Trainer Confessions

Using My Brain

Sub-Story

Just finished up reading "We Might As Well Win", the true story of how Johan Bruynell led two different riders, Lance and Alberto, to Tour de France fame, supposedly without the aid of performance enhancing drugs.  I'm not a literary critique, so I won't offer any commentary as to how well the book was written.  But for me, a person whose TdF viewing was limited solely to snippets shown on Sports Center, it offered up enough light entertainment to distract me from the seemingly never-ending endurance rides done perched upon the trainer.

While I whipped through the book at pace that paralleled the speed of my whirling pedal strokes, most of what I read went into my brain and then flowed right through just as if it was water passing through a sieve.  But there was one nugget that proved to be meaningful enough to lodge itself more permanently.  Before Johan embarked on leading others to cycling greatness, he had modest success competing as a professional cyclist.  He never had the genetics to put him into the elite category, yet despite competing against far more gifted riders, Johan was able to win a few big races and stages (even holding TdF's yellow jersey for a day), and he proved himself to be an invaluable teammate.

Given my own middle of the pack genetic make-up, you can imagine that the sub-story of Johan's cycling career held my interest long after the sweat had dried from my trainer work-out.

Playing Chess and Riding a Bike

While I'd like to think that I have at least a slightly above average intellect, a race official's starting whistle consistently acts as an off switch for my brain.  Once the race is underway, there's very little of what I'd call intelligent thought going through my brain; any processing cycles are of the more primative kind.  I am aware that I am in a race, on a road (usually) with lots of twists and turns, ups and downs, and there are people swarming around me.  

I process all of that information and react to it just as stampeding gazelle would.  How do I best react to what I see to use up as little energy as possible to safely get me to the grasslands ahead of us without falling victim to the cheetahs and lions lurking on the perimeter?  I'm making quick decisions in response to the situation I find myself in; myopically focused on that precise moment in time.  No forethought as to how a decision now might impact the rest of the race, and no historical information collection adding to what might have been already lodged deep in my brain to the point it was almost instinctual.

By contrast, Johan raced as if he was the Deep Blue chess-playing computer system.  While truly elite Grandmasters could still beat Deep Blue back in the 90s, the Gigabytes of available information armed the system with enough decision-making input to pick off all but the best of competitors.  Johan raced with his brain as much, if not more, than with his brawn.  He studied every nook and cranny of the race course before the whistle blew; he constantly scanned the pack making mental notes of how each of the racers he saw were performing throughout the race; and he knew exactly who was in the break away and after considering a few key factors could instantly, and with amazing precision, predict if and when that break would become a threat.  Even while the pace of the pack eased and his body could rest, his brain was racing, taking in what he observed, and continually evaluating the next three or four moves that might get him closer to a checkmate.

So in addition to all of the training I'm putting my body through this winter to help me compete as a newly minted Cat 3 in March, I'm wondering if it is possible start training my brain to stay in the "on" position to help close that gap genetics already opened up between me and the lead 3s.  

Perhaps I can start within a few winter group rides, not to get a competitive advantage against friends and teammates, but just to begin to learn to use my noggin while riding (I can already chew gum while riding!).  Normal group rides for me are led by someone else much more familiar with the area, so my brain is normally in complete relax mode, unburdened with the need to pay attention to anything but the essential safety warnings.  Maybe I need to test my powers of observation on such rides, and then jotting them down afterwards to incent the brain from slipping into "off" mode.

While I'll likely give it a try, I'm still wondering if the pressures of an actual race effort, when my legs will be coursing with lactic acid and my lungs ablaze with fire, will force my brain to shut down any ways.  Perhaps I haven't been lazy in not remaining mentally engaged during races, but rather, the course and competition are so challenging that there's just no spare energy left in reserve to keep the brain running in addition to the body?

And it still remains to be seen as to whether or not all of my hard work will get me to a point where the gap between me and those far more gifted than me would be closed by adding brain power to the mix.  Its quite possible that if I can train my brain this winter, I'll be playing chess by myself come race day as the grand-masters leave me behind.  An active brain might result in more informative race reports posted here, but I'm pretty sure you might find the write-ups from someone alone and off the back pretty boring!

The End of an Error

Trainer Time in Decline

Initially I toyed with penning an "End of an Era" post, but I decided against it for three reasons.  First, despite now making it to my 12th month of posting here to "Trainer Confessions" (TC), it would be a stretch to make the jump from a measly year to a grandiose "Era".  Secondly, I'm still enjoying getting the creative juices going in putting together my thoughts for this blog, so while this may come as a disappointment to some, TC is not coming to an end and the posts will keep on coming.  Lastly, as I finished my first session on rollers the other day, I realized that over the course of time that it took me to type nearly 90 posts, the tag-line for TC, while once accurate, was now outdated and erroneous.

My new roller setup -- note the various objects I've surrounded myself with to put a hand or a foot down on to brace my fall.

A year ago when I first starting blogging, it was appropriate to find the heading "I spend a lot of time on the trainer, and if it wasn't for the time I spend writing the blog, my brain would be filled with cobwebs." right under the TC blog title.  I'm certain that if I added up the time spent on the trainer in 2008 and 2009, it would have likely have dwarfed the time in the saddle outside of the confines of my cloistered office.  I rarely ventured outside during the winter months or in darkness, and I even opted for the convenience of the trainer, especially on work days, throughout the nicest of New England summer months. 

For some (perhaps most?), the time I spent on the trainer would have been akin to a prison sentence.  But perhaps because I started using the Trainer so early in my cycling career, I didn't know what I was missing out on.  "Ignorance is bliss" they say, so I happily spun away in front of my computer for hours on end.

A new tag-line

However, ever since the TC blog got going, the time spent on the trainer slowly began to decline.  It isn't that I've grown to hate the time riding in my office.  I doubt I've gone more than two weeks at any point throughout the year without some time on the trainer.  And soon enough, once the snow and ice make their inevitable comeback, I'm sure I'll spend at least a few weeks without any miles being logged outside of the house.  Riding the trainer is still a convenient way for me to get time on the bike, and when I have to resort to the trainer, I still do so without complaint.  But, due in large part because of this blog, I'm seeking out far more opportunities to avoid the error of locking into the trainer too frequently.

"How does writing a blog keep you off the trainer?" you might ask.  You might think that the reason is that there isn't a lot of writing material to draw upon if you're stuck on a trainer.  While its true that this blog would be rather sparse with just trainer experiences for source information, I'm not so concerned about you, the reader, at least when it comes to planning my rides.  I've never knowingly opted to bring the bike outdoors simply to generate ideas for a new blog post.

It turns out that the mental process of writing the blog post seems to have enhanced the memories of all that I've experienced out on the roads and enhanced my appreciation of all that cycling has to offer.  I know I enjoyed rides before I started blogging, but back then the memories seemed to quickly fade away.  When I hopped back on the trainer, it almost seemed like I wasn't missing out on much. 

Now that I take the time to reflect on all of the memories and stories as I prepare to write a new TC post, the images and feelings exerienced thoughout the ride now seem to persist in my head a lot longer and with far greater fidelity.  Somehow writing this blog has forged new connections in my brain and in the process has created a powerful motivator to get back out there and do it again.  More rides lead to more posts and more images and feelings sizzled into my memory, drawing me back out again, etc, etc.

So, while the TC blog will continue on, this is the end of the now erroreous tagline.  Take a look above (assuming you're not reading this through RSS) and check out the new tagline.

I used to spend a lot of time on the trainer; this blog keeps me from relapsing.

A Tale of Three Rides

A Bicycle Riding Sandwich

Yesterday was a three ride day, with a ride before dawn, lunchtime, and finally late evening.  Unlike a sandwich where the highlight of the meal is between the two slices of bread, I had a peaceful early ride and an adventurous late day group MTB sandwiching a boring but challenging mid-day trainer workout.

Enjoy the Silence

Part of me feels uneasy with all of the recent summer-like weather.  I know that a record warm day doesn't prove global warming, just as a record snowstorm doesn't disprove it.  However, when I got dressed for yesterday's 5 AM ride wearing just shorts and a light jacket, attire that I'd normally wear on an early AM August ride, I knew something wasn't quite right, and I made a mental note to remind myself to think more about how I can replace more miles in the car with bicycle miles instead.

Despite my uneasiness with the weird weather, there was no denying that it felt great to be out on a bike, especially for a pre-dawn ride.  I'm an early bird, so over the years I've logged quite a few hours of riding in the dark, and most of yesterday's 75 minute ride required the use of a headlight.

Riding in the dark is a great way to introduce a little variety to your rides, transforming your normal rides into routes that look entirely different with just the light from the moon and your headlight.  It tends to also be a more peaceful time to get out, allowing you to hear sounds otherwise masked by traffic.  And believe it or not, I also believe it is a safer time to be out riding.  There are fewer cars out on the road.  When a car does approach you on the road, the driver often gives you far more clearance when passing as there's no oncoming traffic to manage.

Interval Time

The morning's ride was just a calorie burner for me.  Over the last few weeks I think I convinced myself that I temporarily became a crit racer, and I started to eat like one as well.  I need a few more calorie burner rides over the next few weeks to get me back down to my target racing weight.

The lunchtime ride had a much different purpose -- interval time!  I donned my shorts again (this time no jacket) and quickly reconfigured my office and setup my bike.  Hopped on the bike, queued up a few racing Youtube videos (like this one from a recent Bethel race posted by SDC), did a little warm-up, and then cranked out the intervals.  An hour later I hopped back off the bike, reconfigured the office, and it was back to work.

Falling Record

After finishing up a day at work I quickly gathered my gear, woke up the girls and Mrs D from their naps, and then drove out to the nearby trail system at Case Mountain.  I had been there bunch of times over the last six month for hiking with the family, and I never saw more than a couple of cars in the parking lot.  When I arrived yesterday after work, I found myself parking a couple of hundred yards down the road as the weather seemed to have called out all local MTB riders to come and enjoy the day.

Despite the fact that this was now my 3rd ride of the day, I felt pretty good at the start of the ride.  I knew the pace wasn't going to be tough, so it really didn't matter even if I did feel a bit of fatigue. 

Last night's ride was my first group MTB ride with five guys & a gal who clearly were not like me.  I showed up wearing my normal tight fitting team kit, whereas most of the rest of the gang had much more casual clothing -- stuff I couldn't distinguish from clothing I'd wear walking around town.  Another thing that set me apart from the majority of the group was my fitness level.  I won't be offending anyone by calling a few of them "fat and old", as they used the words on a few occasions to explain why they were breathing so hard.  The final thing that set me apart was the fact that they had MTB skills, and I did not!

I logged my first fall within a hundred yards of the parking lot, and during the course of the next two hours (about 75 minutes of riding time), I probably fell or did a quick unplanned dismount at least another ten times.  In fact, the ride leader, Steve, declared that I set the record for most falls only half way through the ride.  I intend to file an official protest to my record though -- the only other guy to fall on the ride was also the only other guy wearing a team kit.  I swear that my record breaking number of falls could only have been achieved if someone was giving me credit for his falls as well.

In any case, despite the scrapes and bruises, I had a great time out in the woods.  There was a lot more talking & joking out on the ride than in a normal group road ride.  I got to see parts of the trail system I had never seen before while out on hiking.  The ride ended about 30 minutes after sunset, so even some of the trails I had done in the past looked a heck of a lot different without the sun.  And, thanks mostly to Steve, I learned a few things along the way that will definitely help me when I try out my first MTB race in less than two weeks.

So that's it for my tale of three rides, and as I type this post, I'm thinking that today will be a tale of no rides.  The body feels a bit banged up from yesterday's MTB ride, and a general feeling of fatigue from more than 3 1/2 hours of riding yesterday -- time to rest!

The Trainer Confessions Jinx

Coincidence?

Most people have heard of either the madden  jinx or the sports illustrated jinx where someone famous appears on the cover of the game or the magazine and then some sort of disaster coincidentally befalls them.  Well, have you ever heard of the Trainer Confessions jinx?

In an earlier post I talked a bit about my office trainer set-up.  In particular, I said the following about my Travel Trac:

So far the trainer has proven to be pretty reliable.  I am guessing that I've logged over 4k miles in just over a year on the trainer with no malfunctions.  Also, I've been able to pack it up with ease to bring on a few vacations and business trips, so it has survived a fair amount of jostling.  Lastly, at the end of last season I also starting bring it with me to use as a warm-up device before races, and again, no issues to report.

Guess what happened when I hopped back on the trainer later that very same day?

What to do?

After frantically fumbling around trying to diagnose why I could no longer adjust the resistance on my "pretty reliable" trainer, I brought it down to the bike shop right down the street.  The owner broke his tool set out and pretty much concluded that there was a mechanical failure (the electronics seemed good) and my only recourse was to take the matter up with the dealer. 

After a friendly call with a lady at Performance Bicycle, I realized that my trainer had to be shipped back.  The good news is that she told me that they would reimburse me for the shipping, and (get this) they would even give me the option of getting a refund! 

The Replacement

So, as you might have already guessed by reading my earlier posts, I was likely to go into a state of shock if I was without my trainer for a couple of weeks, so on my way out of the shop I decided to purchase a new one. 

Assuming that I am able to get a full refund (or even store credit) on my old trainer, the price of this unit may actually prove to be a wash financially.  Plus, my new Kinetic trainer doesn't have the added (and for me, unnecessary) option to hook into my computer to synchronize with a video, so I no longer need to mess around with cables or electricity (so as an added benefit, I can file this post under "carbon footprint"!).  Lastly, this unit allows me to hit higher Watts than the old one.

After bringing home the new trainer I was back in action less than 10 minutes after returning home.  I still have to deal with the hassle of shipping the old one back for refund/repair/store-credit, but I'm actually pretty happy with how the day's earlier panic has led me to what I think might actually be a trainer much more to my likings. 

I just hope that this post doesn't now jinx me yet again!

The setup

Chewing Gum and Walking at the Same Time

This is my fourth post of the year, and it is now the third one I type while on the trainer doing and endurance ride early in the AM (though I just hopped off a minute ago to put the youngest back to bed -- 5:20 AM is too early for anyone but me to be awake). 

You may be thinking that there's no way I can get a decent work-out in while typing.  I no way am I going to say that what I'm now doing is on par with a road ride where I'd be incorporating other muscles into the mix, but it is way better than NO ride, which with the cold, ice, and darkness I see out my window right now is my unsavory alternative.  Plus, as far as endurance rides go, I doubt I'm missing out on too much fitness building as I type here on the trainer.  A quick glance down at the Powertap shows I'm at 168 W  and 83 rpm Avg (for context, my current Functional Threshold Power is about 270 W).  I'll go into more reasons why I ride the trainer (as opposed to pursuing alternatives) in a subsequent post, but for now I'll turn to the "how" question.

The bike

Up until last December I had only one bike ( I got a new Cross bike for Xmas ), so I always had to shuttle my bike back and forth to and from the office whenever I wanted to switch between road riding and office riding.  Now that I have the cross bike though, I'm keeping my road bike up in my office as it is  the same one I'll use for races so I want my body to be most accustomed to it.  Plus, now that the roads are so dirty, I'd prefer not to muck up the racing bike.

The computer

More or less a standard Dell PC is all I need as I don't do much CPU/Memory intensive work/play.  Its the setup though that gets my particular attention.  Before I get ready to ride, I pull the desktop to the edge of my desk to give my monitor some extra height.  That's not enough boost though to get the monitor to eye level on the bike, so after the monitor is on the computer I then have to extend it upwards to its full height and angle it slightly for better viewing.

I've had a few scares early on where cables nearly tangled up around my crank arms, so I've tried my best to go wireless whenever possible.  As you can see in the picture above, my Logitech keyboard and mouse help to avoid cable clutter, and they also allow for a much faster office reconfiguration before/after rides.

I still have a few cables though to worry about.  I have a corded headset phone wired to my computer ( I have a Cisco IP phone for work), but I rarely take calls while riding so most often the cords are kept just at arm's length from the bike and safely away from the pedals.  I also have ear plug headphones that I'll use during intervals.  The cord is too short for me to use and sit and type w/o the plugs coming out of  my ear, however, I only use them to listen to music while doing intervals.  I not doing any typing while doing intervals though, so ear plug cable length is not really a problem I'm worried about.

The trainer

I bought my Travel Trac Trainer on Performance Bike's online store (I rarely buy things except food unless it is done online).

So far the trainer has proven to be pretty reliable.  I am guessing that I've logged over 4k miles in just over a year on the trainer with no malfunctions.  Also, I've been able to pack it up with ease to bring on a few vacations and business trips, so it has survived a fair amount of jostling.  Lastly, at the end of last season I also starting bring it with me to use as a warm-up device before races, and again, no issues to report.

I only have two complaints about the device.  First, I paid way to much for it, thinking that I'd take advantage of the cool feature where I can watch a video on my PC (like a film of someone riding the TDF) and have the resistance on the bike automatically synchronize with the terrain on the video.  I used that option perhaps just a handful of times.  It was nice, but the video library was very limited and I quickly lost interest in videos I had.  Plus, I like to have some very structured work-outs, and none of my specific training goals could be tailored to the videos I have.  Anyone want to buy them from me?

The other complaint I have is that there's no easy read-out to see what I have the resistance set to at a given point in time.  I have to adjust the resistance by pressing the + or - signs and then watch my Powertap resistance hone in on the right Watts.

While I have no intent to sell what I have now, I doubt I'd buy something like this again as I'd opt for a more scaled down model w/o the video/resistance sync option.

Sick bed swivel table

I don't know if anything I do on the trainer is that unique, however, if there was one thing, I'd be willing to bet it is my use of a sick bed swivel table.  Yes, I know what you're thinking -- anyone property owned by a person who willingly spends so much time on the trainer gets a "sick" label, but in this case there's more to the story. 

Early in my time riding the trainer, I attempted to do a bit of typing using my Blackberry (I've subsequently upgraded to an iPhone), but I get poor cell coverage at home, and, as sick as you may think I am, even I'd go crazy doing an hour of typing on one of those tiny key boards.  So, I needed a way to make use of a normal keyboard and mouse, and my inspiration came from a recent trip to the dentist's office.  I needed something that could come up high enough for me to use on top of the saddle, yet mobile enough to set aside when I needed to do some more serious riding in the drops, or during times when I'm just reading.  Here's what I came up with (courtesy of Amazon):

It isn't perfect -- because of the way the weight is distributed, especially when I am typing, it can get sort of wobbly.  Also, occasionally without my knowledge, I think my wife (inadvertently?) locks the little plastic wheels and I only notice the lack of mobility after I'm already riding.  But, despite these flaws, I think this post is ample proof that my innovation has some merit.

Other Amenities

I've got a heavy duty fan set off to the side of my bike, and I rarely ride w/o it on at least the low setting, even when the weather is frigid (as it is this AM) or when the air is crisp and mild and I have the windows open.  I hate the feeling of a sweaty keyboard, so I need that fan induced stiff breeze to whisk the sweat away.  I also usually have a towel handy (rarely though do I need it), and a plastic mat for the floor (which I have never used).  Because I don't sweat that much, I don't have to drink that much either, but I always have my water bottles full and mounted on my bike. 

OK, that's probably enough information about my setup.  In later posts I'll go into more details on why I'm in my cave riding (even when the weather is nice), and I'll also delve into more details as to what I'm doing (besides blogging) while I'm on the bike.

Any ideas as to what I can do to improve my setup?  Let me know!

Back to the (New) Routine

Back in action

Third post in just three days of blogging.  In no way do I expect to keep this up, and I'm guessing that nobody wants me to keep this pace either.  However, today's the first day back to work after a long break (10 days off from work, and the last 7 days were part of a rest week with little riding), so I figured it would be a good opportunity to look at my regular routine as I start most work days, as well as to comment how things have changed with the start of this blog.

Darkness

My normal work week starts at 5:05 AM with a walk downstairs to grab a cup of coffee with eggnog (which somehow seems to have fewer calories and more nutrition than cream).  One day a week (usually Tuesdays) I then hop in the car and drive to Hopkinton MA, but on most other days I walk back upstairs and down the coffee while the computer powers up.  I give myself a few more minutes to finish the coffee and wait until I'm successfully on the internet as it is a pain in the butt to discover a modem issue after I've already started riding.  Assuming all goes well with the PC, I strip down to just my spandex shorts and my bike shoes (aren't you glad there's no photo posted?), turn the fan on, plug in the trainer, and the hop on the bike.

Calorie burn

Nearly all of my early AM rides are just calorie burners done at a modest endurance pace.  It's hard to coax the muscles into doing anything more serious so early in the day, but, perhaps more importantly, I don't want to wake the family doing crazy RPMs and/or cranking up the resistance to get the more serious Watts.  Plus, I almost always get at least one more opportunity later in the day to do another ride, so no need to kill myself before 7 AM and then turn into a zombie for the rest of the day.

The early AM ride is usually at least an hour (I'm 35 minutes in at this point as I type), but typically goes a bit longer as I don't get off until either my youngest daughter wakes up or until the first cup of coffee forces me off.  It takes just about 45 seconds for me to move my bike and reconfigure my PC after I'm done riding, and then I'm ready for work again.

Lunch-time is Interval Time

On most days I am lucky enough to have at least another 60 minutes of free time around noon.  I never have to dress up for work (sweats and long-sleeve t-shirts is as fancy as a home-based employee gets), so I'm back in my riding shorts and shoes and I've reconfigured the office and I'm back on the bike in just minutes, leaving me with yet another hour to crank out the miles.  This session tends to be dedicated to the more focused sessions (today's plan has me doing Muscular Endurance Intervals) where I work a lot harder.  I tend not to sweat much (even on hot days) and I really crank up the fan for these sessions, but I often have to end the work-out with 5 minutes to spare to squeeze in a short shower.

Staring at a PC for 2 hours?

You might be thinking that my brain is going to atrophy with at least 8 hours a week on the trainer (at least in the winter time), and sometimes you'd be right.  For the most part, I've kept myself fairly occupied by reading blogs (I'll probably expand upon this one in a later post), updating Quicken, checking the weather, Facebook, a quick scan of ESPN and the MSNBC headlines, and then reading and responding to work email.  I also regularly listen to either Sirius Online or music from my iTunes library during the focused intervals, and occasionally sneak a Netflix On-Demand video in (but I need to make sure it isn't a movie that my wife wants to see). 

With the exception of the work emails, its fair to say that most of my time on the trainer mostly has my brain in a passive mode, trying to absorb information.  That's still going to be a part of my regular routine going forward, however, you're now seeing my attempt to engage a few extra neurons during riding time, to make the time both more productive and to pass by quicker. 

OK, 50 minutes now into today's ride, and I doubt many people will read any further, so, back to blog reading...

Why do I ride, and 2010 Goals

Motivations

I rarely do things without at least some vague idea as to how it fits into the bigger plan (though I leave a little wiggle room to schedule in some spontaneity ;-> ).  However, as I wrote about in my initial post, I spent much of 2009 riding without much of a purpose, at least not a purpose that I gave much thought to.  So, what follows from here is my first attempt at serious thought about the goals that lie behind my serious time commitment to the sport of cycling.  What I hope to write about in most of my future posts this year will be tied back to one or more of these goals.  (Man, I want to strike that last sentence as it sounds like something I would say at work.  While it is a true sentence, I do not want bike riding to end up feeling like work, which, ironically, is why I want to keep myself focused through this blog on why I ride.)

1) Upgrade to Cat 3 

OK, it's in writing now, public on the internet, so there's no backing down now.  I was a bit reluctant to commit to this goal as I'm still relatively new to cycling (last year was only my 2nd year of racing, 4th year of riding) and I'm not exactly sure what it will take to get to the point where I'm on par with the Cat 3s.  To date I've mostly been setting goals to improve my personal Watt/kg records, but I do enjoy the thrill of competition against others, so I wanted a goal that pits me against blood and flesh and not simply against #s on a computer screen.

2) More family bike time

I'm a married man with two kids (ages 5 and 3 1/2).  While I'm the only cycling fanatic amongst the Desmarais clan, they all enjoy hitting the road, especially on family rides.  As the kids grow up it's possible that they may lose interest, so right now I want to take advantage of the opportunity while it lasts.  I often feel my best after a good family ride.  I get a great work-out (as I'm usually pulling both girls and I'm using a heavier bike) and I get to see the roads with a different perspective that only kids bring to the table.

3) Stay Healthy

Aside from just a few colds and one bad case of the stomach flu, I pretty much have had a clean bill of health each of the last three years.  Furthermore, I've been able to keep fairly trim despite my body's natural inclination to pack on the pounds.  I don't think its a coincidence that that this healthy period has aligned with my commitment to regular cycling.

4) Reduce my Carbon Footprint

This goal will be a bit tough for me.  I live at the top of a fairly steep hill, so there are no easy spins to the convenience store.  Furthermore, on the days I do commute to work (usually just once per week), I trek up to Hopkinton MA, so it will be the rare work day when I can swap the car with the bike.  Still, I've put it down as a goal, so now I'll be forced to figure something out despite these challenges.

5) Explore and Experiment

No, this isn't a last minute addition to the list.  The first four items have laser-beam focus, so you might be tempted to think that I threw this one on here just to avoid the perception that I'm a robot.  Many days I do feel like a robot as I'm churning out miles on the trainer (like right now), so you can imagine what joy I feel as I explore a new road, see new scenic vistas, and challenge myself with new terrain.  I don't do this often enough, so that's why I put it on the list.

OK, that's the end of the list.  Plus, I gotta pickup the pace on the trainer now...