Setbacks. Move On

Time of year I realize, no matter. Plenty of time. Whatever. My season lasts because I recover and deal with setbacks. Sure I have ups & downs, crappy periods and all but it's sustainability that leads to consistency. Not going tweak anything in stupid desperation. Winter, Spring, Summer n Fall...be there.

So I liked the topic of setbacks. Gots some lame setbacks to share. It seems every year it's a muscle, tendon or too much "other" life activities which set me back. But realize....the season is long, enjoy. After all no broken bones! That would stink....my recent set backs:

-Work demands more as I demand more (I will miss Buck races!)
-Hamstrings hurt, heavy SS lifting period (taking days off needed!)
-Put my SS cog on freewheel w/o a lock nut. No stop (worked fine sloppy like)
-Derailuer skipping on SS cog. Bad idea. Cassette on in 5m. Got ride in. killed it.
-Rain. Go out anyway. Remember before bees always 30% chance of rain. Scared?
-Games. Quickly swapping parts to ride. Many bikes not together. Swap games. No excuse.
-Multiple races conflict with family or work plans.....where's carrot race now!?
-I stay up too late drinking anti-energy drink. Got energy, no excuse.
-No time, make time, there's no excuse, or just don't worry about it.

Don't be this guy..............

Cake Eater (jus a little)

Leo say's, "I just took a little piece-" By the time I snapped this picture he was half done. If your going in, go all in.

Hillside don't go soft like a cake on me now!! It's on a Hillside for gosh sake. What happened to the uber roots, rocks, and bumpy rut trail I used to like. I'd take it over pack any day. The sho must go on. Duncan hasn't been on new bike yet, he says in, all in! At 16 he may shy away if we don't get his ash out there now!!!!

BLOW OUT!!!

Not much to report. Sick of blogging.
Last weekend at Hillside noticed parking lot neighbor bike had blow out. Guess how?

Turns out his car muffler was strategically placed. I sympathized then had to take a pic.

Below. Switching p-tap btwn CX and heavy mtb. I'm just having fun biking right now. Nothing too serious as far as training yet.

Later

Power Meter at Hillside

So switched the wheel from CX to MTB. Did two hot laps at Hillside. Yep, power rules. Heart rate and speed mean much less when it comes to real time measures. I can't share enough how much I've learned in one MTB ride with a power meter. I was so surprised!!

I been reading a lot and have a good book too "racing and training with power." Here's an article that's interesting. Most I find is on road. I think there is much to learn about the demands of MTB and power. Still a new area. I'm telling you right now power is the future of training. Price points are coming down....

My Road vs. MTB power profile. In both cases I removed the 0% power. At Hillside 25% was zero power, on road about a 8%! But MTB brought out much higher watts. I think if I'd have a bigger SS gear I would have seen even higher watts. Soon enough.....   Below 1 watts and higher % of time MTB Hillside then CX ROAD ride below.

NUTS. I have so much good data. Real zones via instant power. Also a path to ensure peaks when I want. We'll see what I can get done this learning year.........

Scouting the Chill Factor

Friday night dropped off 5 bikes and two Boy Scouts to join the Baker Park Reserve overnight camp out. My boy Leo included. The plan was to bike out in the AM and bike back with 7 Scouts. After a morning of house chores and radar map checking it was game on. I biked from my house and met them coming East near Grey's Bay road. I had a nice tempo ride out. Feeling good. Anyway I made sure before the trip all Scouts had gloves,  rain jacket, hat and water bottle. I also told the troop leader to pack a lunch. Good thing I carried two rain jackets, two sets of arm warmers, three pairs of gloves and an extra hat. When I hooked up with them they we're cold. My gear was used asap. Even though boys we're cold they we're in good spirits. Long story short I was outside in 45 degree rainy weather for 4.5 hours. We we're all cold, we had sandwiches delivered halfway via back of truck cooler (from previous night camp). My fingers we're toast, my feet had the whitey's. Best recovery ride yet. The boys we're all troopers and learned some things. They'll be at Ragnarok in 5-8 years!

BTW found a really cool site with killer pictures I added to my sidebar under races, training & misc so I can check-it often. "Extreme Picture of the Week" nice work N.G.

Ragnarok105 or 125

Another Rag riddle complete. Such a grand effort, great views & awesome folks. THANK YOU Isaac, Lars, Jake and Wheelhouse Cycles. Everyone, great show!!  A-Magazine has some video of everyone going up Lehrbach.

Nothing like gravel to grovel in all day to help get ya in shape. To get ya lost. And create stories. Yeah I followed that guy, who followed that guy, who was simply enjoying the ride going the wrong way!!

My mileage computer was even stupider than my brain (which I left at home.)   .9 miles or so was really 1-mile on my screen. My simple math and eyesight was more than .1 off all day though. See the picture showing my larger errors.....yet i back tracked, completed!! Got a flat early on too. All good on a blue bird day.

I totally enjoyed seeing Bob 3 times, Q-Pete 3 times, Mara 3 times, the grey posse 3 times ect ect... I got some funny looks!  I also enjoyed that one hill and made sure to pedal up that one too!!! I admit i did walk a bit of the very last climb, but got back on and finished........ I figure an extra 17 miles minimum for me on top of the stated 107 from start to back to start. Happy with results really. I enjoyed as fatigue weighted more and more and more and more.

In no order here's the folks I think completed all 5 Ragnarok's:

Brandt Elson
Brian Dukek
Heath Weisbrod
Dan Dittmer
Hurl Everson
Eddie Karow
Troy Lawrence
Isaac Rag
Jake Rag
Lars Rag

Congrats to all 2012 riders!! Later.

Snubbed by Green & White

We'll Good Friday to you! Today I headed east for a near 70 mile day. I was snubbed by two bicyclist wearing colors. Maybe it was my invisible orange bike, or black tights revealing scary huge bulges that created blinding shadows in the mid-day sun. Perhaps the too hot rod colored too bright o jersey blinded the duo's view. No matter, I'm sure they we're saving watts for the uber beat down of a ride ahead. Yeah a couple of real watts.

Speaking of power. I've tapped into the new hub and really enjoying it thus far. I've yet to do a profile test but having fun looking at lines and colors. :) Yeah, the hub already causing me to pedal harder, and that's not even doing drills yet. Power is real. Heart rate, speed and perceived just not the same.

Gears or SS at Rag. Not sure. Gears on now. If i end top 10 I'll be surprised. Looking forward to a great long day on the bike with you all. The Rag rules. Good base work for Cheq100.....