Road Racing & A Ice bath

For the last couple of weeks I have been watching the race results at the Tradewinds Park Series. Gunther Volkswagon put up $1000.00 for the top 3 spots for the final race on August 30th, and I decided to go and try my chances at the money. The main reason I felt like I had a shot is because I beat most of the top 10 finishers on a regular basis, and I wanted to ramp the legs up for Santos this weekend.

I went to Active Cycles to have Nick figure out what is wrong with my shifter because I have been having problems shifting from the small chainring to the big. I was at the shop and Bob Mc stopped by to pick up his lights for Santos, and we chatted a little. I had my yorkie Lance with me, and he asked if I was bringing him this weekend and I said yes. His wife Amy loves dogs, and maybe yorkies in particular. We decided to meet at Sunrise/Pine Island to ride up to the park for the road race Bob doesn't really want to try his chances at Road Races as he feels it's too dangerous.

I got to our meeting point, and there was no Bob. I pulled out my phone and had a message from him. I called him back and he was running late, so I told him I would start riding South and meet him. I rode about 5 miles South and hooked up with him, and he pulled me for 20 miles all the way out to the park. I tried to pull some, but he wanted to get a great workout, and he wanted me to rest my legs for the race. My heartrate never went over 144bpm, and we are going between 21-25mph. We stopped at a light, and his heartrate was at 167bpm. Damn, that guy is working hard for me.

We stop at a gas station about a half mile from the park, and I buy him a 32oz Powerade for the 20 mile escort to the park. I drink 1 of the Powerades, and top off my 2 water bottles with the other and we head to the park.

We enter on the south side of the park, and take a road that brings under Sample Road and onto the northside of the park. I get there and I start to see all the usually suspects that I have seen from Rosewood Series. I pay for my race, get my number put on and take a stroll around the course to take a look at the layout.

The course is wide open in some places and very narrow in some places. The backside had a huge headwind, and you have to be smart to make sure you have good placement for drafting and positioning. As I'm warming up and starting to see very, very good riders that are out. After the first lap I can see that riders are still going back out, and take another lap. By the time I came back around everyone was sitting at the start/finish.

This was by far the biggest group of racers that I have seen before and all the major players were out in forces. AEG Toshiba, Preferred Alliance, Herbalite, B&J & Mapei, Bluestar, Loco's, and Bike America. Gunther of Gunther VW had his lead VW bug take us on a parade lap, and Wes told me that the announcer said that 99 riders had signed up.


The parade lap was nothing of a parade lap, as the speed was over 30mph and I felt like we were racing. As we finished the first lap, the speed really picked up. The front group is putting the smash down, and I'm in the middle of the pack and my heartrate is over 160bpm and I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have rode 37 miles before I got here. It bottlenecks and guys start throwing helmets to keep there space. I panic a little bit as it opens back up and it surges again, and we are over 33mph, and this is the first lap.

I'm still mid pack and the pace is evil. At this point I change my goals and start to settle for top 20 instead. The pace is just relentless and the surges out of each corner are just painful. I'm ignorant enough not to get dropped though. Everytime things get really, really tough, it systemically slows down. What I suspect is the weak riders are being shelled off of the back. I can tell that it has gone down, because I don't feel the burning in the legs, and I look down and it's 158bpm. That is the first time that I have felt slight recovered in the first 15 minutes.

A whole heap of riders have been dropped, and it is confirmed as I come through the start/finish and I can see riders on the sidelines that were just in the race 5 minutes before. The pace slows down and I get a chance to move up to the front, and I'm in a 8 man break as we surge. We go back through the start/finish, and we make the next left hand turn, the group is back. OK, it is a waste of energy to even go off the front, so I abandon that plan and stick to the upper front group. Close enough to stay safe, but with good enough position to finish in the top 20 for the sprint.

After 25 minutes the last really hard surge has come and gone, and the pace slows down considerably. I look back and I can tell that the group is almost half of what it was when we started. Now the group does not surge out of the corner, they just keep it steady. The attacks go off the front and they are brought back without the full on attacks. I know it's going to pick back up and get really nasty, but the major players have done a great job of breaking the legs of everybody, and getting rid of the pretenders.

At the 33 minute mark the pace picks back up and it's downright full blown off the chain. The race is 40 minutes, plus 2 laps, and each laps is about 3 and a half minutes. The front group is attacking and weaving back and forth across the road. Now it's on like popcorn, and I'm in the middle of the pack and it's stretched out, and I'm not hurting but I don't see a place that I can move up yet.

When we get to 2 laps to go I'm in the same place and I'm only able to gain 2 or 3 spots when we make the turns. With 1 lap to go it actually slows down on the back side of the course and 3 riders jump off the front.

That attack shocks the group and it looks like Preferred Alliance is going to take up the chase as a couple of riders start to raise their hands like they are looking for each other to bring it back in and set up one of their guys. They can't get their men to the front and the break just goes away. On back side there is a very hard surge and we are over 33mph. We bottleneck through the last tight section and all hell breaks loose.

We are now going 35mph, and we are 400 meters away, and all I'm wondering is how in the hell am I going to have anything left for the last 100 meters. We are in the wind and I know that I can make a move as I round the last turn. I'm in the top 30, and I really want to make it top 20, so I surge really hard and I'm able to pass about 10 riders in the last 75 meters. I have to settle for a well earned 19th place. I didn't bargain for that kind of effort, but I'm glad I held my own.



I'm cooked like you wouldn't believe and actually happy that it is over. My boy Wes said that only 45 riders finished the race which was a shock. I was hurt which means the pace was really, really hard.

I came back and chatted with some of my fellow riders. A couple of racers that normally finish this race got dropped on the 1st lap after the parade lap. That lets you know just how fast it was.

I get back on my bike and I head for home, as I have 20 miles back to the house. I look down and I have a flat tire. Great! Wes, I need a ride. I'm all sweaty and stankin, and Wes is nice enough to let me put my ass on his leather seats for the 20 mile ride home.

I thank Wes as he drops me off at my front gate, and I walk the bike back to the apartment. I shower up, eat some Pollo Tropical, and download the chart. The Avg speed was 27.2 for 48 minutes of racing with a distance of 22.8 miles. When you add in 37 miles I did before, that is 60 miles for the day.

I decided that I need to do something for the legs, and I'm not going to pay for a $90.00 massage like Bob. So I settle for the alternative. Which would be the "Ice Bath". Yeap, to actually dip my lower body in ice cold water for 10 minutes. I remember reading Dara Mark's blog where she did it. I later on read Eddie O's blog and he did it also. So I went on google and did my research on the benefits of the Ice bath. Of the 8 sites I went to I only 1 said that there were no performance benefits.

I let the wife know I what I wanted to do, and that I would need her to pour in the bags in the next morning. She said "That is gonna be fun". I set the alarm for 6:45am, and the plan is to wake up go to Publix, get the ice, fill up the tub and let the ice squeeze the lactic acid out of my legs. This could only help me for Santos this weekend. If not, I could get in 6 good hours of riding.

I wake up at 6:45am and I'm asking myself why am I up so early. I walk around the house for a minute to try to gain my composure, then I realize I have the ice bath to do. I grab the keys, get to publix, and get 3 bags of Ice. 1 10lbs bag, and 2 bags of 20lbs. I get back and and plot my attack.

I need a couple things first.

It's always good to do a ice bath with bags of Ice.

You need a tub to dip your body in.

A timer is always a good thing, because it allows you to count the seconds of pain and agony.

You need a witness, so I woke up Lance and had him in there the entire time. As you can see, he really wasn't in the mood to witness anything.

I get in the water and summon for the wife to come drop it like it's cold. After she dips the ice there was an initial shock as the water temp goes down like crazy. I start to feel my toes get numb, and my legs start to spasm. It actually doesn't feel that bad until I get to the 7 minute mark, and that is when my breathing got rapid. The great thing is that the ice is melting fast, and the wife comes back with the camera as I'm praying to someone to speed up the clock.

I stay for another 48 seconds past 10 minutes, then I'm out to take a hot shower. The legs tingle and itch as the hot water douses my body. It was a good experience, and I plan to do it 3 days before all my races.

Pacer Out.

Rotorized

I accidentally got to put the Rotor Agilis Crankset on today. I really had called Nick at the shop to ask him if I could come by and have him make sure my new wheels were ok. After about 100 miles of single-track on new wheels I thought it was a good idea to make sure that the rims were broken in and there were no problems. Plus, my cables were stretched and I wanted him to adjust it for me. Nick said, “I have your new chain and cassette, when are you bringing the new oval cranks so I can put it on and admire them? I said I’ll bring it today if I can get in and out because I’m going down to Oleta with Bob Mc. He only had one bike in the stand, so I went home to eat lunch, got loaded up, and headed over to the shop

I got really excited about the ride today because I could really get a chance to enjoy the ceramic bottom bracket, the hollowed out crankarms, and most of all, the 24-34-44 chainrings that I have been drooling over every night before I go to bed. If all went well, that would would improve my chance of getting on the box in the 6-hr solo at Santos this weekend.

Nick was at the bank, so I put the bike in the stand and took off the chain. That was it for me, as taking off the chain is about all I’m good for. Nick walks in and says, “Technical Foul, illegal motion, Brian Pace is touching a bike”. Nick hates it when I play mechanic, and with good reason. He enjoys making sure that my bike is working great, and I love the guy for that. He gives my bike a lot of love and attention.

First he looks at the crankarm, and says, “ Nice”, he then picks up the bottom bracket, and he says, NICCCEEE. When a mechanic is enjoying the CNC machined parts you have, then you know you have something good. Nick has some problems getting off the XTR cranks as they are really stuck in there, but he manages to get if off with a little GT45.


He first reads the direction and he asks me which point do I want to put the cranks at, and I tell him on the setting that has 3 dots. It does have another setting after that, but I’ll wait to see how it goes before I change it. He cleans out the bottom bracket area with some device that cleans the threads, and it looks like it did when I first bought.

He hands me the cranks and say enjoy how beautiful it is before you “Brian Pace “ it, and we both laugh. He puts everything on and it looks sweet. He then takes off my old XT cassette, and puts on the new 2008 XT cassette. When he puts the wheel back on, I notice that it has some drag now as my brake pads are rubbing on my disc. The wheel was not rolling smooth like it was when I first got them. He then tries to stick something in between the pads to open them up. While he was playing with it I went to pay for my powergels and a couple of powerbar one serving powders. Not going back to check on the status of the brake pads rubbing would later come to haunt me at the trail. Then he puts on the SRAM PC-991 chain that is hollow pin, and I have no idea what that means. It it is stronger, then that is what I need.

I can say that I only like 2 things that are oval, and that is eggs and rotorcranks.


I look at the crank from behind the cassette, and I ask if he should add another spacer, and he said the direction say to put in just 1 spacer. As soon as he starts to pedal I can see that the chain line if off compared to having the XTR crank I had on there before. It looks like I won’t have a granny gear, and I may go over the top of the big chainring. We both pick up the phone and call Rotor in Colorado, but there is not answer. I told him I would like to have it set up without being able to access the granny ring because I don’t use it anyway. But he is determined to get it right, because he is a mechanic. I sent Bob a text message and tell him to go ahead in the first lap, and I would be there for the 2nd lap, he said no problem. I told Nick I really wanted to ride today to get the rings ready for Santos, and to make it operational for the middle and top chainrings and he does so.

I’m off to Oleta, and in the car and multiple thoughts are going through my head. How does going from 33T to 34T affect my shifting, my legs, and my perceived effort? Bob calls to find out my ETA, and I tell him 10 minutes, and he says he will wait for me.



When I get there Richard Diaz is there with a couple other riders. Diaz must have told everyone about the crankset because they walked right over and starting admiring it. I quickly get the helmet on, ipod loaded, tires pumped, water bottle mounted, and we are off. One of a guys ask if he can ride behind Bob for the first couple of minutes to see his lines. Of course, I don’t mind. I don’t think the guy is going to get anything out of Bob walking away from him, and that is exactly what happens. After 5 minutes Bob is out of sight, and when the guy lets me pass him, and I bridge up to Bob and we take it from there. My heartrate is getting lower every week with the same perceived effort. I feel like we are going just as fast as last week, but my legs seemed drained. We hit it pretty hard on the road yesterday, but not enough to have me feeling this way. At the 30 minute mark Bob is officially walking away from me and that is when I know something is wrong. I think the rear brake is just rubbing, because it feels like I have a parachute on. I finish the last 17 minutes in pain, and skip Davie’s Trail to go back to the car to see if I can figure it out. Sure enough, I spin the tire and the rear brake is rubbing big time. I try to see if I can fix, but it is still rubbing when I spin it. When Bob comes back out I tell him my problem, and he spins the tire. He then goes to his truck, and come back with a screw driver. I go to change water bottle and by the time I come back, it’s spinning like new. He explains someone must have press the brake with my rear wheel off, and that brought the pads closer together and that they just need to be opened back up.

I tell him I need to go back in, because I have to get the shifting down, because the first lap was way below my expectation. As soon as we start going I can feel that it’s going to be a good lap. I can’t remember the last time that I went into a lap and I knew it was going to be one to remember. This lap did not disappoint at all. Not even 1 minute into the trail I could feel that the bike was faster, and having the 34 teeth chainring was a huge advantage. I didn’t even bother to look down at my heartrate, I just let the bike go. After about 2 miles of riding we go onto the fireroad loop around the cabin. I look back at Bob and say “ I love this thing”, and I continue to motor around the cabin and we chat about it. I know I’m riding just as fast as we have ever ridden at this course, and I continue to put pressure on the pedals. I’m flowing better and better, and I could care less what my heartrate is.

Bob has only ridden behind me like 3 times this year, and each time he has noticed a improvement in my riding. I was explaining to him back in January that I have no “ Riding Style that I’m aware of, and my goal for 2007 was to develop my concept for racing by becoming aware of my riding style. In February I did 1 training lap with Bob behind me, and he has not ridden behind me again until last Wednesday when we rode at Oleta. The next day after that ride he came to me and told me that I now have a riding style, and when attempted to explain it to me it went right over my head. I know I have a way that I see how to use the bike the most efficient way, and I have mastered that in my spring program. I'm not yet aware of how my style is different, and what kind of attitude is behind it, if it is such a thing. Back to the 2nd lap.

I’m going through sections and I can tell that more of my power is going into the cranks because I don’t feel them flexing at all. The XTR cranks I had on my Titus before were actually from 2004 race season, so I was long overdue for a new crankset, and these we performing way above my expectation. I was trying to figure out what was allowing me to ride this fast. Was it the cranks that were hollowed out where it needs to be, and strong were they needed to be? Was it because they were stiffer and more of my effort was going into the bike and not being lost? Was it the ceramic bottom bracket that was obviously allowing the pedaling to be effortless without any drag compared to my XTR. Was the 34T chainring allowing me to get more out of my pedaling without raising my heartrate? Or was it the conglomerate of factors working towards the new found speed? What I can say is, it was not inspiration, because Bob can knock that shit right off your legs the first lap. I never match his speed the 2nd lap, NEVER. I’m coming out of sections and the time is within seconds of what we normally do the first lap. We have almost always been off by .5mph on the 2nd lap, but it looks as if we are very close to the normal 11.9.mph. At Oleta that is rolling hard.

I can tell going through some sections that I’m gapping Bob, and he is surging back. I’m flowing nicely and I know he is hurting a little because it is taking him some time to get back to me. That happened several times, but not enough to say I even came close to dropping him, but I know I put him into the red for sure. The lap would be cut short by darkness coming. It started to get dark, and I was not able to judge corners correctly and when I had to slam on my brakes to prevent from running into a low branch, I took off my glasses that had orange lenses. I then had another problem, and that was protecting the eyes from the branches that were leaning right across the trail on both sides. A branch whipped back from off my shoulders and caught Bob directly on the “Eyeballs” as he put it, and called it a ride. We cut out of the trail at the 30 minute mark, and headed back to the car. Bob confirmed that I was riding good, and that I hurt him more than once. That made me feel better, because the first lap really sucked, and the pace was 11.7mph which is still really smoking.

I couldn’t wait to get home and download the workout, because I know I matched the first lap as far as mph is concerned, I just know it. Bob and I chat a little more and confirmed that we will meet at Sunrise and Pine Island to head up to the Road Race at Tradewinds Park. This is the last road race of this series, and there is $1000.00 on the first 3 spots by a VW dealership. I have a 2006 Jetta, so I think I better try to win back a car payment.
I get home and look at "Super Drivetrain" that I know have, and I'm very excited about this upcoming season.


I get in the house, kiss Mrs. P, and play with my little EPO user Lance (My yorkie), and I download my workout chart. Yeap, I did match the speed in the second lap. Right down to the inch. Since I only rode 30 minutes the 2nd lap, I compared up to that point. In 30 minutes his Avg speed was 12.2mph, and in my second lap of 30 minutes my avg speed was 12.1mph. I have never in my life been able to put out another effort like that on the 2nd lap. Kudos to the Rotor Agilis Cranket, with the Ceramic Bottom Bracket. Now I can’t wait to get to Santos this weekend.

Pacer Out

33 miles of Singletrack for 3300 calories

33mi for 3312 calories! That explains the awesome workout I had today at Markham. The “Heat” was completely off the meat hook, and I was swimming in my shoes by the end.

I went out Sunday morning for my long mountain bike training ride at Markham, and the usually suspects where there. Matt H, Luis C, Luis M, Danny, and Andres and his son were making circle while I quickly got ready. Andres lead the first lap out and he set a nice pace that eventually picked up in speed by the time we got to the 10 minute mark. It’s nothing like how Bob Mc whips up to race speed in 1 minute. I enjoy this lot better.

For about 5 minutes Matt is having a problem closing the gap on Andres, once we are heading into Rattle Snake Canyon, I ride right pass Matt and quickly surge up to Andres before he goes into the single-track. Coming around a turn my front wheel hits some gravel and it slides completely off the trail and I can’t save it so I bail out. By the time I get back to the bike Luis M, Danny, and Matt H are coming so I move my bike and give them all a shove to keep them going up to speed. I put my chain back on and get going. Inside 1 minute I have caught Matt and he is hurting, and he eventually lets me by. I enjoy the type of rider I am now, because if I’m gapped by a rider I think I can catch slowly, I won’t attack. My new riding style is to slowly make a surge, instead of attacking to get back on. The Andres, Luis M, and Danny group have about 30 seconds on me. I slowly pick up the pace and it takes about 5 minutes to bring them back.

I see Danny at the end of Rattle Snake, and by the time they go into to Outback Extension I’m back with the group. My heart rate is a little high, but I can stay on if I don’t make a mistake. I know that I’ll recover in the next 2 minutes. I do recover and it happens to be in Outback extension, Crime Scene, Jet Ski Hill, and Ted’s Twisted Trail, which are all steep switch back climbs. I’m on the group, recovered and just grooving it. The pace was still high, but my heart rate is down 10bpm. We head into Alligator Alley and I can hear someone behind me, and if it Matt then he cut the trail because I know he didn’t recover to bring it back that fast. I have to put a foot down, and when I get back clipped in Matt is behind me and I let him go because I’m no longer interested in ramping my heart rate up again. I finish the lap about 15 seconds back, at a time of 36:10 with an Avg HR of 161bpm. That is high, but with the heat and the condition of the trail it is to be expected.

Lap 2 rolls out just as nice as lap 1, and after the warm-up my heart rate is 136bpm. I’m actually closer to last this lap which I like. Matt, Dude on a Scott Spark, Danny, Luis M, myself, Luis C, and Andres and his son off the back. 3 minutes later my heart rate is 157bpm and we are going. Matt is turning on the gas and the dude on the Spark is getting gapped, Luis C, Andres and son are gone. We go into Rattlesnake and the Danny makes a mistake on one of the switchback climbs, and Luis C. and I pass him. As we are coming down the trail, the Matt is about 15 seconds ahead, and Spark dude is in between us. Luis and I slowly bridge to the Spark Dude, and the trail is too tight to ask him to pass but we are getting gapped because Matt does not ride steady, he puts in multiple attacks.

As we get to the U-turn part of rattlesnake spark dude does not make a climb and Luis M and I pass him. The pace quickly picks up as we are on the hunt for Matt. If this guy drops you, he’ll tell everyone. By the time it gets back to you, he pretty much dropped you in the warm-up loop. Just as we catch Matt at the end of rattlesnake he is pulling over and we can hear the air coming out of his rear tire. So Luis, myself and spark dude continue at the same “On the hunt “pace. I’m hurting, or I think I’m hurting but I’m in no danger of getting dropped. The heat is just unbearable in some sections, and it just feels like an oven. We all bring in the lap in 35mins, 48 seconds, with an Avg heart rate of 166. A little high, but not bad!

The 3rd lap is was only Matt, Luis C and I. I told Matt that I was not into riding like I’m racing, and of course he said he would not go too fast, like a big shot. Not even 5 minutes into the course Luis C is gone and Matt is riding has as fast as we did the 2nd lap and he is out of the saddle attacking. I can always tell when he is going to attack because he gets out of the saddle. Word to the wise, “Learn to attack in the saddle before you do it out of the saddle”. I love turning up the gas until a rider can no longer hang on. Then, if they are gone you can attack. I follow Geoff Kabush (The most dominate rider in North America), and that is how he puts it down. I think that way of an attack is much more potent than attacking for 45 seconds, looking back, only to slow down when I catch up. I think you should ride the person to the edge, then attack. That is how Lance did Jan when we walked away from him on all those climb in the tour. I think that can be applied to mountain biking.

After about 4 attacks I let Matt go, but I keep him 15 seconds ahead of me. I don’t think he knows how fast to ride if he can’t see or hear the rider behind him. After about 8mins, I see that he has not made the gap bigger, so I ramp up the pace and I’m with him in less than a minute. When I catch him my heart-rate is at 171bpm, and then it goes down to 157bpm. A whopping 14bpm is way too much to slow down. That means he is resting. Not long goes by and he is recovered and he is at again. This time I decide to keep it steady. Going up Crime Scene my chain pops and I have to dismount and walk up the climb. I know he is going to attack, and he does. Because I get back up to speed and he is gone. 3 minutes later I can see he is about 10 seconds ahead of me, and since the lap is over in 5 minutes I decide to indulge him and let him think he dropped me. I finish the lap at 36:20, and an Avg of 163bpm. My heart-rate Avg has gone down, and that is not usual. It has started drizzling which has brought the temperature down, and the trail is a little tackier and the small block eights were hooking up.

Once we get out of the trail we have this discussion about how to ride or race, and of course Matt says he is not attacking. I reminded him of what happened in Reddick when he caught me. If you have not read that race report he starts 2 minutes after me in the Expert category, as he races the 40+. He caught me at the beginning of the 2nd lap, and tried to drop me for the first 5 miles of the course. He gave up after that and let me finish the rest of the race with him in tow most of the time. I would ask him to lead a section just to keep him honest, but his pace had gone down too much and he was feeling cramps coming on. So it was not even in my interest to have us work together. That was the 2nd week in March and 5 and a half months later he is still riding that way. I think that if you are attacking rider, you leave your legs with nothing at the end of the race. We discuss concepts a little further and Luis C comes out and he is planning on going back in. Matt says he is finished as he has to get home to spend time with the family, plus I’m sure those legs are tapped out.

For lap 4 I tell Luis I’m not going to try to impress him. I will lead the lap to the gun range, and let him have it from there. I get going and I have a nice (Speed Pacer) flowing. I look down at my heart rate and I’m moving just as fast as the last lap with Matt, but without the attacks. By the time I’m at the gun range I’m at the same exact time as the lap before so I hand it over to Luis. He said he was hurting, and he takes it down to a crawl. When I say crawl, I mean we are baby crawling the climbs. We finish the gun range and we are over 2 minutes behind that last lap. He tries to get going, but he suggested that I pass him up. I say we should cut out all the big climbs that engage the deep tissue in the legs so we can keep a flow. He says he wants to do them all, so I pass him up. I know at that pace you can’t even hit the climb effectively and he will most likely have to clip out and walk them. He was on his 5th lap, and I was on my 4th, so I would probably be feeling the same when I’m on my 5th.

I want to do my 5th lap but I hear strong thunder every 4 or 5 minutes and that is starting to worry me as I’m at the end of my 4th lap. I don’t want to attract the lightening by be a wet conductor riding on a metal bike. I finished the lap and things look nice, so I dive right back in for my 5th and final lap without even getting another water bottle. I try to take my heart rate down into the 140’s and ride it out that way. Some of the climbs drive it over 150bpm, after that I would purposely back off to get it back down. I get to the gun range and I’m only 80 seconds off my time from the last lap and I’m not even trying to ride fast. I keep going at that pace and when I come out of the gun range I hear some very loud thunder that scares the Bejezzles out of me. Not even a minute later it happens again. I immediately exit the trail and take the fire road back to the car. This workout has gone way better than expected, and respect Mother Nature.

I quickly change, drink my strawberry soy protein drink, get in the car and head for home. I wash the bike, take a shower, and grab a quick bite to eat. I downloaded the chart and it is one of my more impressive charts. For 4.75 laps of high intensity riding, I was able to keep the same avg speed, and heart rate without dropping off. I went into my last lap knowing that my legs were fine. I never did any high intensity attacks or surges, and that I’m happy about. I was able to ride at a high pace without hurting myself. I’m not going to work on high end until after the first race in Tallahassee. I know that the first race is always a shock to the legs, so I’m going to let that race be my shock to open up all the anaerobic thresholds. Then I’m going to hit it hard. I’m convinced that I’m going to finish the season, and it starts right now.

Pacer Out!

Killer Road & Mtn bike Rides!!

That is how I felt about the last 2 rides. First up was the Tuesday Vista View ride. I was expecting myself to put in some work today, because I was not ready for what Chris Fredericks did last week. He attacked right from the gun on last Thursday and the group was under pressure the entire time. I was a part of group of 7 or 8 trying pull it back, but the group fell apart every time we got close. We eventually caught him and his break away companions, but I was cooked and ending up sitting in and taking it home from there.

On Tuesday I meet the group on Saddle Club Road at I-75, and I got a tap on the arm, and it was Bob McCarty. He thought he blew is knee out 10 days before after having to jump over Matt Hammond that had crashed at Markham. He is back at it, and said he can ride hard but is not totally back.

Today I was ready for last weeks kind of attack, but it didn’t happen, so I decided to “Set it Off” myself. My sprinting campaign is officially over, and I’m only into hard, long attacks off the front at this point. Just pass Bonaventure the pace was at 28mph, but we had a tailwind so I made a jump and looked down and I was going 33.2mph and I stayed over 30mph for about 1 minute and it slowly went down to around 28.5mph. It took the group about 4 minutes to catch me. The group had to be a little shattered when they caught me because no one went off the front. I looked back and a Bike America rider had just gotten on my wheel, and I look around at him to pull through, but he didn’t. I attempted to make a surge, only to sit down, and he stay on my wheel again. OK, he must be hurting but does not want to let me get away, and nor does he want to pull through.

I look over at him, and he smiles, and I say “I see you breathing heavy”, and he says "I don’t have to pull through". I said, “I know because you can’t”. We get to Glades Parkway and we are at a stoplight and he is talking Spanish and a guy looks backs, and I say, “He’s talking about me”. From there the tone was set, I’m going to mark this guy, and dust his ass in the sprint. I get back in rotation near the front and he is marking me, GREAT, I take a long hard pull, and he barely takes a pull at all. When we turn East onto State Road 84 there is a headwind, and it’s fierce. I take my pulls and start organizing my position. About 1 mile from the sprint point, my Bike America guys does a hard surge and the group breaks up. I jump in behind a Asian guy in a Weston Flyers uniform that is bridging the gap. We keep it steady even though we are at the limit. He keeps dangling on and off the guy's in front of us, and I make an attempt to move up and he snaps at me. He says “I can bridge it”, and I say, “Stop freaking dangling then”. Now, I have another annoyance out here on the road. He is a big boy though, but wild and unpredictable on the bike. Once it kind of breaks loose I ride up beside him and I’m waiting for him to go for the sprint. A guy with a Cartel uniform on jumps and the Asian dude says, “That’s your wheel”, and I go. I time it to perfection. I pass him 10 meters from the line and have enough room to look back for my new Asian friend. He is in the group and didn’t even go for the sprint.

I’m jacked up and ready to rumble, but my heart rate is 187bpm , and I need a couple of minutes, which I know I don’t have. Blain Reeves comes by with the Flyers dude and they are drilling it. “Shit”, I’m not even close to being recovered, but Bob threw me a lifeline. He came right up in front of me, set a nice pace and brought the group of 12 riders right back. I was hurting the entire time with a heart rate of 177bpms, but was able to get it down to 170bpm by the time we got to Weston Road. I thanked Bob for his kindness, because he knew I was hurting.

The week before at this ride Chris F. put in a huge attack going over I-75 and it shattered the group. I saw Blain go up to the front at the base of the overpass. Halfway up the climb Blain guns it and Asian dude is on his wheel. The guy in front of me is out of the saddle trying to bridge, but he is not doing anything. I come around him and hit a gust of wind, and I’m not sure if I’m going to make it or not. Blain and Weston Flyer dude are really hitting it hard, and I’m not going back to the group so I turn myself inside out over the top of the climb. I look down and my heart rate is 190bpm. My heart rate has never been over 190bpms if I’m not sprinting. I still haven’t bridged yet and they are kinda coasting down the hill and I gun it some more to get to them, but it feels like forever. This is the type of riding I’m doing now. No more sitting in and waiting for the final sprint. I’m a Cat 3 rider now, and I have to be a more well-rounded rider.

I finally bridged, but I have the worst cramp in my side. I’m suffering but I can at least sit on the back until I recover. Blain has stayed in the front the entire time, and Flyers dude pulls through and he looks around to see if I’m still there. He is continuing to ride straight and Blain is starting to turn right and has to yank his handlebars back to ride straight through and miss the turn. The Flyers dude is not focused and just caused us to ruin our breakaway. I made the turn safely and sat up because I had just lost my motivation. Flyers dude has waited for Blain, and I suspect that he is pulling him back. I let the first group pass me up because I really just wanted to finish the ride at this point. I jump on the back of the second group and that group totally falls apart because everyone is expecting me to pull it back. My work is more than done for the day. A 4 min attack at the beginning of the group, A all-out sprint that I should not have done, only to do another 3min attack less than 3 minute later. I finish the ride in the second group.

After the ride Bob said his knee felt ok and that he wanted to ride the trails at Oleta on Wednesday. I told him I would be up for it, and we rolled back out to Orange Road with Blain in tow. Blain and I turned West and Bob turned East. Blain and I rehashed the incident and confirmed to each other that Flyers dude is not the wheel to be behind even if he big enough to get a good draft off of. He also stated he wanted to get enough points to move up to Cat 3 like me because that category fits his riding style better. He makes a left turn on Weston and I continue on Saddle Club Road back to the car.

I get changed, get in the car, and I have a text message from Mrs. P that I got a UPS from Rotor Cranks. Yeah! My Agilis Crankset from Rotor is in. I can’t wait to put it on. I get to the YMCA to give my private lessons in table tennis only to find out that they are waxing the floors. So I can go home now and drool over my new Crankset. I get home, kiss the wife, play with the dog, take a shower, and have a pasta salad. And then to the true highlight of the day.
My precious!! 3 oval chainrings to rule them all!!

The most beautiful crankarms you will ever see! I don't even want to ride them they are so nice.

The "Self Aligning Bottom Bracket". I can't wait to see what this thing is about. It is suppose to cut down resistance big time, and everything counts.

The instructions!! Yes, I'm going to read through them all.

All Hail! Rotorcrank Agilis Crankset!


Wednesday I met up with Bob Mc and did 2 laps a Oleta. He is coming off the knee injury 11 days before so some of the sections would be a little touchy. He certainly did not ride like he really had a knee injury. Not even 10 minutes into the course, we are hammering along just under race speed. From February until June I have been dropped by Bob on every single training ride we did at Markham. But at Oleta I have never been dropped by him. There are 2 sections at Oleta that I just practically let him go because I don't see it as functional to ride those sections that fast. At this course he just can't drop me. If he does, he would truly have to be riding race speed.

Today was no exception, as he put the hammer down and I held my own. He had to unclip through one rough section and I thought it was a great idea especially with it being his first day back on the mtn bike. We are at the 45 minute mark, and going into Davie's trail, and I let him go because the small block eight's don't like that section. He only manages to put 20 second on me in that 7 minute section, so I didn't see that as much of a lost.

The second lap is a repeat of the first with the pace going fast right out of the gate. I never really like how fast Bob starts the lap but I have adjusted to it, and I guess it's good because it is getting me ready for going high intensity out the gate for the State Series. My Sidi dragons are stretching out because they are soaked with sweat, and I lean over to tighten the strap, but seconds later the straps comes out. I slow down and put it in and zip it back, by this time Bob has gapped so I decided to keep him in my sights and make my move to bring him back in later. I start to pick up the pace and the strap comes out again, and at this point I no longer care about the strap. I want to keep the pace going and eventually bring him back in. I start to bring him back in and I dab and that gives back even more time. I have never caught Bob if he has had more than a 15 sec lead, and this lead is more like 30 seconds. My heart rate is low for the speed that I'm going, and this is really one of the first times that I feel confident that I can catch him. As I come around a turn I can see him on the next bend, and the time is going down 18sec, 15 sec, 12sec, 10 sec. Then, I dab again, and I know I give up about 15 seconds. I get on the bike and I'm sure that I can't catch him now so I just ride. I see that he is at least 3 turns ahead of me now. We go into this section that has 7 back to back switchback climbs. There is fence wire down on the climbs because they are so steep. I decide that I'm going to attack all of the climbs as hard as I can and see if I can bring him back. I hit the climbs with all that I got, and I can see by the 3rd climb that I'm bringing him back. Now I'm entering the same turn as he is at the apex. By the end of the climbs he is now in front of me. During that attack my heartrate went from 161 to 177bpm.

Then something happens that has never happened in over 2 years of riding mountain bikes with Bob. He pulls through to let me lead the lap. Is his knee hurting? Has he blown up? Did I really catch him, or did he slow down? My guess is he didn't want to push the knee anymore. I was already locked in my pace so I came through and kept motoring the same. The one thing I can say that I truly learned from Bob is to always keep pressure on the pedals. I'm not as good at it as him, but I'm much better than I was last year.

About 1 minute later I can see that I have gapped Bob, which confirms something is wrong with him. Coming around a turn I hit some gravel the wrong way and slide out. See, the Kenda small block eights are not a good lateral tire. I get back to the bike as Bob is coming around the turn, and he stops for me. I also take this time to actually put the strap back in the buckle of my shoe as I have been riding without it fasten for about 30mins. I jump back on the bike and my chain is off. I apologize to Bob and he says, " No problem dude, I need the break".

That break is just what he needed because he stayed on my wheel the entire rest of the lap. It is one of the times that he can actually observe how I ride, because I'm always riding behind him. I know I can't get any faster while riding behind him. I'm gonna suggest that we trade training laps. It's boring riding behind him ALL the time. He's cool, and it will break up the repitition. Back to the riding. Once we got back to Davies Trail I told him I was going to do it, but I would do it slowly. He bowed out of doing it, and so did I. I don't really like that trail anyway.

We get back to the car, and chat a little and confirm that we will meet up at Thursday's Road Ride. I get home and download the charts and my thought were confirmed. We road just as fast now as we did in April when we trained at Oleta. The first lap Avg was 11.9mph, and he was riding the same speed the second lap when I caught him. I actually took the avg down to 11.6mph. At his course, those laptimes are blazing.

So after 2 months of not riding with Bob or riding a mountain bike, I was performing the same. Some good things came out of the ride. The first was , I had better performing suspensions in my rp3 and F 100X. The second thing was I had brand new wheels and they roll better than the 2 year old beat up ones I had before. The last thing is I'm 8lbs lighter than I was last year. My technical riding really didnt' miss a beat after 2 months off, which is a little bit of a suprise. Most people come back riding all sloppy, but my goal in the spring was to become a more technically superior rider and I accomplished that. I have truly developed a riding style, and it made coming back to the mtn bike very, very easy. This is my 3rd day back on the mtn bike in 2 months, and the status is that I'm more than pleased. I know I'm going to get faster which is just in time for the State Series. My heartrate was about 5bpm higher than I wanted it, but I know it will come down as I ride more and become more fluid. The only negative aspect is I'm having a lot of discomfort with the Fi'zi:k Gobi saddle. I'm going to change this saddle before the weekend, because it's just too painfully narrow for me.

Sorry the report was so long and drawn out. I'll try to keep it shorter next time.

Pacer Out!

Singletrack Weekend!

On Friday morning I dropped off my new Bontrager wheels at the shop so they could be replaced. My reserviced RP3, and 100 X was to arrive at the shop. I get off at 4pm, so I could get to Markham and get to ripping some singletrack.

I could barely contain my excitement at work because I knew I was going to be riding singletrack today. It has been 6 weeks since I rode and singletrack, and I'm anxiety to find out if my body can handle the suffering. I have been enjoying road biking, indoor spinning, and table tennis. Now I'm back to overgrown trees, red ants, washed out turns, and jagged climbs.

I get off work, hurry to the shop, and my bike has not been touched. My new wheels are not on, my Reba fork is still on my bike, and no shock. I look around and can't find my order from PUSH, so I give them a call. At the time I'm on the phone with PUSH, I realize that it was delivered. I quickly open the box, and see the serviced hardware. I got a call from Jimmy last week that my steering tube had the most corrosion that they have ever seen in a fork that is 1 year old or less. He said the all the guys in the office came to look at the fork like it was a freak of nature. See, I even got mechanics across the country knowing I "Brian Paced" compenents. So I ended up having to buy another steering tube, and because they didn't have the white one I had to settle for the silver.

The Rp3 was set up for the Racer X and I am really looking forward to seeing how it will perform.

So I went back, and started doing as much as I could because I didn't want to waste Friday and not ride. I started with putting on the RP3 shock, which was a breeze. Then I took off the front wheel and put the small block 8 on the new Bontrager wheel. I then took off the handle bars. By this time cool Nick was finish working with a customer and relagated me back to putting the other tire on the rear wheel. He told me that if I didn't work good enough, he was going to put up the " Do no enter " sign, which would keep me out of repair area. I put the tire on the new wheel, and my job is done.

I look over Nick, because I truly am trying to understand the art of repairing bikes. I'm notorious for not knowing what is wrong, beside the fact that it is not working properly. He hammers out the fork, and he stops and laughs at me. I say, " Hey man, I haven't even been riding. David says, "You still Brian Paced it". We laugh, and Nick continues to hammer it out. He gets it out, then puts a device on the Reba to pop off the bottle washer for the headset. He puts the fork on, and has to tend to another customer. I then take the opportunity to put my polar speed sensor on. I cut the zip ties just as Nick gets back, and he takes the disc off of both wheels, and puts it on the new ones. David is having a tough time with a bike and they switch places, and David takes the cassette off my old rear wheel, and puts it on the new. I also put on my new Gobi saddle to train on, before I get the Bontrager Race Lite X saddle from Oscar when he gets back from riding in Colorado. It's a little narrow for a 180lbs ass like mine, but it'll have to do for now

Nick finishes with the customers bike and jumps back on my mine only to find out that the shifting if messed up because the wires are rusted and broken. It is after 6pm, and that is when I realized that I'm not going to ride today. I tell Nick to take it off the stand and finish it up tomorrow when he can give it perfect attention. I kinda rushed him because I wanted to ride. I left the shop a little disappointed just because I wanted to ride so bad, plus the daylight was gone and I didn't have time to hit the road bike. I did, but I had my mind set on singletrack. So I called Mrs P, and asked her if I could take her out to dinner. We jump in the Jetta , go to Olive Garden for some pasta, and quality time. She has cleaned me up well since we have been married, and it's almost to the point that the women at my job find me somewhat of a catch.


I have to work Saturday morning at my job for the next month, which is just in time for the State Series. It's nice to get to preride the courses on Saturday and mingle with the other riders. I have all my riding clothes with me at work, 5 water bottles with Powerbar fruit punch powder(Taste like bubblegum), 1 gallon of water, 4 Clif shot gels, and 2 Clif Shot blocks, and a couple of granola bars. I get off work, head straight to the shop, and my bike is good to G.O. I tip Nike $35.00, yes I do hook up my mechanics because I can do a number on a freaking bike.

I'm off to Markhum, and my plan is to do 3 laps, because I have a conference with some of my classmates on my project for class, so I don't want to miss that. I get to the course, and it's hot. But I'm so excited that I could care less. I'm sure I'm so slow that it doesn't really matter, I'm just happy to be ripping up singletrack again. I get loaded, put on the ipod and go into the trail with the new 50 cent and Justin Timberlake song blasting.
My impressions of the ride:
The new wheels make the bike roll faster
Why did I wait 2 years to get new wheels?
The fork and shock are really performing better, or is it the excitement
It's "Africa" out here
My hand are raw already
My ass does not like the new Gobi Saddle, it is to narrow for me
My laptimes are slower, but the bike is definitely faster.
I'm not tired after 2 laps at a good clip, the body has remembered.

I do 2 laps, and additional 5 miles of riding around the park, which take my mileage to around 18miles. The time is ten after 5pm. Enough time for me clean the bike, get home, take a shower, grab a bite to eat, and meet my team on msn messenger to discuss our project. During the conference I'm studying my heartrate charts. I'm definitely out of form based on how fast I was riding. In May I could do a 31min lap at a HR avg of 161bpm. I did a 38min lap at 160bpm. I did ride at the hottest part of the day at 3pm, and it's impossible to put out those kind effort in this heat. Plus, the course is so jagged, washed out, and sandy in most turns that it is impossible to really attack each corner to do a really fast lap. No worries, I'm going back out tomorrow to hit it again.

I wake up the next morning, and the body feels very good. I have some granola cereal only to look outside and it is sprinkling rain. Fudge!! I'm still going out though. I have my thing all ready, and when I walk on the patio I'm hit by a gust of hot wind. I then realized that the rain is not going to stick because it just way too hot. By the time I get outside almost all the water is dried up in the parking lot.

I get to Markhum and it's a load of cars out. My plan is 4 laps, no questions at all. I see some familiar faces in Matt Hammond, and Luis Cabrera. We catch up a little and they are off in the trails. The are both Experts and I want someone to ride with, so I got ready and cut in at Outback to catch them. Luis C. had crashed and cracked his helmet but was still riding. He said that Matt and Luiz M. were up the trail so I hammered up to them. Luis was riding a good clip, a little fast for me just getting out there but I could maintain. We go into Rattle Snake Canyon and Matt has to unclip to get up a climb, and he lets me by.

It takes me about 1 minute to get bridge up to Luis M. and he is very close to riding race speed. I'm breathing heavy, but I can finish the lap with him at this pace. Out of the gun range I look back and Matt is gone, so we keep it going. I look down and my heartrate is 176bpm, Damn! My HR has not been that high on any mtn bike training ride this year. We do Outback Extension(Big, Jagged Climbs), Crime Scene & Jet Ski Hill(More Big Jagged Climbs), and Ted's Twisted Trail(More Big Jagged Climbs), and look down and my HR is 184bpm. OK, I'm going to die! I'm breathing like I'm racing at this point, and I'm hurting but I'm determined to stay on his wheel.

We are in Alligator Ally when I tap his wheel and have to put a food down. He gaps me and I'm actually happy because I have no intention of drilling it catch him before I finish the lap. When I finish the lap, Danny is walking out with Luis M. beside him. He was running a no tubeless Fast Track Pro, and he flatted twice and called it a day. I went back to the car to top off the water bottle, and drink a little bit of maple sryup and water in my other bottle. Matt comes out and explains that he had trained yesterday at Reddick with John Lowe. That explains why he couldn't keep up. He got his legs rocked the day before.

We go back in and I'm happy Matt is leading the laps because he can't ride fast right now which means the pace will be more moderate. Luis C is immediately gone and we haven't even been riding 10 minutes. We are going at a nice training speed, and I look down and my HR is 158bpm, PERFECT!! Matt is keeping it steady, and I'm keeping my distance for a reason. Last week Matt was leading a lap with Bob Mc, Bound, Oscar, and T-Wis, and Matt crashed and Bob blew out his knee when he had to jump off his bike and over Matt. I don't think his knee is blown because he got up, dropped everyone, road for another mile before stopping. If your knee is blown out, you will not, I repeat, WILL NOT be able to stand up, let alone ride a mtn bike at race speed. I haven't talked to him in about 5 days, but I think he will be all better by the time the season starts. He needs a break, because I think he overtrains.

We are halfway through the gun range and Matt pulls over and lets me lead the lap. Was he sloppy, tired, bonked? It is not like Matt to give up the lead when he is training, because he loves to be the one drilling it. I upped the pace to get my HR up about 8 more beats, and Luis is in tow. I keep it going at the pace, and look down and my HR is back to 174bpm. Shit man! What is going on with the HR, I'm not even drilling it. I know the heat is rough today, but 170's for HR is not acceptable, but I keep it going. By the time I get out of the gun range the HR is at 184bpm. I have 6 of the biggest climbs back to back to back over the next 5 mins, and I'm already WAY over my limit. I back off to get my HR in the 160's and I'm sure Luis knows what I'm doing. Outback Extension and it's up to 172bpm, Crime Scene and it's at 176, Jet Ski Hill and it's at 182, in Ted Twisted Trail it's 186bpm, and that is when I officially stopped looking down. By the end of the lap I was semi-crawling the climbs, and Luis hit my tire twice so I know I slowed down.

The laptime was 37mins at avg of 169bpm, OUCH! When you get in the 180's for HR, that usually spells disaster for the rest of the ride. I am determined to do 4 laps even if I have to crawl. Luis M is finished so I go back to the car to get some food and fluids. I'm at 1369 calories burned, and I have only taken in 2 bars and a gel. I got to the picnic table were Matt is already changed and conversing with the other mtn bikers. Luis C. comes over and ask if I'm going back in, and I say "2 more". I tell don't try to impress me with speed, let's just get through the lap without going into the red. We get going I don't even bother to look at my HR because I don't feel the burn, nor am I breathing heavy. But after 25 minutes I look down and my HR is 177bpm. See, that is the bullshit I'm talking about, he is drilling it. For what? Coming up a climb I hear him say "OUCH", and says his inner thigh is cramping up, and he lets me by. I keep going at the same pace to finish the lap off.

I really did want to do the last 2 laps back to back, but I'm out of water and I don't want to cramp up today. I quickly top off and get back in the trail. Finally, I can do a lap at my own leisure without anyone influencing the speed. I cut out all the big climbs because I didn't want to ramp my HR. My HR peaked out 2 times at 167 & 170bpm. See, that is why you should train by yourself, you can keep things under control better. I finished the lap, and had enough to take a 4 mile cooldown around the park. That was 2 hrs,53mins of riding, with a total of 3069 calories burned. That is smash mouth mtn bike

I'm actually feeling quite good after 49 miles of Markhum in 2 days. I think good things are to follow.


Pacer Out

Got Lungs!!

Well, that's what I have been working on for the last 10 days, actually getting more out of my lungs. I bought the Powerlung device to strengthen my inhale and exhale muscles. I have really decided to do everything possible to ensure the best season I can have. I can tell you, the freaking device has been a tough workout. The device helps increase lung capacity, which helps you race faster, perform longer, and exercise easier.

It came with an instructional DVD that I patiently watched to make sure I was going to do it correctly. It looked simple when the dude from DHL was performing his breathing exercises on the DVD. OK, 3 seconds inhale, 3 second exhale. Do 10 reps of that, with the last 2 being a powerful 1 second inhale, followed by the same type of exhale. I set the device to the easiest setting so I could get going. I blow, and that was No 3 sec inhale! I mean not even more than a second. OK, I coughed, got my lungs ready, and again. But no 3 second inhale. A little better than the first time, but still well under 2 seconds. After the shocked settled in that I was not a good breather I decide to just go through the 10 inhales and exhales and make my assessment after.

That is when I realized that my exhale muscles were incredibly weak. I couldn't blow out really, really hard. I also felt shortness of breath when I tried to inhale very deeply also. I also was breathing from the top of my lungs, and not the bottom. I have some serious work to do if I want to get to the 6th level of resistance. The first one was kicking my ass.

This device is going to help me, and it has in as short as ten days. I remember all the times that I have blown up in a XC race. Long before I did, my breathing was very rapid and short, and there was nothing I could do at that point. That meant I was not getting oxygen to my legs, even though I was pushing hard. By the time the legs had went and I was going backwards, it was my lungs that went first. So in retrospect, my legs have never really sold out on me if I have given them the proper oxygen that they need through better breathing.

I have noticed that when I'm drilling it on the road now, my breathing has been much more stable. I breathe more deeply now, regardless of if I'm hitting it hard, riding steady, or out of the saddle. I did a Tuesday morning Timetrial on the Felt before I went to work, and the loop is 1.6 miles. I did the loop for 45 minutes, and my lap times got faster every single loop around. Normally it drops by the end, and I'm crawling. My first lap time was 4mins, 51sec with an avg spd of 20.1mph. 8 laps later my time was 4mins, 24sec with an avg spd of 22.8mph. The lap time on each loop got better by 3-4sec, and when you do that over 8 laps, it is much more stable on the body, breathing, acid burn in the legs, etc. I’m on the easiest resistance, which means there is a lot of room for improvement. I'm going to continue to take baby steps with this device. I'm going to make this a natural progression in my breathing getting better. To do that I'm simple going to start from the easiest setting, and slowly move up to the more difficult setting as I have mastered my inhale and exhale muscles.

I love how this training block has come together. I stopped spending so much time at the gym doing spin classes when I would get rained out, and bought a couple of CTS workouts for my ipod. It only cost $10.00 and it goes onto my video ipod. I can put a towel on my handlebars, sit it on top, and let it take me through the workout. Or I can have it connected to my TV, so I can play it in surround sound. The One Legged Drills exercise is absolutely fantastic. My cadence has gone up 4 or 5rpms since I have been doing them. The fast pedal, stomp it out and time trial workouts makes the variety fun and fresh.

I have also bought a pull-up bar. There are 5 different positions I can use, and can do over or underhand. I can do the toughest exercise, and just sit there hang for 30-60sec with my knees up. When I feel like really punishing myself I kick my legs out for 10-15 seconds and bicycles forward and backwards. That has tightened up my midsection, and my core has more integrity now.

I also have my workout corner. I have some weights just to do light reps exercises, push-up bar for deeper push-ups, and a yoga block and mat. Yes, I do yoga 4 days a week and it totally rocks. The more flexibility, the faster the muscles recover. Most of the exercises I do I care my own weight, as I never want to really get hooked on the classic weight training program at a fitness club. Plus, plyometrics is the KING of all my exercises every week.

I can't forget my trusty stopclock. I was given this stop watch in 1989 as a gift from my mother when I first turned pro in table tennis. 18 years later it is the only timer I use when I train.

My Racer-X will be locked and loaded on Friday, so I'm hitting the trails on Saturday and Sunday. I really can't wait to report back on how the new body handles the trail. I'm also really interested to see how the lungs will react under XC race training since I haven't ridden single-track since June. I have been questioning if I'm an mtn biker or not, since it's been so long. I'll find out soon enough, and report back to ya!

Pacer Out!

More Wholefood Products

Got up yesterday morning, did a slow road ride by myself, and kept the heartrate in the 140's. I really want to rest my legs in anticipation of the new parts I'm getting for the Titus next week, so I'm don't want to nail it to the wall today. The weekend of August 25th and 26th, I'm going to do a XC race in NC. I have a family reunion, and I decided to work off some of the Southern food and jumpstart my program at the Race at Reactor XC just outside of Raleigh. It is at Harris County Park. I raced there last year at the State Games, and I really liked the course. I'm saving myself for that, because I want to be emotionally invested in that race. Plus, this will be the first time that my family will ever see me race. OK, back to the Sunday morning ride.

I was able to hook up with the Weston Flyers Ride as I rounded back to the house, which lifted my spirits to ride with a little bit more spirit. They are particular about who they want riding at the front, so I always sit in. They get grumpy if anyone starts drilling it. I could not get my bike to go to the top chain ring, so I was riding above 120rpms for about 10mins which was a great workout. Didn't do too much bouncing, so I cooled down on my way home.


I dropped the bike off at Active Cycles, then stopped by Wholefoods to pick up some small items. I'm well under 180lbs, and I owe it soley to eating exclusively at wholefoods. I might add a little bit of discipline also, but mostly the healthy eating has allowed me to lose way more weight than I expected way before I have started my hard training block to get ready for the season. Here is a some things I get at wholefoods which rounds out my breakfast and lunch for a day.

I always get a large Apple Juice. I mix it with green chorophyll as one of my health drink for the day.

Next, is a 8oz back of wheatgrass(liquid oxygen). It has over 40 benefits to it, and the main ones for a cyclist would be it give you all the amino acids, iron, vit b, and antioxidants you need for the day. And, 2 oz is like eating 3lbs of green veggies, yea!



Pineapple or Watermelon is the first thing that goes into my mouth after my 2oz of wheatgrass. I eat one of those containers at least 5 days week. Nothing better than giving yourself a refreshing bunch of strong water fruit to start the digestion system off in the right direction for the day.

Before lunch I eat something fiber based and that is some organic granola with raisins. I normally use ricemilk, but if I have been a good boy or have a big ride for the day I will treat myself to some Strawberry/Bananas soymilk because it has a higher fat content. If I don't feel like preparing that, I'll just have a mixed berry bar with ricemilk.


I keep my containers topped off with all nuts. Lightly salted and roasted cashews, raw cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds, and flaxseeds. I normally make a mix of them all, and pick out what I'm in the mood for the most that day.

I have simple foods to eat between dinner. The main objective of these foods are to curb the appetite before dinner. One of them is yogurt. It's rich in healthy intestinal flora that suppressed the growth of the bad bacteria. I usually keep a supply of different flavors on hand to mix with a bananas.

If not yogurt, I do salsa, organic sour cream, and organic yellow corn chips. Again it curbs the appetite before dinner, and gives me the same healthy bacteria for my colon.

One of the meals that eat that is cooked is the chicken and yellow rice dish from wholefoods. It's a fantastic way to eat a cooked meal that is low in fat, and all the nutrients have not been cooked out of the veggies.

Produce, produce, and more produce. I said before that I have ate 2 salads a day since I totally committed to this program in February. I have become a master at efficiency, and simplicity in executing them.

Spinach is the base of my salads, not lettuce like most of the population. I mix in a some herb veggies that are green, and some mixed baby greens. I add bean sprouts because they are a great source of protein, potassium, and B vitamins. They also make zinc, magnesium and iron more absorbable by the body which is the vitamins and minerals that's in the greens.

I have yellow, red, green, and orange bell peppers. They are all rich in antioxidants that help fuel your immune system. I always have onions in my salads, as it brings out the taste. For a cyclist that means your recovery is faster, you never get sick, you feel better sooner. Almost every one of the best riders I have been around this year has caught a bug this year. They would say I rode hard that day I got sick, or I was too weak to really train hard for 3 days. Not having the antioxidants means it's only gonna keep happening to them, but not me. I have not had a cold in 9 years. This is why.

I have one primary dressing that I use, and it's low fat Gingerly Vinaigrette. I love Ginger and Vinegar, but not olive oil like most people. I always put in a teaspoon of flaxseed oil. I don't really like fish, specially because the ocean has so much mercury. Some of the benefits of the flaxseed oil is Healthy heart, healthy cholesterol levels, energy & endurance, and a great source of fat.

This is usually what I eat every day, and after over 6 months I can say that I have not even gotten close to being bored with it. I had such a great spring season on this program, that I can't see myself not continuing this program.

When the season starts, I may not be the best rider on the line, but I'm sure that I have the best food plan

Pacer Out!