Expert < Elite

I read all of the blogs. I read everything I can find on training. I have a pretty good idea as to how my planned hours and mileages stack up against established Elite racers. Reality says that at this stage in my development I can probably tackle a little more than half of the training hours that a top 5 WORS Elite can before flirting with over training.
I've been considering this, and how fun Comp SS could be if it was as full and competitive as it looks to be in '08. Additionally, even though I had the 2nd place spot for the series last year, 3min 20sec is as close as I came to the Comp SS win.
These things had me doubting my plans for '08 until I saw these changes. Distinguishing expert age groups from semi-pros and pros makes a lot of sense for WORS I think. I understand that it really is only an adjustment in labeling, but I find it might be an effective one. I would guess that at least the top 25% of Comp racers would upgrade now. Expert 30-39 could end up being a nice, rounded-out, competitive bracket that I could live in. Besides, that's what it says on my license.
Now if Don would only create the 1 lap "first timer" class as the last wave with the citizens, with a free beer provided to all finishers. That is the class I first raced in while in Florida, and we need new blood right? Someone new to the sport might wonder what exactly it is that they have to be a citizen of anyway.

Clean and Dry LSD

All is good but the numb toes.

Victories - Big and Small

This is my view of this political season and my training period. My ass feels like it belongs in the saddle again, and Obama is bringing it. We did it together though right? He helped me get my 6 minute CP, told me it was a united effort. I still felt like I was doing all of the work. In any case I'll return the favor by knocking on doors for him later. Moon-kee here, didn't really help anyone and is quite worthless. If we could somehow harness the stray tens of thousands of volts zapping around in his nappy ass fur, we could power the microwave through the popping of some several bags of popcorn.

Damn

Thank you for your interest in SSWC08. Unfortunately registration filled up prior to receiving your form. We had over 800 people interested and only 350 spots to fill. We hope you will still consider coming out to Napa, CA for the race festivities and to cheer on your fellow single speeders. There will be various rides around the Bay Area the week leading up to the race and afterward too, so it should be a lot of fun. We will be posting a blog soon to keep everyone up to date on what's going on. Thank you.

SSWC08 Team

What's that ya say?

As anti climatic as it should have been, 2007 has poured me into a new place. Sunday had me in fits as my mind is ready to attack but my body isn't ready. I jumped in the trainer to start establishing some zones, 40 minutes and 1 6 minute effort at max had me dizzy and staggering. I couldn't even stay on the bike for an hour. Fighting infection takes more out of you than I had thought. Tonight I will re-assess as I would really like to have some power zones roughly chiseled out before base 1-1 next week.
I have also had it with only being able to hear from one side. I really didn't realize how disabling it was until I came back to work today. It makes me feel numb, like someone could be behind me poking me with a sharp stick and I may not notice. As it happens, most people are only milling about, trying to put off doing any real work until next week. I'm down with that, since it lessens the chance that someone might take advantage of my numbed state and stage an attack. I am a former rolling chair racing champion though, so if anything does go down I should be able to flee.

Dreamed I was an Eskimo...

We got out today for a good couple few hours worth of snow riding. I think we only received mean laser eyes from a motorist once. I can't imagine how irritated he would have been had we actually impeded his progress or endangered him in some way. We couldn't have been more hated had we been having a gay pride parade in Tulsa. Flipping someone off with lobster mitts on doesn't work so well.

Hey speaking of hate, I can't believe how much of this kind of filth I hear from WORS people in our little blue island. Sad. Another blog in the trash can.

Freakin Magical

Earlier in December when it snowed for a week solid I was pretty pumped about Xmas. Rowan is the perfect age to get into it this year. By the 17th or so I was pretty much over it.

My "spirit" was rekindled however, when Rowan began asking questions to clarify the Santa story. He will be 4 in March, and he already thinks the story doesn't smell right. "Why does he come down the chimney, why doesn't he just knock on the door?" All said it did turn out to be pretty god damned magical. We sat up in bed while listening to Rowan come down the stairs on Xmas morning. He might be a born skeptic, but for now he is enchanted by the magic, or at least enchanted by the idea that he gets a bunch of cool stuff.

Speaking of cool stuff. Sheri decided that I haven't been a complete bastard this year and that I deserved a PowerTap for Xmas. She said something about loving and supporting me, and then mumbled something else about putting minutes on the Goat and no excuses. I am a big fan of numbers. Unfortunately, the day I set it up I was also stricken with an ear infection that knocked me on my ass. So I have a toy I haven't been able to play with yet. I'll be sure to post my numbers here when I have them so that everyone knows how slow I am.

Enough about stuff. I feel like my family, my racing, and my career have all come a long way in 2007. Now that I have Sheri hooked, we have a family of racers itching to take a bite out of 08. It has been good and it will only get better. I hope to see you all out there.(all 3 of you)

Slacker for Hire

I love working for a European company. These people know how to not work. After 3pm tomorrow, Bruker is CLOSED until Jan 2nd. This means I have some time to get all kinds of stuff done that I have been allowing to pile up. Here is some of that stuff, not necessarily in this order:

• Finish up a bunch of girly stuff like hanging curtains and decorating the house.


• True up 8-12 wheels that need it.


• Clean the early November mud from the Kona.


• Ship a BB back to Phil for a rebuild.


• Finish building up the Raleigh as the winter trail bike. Bleed the brakes and dig up a seat post clamp.


• Complete about 15 hours of training.


• Get both cars washed.


• Remember to call the Dish people about the 6 months free HD.


• Drink some beer.


• Install the 105 stuff that came off the cross bike on Sheri's Jamis.


• Strip the cheesy black paint from my White ind crank arms.


• Install new Hydro hose on the Kona.


• Shave the cat.


• 12 other bike maintenance related things that I can't remember.


• Accept Jesus as my lord and savior.


• Watch football.


• Play Santa.


• Drink more beer.


• Finally figure out how to setup zones on my Polar 720, and why the software is all jacked up.


• Sell some crap on Ebay.

If in late February I haven't posted anything new, it is because I bled to death attempting to shave the cat.

Climbing back up to Zero

Being sick for a month pretty much obliterated much of my planned prep work. Saturday's 3hour snow ride and an hour in the trainer last night have me feeling ready to move on since I was able to complete both rides without extended coughing fits. This leaves me with not quite 3 weeks of prep time before Base to attempt 3 different peak periods through the WORS series. Following a Friel type plan last year was working out great for me until injuries kind of derailed my season. Reality of course says that ANY riding, with or without structure would have helped me last year, but I was really doing it to accustom myself to a plan. 2008 however, won't show me the huge % increase that 2007 did without sticking to a plan. So far 08 is looking like this:

Can't see it? Well, that's a shame. Whatever. I believe that over extension provides some heuristic function. I also enjoy plastering colorful things to look at around my work place. The great thing about using Excel for your training plan is that it looks like you are working. Want to geek out on your training? Read the book, and check here for the spreadsheet.

Face Forward

I woke up this morning and felt like this:I still have some residual crap in my system, but I can get back on the bike now and start breaking it down for 08'. It wasn't quite the transition period I had planned, but I can say that having a plan to deviate from is a step up from having no plan at all. So for prep it is back to weights and stuff. When I say stuff I mean I actually read one of the Carmichael workouts in the B mag that I liked. The one hour weight loss workout is just what I was looking for to add some intensity to prep and base while also being stationary trainer friendly. I have a goal race weight of around 138-142. If my mitochondria are multiplying supermen by base, I should be able to get there.