Monday, April 30, 2007

3rd is a 100

On Sunday I finally got out for my 3rd ride this season. Schedule and weather have limited my outdoor riding time so far this season. Besides the wind, the weather Sunday was very nice. This was a big relief, again except for the wind, when you are about to spend several hours on a bike. Why several hours? Well Sunday was the annual MN Ironman Bicycle ride. So for me, my third ride of the season was going to be my first century ride. Not exactly how I would prefer things to go, but in the end it worked out.

SafetyBob and I set out about 7:30 to start the long ride. The first few stages went really well. We found some good groups to ride with. This helped out a ton with the wind factor. The wind was 15-20 mph most of the day with gusts up to 30 mph in some spots. Which was not rider friendly by any means, but you couldn’t argue too much with it being in the low 80’s and mostly sunny. Back to the ride…The first 50 miles ticked off pretty smoothly despite the wind and hills. The stops were great with a lot of food and fluids for the riders. The next 30 miles or so were pretty challenging with a lot more rolling hills and the wind to boot. By the time we reached the final rest stop we were more then ready for a break. Finally we arrived at the last stop where people like Ms. R and Kimmi were waiting. The two of them, along with other from the team were doing the 62 miles route and it was nice to see another familiar face. It was short lived as they had to leave shortly after we arrived. (Since there were nice enough to wait for us in the first place) We took a few extra minutes to rest before tackling the final stage. Even though we were tired and sore the first 80+ miles had gone pretty well. The last stage proved to be the hardest, which I guess it should. The wind had picked up even more and there were more hills. You would have thought that we were use to them by now, but at that point we just wanted to be done. The last leg was our slowest, but we finally managed to make our way to the end. After 6:05 of ride time we coasted down the little hill into the high school parking lot were the event was being staged. Boy was I glad to be done.

After a quick shower, to rinse off the 100 miles of grime, we all headed to Old Chicago to fill up our empty stomachs with food and fluids. There may or may not have been a few alcoholic beverages consumed. All I can say is that my initial order amounted to three different beverages being placed in front of me. Which totally rocked!

In the end it was a great day even though I’m quite sore and tired today. You couldn’t have asked for a much better day, except for the stupid wind. We had a lot of fun, got in a huge workout, and made some great strides towards September. It just would have been nicer to get a couple more rides in beforehand. I’ll have to work on that next year.

Hope you all had a great weekend…

Monday, April 23, 2007

Wear and Tear

The last few weeks have been ridiculously busy. So busy that they days and weeks have all just started to blend in. This is really not a good thing. In that span there have been a number of roller coasters to ride the highs and lows of my multiple facet life. This of course leads to the typical too much to do in too little time syndrome that many of us are famous for. All of it was starting to wear me down a bit. The true indication of this was the napping that occurred this weekend. Both days this weekend included naps which is basically a world record for me. I have mentioned before my inability to nap but the body and mind were having none of that this weekend. They blew the whistle and signaled T, T..for a couple hours each day. If only I could fall asleep on demand. Hmmm…maybe all this extra stuff going on will have a positive change on my napping abilities. Total scoreage...

So maybe, just maybe I haven’t been getting the rest that I need as of late. That’s going to be a major goal this week. Which should hopefully help right the ship a bit. Besides the ups and downs thing are progressing which is good. Unfortunately things like blogs and emails have fallen by the waste side a bit, but hopefully that can be rectified as well.

In other news Ms. R picked up a hot new ride a few weekends past. What a sweet looking ride, check it out.
When do I get a new bike? (Insert: temper tantrum of 28 year old male, supposedly all grown up)

Hope all is well! Later…

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Some Hits and Misses

At the midway point in the week things have gone pretty well on the training side of things. A couple trips to the pool and spinning with the team last night have all been workouts. The one miss was this morning when I was suppose to get up and do some running and lifting. Last night was another late night due to coaching. We didn’t get home til 10:30 or so and it was midnight by the time we crawled into bed. I did set the alarm for 5:30, but I just couldn’t manage it after another night of little sleep. I figured my rest was more important. So it was go go gadget sleep for an extra hour or so. I’m still a little worn out today, but I’m sure it would have been much worse if I had went to the gym as planned.

It’s pretty typical to get a least a little bit of snow in MN during the month of April. Usually it’s a quick shower and its gone is a day or so. This time around the temps have dropped as well. It’s been in the 30’s for the last two days and it’s not supposed to get back into the 40’s til the end of the weekend. Blah…It kind of kills my plans for using my day off on Friday to get a nice long ride in outside. Yes some may call me a weakling when it comes to riding outdoors, but I’m just not one for wanting to have to worry about frostbite or be completely covered to ride outside. hehe Anyway it looks like more time on the trainer this week to get some saddle time in.

Finally I have to say congrats to E-Speed who had the number one ranking for the RBF Final Four bracket. I dropped to 10th overall after not picking either of the final two teams. I did end up tied for second in the correct picks category. So I’ll take that as a small victory.

Happy hump day folks…

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Twilight

Out of a dark dreamless sleep the unbearable sound of the alarm clock calls me to wake up. I hit the snooze almost praying that I fall back asleep and unconsciously turn off the alarm. Something from inside kicks me and I know I should just get up. I argue for a bit about only getting five hours of sleep, but I lose and I make my way up to a seated position to start the wakeup process. I look outside and notice that like myself the day is having a hard time starting as well. It’s still dark, but a few birds are chirping calling for the start the day.

I quietly gather my things trying not to wake Ms. R as I wasn’t smart enough to prepare all my stuff the night before. On this morning I wasn’t quiet enough as she wakes as I’m putting the last few pieces together. At least this allows me to say goodbye which I normally don’t get to do. A part of me is sorry for waking her, but I know that she will be asleep again in a matter of seconds. She is one of the lucky ones who can fall asleep very quickly anytime and anywhere. I quickly leave before the thought of crawling into the warm comfortable bed has a chance to take hold.

With gear, clothes, computer, water bottles, and food in hand I make my way out the door. The street is fairly quiet until a taxi drives by blasting its music. As its passes I listen and swear that the driver is listening to techno and smile at the notion. I drive in silence not even caring for the radio on this dark morning. Cars pass by and the drive is made up of white headlights, red taillights, and green road signs against the dark sky. I happen to look up at one point and see some dark blue muffled by the clouds. So that’s why it is still so dark. The huge cloud mass that has been around for the last few days is still there and fighting to hold back the light of a new day.

Like the clouds I have moments that I want to hold back the start of my day. The sore neck that plagued me the day before is still there. The idea of spending the next hour in the cold water is less then appealing. Unfortunately I don’t really have a choice. Goals and expectations have been set. The journey has begun and like many my day starts in the twilight of the morning…