At the last minuted I decided what the heck. My wife was running and had plans, so I had her gracious to go ride, so I went riding again.

I rode to Cedarburg to meet up with some teammates and then we rode to West Bend to ride with one of our sponsors. I managed to get in 55 miles with some of the best hills in Washington County.

The weather today was a bit better than Saturday's, but still a bit cold but bare able. No snow, but misty with the low clouds we had. Warm enough not to have ice on the roads, but cold enough that the moisture from the mist on my helmet turned into ice. My toes were perfect because they stayed dry. Still great to get outside and ride.

Extreme and P3

Well on Saturday morning I went to Extreme to ride with some of my teammates. I rode for two hours at a light to medium intensity. Brian and I were talking to a new teammate and giving him some pointers and answering any questions that he had. Nothing really too exciting that comes to mind.

After riding at Extreme, Brian and I went to P3 (Peak Performance Pros). This was on the computrainers and the session was for one hour and thirty minutes. We started one program and the coach didn't like it so he switched it. This was actually beneficial for me. This gave me a nice warm up until we started the new program/course. I was able to hang on Brian's wheel, but still busting my butt to keep up sometimes. The intensity for me was race pace, which I haven't done in a long time. I did feel good especially for already have ridden for two hours.

I will be putting in some more hard efforts now and again to start ram ping up for the race season that will be here before I know it!

Superbowl Sunday I wasn't able to ride. I needed to get some stuff done with my wife. We are in middle of remodeling our kitchen. Not a complete remodel, but painting the cabinets, window trim, floor trim, and walls. This is taking a little longer than anticipated but in the end will be worth it.

No sign of spring quite yet. We are expected to get ten to fourteen inches of snow. This would be great if I skied (cross country or skate skiing). That's all for now!

New WCA Rule

New rule posted by WCA and I am getting a lot of e-mails if I have seen the new rule. Yes I have and with the racing year I had last year I am not disgurished at all. Last year I won the overall WCA M4/5 class. My racing age was 30 and was allowed to race the masters class. Last year was my first year of racing!

This year I have had a lot of Masters teammates ask me which races I was going to focus on. Well, with this new rule there is no option but to try to do well in the Category 3 class. I am hoping that some of the Masters guys will come and give me some help, but if not I do understand.

Unfortunatly this takes away some of the doubling up that I could have done. Now, if I want to double up I have to also race with the 1,2's when they allow the 3's to race with them. Which I don't quit now if I am up to that challenge.

I do have another teammate that isn't old enough to be a masters also, so at least I will have him to race with for sure. I will take this as a positive outcome and it should only make me faster.

This rule also makes sense to me because, when you race the T.O.A.D. (tour of americas dairyland) their master class is 35+. This was another reason that this year I was going to race the Cat. 3 class, to help me get ready for T.O.A.D.

Getting Some Motivation

Well I am about one and half months away from the first race of the season. Motivation is starting to pick up and the days are getting longer. Yesterday I went to train with some of my teammates at the training center that we are allowed to use for free. We had a really good turn out, their must have been fifteen to twenty riders. This made for a good stinky sweat shop, but you don't notice it unless you leave the room and come back. I rode for two hours and had a lot of fun doing it. My workout was not structured except for one part when my teammate Grant was doing some short high wattage intervals. When he would go I would go, I thought of it as if we were in a race and he was getting ready to pull me for the last time for the sprint! This was really fun and enjoyed it a lot. I haven't put any effort in like that in a long time. I did feel really good though!

After I rode with the team I went and rode some more with the Washington County Bike Club. Which they have been holding one indoor ride at the end of each month. This was the first one that I was actually able to commit to. We watched an old bicycle race movie, but I don't know which one it was. I put in an hour and half and was definitely was feeling tight. But, all in all at least I am getting some more time in the saddle.

Today I am going to ride outside! It is going to be about 17 degrees when we start and maybe make its way up 25 degrees. I am meeting up with three other teammates, Brian Petted, Ryan Pokorny, Greg Geiger. Ryan and I rode towards Brian and Greg and than headed west. We had a strong cold wind that was coming out of the west @ twenty miles an hour, which made it very hard for me to get comfortably warm. We rode out to the gas station in Slinger for a bathroom break and then headed our way back. Coming back was much more pleasant I could have rode with the wind all day. We practiced a little easy effort pace line, Ryan and Greg were new to this. We took around about way back and went through Ridge Run Park which is always really cool. There was a couple of times that I put in bursts of power, but nothing to long. After Ridge Run we rode into West Bend where Brian and Greg split off and headed towards Cedarburg and Ryan and I went home. I put in two and half hours in the saddle, very easy effort nothing really exerting. All in all a lot of fun!

Winter Training Motivation

I can't seem to get motivated for training. It is cold and gloomy and keeps my mood down for riding my bicycle inside. I don't get what is going on with me. I decided fall of 08' that I was going to race in 09'. I trained my butt off all winter wanting to do really well in 09'. I don't have a coach, I don't have a workout program, but I do have a team. I weight train 3 times a week that is somewhat consistant, but I do that with a team mate. I can manage to ride indoors for an hour easy, but trying to squeeze out two hours by myself is really tough. When I get together at Extreme's Saturday morning indoor training, I am able to ride for two hours easy.

In a way I don't want a coach, because I don't want my training to be that structured. But at the same time if I had a coach than maybe I would be more motivated. I would be doing different things that a coach plans, keeping the workouts structured and will hopefully not overtrain.

I am 7 weeks away from the my first race of the season which is just a training race. I guess I will keep doing what I am doing and maybe when the time gets closer I will get more motivated to train. If not, I will see how this season ends up and maybe hire a coach to help me out. Its not like I am not doing anything, but I know I was training a lot harder last winter.

I have training videos, and ipod, but still isn't enough to keep me motivated. I don't think that I am the only one out there with this problem. Hopefully I can get some nice weather and be able to get outside and ride. I can always manage to find someone to ride outside with me and put in some great base mileage. If anyone has some advice, I am open minded.

2010 Memorial Race Weekend?

I am in a little bit of a decision dilehma. There are three races in Iowa that I would love to do, but there is also a new three race series that is going to be held in Elkhart Lake. I hear a lot of great things about racing in Iowa and would like to check out all the hype. But, at the same time Elkhart is a lot closer to home. Do not know exactly what I want to do, and I know what my wife would like me to do. I am going to check with some of my team mates and see what their thoughts are and where they would like to race for that weekend. I think I will talk to some other people that have raced the Iowa races and see what kind of feed back I get from them. If I stay locally I will be able to drive back and forth and sleep in my own bed and will also cost me less money. If I decide to go to Iowa than I will need to get hotel rooms and eating out more and a longer travel which will cost more money. I like racing with team mates a lot more than doing the races by myself, so I guess I will have to wait and see what they want to do. Will update when the time gets closer and I know what I am doing. Later

Wisconsin Dells-Snowflake Festival

Two of my friends and my wife went to Wisconsin Dells this past weekend, to check out some snow sculptures. It was completely different weather this year than in the previous years. This year was much warmer, Saturdays weather with mist and Sunday with rain. We have been there when it has been -35 degrees and -10 degrees. This was kind of a nice change, not having to dress like an Eskimo to walk outside and check out the sculptures.

We arrived Friday night and stayed in the hotel for the evening. Saturday we slept in and when my wife and I decided to get out of bed we had some coffee and then went to the hotel gym. I normally do a long training ride on Saturday, but I did not bring my bike and trainer with us. So, I had to use what they had provided. I started by using a stationary bike that was the recumbent style. I could only ride that for so long before some of the muscles that don't get used from riding a regular bike started to tighten up on me. I decided to do some weight training and then I moved to the elliptical. My workout was very unstructured, but at least I did something.

After the workout we went to the room and cleaned up and went to breakfast. After breakfast we went and checked out some really cool snow sculptures and then went shopping at Tanger Mall. After the mall we went to a movie then to the casino where I won six dollars. I don't like to gamble so as soon as I get ahead a little I cash out. I walked away with six dollars more than I started with. Then we went out to diner and then back to the hotel.

Sunday we didn't stay long, we went to breakfast and then drove home. We had a great weekend and now it will be back to work tomorrow. I guess that is enough bumbling about my weekend for now. Later