late nights and building bikes

So I've been rather busy the past few days. I went and knocked out that ride up to sheboygan. There was a 10-15mph headwind the whole way up there, so I only averaged 19 mph over the 160 miles. Kept the average watts at about 230 though, so I'm calling it a good day in the saddle. I chose not to do the return trip, and opted instead for riding the road course from the UW-milwaukee collegiate road race. The one out in greenbush. It's one of my favorite courses, and there's plenty of spots to hit up some solid hill repeats that we can't do in chicago.

If you're wondering why I'm up at 4AM, well I went for a midnight training ride tonight, and was sorta pretty pumped up after the ride, and it just so happened that my rival shifters FINALLY came back from warrenty. So I went and rebuilt my bike. And another one. And before you know it... bam. 4am.

On a side note, while I was building bikes, I was watching infomercials. Specifically the one advirtising a Spinning Bike.


The ad was all about selling people a spinning bike for their very own home, where they could watch dvds featuring spinning classes, and even had some retired pro saying, "This is the closest thing you can do to riding outside!"
Now I'm just kind of curious, right now its summer. Pretty much anywhere in the US is going to be experiencing pretty nice weather. So why the hell would you want an exercise program that tries to simulate an outdoor experience?? Spend the $1000 bucks on a real bike!

packin

well im getting ready to head to sheboygan, wisconsin tomorrow. I'm gonna start riding at like 8am I think, and hopefully this'll get me there by 4ish. It's 150ish miles, and since im gonna try to do it kinda fast, I think a 7.5 hour goal (of riding time) is pretty reasonable.
I got my family bringing my stuff for the weekend, so I kinda feel like there's a SAG wagon behind me.
It should be a blast though. I haven't had a really epic ride since spring break in georgia when I rode over 6 mountains, 19,000 feet of climbing, and 120 miles one day. Going from chicago to sheboygan doesn't exactly compare to that, but it should still be a pretty solid day in the saddle.
Good luck too everyone going out to race in iowa this weekend by the way!

finally went riding!

well, I finally woke up feeling alright today, and decided to take advantage of the amaaaazing weather, and go for a ride down in Lemont and do some hill repeats. Well, I only did 20ish miles and started feeling terrrrrrible. It was mega lame. Instead of going out for my planned 3-4 hours, I called it quits at an hour and a half. Looking at the powertap file after the ride, my numbers sucked too. Baaaaasically, being sick freaking sucks. Hopefully by this weekend, I'll be 100%. Otherwise things are gonna suck.

Building back me endourance!

So after all this crit racing, combined with very little riding from being sick, and finals, I'm gonna assume my endourance has taken a massive hit. I was also thinking about all the awesome races in iowa that I was going to miss, that everyone seems to like so much. What can I do to remedy this?

Well sorta as a family tradition, my family always goes up to this place near sheboygan every memorial day-Camp Anokijig. It's the reason I won't be doing the memorial day races, and I'm pretty excited for heading up there and seeing old friends and what not. I was google mappin the distance today, and it works out to about 150 miles from chicago. Two years ago, pretty much at the start of my cycling obsession, I rode up there in two days. I was slow, and out of shape, and the first 100 mile leg practically killed me.

But now, I've got maaaanny more miles in my legs. And I got to thinking, it's only a 1 1/2 century ride, right? If I do the whole thing at tempo, that should do wonders to my endourance! And then, I got to thinking again... if it's only 1 1/2 centuries, then why not do the same thing back?! So while everyone else is off in Iowa having an awesome race weekend, this guy's going to add 15-20 tempo hours to his legs. And most importanatly, that'll be 15-20 hours at tempo pace that's NOT IN CHICAGO!! Training won't be booring!

What I'm working for

So, this is a lil example of one of my summer goals. I wants me a TAN!!

I thought school was over

So, No matteson racing today.

Word, I'm still down with something, so I'll take it easy today.

On another note, I counted it out, and over the finals week, I studied/worked for 67 total hours. And I just found out yesterday I ain't even done! Apparently I've got some revisions to make to my thesis before I can get me grade for that class. Hmmm, perhaps this will help me tip the 70 hour mark!

I had to go and overdo it

This weekend I was suppose to race a couple crits. Monsters, and Wheels on Willie.

Well, essentially, to sum a long story up, midway into my second race at monsters (the 1/2/3 race) I started getting a lil bit woozy and decided it would be wise to pull out. It was a good decision I think, because it's now two days later, and I still am a freakin slug on the couch, doing nothing but sleeping, eating, and coughing. Boy do I feel crappy. I'm gonna blame this on myself totally running myself down during finals week--a condition not uncommon with several other racing/student friends of mine...

As a side note, in the 3's field at monsters, sort of a combination of a pretty sketchey field, and my not feeling all that great, made me quite a nervous racer. When the pace started picking up, people kept swarming around the front for good positioning, and in the last lap, the front guys even crashed themselves out... I settled for 15th/50, but at least i stayed up.

I'm thinking about really wanting to go down to matteson tomorrow, but if I'm still under the weather, it might be a dumb idea. I suppose relapsing would suck, but the fact remains that if I don't ride tuesday, then it'll be 4 days since I've touched me bike... Ohhh well, at least it's finally summer!

Almost....

Getting there guys. I've gotten to the home stretch now. Essentially, I'm a mere 10-25 page report away from finishing. Don't worry, I've got like 6 pages of diagrams I can include... Those diagrams were the fruits of yesterday's labors.

On a side note, all this working has started to catch up to me. I am NOT getting sick. Once you think you might be coming down with something, you're pretty much giving into it. Buuut, I distinctly feel less good than I should. At least I got 9 hours of sleep last night. Racing tomorrow, whether I'm sick or not!

What's so sweet about tomorrow's race? Well, it's Monsters of the Midway--a smallish local race that's ran through ABR instead of USCF, so I can't get those sacred category upgrade points, but me and this race've got history!
Two years ago in 2007, Monsters of the Midway was my first race ever bike race-- a moment that marks the moment I committed to a life of intense physical suffering, and fell in love with spandex! I didn't really understand racing then, and missed the break, failed at bridging the gap, but managed to get first in the field sprint. Last year, I was doing pretty well and had a solid positioning for the field sprint, but with a lap to go I almost got crashed out, and my rear brake started rubbing, knocking me back to a midpack finish.
Well this time, things are gonna be different! Because, like I said, I'm NOT sick. If by this time, I do actually have any followers, (doubtful, but I can be optimistic!) see you tomorrow, and good luck!

I'm a dufus

OH MY GOD. I'm freaking sick of work.

When it comes to me and school, I've got this little system. It's called extreme procrastination. I sort of find ways to sneakily push as much stuff as I can til the end of the semester, then do everything in one big huff.
What's that? Everybody procrastinates? Weellll, I believe I take it to a slightly higher level. See, I only had one final this semester (awesome!), however, I left myself with so many things to do from throughout the semester, that I've literally been camping in the library since monday morning when I first got here, essentially working non-stop (I get food delivered to me), and I'm still not gonna be done before midway through tomorrow!
Sure, sure--I go home to shower and change and what not, but all my hangin out, all my sleepin, and sure as hell all my work gets done here. It's actually kinda cool. There's this little stairwell I pull a beanbag and a blanket under when I go to sleep. I kinda feel like the library troll... Now I didn't make this website, but it's a pretty accurate depiction of how I feel by now.
http://www.librarytroll.net/

Another added benefit, is that there's no food in the library. And if there's no food, then I can't eat it. That's right, I'm down like 3 lbs this week!

But seriously, even though it's got it's "perks," this has got to end. I just can't STANDS it no more. To everyone done with school, and happily riding your bike and what not... I thouroughally envy you.

In parting, I'll hook you up with a sweet graph I made of the average flow duration percentages of the blackberry creek! Wooo!

Finals point two

well its not so much that there's anything interesting that's happened in the last 12 or so hours--actually absolutely nothing interesting has happened. I blame it on the fact that I've been in the library now for about 12 hours straight today. And, I isn't done neither... Damn, I had this plan to train tomorrow, but as it is, there probably won't be that much time to do it. On the plus side, after tomorrow, there ain't gonna be nuthin holding me back from some hard core 110%

Finals

Well, I decided to jump on the band wagon and start blogging about bike racing. What better time to do it, then when I'm in the library suppose to be studying for finals?

On that note, I pulled me an all nighter monday, rocked a test tuesday morning, and proceeded to hit up Matteson training crit tuesday night as a reward. I'd never raced on no sleep before, and put simply--don't ever do it. The numbers were alright, and finally a race where no one crashes me out, buuuut that much effort to the body without resting the night before really takes the juice outta ya. I'm pretty dead, and still need to do work.

Monsters is this Saturday, and Sunday's got Wheels "off" Willie. They moved it to the capital in Madison and I'm puuuuuuuumped! It's the same course we do in collegiate racing and is pretty much the fastest course I've ever raced. The cat 3's go first, and directly following that, the 1/2/3's start up. I'm thinking I'll probably do both, and just try to hang on for dear life in the 2nd race. It'll just be like I got a really, really solid warmup for the 1/2/3 race. Matter of fact, I bet it'll make me stronger.