08262008 and stuff

Let's see...the storm passed, it finally stopped raining and after about 12 inches or so of rain and 5 days on the trainer I finally got out on the road for a 3 hour ride with some nasty zone 4 intervals. The ride felt great at first, then I hit a brief down pour and once the intervals were over and it was hot, muggy, & windy- I was over it. This ride was the last hard effort before the 8 Hour race next Sunday. Anyhow, Sunday ended with Avery and I playing in the pool while Char sold houses. One works, one plays...it worked Saturday that way too...

Monday was another day of madness at work. We got started on the post Fay work/repairs Saturday and we are still reeling from the damage from the storm. I can't believe how much damage was done- mostly from power surges and outtages- not flooding. Either way, its cool fixing stuff...

My bike came in Monday but Trek forgot to send the rear shock for some reason...so I have to wait a little longer...like til Thursday or Friday. I was so excited to ride the dern thing but my first ride on it may be Saturday at San Felasco as I pre-ride the course for the 8 Hour race. I'm hoping to get it Thursday so I can get a good shake-down ride in at Hanna...we'll see...

Chance of Rain

Actually make that about 10 inches of rain and counting. Some places not far from here have gotten 30 inches of rain. Ouch. Non-stop rain, 40-50+ mph winds and mostly everything closed makes for fun times. Not. At least the Olympics are on 3 different channels... Not only has it rained for 4 straight days, I've been riding the trainer for 4 straight days. I anticipate the thrill of riding outside again one day...

Football is right around the corner!! While Char and I are bustin out laps at the 8 Hours of San Felasco, Kentucky will be playing in-state rival Louisville next Sunday. This game should set the tone for the season for both teams. Since both schools will have quite a different look this year, namely new QB's, I can't wait to see what they are all about. While I normally root for the Cards throughout the year, I always hope for UK to put a solid whoopin on 'em. I'm also eagerto see if UK's defense has gotten any better at all...

Anyhow, GO BIG BLUE!!

Annoying Stuff

So Tropical Storm Fay has decided to hang out and share her wind and rain with us. Annoying. Uhhh, go away or something...


Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt decided to show no class after smoking the men's 100 and 200 at the Olyimpics. Annoying. The look-at-me antics and not acknowledging the other athletes may be just a sign of immaturity but I am glad the IOC blasted him. Grow up dude. Show some respect. I will say though, he is one fast mofo. In fact, he is the fastest ever...

Oh, the new Procaliber frame is on its way! I gotta give some love to the Trek Store for handling my claim so fast and to Trek/Gary Fisher for coming through with the frame replacement/upgrade. I'm psyched that I'll be going into the fall series with a new ride. Hope it helps...

Daddy's Princess

Somebody's first day of 3rd grade was yesterday...

Why can't there be a pause button on this whole growing up thing???

Storm's Coming...

Man, this doesn't looks fun...

This may screw my riding up for a few days... Bummer....

Oh, do I know somebody in Chicago? I looked at my analytics recently...

Riding in Charlotte

Before I left for Charlotte, I had checked this site out to find the best places to ride in the area. After riding on the not-so-great roads near the hotel on my road bike the first day there, I headed 5 miles down the road to Anne Springs Close Greenway to hit some trails after class on the 2nd day. It had been raining all day so I knew it would be muddy, like red clay muddy. It took me a long time to find the place and even when I found it, it took me a while to find the trail. Once I found the trail, however, it was on! The trails were a little muddy in places but had good climbs, downhills, technical sections, rock gardens, suspended bridges, and tunnels. I had a map and lost my bearings a few times but I will probably go back and hit this trail again. I ended my ride when I started to run out of sun. Oh, since I had an easy ride planned, I took the camera...

On Thursday, the weather was awesome (and not as hot as FL!) and I was eager to get out of class and head to the US National Whitewater Center. I had read all about the trails so I knew this place was going to rock! When I got there, the place was packed! Not necessarily with mtber's, but with rafters, rock climbers, people walking dogs and people there for the bands, festivities, beer & food. This place was awesome, had a killer atmosphere and the trails were incredible! Since I had a serious ride, I didn't take the camera into the trails. These trails had it all, especially climbing. I rode and rode and eventually had to stop when it got dark. I can't wait to get back to this place and ride again. I would like to plan a trip so Char can ride this place too, especially before Tahoe. I will no doubt hit this place again in a few weeks when I head back to Charlotte.

Here's a summary of my ride at USNWC...

Back from Charlotte

Man, I found some awesome places to ride while I was in Charlotte for product training at Parker SSD. I'm eager to head back next month. I'll post some pictures and trail reviews later but I gotta say that I've been totally mesmerized for the past hour with all of the gadgets that you can add to your blog. I added a few for the heck of it and I'm sure I'll play with that stuff more later...

Oh, here's something cool I found the other day...Big Blue's Attack at the Jacksonville Cycling Classic

Another thing- my frame is cracked on my mtn bike. I've had several issues with my Gary Fisher Race Day Procaliber since I got it- all related to the rear suspension. I'm hoping to get the new HiFi Procaliber as a warranty replacement. Stay tuned...

Race Pictures II

Scott delivering the plan before Sunday's crit....

My solo breakaway...

Post race team chit-chat...

Hottie in a VeloBrew kit...

1 lap to go for Char...

Race Pictures I

I'm having wireless issues at the hotel but not at the SSD training facility here in Charlotte. So I'm a few days behind, but here's some shots from Avery's triathlon...

Anticipating the start...

Transition from swim to bike...

SMOKING the bike...

Finishing strong on the run...

Post race celebration with friends...

Man, I'm so proud of my little pumpkin pie!

Racing Weekend!

We had a mad busy weekend with road racing and triathlons! I'll give a short recap now but I'll add pictures tomorrow once I get settled into Charlotte. I'm headed to Charlotte, NC tomorrow for 4 days of work related education. And yes, I am taking both bikes and the trainer so I can stay on schedule. Looks like there are some cool trails close to where my stragetically selected hotel is located...


Anyhow, Saturday was the Jacksonville Cycling Classic road race out in Nocatee, which is a cool new "town" being built out in Ponte Vedra. Char had the early race (7:30 am) and was rather tough because they grouped the masters 55+ and all of the women cat 1234 together. Char kicked a$$ and got 4th in cat 4. My race was the last of the day, at 3:00 in total sunshine and 92 degrees. The 40 mile road race was rather boring. We had 6 Velobrew teammates in the race and once one of our guys went in a late 2 man breakaway, we deployed team tactics by keeping the peloton under control and chasing down all chase attempts and bringing them back to the pack. Our guy stayed off the front and finished 2nd, while we geared up for a field sprint. Sean, Rad and I were in good positions but as we ramped it up, a guy went down between the 3 of us. He bumped Rad as he went down and his bike went totally under mine, damaging my front wheel and puncturing my tire- at 35 mph! I somehow didn't crash but I limped across the line with a front flat. Sean sat up too considering the wreck was right in front of him while Rad managed to escape unscathed and finished 4th. Man, wrecks in the sprint are scary as he!!...

Sunday morning was the kid's triathlon at the Ponte Vedra YMCA. I was so surprised at how many kids turned out, it was awesome! The race was set up in 3 waves; ages 5-7, 8-10 and 11-12. It was very well coordinated and there were plenty of volunteers from the Y to keep the chaos under control. Avery was anxious to get going after getting her transitons all setup. I was excited AND crazy nervous. She motored through all 3 legs of the race (especially the bike portion!) and finished the 50 yard swim, 4 mile bike and 1/2 mile run in 24 minutes. I was so proud of her and at the same time it was incredibly emotional seeing your little girl compete- doing so well and taking it so serious. I think she may have some good genes for this kind of thing... Anyhow, after the race she was all about eating some doughnuts and "getting it over with." Solid work kiddo!!

From here we hustled back over to Nocatee for the crits. For those of you who don't know, a crit is a road bike race on a very short course (like a circuit) where you go for X amount of minutes or X amount of laps. My crit started with about 35 guys and started out rather slow. There were a few short lived attacks in the first few laps but after an attack was pulled back in that had 2 of my teammates in it with a little over 2 laps to go, I launched a solo attack that caught the group by surprise, which subsequently started a 20 minute zone 5 interval for me! I quickly gained a 30 second advantage and I knew if I got out far enough it would give my teammates enough time to respond to any chases. I stayed off the front for about half of the 3 mile lap until a guy bridged up to me, then we stayed off the front for close to another half lap until a chase group caught us and motored by. I saw Rad in this group and knew that if I didn't dig deep and jump on, my race would be over and I'd finish in the pack. I managed to push hard and jump on. I think there were about 10 or 12 riders in this group and we built a very big gap over the peloton. I saw that we had some teammates sitting on the front of the main group so I knew our advantage was safe as long as we kept the tempo up. As we closed in to the finish line and the speed ramped up, a guy in front of Rad and I blew up but instead of holding his line, he drifted over into our paths. We had to weave around him and ended up crossing the line 7th and 8th at 38 mph. We were rather disappointed to not podium after such a strong finish but that is the bad part about road racing. Things have to really work out perfect at the end in order to win.

After getting cleaned up, I chilled at the Velobrew tent with Avery and watched the Pro 1,2 race as Char warmed up. The women all raced together again (cat 1234) but the field was very small, like less than 10 girls. The group immediately broke up as the 1,2 girls pulled away. In the end Char got 3rd and was excited about the results but a little disappointed about the competition, the number of girls racing, the way road racing works and how the field was set up. Either way, we had a busy weekend and were pleased with our results but after being in the heat all day we were eager to get home, get cleaned up and eat some real food. After hitting one of our favorite restaurants, Tijuana Flats, we settled in for the evening and watched the Olympics. Man, the summer games are so damn cool.... Go USA!!

Another thing that was cool about this weekend was I learned that when a Velobrew guy finishes on the podium during a road race, he splits his winnings with his teammates. That was especially cool Saturday because we had 2 guys in the top 5 and between the 6 of us in the race, it was one of the best displays of team tactics a lot of people have seen in amateur racing. Most people do not know that cycling is a team sport a lot of the time. Anyhow, Velobrew is an awesome race club that was well represented this weekend in every race category and also provides such an awesome atmosphere for camaraderie. Ride on Brewers!!

Y Kids Tri

Avery is so excited to do her first triathlon this weekend at the Ponte Vedra YMCA. She's been to quite a few triathlons over the last few years and she's been itching to do one herself. Her time has finally come! Sunday's kid's tri includes a 50 yard swim, a 4 mile bike and a 1/2 mile run. She got an early start in life on the bike- she was off training wheels at age 3 and won her first bike race at a ge 4. After riding wither her at "practice" last night, I know that she will do well. Hell, I may be more excited than she is!

Last night, our resident tri expert Char went over transitions with Avery. After a few practice runs, she did a mock triathlon...

Ok Avery, it's time to rock on wit yo bad self!!

Birthday Shout!

Happy Birthday Char! I should have put this up yesterday but for some reason I'm always a day late and a dollar short... Either way, Love Ya Babe!

So the whole Brett Favre drama ended with him being traded to the Jets. Hmm. He retired. Then unretired. The Pack didn't want him. He showed up. They sent him to the Jets. Wonder what kind of backlash the Packers management will get from their fans. I also wonder what noodle-arm Chad Pennington thinks now that he is officially 2nd string in NY...


Football practice has started and we're already hearing about how great the SEC is. It's common in the south for the SEC to be called the best conference in college football, well, because it is. Georgia, Florida and LSU are ranked in the top 6 in the preseason polls with Georgia being #1. Right now I am rather annoyed with UK's outlook this year. I'm always excited about football season and I'm always equally excited about UK football. But there is some dumb stuff going on in Big Blue Country. The team looked like it will be better on defense because they returned a lot of guys who got plenty of PT last year. They lost all of their skilled guys on offense to the NFL (that sounded weird) but they still had some solid speed returning. Then one of their starting DB's becomes ineligible, then a starting offensive lineman and THEN the guy who was supposed to take over for Andre Woodson at QB, versatile Curtis Pulley gets kciked off the team for being an idiot. I mean, he redshirted last year to be the starter this year! I don't want to go into his stupidity but I think that Mike Hartline, who is now #1, will turn out to be a good QB. I hope they can get it together and keep the string alive for bowl appearances... 2 in a row and counting baby!!! Oh- and no losses to Vandy...

Are we drifting towards this?


I gotta comment on this heat. Last night I went out for a recovery spin on the road bike and it felt like somebody was blowing a hair dryer in my face. It was almost 8 o'clock and still 90 degrees. Right now it's 94 and feels like 103. This is just another reason why the fall is the best time of the year...

Road Ridin

Man, last night's Open Road ride was a blast! It was great to get back out there with the fellas and do some solid work with the roadies. We have not done as many group rides together this year so we needed to get the feel for the group and each other before Saturday's road race. I felt exceptionally strong considering I had been sore as he!! the last few days from Sunday's race. I spent almost the entire 40 mile ride at threshold and when I hit 36 mph in the final sprint, my HR peaked at 193. Ahhh- it felt great! We all did some major work taking pulls, covering gaps and chasing a few breakaways. Anyhow, good ride last night Rad, Sean and Tony! We should have an awesome race Saturday!

Trail 2 Trail race

Brutal. That is the first word that comes to mind when I think about the Trail to Trail race this past weekend at Loyce Harpe Park in Lakeland, FL. The trails at LHP are probably some of the most technical trails that I have ridden. They are full of ridges that branch out into a lake and are very rooty, have very steep hills and descents, have very tight turns and is also right next to the water in a lot of places where it would be very easy to fall in the water or fall off the trail. There was also a lot of nasty, smelly mud in the areas between the ridges. When I pre-rode the course on Saturday and my HR stayed in zone 3/4+, I knew the race was going to be very hard and I knew I was going to suffer. Not only are the trails very difficult, but the heat and humidity were off the charts! Oh, during my pre-ride I had to stop twice because of the local wild life. Once because something big jumped in the water next to me, scared the $h!t out of me and caused me to run into a tree and the second time a small alligator was in the trail. I gave him the right of way...

For those of you who do not know, the Trail to Trail race starts out on the mtn bike trails, then transitions to the road for a road race and then transitions back to the trails to finish the race. The first part was an 8 mile loop in the woods, which was a crucial part of the race in order to get a good position (or get in a strong group) for the road. It is kinda odd jumping off of the mtn bike and then saddling up the road bike for the 30 mile course, which was really tough due to the direct sun that we never got a break from. From here, once you get back into the park, you hop back on the mtn bike (awkward!) for that same, tough-as-hell mtn bike course.

The race start was a rolling mass start...



I got an ok start to the race but had to pass quite a few dudes to try to catch the leaders, which never happened. I got out of the woods a lot faster than I anticipated, hopped onto my road bike and took a bottle of ice water from Char and drank a little and dumped the rest on my head. It was mad hot, like already 90 degrees! Once out on the road, I didn't see anybody in front or behind me so I decided to just stay at a steady pace and hope that a group would catch me. After a few miles, a group of 5 guys (4 of them in the same kit)- led by a guy on a TT bike and an aero helmet, rolled past and I jumped on. Once we got rolling and started a rotation, we picked up 2 more guys and then lost one. There was a water station at some point on the road that was handing out bottles and it is here when I really started hurting. My HR had been steady in the 170's/180's up to this point and when I dropped a bottle, waited for a guy to run across the street to hand me another, the group had opened a gap. I drank some of the water, dumped the rest on my head and back, then worked too hard trying to catch back on. Once I got back on, the group started having issues, like one guy yelling about crap, one guy accelerating every time he took a pull and some guys not taking pulls. I was hurting so I sat out of a rotation or 2 but oh well. This led to the group breaking in half after Endurancefactor teammate Mark Gerard and I said, "Screw this." We let those guys go (the 4 guys in the same kit) while the 4 of us motored on. Then the cramps hit and hit hard. My quads were locking up solid but I managed to hold onto the group back to the transition.

Back in the transition I was overheated, cramping and a little disoriented. I stopped a second to get my bearings, dumped cold water on myself and then reluctantly jumped on my mtn bike for the last 8 miles of hell back in the woods. I decided when I got on my bike just to do whatever I had to do in order to finish. I was hurting bad so I started giving myself mini goals, like counting down the technical sections of the trail. My quads were still cramping but soon my right hamstring cramped, then my left calf but I had to keep spinning or else I'd be in serious trouble. I was staying as hydrated as possible and I took a total of about 6 bottles and 6 gels but it was no match for the heat, effort and the time given to both.

I completed the 46 combined miles in 3 hours even, good for 13th place overall (I think) in the open men's solo field. I was aiming for top 10 but the competition seems to get tougher and tougher each year so given the conditons and where I am in training, I think I did ok. I was also happy that I had no bike problems considering how much I had been flatting lately on my road bike and the shifting problems I had on the mtn bike during the pre-ride. It was also cool hanging and chatting with all of the other fly racers, including all the studs sporting black & yellow!

Since Char was not racing, we decided to test Mayfield's travel legs. Man, she was great! She was good in the car, chilled at the tent during our ride Saturday and during the race Sunday and was good at the hotel. It looks like we won't have much trouble taking her to more races in the future. Here she is snoozing at my side on the way down while I flash my gang signs...


Normally after races we have a nice sit-down meal at a restaurant but we did not account for having Mays with us, so we settled on something that I had not eaten in a long, long time. Char found it necessary to document my post-race nutrition for Drew- but hell, I earned it...

Ok, now some bike dork stuff...I had seen guys put their Polar charts on their blogs in the past and I thought it was kinda cool. Hell, I thought it was cool just figuring out how to do it. The red line is my HR while the blue is speed. The rest of the data is self explanatory...

From here I need to recover as much as possible for the Jacksonville Cycling Classic this weekend. Saturday is the road race while Sunday is the criterium and as of right now, I am extremely sore. I am super excited about racing with my buds (and Velobrew teammates) Sean, Tony and Rad in the same class. We look forward to kicking some a$$!!

BIG Trades

So the MLB trade deadline came and went yesterday and there were some blockbuster trades that took place. I gotta admit that I was surprised that the Sox actually dealt Manny, sending him to the Dodgers. After all the years of grumbling by ManRam, he finally got his wish and got traded. Or did he really want to be traded? He had it so damn good in Beantown. The BoSox rebounded quite well by landing Jason Bay from the Pirates. They will lose huge offensive production but will get better defensively and on the base paths with Bay, as well as a better dude in the clubhouse. I really like Manny and his big numbers at the plate (he looks kinda cool too), but his antics got kind of annoying. NOBODY is bigger than the team. He will still be one of my favorite players, even sporting Dodger blue.

The Cubbies landed pitching ace Righ Harden from the A's after division rival Milwaukee got super-stud pitcher C.C. Sabathia from Cleveland. Chicago is looking good (still) and will hopefully hold it together and claim the division. Again, hopefully...

Other notable trades was perennial All-Star Ivan (Pudge) Rodriguez going to the payroll machine Yankees. Maybe they will have enough fire-power to beat out the Rays and Sox for the division- but hopefully not. Ken Griffey Jr. ended his disappointing tenure in Cincinnati and went to the White Sox. Mark Texeira left the disappointing Braves and went to the Angels from LA from Anaheim in California...or whatever they're called this year... The Angels are a kick-ass squad. Anyhow, the trades should spice up the divisional races and add some excitement come the postseason...