Keeping it fresh

I am trying to keep the miles fresh on the bike. Although we live in a great place to cycle with many routes and roads to choose from, it can get a little redundant at times.

That is,if you let it. I don't want to be that guy that does the same miles and loops, week after week,month after month. 

Dur to the coastal wind directions it is usually best to head South first which usually ends up heading East before turning back. This usually gives you some type of tailwind for the ride home and hopefully some reprieve to your body.

For the last 4 weeks I have found myself heading more North first venturing on some roads I had not ridden in many years or in some cases not at all. 

I have been hitting up a popular walkers/runners spot in Signal Hill via Long Beach called Hilltop park. It is not a long climb but epic steep. It is more of a dragons back, in a sense that when you think you have made it to the top there is a 15 yard leveling section and then you go up again. It tends to continue veering to the right and or left depending on which side you are coming up. It never really goes into switchbacks but it also never gives much of a rest until you hit the top.

This was a couple of shots I took while pedaling.

You get a pretty good view of the city below.

Ultimately there is a park at the top.
From here you swing right and head back down to street level again. I have no idea of the exact climb %, but if I was to make a good educated guess I would say it peeks at 15+ %. Granted that is not for long, but it is enough to get you out of the saddle and stand. Twice this ride while sitting, I pulled my front wheel off the ground into a momentary wheelie. Will just call it steep.
From here I headed further North to the foothills of Palos Verdes. There is some epic climbs for distance in these hills/mountains as well. I looped at the base and headed back though. PV will be saved for a weekend very soon, more time would be needed.

Making my way back down to the coast to head south again was a challenge due to commuting through a heavily trafficked port of Long Beach/San Pedro. But it was cool to see new scenes and views. I snapped a shot in Long Beach of the old and the new together.

In all it wasn't really a long ride, falling under 46 miles. But with the climbing involved it was super effective. With July over we are winding down the bike racing season pretty much this month. I didn't have a huge volume July with just under 500 miles and only racing 3 times. And although I felt pretty strong for most of the month I only yielded o.k. results with a 4th,6th and my 9th place post vacation race. 

August should see 6 races in total if I can stay healthy and real life doesn't get in the way too much.   

Lastly, I got to watch my son receive his yellow belt in Pa Kau Karate in less than 6 weeks he joined, embraced and trained to the point of them wanting to test him. At only 4'-6" he can front kick to my chin without grimace or hesitation. I know, I know proud father, blah, blah blah ! But I am amazed at his progression. Although I look like a ragged 45 year old beach bum, this was the best picture I had.

DEAL WITH IT !

 

Train hard,train smart, be active.

I almost don't dare post this

But it is what I do.

So here it is.

Another post Tuesday night El Dorado racing recap.

Again !

The great news as I mentioned before is the turn out has been large. We had another 26 man field last night. I have had to miss a few races so I really can't possibly contend for the series overall. But that doesn't mean I can't do some damage in these last 6 races.

So I stuck with my same mantra from last week. Forget the 1st sprint prime, stay up front and see how my legs feel. 

I did this without any real big effort and again my recovery was restored within a couple of minutes. 

2nd prime came up, and I rolled through up front. This time not letting off the gas to see if anyone would hitch on and possibly take a flyer off the front with me. 

3 guy's jumped on to cover my attack, but only 1 was willing to work with me. We stayed off for less than two laps. 

Basically after finding only 2 of us working we sat up and said pass for now. 

With 14 minutes left in the 60 minute race. I was really looking for a big attack. The points leader in the series races for Long Beach State and he has help of 2 other riders from his team. One of them is strong, the other is still in a learning curve I would say. There were again some new faces with some strength out there. Along with several other guy's that have put in some good races. Truth be told 8 weeks ago they intimidated me a bit. Now " it's on", I say bring that shite ! 

It was a fast pace race all night. The total distance covered was 28.8 miles averaging 24.2 mph and max speed 34.5 mph, according to the Garmin. Total calories fried away in 60 minutes was almost 2800. I love that.   

With 4 laps to go it was on full speed ahead. 2 guys got wise and jumped off the front when we resumed speed after finally getting passed by the pro 1/2/3 field. Another one chomped the bit and went also. I sadly report that wasn't me. And regretfully I was looking for it, and told myself no matter what, I was going. 

Well, I didn't. I didn't believe they could get away. 

I'll save you the suspense they did. Although I thought we had reeled one of them back, it must have just been a lapped rider. So in reality on the final lap, the field of probably 15-18 guys left would be lining up to sprint for 4th - 10th. No one else gets scored or points past position 10.

Somehow I rotated to almost the very back on that last lap. Once I looked over and seen only 4-5 guys tailing off the back I immediately got up and out of the saddle to move into a proper draft position up front. 

I eventually settled into a bit of a disorganized cluster of riders 3 wide and several deep. 

I was getting, or letting myself get blocked out to the outside a little. I like charging up the right on the sprint finish, I think there is less wind ? 

I may be fooling myself ? 

But I wasn't going to make it. We had already made the final turn and the field is absolutely flying now. So I  hunched over and got on the front of my seat. Just soaking up every ounce of draft I could and bullied my way up the middle. This is a sketchy approach on a mass sprint finish, but sometimes it's necessary. I was able to get up in a slot and pull to the line strong coming across 3 wide with one more just ahead of us by a half bike. I ended up placing 7th over all in which I again have mixed emotions on due to the fact that I/we let the breakaway stay away. 

So there it is, another Tuesday night recap. 

Safe and sound with no carnage in our race. Although there was 2 separate crashes in the Pro 1/2/3 race and the Masters class.

The wreck in the p/1/2/3 race got kind of nasty. I'm told a chain got snapped and wrapped around a racers leg causing a very deep and fairly long gash. It didn't sound sweet and he was hospital bound.

I also got one last El Dorado race with Eric my son there. He became a great cheering squad and sideline supporter the last month.

This was post race after turning in race numbers and the parking lot clearing. I have to say it has been a blessing to have the experience with him, and a true testimonial about how working hard and not quitting pays off. 

For the books he had me coming over the line in 3rd, less the 3 off the front. Again If I was in some heated battle where points meant more I would dispute it. Um, that's not really the case so I will just roll with it.

proud dad, happy son

Train hard, train smart, be active.

             

Friday = solo Time Trial day

It has been awhile since I personally challenged myself in an all out assault. Me and bike VS. road and elements. 

I love TT. It is one of the original reasons I gravitated towards triathlon back in the day. 

If I could afford it, I would have a TT bike again that would match the luster of my current road bike. With that said I had to choose one or the other due to the expense of said road bike.

No worries, I love my road bike and I challenge myself to stay in the drops and arms bridged over the top bar for miles on end. If there is anything good of this, it's that it has made me a much more aggressive bike handler in the drops sans high speed,tight racing conditions. Also when I do have the opportunity to acquire another true Hi Mod TT bike I'm sure it will be more appreciated. 

Total ride was near flat with some minor rises. Total distance was 24.6 miles, of which only 17.5 was measured as the TT distance. I used the 1st 7 miles of surface streets to wake up, and warm up. Drinking about 10 o.z. or so of Citomax energy and taking in a Honey Stinger waffle. It also is the beginning of an all flat 7.2 mile section of river trail that I never have to stop or worry about cross traffic. It can be boring as hell on a normal basis, but for intervals or TT purpose it is perfect. 

The 2nd section is a 10.4 mile straight stretch of PCH with the last 2.8 miles turning inland with to small climbs. I shut down the true effort .4 miles from home. I did my absolute best to lower cadence and time every light to never come to complete stop. I also blew through two exposed corner lights that I could see had no traffic. I know that is not o.k. to do, I don't even condone it. I'm just being honest here. The slow down and wind up is what kills the body in a TT.  

Total ride of 24.86 miles was 1h 20m 6s

Total TT time for 17.5 miles was 42:35:13 = Average speed over 17.5 miles @ 24.2 mph.

I think, know I had left everything out there. I have felt great over the last 9 days and chose this after 2 days rest. I would love to hit this again on a carbon, fitted TT bike, just to see what I could truly shave off.  

Of course there are a bunch of variables, of weather (it was dead wind,62 degree sun up). 

Body,fitness (same amount of riding and bike fitness level is equal) etc..

But it would be fun.

Have a great weekend and be safe.

Train hard,train smart, be active.             

This is a personal thank you

All was good in my little carved out world of bike racing last night.
I want to give a personal thank you to my legs for showing back up.

 Last night at El Dorado Tuesday Night Worlds Criterium races was thick heat, with a nice large turn out of 23+ racers and a fast pace.
Garmin shows average speed for 1hr at 24.6 mph and max speed of 33.4 (no doubt, sprints).

I finally felt solid at a race since my vacation 4 weeks ago. I have had some great training sessions in the last 2 weeks and my food has been pretty spot on.
As said above we had a decent Tuesday night field of 23 + racers. All kinds of new faces and several of them came to make there presence be known.
It was pretty hot still at 6:15 p.m. when we got going. I started off in the front 5-8 guys and then slowly rolled all the way to the back just to see who was all there. I wanted to see who I recognized from El Do, or other local races, some I knew and some I didn't. What I do know is that the season is winding down rapidly and there are people that will likely be trying to gain points for category upgrades in CBR hosted races along with soon to be affiliated USAC.
You either have to be consistent and show up at nearly every race or absolutely dominate at 70 % of them.
I didn't do either this year. I have had some good races and some weak minded messes. But I have accumulated enough points in May to be moved to Cat 4.
My real goal was to be able to move to the Masters Cat 3 for next season, but I'm not sure that will happen. Will see how strong I can finish out these next 2 months or really 7 weeks.

Racing- I had already put it in my head that I wouldn't contend for the 1st prime sprint. I would stay up front and follow a lead out, but would not break out and line sprint. I wanted to see where my legs and lungs would be tonight. As it wound up I really should have sprinted. Without much effort I crossed the sprint line in a close bunch at about 6th position. My recover time was nearly nothing and my heart rate was about the same (considering).
Prime 2 came and my tactic was as usual, stay 6-7 man back in the center and break out on the out side as the frenzy got close to the line. I did this and again with very little effort I crossed in 4th (I think) I may have done better, but I don't know. My goal tonight was not mid race prime points, but over all points.
I was basically saving the majority of my legs for the finish line tonight.
The one thing I didn't factor was anyone coming off the front and staying there.
Sure enough, the lap after the 2nd prime sprint there were 3 guys that went off the front. Then another 2 that eventually bridged across to them.
Normally I don't get all consumed with this. The course is 1.7 miles long with exposed wind spots and it is hard as hell to stay away. But 5 guy's could cause some damage if they worked together. I tried twice to form a chase with a couple of guy's to pull them back. Twice we failed.
In an effort with 3 others we were able to bring back 3 of the 5 and 2 of them stayed away until the end.
 I say good freakin job to them !!
As for the final 2 laps it seemed a bit sketchy. There were still about 13 racers that had hung on all night. I would say 1/3 of them looked absolutely wrung out and would no way contend for the sprint. However there were the usual suspects that I knew would be in the mix come that last turn.
And as we approached the final left hand we were cracking the whip at about 30 mph. I stayed focused and hammering with 1 final gear to shift into. It was getting fast and there was at least 9 guy's pulling for the line. At about 30 meters and sooner than I would have liked, I hit that last cog and jumped out of the saddle to see what damage I could do.
When it was all said and done I came across the line in a photo finish as me and another guy pulled away from the others.
I ended up conceding to said racer at the line ( less than 3 treads worth of a difference). With 2 already off the front we were sprinting for the final podium spot of 3rd.

So 4th overall in a good size field with some hungry racers. I feel good about the effort. I don't feel as if I left much of anything out there. I do regret not going with the breakaway. But I'm happy I stuck with my game plan.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the comments.

Train hard, train smart, be active.

Making tough training fun

It's hard to do. But what else is there, just suffer and moan about the whole thing ? Where is the fun and inspiration in that?
I choose to suffer, recover and blog about it. You may not care, but it sure makes me feel better to write down the experience and reference back to it at a later date.

But first real quick : My son ( the youngest and biological) is a great kid. Very respectful, has learned his manners well. And when asked to do so, can accomplish whatever he is tasked with. This sounds great, but there is a price to pay with that. If he is not asked, he is content with just kicking back. I'm am not a big fan of this, at any age. SHOCKED aren't you ! I knew you would be. With that said he turned 11 this past June. He has been involved in and even excelled at some of the following over the past 8 years. Ice hockey, baseball, BMX, skateboarding,dirt bikes,snowboarding,swimming,surfing,basketball. Typically he is good, to very good. He is super coordinated, agile and lean. He has a natural athleticism in him. However nothing has ever stuck.
This was the summer I told him he needed to really find something. Whatever it was I didn't care, he just needed to choose it, stick with it and have some passion for it.
He chose PaKua discipline of Karate.
Long of the short, he has taken this all on his own over the last 6 weeks. Attending hour long classes sometimes 3 days a week. This week there Grand Master is visiting from Brazil. Normally it would be to soon for a belt evaluation. But the 2 studio instructors that have worked with him most asked if they could have him evaluated anyways. They would waive the normal fee, but just show up.
I had to have the sit down conversation with him, that all though he has been asked to participate, and I am very proud of his advancement. The likely hood of him receiving any type of progression at this point would be pretty unlikely. But that his teachers were very pleased with his progress and wanted him to demonstrate in front of the Grand Master since he only comes out once a year.
There was 7 under teen kids testing for evaluations from grey belt down.I was absolutely shocked that even in the rotation, where he had to demo against a much higher belt, he never lost focus, and remembered everything without hesitation.
Long of the short, after the 50 minute evaluation they awarded him 2 yellow stripes to his white belt. He was super proud, and with his instructors did it on his own. I really hope and pray this sticks for him.

I am super proud of him too.

On to other things.
Saturday's ride was set to be epic either way and or either ride. I had originally chose the "A" ride for the extra miles. But then when looking at the "B" ride sheet I saw that everyone was going to get the main climbs, be it A or B. Since I ride in to the start point and had a wedding to be at come 1:30, I chose to ride the "B"  route. 12 miles less by the slip and 1.2 miles less climbing. Adam A,K.A. Junior showed up ! I was impressed, good job Patrick for coaxing him.

The 1st climb is Newport Coast and is no joke. 1.8 miles to crest and goes above 8 % a good deal of the way. However something I had never done was put out there. Just before the last little kicker you make a right on Vista ridge. This adds 1.2 miles at the very least same % if not steeper at times. To make things worse more interesting, you make another left and climb another mile at about 6 % with one 50 meter section that tables a bit. Just enough to let the blood change directions in your legs, with a heads up that they are going to burn again real quick.
By nature I am more of a pursuit rider or sprinter. On the flats I can ride with a very strong tempo and hold my own in allot of situations. On steep climbs, I generally get through them. Hate them. And then love that I did them.
Today was different though I took off in a steady tempo and never let off. I was quite proud of my climbing and was no where near the last person up. I even found myself riding tempo for a couple of guys to help them up and through the pain. My only regret was not stopping at the perfect bending vista point just near the top and taking a photo.
I'm going to do this climb again soon and I will definitely take the shot. It will be hell to restart at this point but the picture that over looks the coastline will be worth it.
Making the turn to head downhill was a welcome sight. And because I felt so damn good I got in the drops and just hammered. We had a solid 2-3 mile decent and I had a few of the guy's jump on and hang on. They had to be shitting at 43 mph I know I was. That may have been my hairiest decent to date. My front brakes almost became none existent and I think that without professional constant tuning of my bike, that I should never push that envelope to that level anytime soon.
The normal "B" ride group skipped that little detour and we all meet back at the bottom of the decent. We still had a minor climb up the back of Turtle ridge to get to the rest point. At this time the climb seemed like a roller in comparison (it's not). From there we would split up. I asked Adam if he was riding  A or B and not be persuaded by my decision to do the shorter ride. He opted for "B" and we pushed on. I was quite impressed by the kids climbing skills. Although he is built like a Schleck, I have never got to see him do anything but flat riding. And really up until last Tuesday I had not been very impressed. But he has since gained some confidence and this too is epic.
When finished out some more minor ups and downs. Made our way through another 2-3 cities and back into Newport. I took these shots as we sat waiting to regroup.
This shot is overlooking a small section of the Newport back bay.     

This is a few of the guys waiting.

And from there it is just about pacing back. We are only about 15 or so miles from the HB Pier. Good times. I did allot of work up front for the "B" ride, as it should be. In the 'A" I definitely choose my pulls in the "B" I feel a bit more obligated these day's.
All said and done I got in just under 66 miles and made it to said wedding on time. Thankfully it was a casual California wedding. I was able to wear shorts.
Here's a question ? How many people out of the 100 or so there noticed the shaved legs and wondered WTF ? LOL !
On the other hand, how many people saw my calves and said WTF ? Again LOL !
 Sunday was kick back and some minor house items.
Morning ride today was a 24.26 miles loop in 1h 17m recovery at a good pace with noooooooo wind at all.

take care and thinks for lingering.


GO VOEKLER !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Train Hard,train smart, be active.

I love this everytime I see it

I wish the whole U.S. or at least all of California could embrace this.

It's a whole lane, let alone near perfect surface. Just for the safety and enjoyment of commuting or recreational cycling.

So tomorrow is a long ride with plenty of climbing with OC VELO. Which in this case I'm pretty happy about because this will not be just a couple thousand feet and some miles when done. This can and will likely hurt more than a bit at times. With that said, I look forward to doing it in some sort of group be it small or a bit bigger. Here's the route sheet. I add about 13-16 miles to the sheet because I like to ride to the meeting spot from my house. There is just something about leaving my garage and returning to it upon completion. This is not the clubs most treacherous ride, but it has it's place at the top.
My only real complaint  issue thoughts, is that I did a bit of this ride just last weekend. Let's hope there is no repeat performance in that brouhaha. 

Newport Coast/Pacific Island Drive 65 Miles
R	17th Street	0.0
L	Pacific Coast Highway	0.9
L	Newport Coast Drive	12.2
R	Vista Ridge	14.0
L	Ridge Park	15.2
R	Newport Coast Drive	16.2
R	Turtle Ridge Drive	17.2
R	Summit Park	17.5
R	Shady Canyon	19.7
L	Sunnyhill	20.2
Stop @ Turtle Rock Park
R	Turtle Rock	20.3
R	Ridgeline	20.8
R	University/Jeffery	21.8
R	Alton Parkway	22.6
R	Laguna Canyon Road	24.3
L	El Toro Road	30.3
R	Aliso Creek Road	31.7
R	Alicia Parkway	36.7
R	Highlands	37.7
R	Pacific Island Drive	39.4
R	Crown Valley Parkway	42.0
R	Pacific Coast Highway	43.1
R	Main Street	64.7
	train hard,train smart and be active.

Steady as it goes. Life on the road early.

I started a vacation June 17th @ 5:00 p.m. On June 19th I wrecked my back doing (literally) nothing.
For 8 day's I was away from the possibility of a bike ride. I brought my running shoes with me, but even 2 extremely high priced massages in a Mexican paradise could not fix the issue.
I stayed on the muscle relaxers and Advil the entire time, yes mixed with some bloody Mary's and beers.
There was no reprieve.
 I kept swimming daily to stretch it out, and it did feel better when I was doing it. However 30 minutes upon completion I was a crooked mess again.

I tried a race June 28th as my back was near normal. The problem was too many day's off, and too many day's recovering. Where I should have had fresh legs at least, they where flat and I had no fitness. Along with a mental head case, that told me I couldn't do it.
That race was a train wreck. It took everything I had just to finish. I would have abandoned it all together had my son not come with me that night.
What was I going to tell him ? "WE QUIT SOMETIMES" . That was not going to happen. On top of that the young kid that I/we (we being Patrick) from http://www.theroadmultisport.com/ have tried to mentor and encourage, showed up.
Now keep in mind, he has not listened to a damn thing I have tried to tell him, and I believe this go's for Patrick also.
Long of the short he was there also, and that would not fly in my mind if I dropped out while he was there either. By the way, he once again dropped out that night :-(.

I had all but given up on him, as excuses seemed never ending and kind of  repetitive.

Fast forward July 10th, I had skipped Tuesday night race on the 5th as I had still not been able to get a bunch of miles in. There was no need to go suffer and hang on. I knew where my form was and or wasn't. There was no need to go pay $ 10.00 to get beat down. I chose to just keep getting the miles in.

Sadly, prior to going on vacation I may have been in the best form in almost 2 decades. Also sadly how an injury and a few weeks can change that all.

I had to make a decision on July 10th to race or not. It for me was an important race, being one of the last 3 major criteriums of the season. Also for me to do it, it would have been a very tight morning and may have caused some conflict. I weighed my options and chose to not press the issue and race.
I was pretty down about this, but did get out for a long road ride solo that morning only to flat and ... you can read that here if you missed it   http://tri714-letsdothisagain.blogspot.com/2011/07/written-and-researched-so-well.html.
From that ride on my confidence had changed. Once again I have felt control on the bike and control over my fitness path.
Tuesday night It was on again for local crit racing. Come hell or high water I was going to work and be proud of my efforts.
To my surprise, Jr. was there again.I won't lie,  I was kind of, so what at first. But he made is way over and said although he hadn't been following any written training plan ( I shivered ) he had been putting out some longer, harder efforts.
Then the father side of me kicked in. I said let's spin some warm up laps.
I told him tonight could be different if he would listen to me and forget everything he hasn't learned. I think it may have pissed him off a bit, but I didn't care. For me tonight was a sink or swim to him.

As we rode our warm ups I told him, for no reason would he take any length of pull up front. And if by chance he had to pull through behind me, that he was immediately to get off the front and drop back. He was to never go further back than 10th (ever).
He was to take a decent size drink from his bottle 1/2 lap prior to sprinting and when we made it through the sprint points he was to not hold that pace and recover.
Loudly, I told him in these words, "when the prime bells ring, or they show the 2 laps to go sign, you follow my ass as long as you can ". If you have more gas in the tank, jump right to outside, put your head down and turn the cranks as hard as you can". If you do this tonight, you will not only finish your first race, but you will get some results. Can you do this ? He replies, I can try.
Again, I'm a little deflated by the response, the kid is like 21, 6'-2" tall weighing in around 165 lbs and fairly ripped. I'm thinking WTF !!
Screw trying, "LETS DO THIS THING" !

So all that is long winded, and hopefully not to boring. I just need you to get a visual of where my head is at not only with racing at this time, but Jr.
I'll keep it short here.
Prime 1 - I kept jockeying over my shoulder to see if he was still there. He stuck like glue and pulled out 2nd or 3rd.
Prime 2 - same thing, I pulled him from middle all the way to the far right for the bull whip at 25 meters and he just missed 3rd spot.
On the finish He held on as I bullied my way up the middle. I never saw where he jumped out, But at the line he was right there with us and contended. Finishing up in 4th place.
Holy shit he finally came through ! He went from never completing one of these races to contending in the primes and just missing a podium.
The only negative, was that his right foot pulled out and came unclipped with about 10 yards before the line. that was a bit scary to say the least.
With one look at his cleats, I told him to stop doing runway modeling in them. They are not shoes, don't where them like they are, and buy some new cleats.Fortunately he laughed and we got to celebrate a bit.
For me it was like winning. I won't be a lead out train every week, but I will continue to help him. In turn he will begin to help me. I contended for the 2 sprints and I now know I finished 7th over all with a starting field of 19.  Not great points wise, but I was as happy as if I had finished top 3 myself.

So today was more of a short 20 mile recover spin in early morning greyness.

 heading down through Seal beach and into long beach. I took this because ya'll seem to not thinking I'm capable of snapping pictures while riding at high tempo.

truth is I can. and I never really worry about removing my hands from the bars unless it's 3 wide or more.
I got a shot of  the infamous 3 mile island nuclear facility. I always see this harbour in screen shots on Burn Notice.

It's a horrible picture I know, but what can I say. I have time issues in the morning and don't like to stop and shoot, I just like to ride and shoot.

Once I got back out of Long Beach and through Naples, I crossed back over into Seal beach and this bus caught my Eye, as if the Belgium's came to visit.

Interestingly enough the cheesy motel/apartments there (also way out of focus) often shows up on the show Dexter. Got to love the Dexter ! Dude is crazy.

The recovery ended up being a little more tempo as I'm am feeling quite strong again. It was still short but sweet.
20.58 m in 1h 1m  9s.
Looking forward to Saturday's long ride now and a early run tomorrow morning.

These are my horrible gifts to you for listening to my long rants. Thanks for reading.

Train hard, train smart and be active.