Trainer Confessions

Goodbye, for now

No more training wheels

Trainer Confessions has been up and operational now for over two years now with posts going out at about a rate of one or two per week during that time.  I even managed to keep the posts coming even when frankly there wasn't much to talk about, like over the last three months of mostly solo riding.  If I can pump out the posts when most of my riding time is done when the darkness of my riding hours combined with the narrowed vision brought on by the layers of clothing extending up to my eyes, then its easy to imagine that the approach of spring will just cause the posts to freely flow from my fingers.

But that's just not the case.  Even though I am now in arguably one of the top two or three US destinations for a cyclist seeking a winter training camp, and I also stand just under two weeks until my first race of 2012, I have decided to close up shop at the TC blog post.

I started the blog partly as a means to fill the time I rode up on the trainer.  Back then, when training using a plan created with my own ignorance, I spent the vast majority of my training doing efforts that were conducive to typing while up on the trainer.  The days of mega mindless hours on the trainer now are in the rear view mirror.  For those hours I do now find myself riding indoors, it is often at levels of effort that make it difficult for me to keep my eyes open, so typing is just out of the question.

The absence of mindless trainer hours wasn't enough though to close down the TC blog, though.  For well over a year now I've exclusively been banging away at the keyboard at odd hours while perched on a regularly chair instead of a bicycle seat.  While I no longer had the luxury of endless trainer time to churn out the posts, I still was compelled to churn out the posts.  

I didn't do it to inspire people, though I often lamented how uninspiring my writing was in comparison to the great books and blogs I've read.  

I didn't write to educate people.  I love to teach and coach others, but my cycling career has traversed a well worn path blazed by thousands of others before me, so there isn't a heck of a lot of educating I could do.

At best you could say that my blog entertained, but for a very tiny audience -- fellow cyclists in and around CT.  But with the hours I've invested in writing each update (I'd guess between 90 and 120 minutes per average post), I'm not convinced that the level of entertainment I've supplied to such a small audience could justify the time I've logged.  The ROI (return on investment) just didn't add up simply on the small amount of entertainment I offered you, sorry!

But it is the matter of ROI that will bring this final post to a close.  My primary motivation for the TC posts, especially after leaving the mindless trainer hour phase, has been my own rationalization and justification for how much time I invest in cycling in general.  I'm wired in a way where a decision to do something that involves lots of my time requires a thorough analysis and understanding of the ROI.  

Unlike most sports, being modestly good requires a huge time commitment.  So big that I needed to continually re-evaluate whether or not the investment was justified.  The TC blog was sort like my training wheels to keep me up on the bike.  As my bike riding time seemed to be called into question, the TC blog post gave me that little touch of balance of perspective, satisfying my need to know the ROI was still paying off.

Well, the training wheels are now off.  Out here in Tucson, with pro teams rolling by as I ride, nodding to me with what almost appears to be respect offered to another racer, I need no further justification as to why I ride.  The Return on my cycling Investment is now beyond question.

What's in store for 2012?

Now What?

Early last week when I surpassed 10,000 miles for the year, I added the final feather to my cap in what will go down as quite the memorable year.  Just a couple of days later, I opened up my wallet and let the Battenkill promoter pull out $84 as part of my first race registration for the 2012 season.  The act of closing down 2011 and then setting the first target for 2012 gave me reason during the ample free-time this week to ponder on what I wanted to get out of cycling in the year ahead.

Believe it or not, I could imagine a possible future where I would walk away from cycling, at least at the commitment level I now dedicate to the sport.  If I ever can't give a good answer to the question "what is it that I want to get out of cycling next year", or if the answers I come up with somehow pale in comparison to other things I'd want to accomplish in life, then I could see myself flipping a switch and redirecting myself to some other endeavor.  At various points in my life I was (amongst other things) an aspiring body builder, a die-hard New England sports fanatic, and career consumed work-aholic.  For various reasons the motivation driving my dedication to these all-consuming endeavors fizzled, and each time I finished that chapter of my life, and I never looked back. 

The good news though for the few of you who follow this blog is that it didn't take much thought to generate a healthy list of solid answers to the question I posed to myself, so there's no chance that the "off-switch" getting flipped anytime soon.

Racing

Spending time thinking about my racing goals actually gave rise to the thought that I could in fact some day flip the switch to the off position.  In 2011 my goal was clearly defined, and I built a path that eventually got me my prize, a Cat 3 upgrade.  I ended that quest at the final race of the season, so as of right now I have NO experience competing as a Cat 3 and lots of question marks as to what I can now do competing at this elevated level. 

Am I genetically gifted enough, mentally tough enough, and not yet too old such that I might expect to one day win a Cat 3 race?  If I work hard enough, could I conceivably aim to upgrade to Cat 2 at some point?  Or did I just barely reach up the ladder to the next rung, and I'll forever struggle to hold my grasp and not fall backwards to the comfort of Cat 4 competition where my unshaven legs and my sub-1000 W maximum power record are less likely to hold me back?

Without any concrete evidence under my belt in Cat 3 races yet, I don't even have guesses to any of those questions.  So for 2012, I won't be targeting a specific accomplishment as my end goal.  There won't be any pressure to produce lofty results like I had in 2011.  Instead, I'll be signing up for lots of hilly road races (like Battenkill) and two stage races (Tour of the Catskills and Green Mountain Stage Race) in search of answers. 

I'll also be picking the brain of my new coach.  If the first few months of training with him are a good indication of what's in store for 2012, I'll not only be learning quite a bit more, but I'm guessing that I'll also increase the odds that the answers to my questions above might come back quite favorable.

Giving Back

While I can conceive of a situation one day where I might decide to flip the switch on racing, I doubt I'd ever lack the motivation to continue to ride as the bicycle allows me to pursue other life goals that I'm sure will always remain important to me.  While GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has accurately pointed out that we humans exhale CO^₂, and I bet you he'd also agree that cyclists generate even greater quantities of these greenhouse gases as we power up and over the hilly roads around my house, he and I would likely disagree on any policy or program that would attempt to get more people out of their cars and off of their couches and onto the ultimate in Green transportation -- the bike.  Furthermore, given the stranglehold Big Oil and Big Coal have on the decision-making in DC, I'm afraid that way too many of those in charge right now would scoff at any attempt like mine to use my bike to encourage action to be taken about Global Warming by participating in the Climate Ride for the 2nd straight year.

In addition to raising money and awareness as part of the Climate Ride, I'm hoping to find ways in 2012 that I can give back to the cycling community and to get more people out on a bike.  I'll be looking more closely at opportunities in my backyard (Glastonbury Bikeways), in the state of CT (Bike Walk CT), and nation-wide (Rails to Trails).  However, if anyone knows of a volunteer opportunity that opens up, or if someone is looking to start something brand new to cut down the car miles and increase the bike miles, PLEASE drop me an email!  I'm looking to help, and I have to imagine that there are some people out there looking for people to help, so I'm confident I'll be able to make a connection or two in 2012 to give back and make a difference.

Family Cycling

And of course there's yet another reason I hope to keep the wheels turning on my bike for years and decades to come -- spending time with Mrs D and the girls on the roads and trails in CT and exploring new parts of the country as well.  Though most of my exploration time will be done on my own, I'm excited to plan at least a day of family cycling while out in Tucson AZ on our February family vacation.  The Tucson family vacation will also double as 2012's winter training camp for me, where I'll tackle such climbs as Mount Lemmon.

Mount Lemmon's never-ending climb

I also intend to add a family bike ride or two to augment my summer-time training camp as we return to the White Mountains of NH for the 5th consecutive summer.  And if the girls don't tire of me and/or the bike, I also hope to plan another couple of weekend bicycle adventures like we completed in 2011 (one on Cape Cod, and another to the coast of CT).

The only challenge though that I see with this plan (aside from the monstrous climbs that the NH and Tucson offer) is that by mid-summer it's quite possible that the Desmarais girls may reach a point where they outgrow the caboose of "the train".  While they both still appreciate the rest afforded to them when they get to ride in the bike trailer in between stints spinning on the tag-along, I doubt I have much more than a year to go before one or both of the girls find that their feet start poking out the trailer's cramped quarters.  So...yet another goal for 2012 will be to find a great deal on a tandem so that when 2013 rolls around, I can list on next year's goals to get the girls comfortable riding something like this! 

Photo by Joe Angeles 

 

Just another day in a cyclist's life

A whopping 400 miles!

I remember in 2005 being a bit proud of myself at the end of summer of my first season of riding (note that I don't have riding seasons now -- there's no beginning nor end to when I ride).  I had logged a whopping 400+ miles and I was exuberant over my accomplishment when I informed one of my managers (Julie) in the EMC² office.  She was an avid cyclist so I thought she'd appreciate the significance of such a big number.

She did smile, but in retrospect I think it have been just a case of her being polite out of respect for my position.  I was a director of Quality Assurance at the time, soon to move into director of Engineering, with my sights set on VP titles and beyond.  Needless to say that my career was pretty important to my self-identity.  I viewed my work title as partly defining who I was, and the title shed some light down the path of life and what I wanted to be.

A lot has changed since then.

The Meaning of 10,000

I do admit to having a bit of pride in now crossing 10,000 miles for 2011, but not too much.  I celebrated the less than momentous occasion for all of about 2 minutes this morning.  Partly because it was a milestone achieved at 5 AM in frigid temps.  Had I celebrated for any more time than the 2 minutes it took to shoot this photo of the moment, I'd have lost to frostbite some essential body parts required for me to cycle again.

The main reason though that I didn't pop open a bottle of bubbly is that its not like winning a race or climbing some monstrous mountain peak.  To be honest, it is not really an accomplishment, other than the fact that I am able to put in lots of hours on the bike.

Yet the number 10,000 does have some significance to me.  First, it served as a reminder that I'm darn lucky to have the time to rack up so many hours of enjoyment out on the bike.  I'm in a pretty special situation right now with work/life balance, my health, and the support of Mrs D and the girls.  You don't get to 10,000 miles without those key ingredients and for that I consider myself both lucky and extremely grateful.

Second, I do take a bit of pride in how I've been able to get many of the hours in w/o infringing upon family time.  While I'm certainly lucky with the situation I now find myself in, you also don't get to 10,000 without lots of dedication and determination.  I'm certainly not the toughest guy in the world, far from it.  However, you don't get a whiff of 10k living in New England while trying to maintain a decent balance with work and the family unless you can tough out a lot of early morning work-outs, either in the basement or in nasty weather.

But perhaps the reason I now find 10,000 of such significance is that it served as a sort of stamp on the paperwork to officially change the way in which I define who I am -- I'm a cyclist now!  I'm clearly no longer defined by work; that chapter of my life is closed, at least for now. If a stranger were to ask me what I do, my first response of course would be a dad, but quickly followed by "I'm a cyclist".  To be honest, if I ever have to look for a new job now, my path up the career track would only a secondary consideration in the job search.  Of primary concern now would be how I could fit cycling into the equation.  Would the company's location allow me to commute by bike?  Or would they offer the option to work remotely, allowing me to use commuting time instead for cycling?  Or maybe would the new job somehow do something to support other cyclists?  If so, then let's talk about future career growth and benefit packages if time permits during the interview!

So if you asked me what I did today, I might not even mention the 10,000 miles (OK, that's a stretch).  My response should be that the day was nothing out of the normal; just another day in a cyclist's life.

How to upgrade

Blueprint for success?

The 2011 training season officially came to a close 11 days ago, so I am now just over 2/3rds of the way through my 15 days away from the bike.  I view the time off as a necessary evil -- my body needed a break and I'll be super-charged once the 2012 training season starts on Nov 7th.  However, I'm feeling like a alcoholic who was sentenced to jail for some minor infraction.  Each day that goes by, my withdrawals grow stronger and more and more I become consumed with that first beer I'll down upon my release from jail.

I'm hoping that first "beer" is just as delicious as those that I downed by the dozen in 2011, and I've started to give some thought as to what I can do in order to make 2012 as successful, if not more so.  Those of you who are regular Trainer Confessions readers know that I spend a lot of time pondering and speculating about the myriad of reasons that a given race didn't turn out as I had expected, with the hope being that I'll find one or two things that I might try differently the next time around.  But every so often I need to flip the process around and take a look at what went well, identify why things went well, and then figure out how to repeat those things into the future.

By all accounts 2011 was a resounding success for me; lots of new experiences, memorable adventures, and I got my Cat 3 upgrade.  I don't think I need to delve into the things I need to repeat to continue chalking up new experiences and memorable adventures -- just keep on riding the bike, and minimize the time spent perched on my trainer and holed up in my office. 

The recipe for the Cat 3 upgrade isn't so simple though.  What follows is an attempt to outline some of the main ingredients used in my recipe, though I can't say for sure whether or not mixing them up again will result in another large batch of hand crafted deep flavored beer for 2012.

Just more of the same

It's possible that there was nothing specific that I did in 2011 that I can point to as the secret ingredient to my special sauce.  It might be just a matter of good things come to those who wait.  My journey towards my Cat 3 upgrade took place over the course of three full seasons racing as a Cat 4.  In my first season I generally found myself finishing mid-pack; last year I was consistently finishing in the top quarter or top third, and this year I advanced just enough to cobble up enough top ten finishes to qualify for an upgrade (only nabbing the last required top ten on my very last event of the season!). 

I ended each season with legs slightly more covered with veins than had been visible through the hair on my slightly stronger legs ( I still refuse to shave my legs, and only shave my face slightly more frequently ); feeling slightly smarter about what to do and what not to do while inches away from dozens of other riders racing through a tight corner on a crit, and just a little more stable perched upon my bike while being buffeted by cross-winds and pot holes heading down the hills of New England.  I guess if I just keep on plugging away at this thing called bicycle racing for long enough, it might just have been inevitable that I would become just strong enough, smart enough, and stable enough to sneak my way up to the front.

Equipment Upgrades

I'm sure if I sought out the latest and greatest aero and feather weight technological advances and opened up my wallet, my path to success would have been shortened.  However, I'm not really a gadget guy and a bike to me is just a tool, a means to an end, and not something to be worshipped.  So it should be a surprise that nearly all of my attention has been applied to improving the "engine" (me) that powers that tool.

That said, I came to the conclusion after nearly being beaten down by hills like the infamous Devil's Kitchen in 2010 that my success in such races as the Tour of the Catskills could be greatly enhanced if I invested in a compact crank to replace the standard crank that originally came with my bike.  That was my lone upgrade in equipment last year.  I have to say that had I not made the change, I might still be a Cat 4 right now.  Had I still been running the standard crank at the Tour of the Catskills, odds are that I would have fallen a few spots in both stage 2 and stage 3, which would have meant my top 10 count for the year would have fallen short of the 10 required for the Cat 3 upgrade.

Bike Handling Skills

This year I barrelled down steep mountain descents with more confidence, felt more relaxed when my bike rattled beneath me as I traversed over pot-holed dirt roads, and cut the gap between me and the wheel in front of me by a few extra inches.  In the process I conserved energy and had more Watts in the tank ready to match moves when the competition got fierce. 

I have to imagine that my big step forward in bike handling skills played a role in my Upgrade, and I am certain that those skills were enhanced because of the time I spent during the off-season on climbing and descending a collection of nearby hilly dirt roads.  And those skills were further enhanced with my hours on the trainer being displaced by hours balancing on the rollers (that is, those hours spent on the rollers after my first few weeks where I fell so often I seriously contemplated wearing a helmet!).

Coaching

2011 was my first year training with a coach, and it was also the year I upgraded.  Coincidence?  I think not!  While I was very proficient at finding ways to thrash my legs without a coach, I found myself in 2010 focusing on parts of my "engine" that I had given short change to in the past, and in the process I built a proper base that kept me strong right through the end of the successful season.

Unfortunately the scientist in me can't exactly quantify any specific end result that could be tied back to the training plan the coach had me followed.  The target set by my coach was more or less framed as "doing better", and I find it hard to assail such a vague target.  But I'm a numbers guy and I get jazzed by an audacious & concrete goal like "improve my 20 minute max power by 25 Watts".  It might not end up with better race results, but because I enjoy training nearly as much (or more?) as I enjoy racing, I've opted to try out a new coach for 2012.

Weight

In 2009, my weight hovered between 150 and 155 lbs.  Two years ago, I raced at weights ranging from 140 to 147.  And in my most successful year, 2011, I weighed as much as 137 but by the end of the season I was down to 129.  Think there's any correlation between my weight and my racing success, especially given my affinity for hilly road races?

The bad news though is that further race improvements stemming from further reductions in weight will be tougher to come by.  All of the weight loss thus far can be attributed to improved eating/drinking habits while cranking out the miles. 

In order to drop any more weight, I'll actually have to start dieting.  I'm not sure if I want to cross that bridge.  I don't mind suffering on the bike for hours and hours, but the prospects of suffering at the dinner table don't have me very motivated.  It would also result in a further encroachment of cycling on family life ("daddy can't go out to dinner with us because he has to stay at home and eat his special diet food"), so I'm not sure if I'm ready to cross that line in 2012.

Work/Life/Cycling Balance

I find it hard to believe that 2011's race results would have shown even the tiniest of progression if it were not for the near ideal work/life/cycling balance I was able to strike.  Work was a disaster for me for the first five months of the year, where I found myself more and more under utilized to the point where I was told to go looking for a new gig.  Yet that work disaster allowed for a cycling boon-doggle, where I could plan my work hours around my cycling training hours.  While most folks had to choose between family time and cycling time when deciding if and how to increase training duration, I had the luxury for a majority of my 2011 training to choose between work time and cycling time.  Any guesses as to who won that decision? 

Add to the mix a wife and family that fully supported my quest to upgrade, and toss in a few "family" vacations in locations ideal for a mountain goats and hill climbers, and you end up with about the perfect amount of miles and hours in the saddle required to score a Cat 3 upgrade, and in a way that didn't seem to intrude on the other important parts of life.

Summary

I admit that the title of this blog is a tad bit misleading.  I doubt the ingredients outlined in my recipe above could be followed by someone else and end up with the same results.  I didn't even specify the measurements to use when adding in the indegredients, so I doubt you could even call this a recipe -- just a list of ingredients.  Furthermore, those that are genetically more gifted than me likely can get by a far simpler recipe, perhaps one of those quick dinners that only require 4 ingredients or less.

Heck, I don't even know if I can follow the recipe again (e.g. I can't easily control work/life/cycling balance now that work has picked up), nor do I know if the same recipe used for a Cat 3 upgrade would translate into success riding as a Cat 3.  But I'm excited to give it a try and start cooking up a successful 2012 as training will begin in about 91 hours!

Cat Up or Not?

Should I?

I started this post over a month ago (Aug 15th to be precise) to help clarify the thoughts I was wrestling with regarding my decision to upgrade (or not upgrade) from Cat 4 to Cat 3.  In the weeks leading up to the Green Mountain Stage race, I was weighing the pros and cons on the decision to upgrade, or to get another year of seasoning in as a 4 before making the jump.

On the "pro" side of the leger, the fields might possibly be safe as I'd be riding with more experienced cyclist.  But given that their also likely more competitive as well, the extra testosterone and aggression might offset the improved handling skills, thereby netting me no extra safety in an upgrade. 

The prize money for the 3s was another "pro", but the odds of me elevating my station from Cat 3 pack fodder to the podium are pretty low, and likely close to 0 in the season after graduating from the 4s. 

The final "pro" I had written down back in my August initial musings was a brief note "tougher competition will take me to new places".  It sounded like something to contemplate further, but I took that thought out of the oven while it was still raw and never got back to baking it until well done.

My list of "cons" ran deep, but in order to keep this post short(er), I've deleted a few and eliminated most of the ramblings I had in support of each bullet:

• I was a good (but not great) 38 year old Cat 4.  As a 39 year old Cat 3, I might being at best pack fodder. Will racing be as fun if the chances of winning (heck, even cracking the top 20) no longer are within arms reach for me?
• Cat 3 races ofter are longer (especially when they are Cat 1 - 3 races) -- will I need to somehow carve up more time to train to avoid being in the gruppetto bringing up the rear in every race?
• Can someone who's never even come close to breaking 1000 W (this year I never broke 950W) ever be considered a Cat 3?
• Most importantly, will I be forced to finally shave my legs to avoid being shunned by the smooth skinned Cat 3s?

Why did I?

I never finished off the original "should I upgrade?" post. The question was still unanswered as the post sat in a draft state when I came home from the GMSR.  But the deadly combination of the exuberance and jubilation from my success over labor day weekend mixed in with a liberal dosing of Long Trail Harvest Ale overwhelmed any rational decision making that hinged upon an answer to that question.  Within minutes of getting my final GMSR race report out, I opened up the USA Cycling website, typed up my 2011 race resume, and then hit submit!

Less than 24 hours later, I had my Cat 3 upgrade notification.  By then my head was no longer swimming in endophins and alchohol and I was back thinking more rationally.  What did I just do?  Better yet, why did I do it?

Was it driven my jealousy?  I've seen a bunch of familiar and friendly faces departing from my Cat 4 fields and instead lining up in the Cat 3 fields.  Was the grass greener on the Cat 3 side of the fence? For the reasons noted above, I doubted that was the case.

Was it subconsciously motivated by some animal like basic instinct to set myself apart from the other males to make myself more desirable to the opposite sex?  Evolution has driven the males of some species to put on big displays of strength or of physical stature to help the females select the most fit mates.  Perhaps something in my genes compelled me to dress up in ungodly colored spandex and strut around with my Cat 3 license much like nature compels a male peacock to seek out females with their bright feather displays and dances?  Maybe there's something to this hypothesis, but as Mrs D will attest, setting myself apart from the Cat 4s hasn't changed how she looks at me.

It wasn't for fame and glory, and it also wasn't done as a step towards replacing Lance on Radio Shack.  So why then did I do it?

The answer finally came to me days later.  After wrapping up my final race of the year, a hill climb up Mount Greylock, I went out on an easy exploratory ride with teammate Dave J.  My legs had already checked out and entered the off-season, which was perfect as it gave me a far too rare opportunity to ride at a casual talking pace.

Dave was telling me a story about some older guy who was reaping the benefits of his years of cycling.  Essentially the moral of his story was that riding the bike was a great means to an end (the end in the case being the goal of pushing out the end of your life). 

And then it clicked in my head and a smile came to my face, as I had my answer, but not the one you'd think.  I enjoy training.  I feel "normal" when supported by structure and planning.  I love diving into my Powertap #s, analyzing the intervals, and keeping track of PRs.  In sick way, I derive pleasure in setting my lungs on fire and beating my legs to a pulp. 

It may sound silly to you, but I know who I am and I'm not afraid to admit it. Moving up to Cat 3 is a means to an end, with the end for me being more more training, revised and restructured plans, and more struggling to walk up the stairs because I've flogged my legs one too many times. 

That said, I am now officially in the off-season, so my need for training, intervals, and structure has been put on hold for a couple of months.  Instead, all of my planning efforts will be redirected towards notching some sorely over-due social and/or exploratory autumn riding.  Looks like I have structure around my non-training time!

Indecision 2011

Race Planning

A flurry of BikeReg race postings this weekend has me scratching my head right now (whereas the flurries I saw outside during my 4 hour ride had me cursing.  I think I'm officially rescinding my membership to the snow lover's club).  Prior to Friday, I had a solid 2011 race plan set in my mind.  Race a few of the Cat 4 Bethel races in March to help bring myself to a peak for Battenkill in April; re-load and peak again six weeks later for back to back stage race weekends (Killington and then the CT Stage race); then rest a bit before building back up for one last peak at the Tour of the Catskills in early August (with a nice appetizer the week before with the Tour of the Hilltowns). 

Two days later, as I sit here downing coffee and glancing again at BikeReg, I'm now not so sure anymore about most of my plan.  Battenkill is the only sure thing at the moment: I've never done it before, so it stands out in my mind as a challenge I need to conquer at least once. 

I guess the CT Stage likely won't change either as it is a chance to do a Stage Race without the expense and hassle of driving to some far off locale.  It is going to cause me to skip my daughters' dance recitals though, so I don't think I'm yet 100% committed, but not too far from it (yes, I'm not winning dad of the year award again). 

And lastly, the ToC is another one likely to remain on the calendar.  Unfortunately this year it conflicts with a wedding of a family friend, so unlike the prior two years, I wouldn't have my cheering squad along with me.  Part of the attraction for me in doing Stage Races is that it gives the Desmarais family weekend get-aways, so if I'm solo for this one it won't be as multifaceted of an event for me.  But still, the lure of the infamous Devil's Kitchen hill climb is one that I likely won't be able to overcome...

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

So what is it that now has my race plan feeling more like a Jenga stack with a bunch of its peices removed?  On Friday I admit that I stopped listening to Mrs D's chit chat as a new BikeReg entry appeared on my RSS reader.  As I read more and more about the Bennington Race weekend, the smile on my face got wider and wider (which I learned later on was a totally inappropriate facial expression for the subject the Mrs had been trying to talk about). 

It's a three stage race, but only occupies two days (as opposed to Killington's three day format); it would only be a two hour drive as opposed to nearly 3 and a half hours it takes for me to get to Killington; it would offer the Desmarais clan a new area to explore as part of our race oriented get-aways; and lastly, the hills!  While Killington has a few doozies to ascend, Bennington seems to offer a better climb for the ITT, and it looks like it has many more ascents to whittle down the field to just a small number of hearty souls by the end of the road race.

Bennington's ITT profile

Bennington's Road Race "Dragons"

On the other hand, Killington was extremely well run and well attended last year, so placing my bets on a newer race has me worried that it will be poorly run and poorly attended.  Plus, adding this race to my calendar might not allow my body sufficient recovery time, and re-loading time, between Battenkill and the CT Stage Races.  I guess I still need to talk to the Coach about that last point, and I'll need to follow-up with team Expo and others to get intel on the race promoters (to allay my question marks on how it will be run), as well as to test my teammate's interest level in signing up (to address my attendance concern).

Lots more thinking to do on that delimma, but it isn't the sole focus of my deliberations now.  While the Plainville crit series wasn't new to BikeReg this weekend, I hadn't really looked at it much until this weekend when I was looking at the new Bethel postings.  I'm a BIG supporter of Bethel -- the promoter is a teammate, but more importantly, he runs a top notch operation.  Plus, unlike most crits, there's a nice little hill to rattle the pack each time through, so it's much more suited to me than the pancake flat courses like Plainville.  On the other hand...

Looking at the Plainville series reminded me that the race has a lot to offer me.  First, it's much closer to where I live, and if I need to get extra miles in for Battenkill prep, I can actually ride to and/or from the race.  It is not only a much shorter drive if the cheering squad wants to attend, but given it's close proximity to my mother-in-law, it also allows us to fold a race morning into a lunch-time family gathering.  And perhaps of most interest to me, given the way the race is set-up, I could actually race twice for each trip to Plainville with the 3/4 race kicking off just minutes after the 4/5 race ends.  Whereas for Bethel, I'd have hours to kill between the morning Cat 4 race and the afternoon 3/4 race, so more than likely I'd opt for just a single race.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!  Oh what shall I do? 

I have to say though, it is always nice to have options, especially when they are all as attractive as what I now see on BikeReg!

Christmas Wishlist

The Mrs Misses the Mark

Yesterday (when I when I wrote version #1 of this post, which I'm now re-writing thanks to yet another Firefox browser crash) I received the last of my 2010 Xmas gifts, and it now appears as though I have check-marks next to all of the items on my wishlist.  I'd be tipping my hat right now to Santa for hitting the bulls eye if he had actually managed to guess and select all of what turned out to be the right gifts.  But (and don't tell my two girls about this), I am Santa Claus, at least when it comes to gift giving for myself.

Back when Mrs D and I were just dating, and then on through the early years of our marriage, she had been on her own when it came to Xmas and birthday gift selections.  I could go on and on with good things to say about the Mrs, but I'm afraid to say that gift giving isn't one of them.  I'm not sure what inspired her to give me gifts like the pillows I didn't need, the box of chocolates I wouldn't eat, the hat from what she erroneously thought was my favorite television show, the weekend snow-boarding get-away that ended with knee surgery, and the men's exercise magazine that was actually a thinly veiled PG-13 homosexual skin mag. 

While she did hit the mark on occasion, a few years ago she finally threw in the towel, and I now select my own gifts.  She does however still get some credit for the gift selections.  I'm normally a frugal man.  I tend to buy only what is needed, which is just a small subset of what I want.  I even push the definition of "need" to a bit out of the normal range.  How many holes need to be observed in one's underwear before you truly "need" a new pair?  Let's just say my definition differs from Mrs. D's.  So, as a result of her prodding and encouragement to open up the wallet for myself, combined with a gift certificate from my mom, I got way more than I needed this holiday season, and plenty of what I wanted.

The List

The last items that got checked off the wishlist were delivered from Performance Bicycle yesterday.   Under the direction of the Coach, I've been doing a ton of intervals over the last two months.  Those intervals seem just slightly more tolerable when done outdoors vs. up in the office on the trainer.  As a result, I've spent way more time this season out braving the elements than I have perhaps in the last two winters combined.  That added wear and tear on my clothing has unfortunately resulted in some of my clothing pushing the limits of even my "how many holes until replacement" test.

 


As much as the varied terrain and scenery helps to get me through my interval sessions, there's no way for me to do all of my training outside this time of year.  Bad weather, time constraints, and conveniences afforded by indoor riding have had me log a good number of hours inside.  But in recognition of my pathetic bicycle handling skills, I decided that I had to do something to address that weakness before the 2011 racing season.  Strides in improvement were not to be made while up on the ever stable trainer. 

So now, thanks to Santa, I log some of my indoor miles up on Krietler rollers.  I'm not at a point where I can use them to do harder efforts.  Heck, I'm not even yet at a point where I can ride the rollers and watch TV (perhaps though I could chew gum and ride) as I need to remain focused just to keep from falling off.  However, the number of crashes has progressively decreased, so I guess I must be improving.

 
I don't know if I'll ever get to a point where I can do long and/or hard intervals up on rollers, so there's no doubt the trusty Trainer will continue to get many hours of love from me this winter.  I've found though that the Coach has started pushing me way out of my comfort zone up upon the Trainer.  With the endurance hours occupying less and less of my riding time, I'm finding myself unable to type while riding.  I even find it hard now to surf the web and read. 

When the work-out calls for intervals (which lately seems more often than not) and I'm stuck inside, I need something that doesn't challenge me mentally, yet at the same time offers a little bit of motivation.  So, a number of entries on my wishlist were filled with selections from the Sufferfest (thanks to a tip from Catskills Cycling) and World Cycling Productions (tip credit here goes to SDC).  Yesterday I finally found out who won the 2009 Ghent (until yesterday, I didn't even know of a race held in Ghent!).

 
It would be fair for you to guess at this point that I'm too focused on riding, and that I've dedicated all of my spare time up on the saddle.  But that's not true.  I'm much more diversified and I pursue other interests like reading.  Here's a stocking stuffer I got to help branch out into other pursuits.

Of all of the gifts I gave to myself this year, without a doubt the one I'm loving the most right now is the SRAM Force compact crankset.  While I had some pride in knowing that I could (barely) ascend some of the toughest climbs in the Northeast (e.g. the Devil's Kitchen in the Tour of the Catskills) with just a normal 53X39, I knew that the painfully slow RPMs I cranked out stressed me in ways other competitors with better gearing did not go through.  I'm focused on improving my climbing engine (my legs, heart, and lungs) this winter, but I also decided to upgrade my transmission.

I knew the compact crank would provide a noticeable difference when I was climbing up some of the bigger hills, and on all accounts the Force has come through with flying colors.  But what came as a complete surprise to me is the feeling that I'm actually working a little less now to put out the same power. 

After feeling that magic repeatedly after putting the new cranks on, I did some research to investigate what might be super-charging my ride.  According to SRAM's website, "The integrated carbon-spider construction is light and stiff for greater power transfer with less effort."  Given that my old crank was a lower quality Spinergy stock model, I'm guessing the "greater power transfer" is even more noticeable to me than what SRAM's marketing department currently advertises.

 

Well, that's it for my 2010 xmas list.  It looks like 2011 racing season might have a little extra magic, courtesy of good ole St. Nick.  Now its time to shift gears and work on a new list.  My birthday is now just a month away!

Around the Earth in 1,095 Days

2010 By the Numbers

2010 was the first year I gave up on my excel worksheet for tracking miles.  I had kept the excel worsheet going for my first three years of cycling, but at the end of 2009, after using my PowerTap to capture and download the numbers directly to the computer, I realized the manual mileage excel was redundant.  Plus, with miles coming on the trainer, the road, rail trails, and the woods, a mile had lost some of its meaning.  Miles pulling the kids on the train vs. miles accumulated on the trainer was like comparing apples to oranges.

So, given that I no longer hand entered my mileage numbers after each work-out, I lost site of my total yearly miles.  That is until today, with a little time on my hands (a bad weather day, rest day, and a vacation day) and the end of the year nearing, I quickly copied my WKO+ monthly totals to excel and summed them up.  I honestly didn't know what my total was going to be, but I was certain that it was less than last year's 9,400 total (a year where I focused way too much on quantity and not enough on quality) and suspected that it was still more than 2008. 

I didn't have much of a reaction to the number that excel spit out.  8,163 miles thus far, with a few more yet to go before the year draws to an end.  But then being the numbers guy that I am, I started to ruminate on other numbers.

• In the last three years (1,095 days), I've logged just a few miles short of the Earth's circumference of 24,859 miles.
• I lined up 27 times to race for the year, so I shelled out over $1,000 just in race entry fees (never mind travel, lodging, extra gear, etc, etc).  However, I recouped some of that expense with the 4 bottles of water, 1 bag of specialty coffee, and a bike shirt and bike socks that I earned in the Primes I won throughout the year. 
• While I logged nearly 1,300 more miles last year, my time on the bike burned quite a few more calories this year.  My total of over 305,000 kJ for 2010 bested 09 by about 25,000 kJ.  That might have something to do with the fact that I'm ending this year weighing 8 lbs less than the 143 I started the year.
• I regularly remind myself to enjoy this time in my cycling life as the ideal situation I experience in 2010 could change in a heartbeat.  In the past year, work rarely spilling outside of the 9 to 5 boundaries; the weather infrequently barred my bike from the outdoors; my worst injury sustained was to my ego and not to my body; and my most serious illness was at worst a day or two of a mild cold.  Change anyone of those (or countless other) variables, and there's no way I end up logging 572 hours on the bike in 2011.  (That total also includes some hours spent cross training in the gym, but not much.)
• I only recorded 16 MTB rides in 2010, and 5 of them were logged in a memorable February family vacation in Sedona, AZ.  However, that small number is still 16 more than I had recorded in any year before this one.
• If it were not for those 16 MTB rides, my crash count for the year would have ended at just 3.  Once you throw in the MTB rides though (and one psuedo-MTB cross adventure), the number of crashes in 2010 requires more fingers and toes than I possess for me to tally up.
• I only counted 12 family rides in 2010, which surprised me.  I guess the chrystal clear clarity in which I can recall the fun and adventure from almost all dozen of these rides gave me the impression that I had accumulated at least twice that number.
• I started 2010 with doubts as to whether I'd have enough interesting material to keep the TC blog going for a full year.  93 posts, 5,000+ page views, and 137 comments later, I realized I've cleared the first year hurdle, but now my doubts of a full-year's worth of material are simply recast on 2011.
• Lastly, I wish I had a way to tally up the fun, challenge, excitement, adventure I experienced with teammates, friends, and family over the course of the 348 work-out entries I logged in WKO this year.  I'm sure I'd be amazed at how big the number grew over the last year, yet at the same time I'd readily admit that I still fell short.  So, with that said, enjoy the New Year celebration, and I hope I get to add a few more notches to my "fun, challenge, excitement, and adventure" tally with you in 2011!

 

Lance I'm Not

Low Expectations

After finishing my first ever Lactate Threshold (LT) test last night, I only needed a few minutes of cool down before changing back into my street clothes.  No need to even towel down as with the fan nearby, combined with only a surprisingly short period of "real" stress resulted in only a slight misting of sweat on my brow.  I sat down at the Coach's desk and within minutes I had the results in my hand. 

My suspicions had finally been confirmed.  There, in printed text, was confirmation that I am NOT Lance Armstrong, as his LT (6.75 W/kg) was right there juxtaposed to mine (4.15 W/kg).

If that had been all I got out of last night's test, I'd have been pretty disappointed having shelled out the money and taken two hours out of my Thursday night.  Despite the fact that I have had overwhelmingly positive comments from those that have gone down the same coaching path I'm now headed, I was still a bit dubious as to how much I could benefit over being self-coached.  I've regularly self tested myself by repeatedly measuring my 20 minute maximum sustained power, and then built schedules and work-outs culled from the internet and books that were based on my most recent Max 20 power reading. 

As I got ready to saddle up and do my first test with the Coach, I figured he'd pretty much be taking the same approach.  I had loaded up my wife's iPod (which initially only had Neil Diamond albums) with more than enough Guns and Roses, NIN, and Metallica to get me through 20 minutes of pain, as I thought I was about to embark on the same basic approach.  Get my new 20 minute number, and then plug it into some excel like formula, and then out spits my new schedule.  I guess I should have done more research, because boy, I was wrong.

Revelations

I learned enough last night to dismiss any question marks I had regarding my decision to enlist a coach.  It was clear by the end of the session that the guy knew a heck of a lot more than me, had access to tools unavailable to me, and my formulaic training planning process was deeply flawed.  Despite being handed a sheet of paper certifying that I'm not Lance, I excitedly sped home afterward thinking about the how my odds of success just increased for my big 2011 races (Battenkill, Killingston Stage Race, CT Stage Race, and the Tour of the Catskills) based upon the "education" I got and will likely continue to get in the upcoming months.  So what is it that I learned?

First off, basing my training zones strictly on Power #s (as I've done to date) likely had me over developing physiologically in areas where I didn't necessarily need to focus, and thereby leaving other areas languishing due to insufficient investment.  I had no idea that last night I'd have blood periodically drawn from my ear to firmly establish my true LT.  Rather than building a plan based upon a Wattage tied to a somewhat arbitrary number (20 minutes), my future work outs will now be based precisely upon when my body begins to accumulate lactate within my muscles faster than it can be removed. 

I'm sure my old way of training based upon the 20 minute power helped me make progress, but the scientist in me was thrilled to now be armed with a plan designed around specific trigger points within my blood's chemistry.  BTW, my under graduate major was in Mathematics, and my minor was in Biology, so I realize others might not be as excited as me with this revelation. 

Another thing I learned last night is that testing need not be an extended stint in the pain cave.  I was fully mentally prepared to dig deep for at least 20 minutes of pure hell.  While the actual work out for me exceeded 20 minutes (I think it ended just around 21 or 22 minutes), there was only a 5 or 6 minute period where things got tough.  The test had me up on a trainer holding a speed of 18 to 20 mph, with the Watts getting cranked up every 4 minutes.  Things started easy (I think 100W?) and then only got challenging towards the end.  But because the point of the test was to simply find the blood samples to calculate where Lactate started accumulating, I didn't need to put in a sustained hard effort.  I just needed to keep ramping things up until my LT was "discovered", and that was it!

The test also helped to set aside another big question mark I've been concerned about over the off-season.  Since racing ended, I've cleaned up my act in terms of eating and drinking habits (though I wouldn't call what I'm doing a diet) and in the process cut almost 12 pounds.  While I can visually tell that the weight loss has been mostly through fat loss, I feared that I had lost some powerful muscle tissue as well. 

Turns out that in reviewing my numbers against other LT tests, I ranked amongst the high-end of the Cat 3s or the low end of the Cat 2s.  That told me that my weight loss at least didn't manifest itself in poor LT numbers, but it also hinted that my weak spot might be at some other physiological trigger point other than my LT, as I'm just a lowly Cat 4 today, not the Cat 2/3 suggested by the LT number.

I jotted down a handful of other things that I learned as well, but no need to fully recount them here, at least not all at once.  I'm expecting to keep on learning as training for `11 under the new coaching regime officially starts next week with lots of sub-Aerobic Threshold  riding (150 W, another number derived from last night's testing).  Hopefully it will all lead to an even bigger improvement next year as compared to how far I progressed this year, but one thing is clear.  No matter how good the coaching will be, I'll still finish 2011 without anyone mistaking me for Lance.

Mid-Season Report Card

While the calendar still reads spring, I'm now onto the 2nd half of my racing season so I figured I'd take a moment and review the goals I laid out for what I wanted to achieve through cycling in 2010.  If I really needed to assign myself a grade to score my progress, I'd probably wouldn't be hanging the report card on the fridge.  At best I'd rate a B-, and perhaps if I was a little more honest I'd be getting a C.

But the point of this exercise is less about beating myself up for mistakes and more about learning from how I missed the mark.  Armed with that knowledge, I'll either adjust course and/or change the target.  So with that in mind, here are those initial 2010 goals (in bold) and my musings as to where and how I went off track:

1) Upgrade to Cat 3 

Ain't going to happen this year (unless you count the Cat 3 license I got just for becoming a rookie MTB racer).  I've done well in a couple of races (and I would have done well in another had I avoided a crash), but so far not even a whiff of the podium.  To be honest though, I now more than content knowing that I'll be a Cat 4 for the rest of this season.  Whether or not I'll aim for the upgrade next year is something I'll think about when it starts snowing out again. 

Right now I'm pretty happy as a Cat 4.  I'm still learning something new each time I race, about the course, about handling my bike, about how to work with a team, and about what I can ask of my body.  My Power #s keep on inching upwards, so no sign of a plateau or a ceiling.  Plus, I'm having a boat load of fun with my Expo Cat 4 teammates (and on occasion the Cat 3s in the few 3/4 races I've done). 

I think at some point I might focus in again on upgrading as a goal, but I've learned enough in the first half of this season to determine that I should remove it from 2010's list.  My goal for race results for the rest of this year is to continue to learn, improve the #s, maybe snag a podium finish, and find a reason to smile at each race. 

2) More family bike time

Not a ton of rides with the family thus far, but that isn't too surprising.  Mrs D won't ride unless it is warmer than 65, so the family ride opportunities didn't really start until a few months ago.  There have been a few shorter rides over the last few months, and a few memorable leg-busting work-outs pulling the train. 

Now that the warm weather is here to stay, there will be plenty more family fun rides (or family fun hill suffer-fests if the ride passes through the hills of South Glastonbury).  We'll be making a few trips to Cape Cod this month and will spend plenty of time on the rail trails, making stops for the beach (and for ice-cream as Mrs D's riding reward).  I also have penciled in the Oct 2nd Pedal for Paws charity ride as I think I've convinced Mrs D to enter the 25 mile event (as long as I get confirmation from the event organizers that I can do the ride pulling the train).

3) Stay Healthy

I crinkled my eyebrows and scratched my head when I looked at this goal.  I'm not really sure how "Stay Healthy" is actually a goal that I can aim at.  In any case, while I have been taken down in a few crashes and I have two little germ carriers living with me (aka kids who attend pre-school), I've been injury and illness free for the entire season thus far.  Add to the mix a very predictable work schedule and it all adds up to five months of nearly perfectly executed training where I missed almost no work-outs and more or less nailed the efforts I needed to put in.  A+

4) Reduce my Carbon Footprint

I get a D- here, if not an F.  I've replaced just a few car drives with bicycle rides thus far this year.  While I love living off of the main roads and having the solitude that you get when you live atop of a big hill, it makes it pretty darn tough to go out for an errand unless I also want to turn it into a work-out. 

I'm not giving up though.  When we're at the cape, I am going to toss my car keys into the oil-filled ocean and live car free during out time there (OK, maybe I'll just put the keys in the dresser drawer instead of feeding them to the fish).  No hills there, and while we still live in a quiet area, we're not more than a mile or two from anything we need while we're there. 

5) Explore and Experiment

My bad score on #4 is more than offset by my results under goal #5.  I won't rehash all of the stories already covered in posts from throughout the year, but suffice it to say I've ventured far from the boring confines of the Trainer (though never so far that I can't come back). 

I'm also pretty confident that I'll have even more stories to tell as I enter the 2nd half of the season.  While I'm going to be pretty focused on Road Races until early August (with 3 Villages, Tour of the Hilltowns, Tour of the Catskills Stage Race, and Tokeneke all circled on my calendar), I have rides of a different tune also marked off.

I'm hoping to try at least another MTB race (Great Glen Trails Summer Series when I'm up in NH in July), and then lots of trail riding as the leaves start changing and the road season comes to a close.  I also just signed up for two entirely new classes of events.  I'm going to be needing an oxygen mask as I ascend Mount Greylock in the BUMPS hill climb in early September.  Then the week following I'll be in the saddle for at least ten hours at the Berkshire Brevet Old Saybrook 300k.

I've made a lot of progress so far in 2010, but after taking some time to reflect and look ahead, I'm thinking that the rest of the year holds even more promise!