What are you training for?

I've been getting that question a lot lately... As I've been putting some time on the bike and keep upping my weekly mileage. The answer is not that complicated. Mostly I'm riding for a good life, but I also eat well, hike, run, play and relax for a good life as well. The short term answer, CYCLOCROSS!

Another year on a great team

 Last year was a great year for me in cross, I really enjoyed it and did fairly well for my first real season back. I enjoyed good fitness, peaked pretty good, had great company and had a ton of fun racing my bike again.

Bike path spin with the kid

Cross is a short 5 months away, yes you heard me, a short 5 months away! It's not that long when the second half of spring and summer fall in the middle of that, of which is prime riding season in Oregon. Time gets away from you when there is so much going on.

Taylor enjoying Wolf Creek

 This season is going to be just as fun as last year and I hope to be faster. The goals are yet to be finalized but Cross Crusade and/or GPET and the State Champs are on the list, as well as the local Eugene series (I need to defend!). Also thinking it’s time for a new bike, and maybe one with gears to ride in the off season, and race in the A's this year as well as SS. Time for team sponsor Stoemper to see what we can build together!

Local Ghetto Ride with Dax

A short reflection on last year. In total I did 28 CX races in 3 1/2 months. That is a lot of racing! I ended up 4th overall in the OBRA CX Singlespeed Best All-around Rider completion, with numerous top 3 and top 10 placing’s. With great teammates on the Tensegrity PT cycling team I was able to do every race with company, which makes a big difference when traveling all over to race your bike. By December I was running on fumes and finished my last two races with just enough energy to maintain my overall series points and standing.

It's hard not to race that much cross when you get into it, with 2-3 races a weekend across the state, and numerous weekday races early on your choices are unlimited. This year I'm going to try and be a little more focused and maybe a bit pickier on what I race and focus on. Last year I used the early cross races to get some speed into the legs.

 

The first 100 miler of the year, good to have Dax along.

I’m enjoying the fitness gains from last year mostly in the strength area and starting to work on gaining more power and endurance for the summer and then will work on speed a little earlier. I have some more general plans through the summer this year, do some big mountain bike rides, I’m signed up for the Triple Crown that happens throughout the summer and Cycle Oregon come September. The latter putting some miles in the legs for a week, a total of 489 miles and 34,893 of climbing in 7 days, should be a good boost for cross.

Right now though, it’s time to enjoy the non-competitive feeling of being on the bike and lack of race pressure so I can enjoy other things like camping with my son, backpacking, canoeing and just enjoying summer and getting fit.

Monday Night Fa(S)t Ride

Climbing up Cottage Grove to Lorane

This year the team is putting on a race series in August for Short Track Racing, this is similar to cross racing but without the barriers and more geared to mountain bikes then cross bikes. This will be every Wednesday in August starting at 6pm at Crest Elementary School. Stay tuned for more information on this race.

So, as the season goes on for all of our mountain bike and road racing colleagues I wish you the best of luck and I’ll be thinking about you all as I am enjoying that nice ride through the high mountains thinking about fall and racing my bike again in the rain and mud.

Battle at Barlow - one of my favorite weekend's racing last year.

Good Day for Tensegrity at Return on the Jedi pics

Homework vs. Hillwork

Homework, or Hill-work.

Finding the happy medium between my improtant stuff, and my important stuff.

And so starts the bike season of 2014. I’ve drastically changed my life, and am trying to figure out how to incorporate cycling into it.

            I’ve gone back to school, as you might be able to tell by the title of this blog.  I keep getting stuck between the want to get out and exercise, and the need to do my homework.  There are only so many hours of strait reading about economics or business practices I can do before I jump out of my skin.  That being said, it needs to get done. 

I have recently adapted the life style of a part time father as well.  I have a small person that needs constant attention when she’s awake.  I always hear about the parents who can put on cartoons or a movie and let the kid zone out for an hour so you can get stuff done.  This doesn’t work with her.  She wants to talk about what’s going on, like going to the movies with an old lady.  So depending on the day, I usually only have a few hours of naptime to get most things done.  But when everything calms down I just want to sleep too…  By the time she goes to sleep (8:30-9) I’m also tired and just fall asleep if I try to read a textbook.

I also have “ADD” or at least I was diagnosed with it.  It is just a fancy way to say I need to remove all the distractions when I’m doing something that might be a little boring.  I space off a lot when I read anything but the juiciest fiction.  So my way of dealing with it is every few pages I do a few push ups.  I will also read out loud, not loudly, just have my lips moving.  But the extra mechanical stimulation keeps me more focused on the words I’m reading, because I’m literally physically experiencing them.

O and the weather has sucked a lot.  I need to invest in some Showers Pass gear.  It’s so hard to feel comfortable with ditching homework just to trudge through the rain for a couple hours… And trainer rides are soul sucking…  I can only do about 3 a month…  so that’s no good.  Might have to do one today.

So all this combined is not really helping my resolve to keep in shape.  I’m already 11 lbs up since the end of cross season.  On the few rides I’ve done this year it’s depressing to so my Strava times and compare them to last years… depressing is an understatement.

I need to work out.  It’s amazing how many things I can do in a day and still feel unproductive.  And on the flip side it’s amazing how good and productive I feel if I get a two-hour ride and a shower in.  Maybe I should get it figured out. I’ve been running a little bit too.  But that’s almost more depressing than the Strava biking.  I haven’t really run in a couple of years, so I’m starting from a pretty low point.  A few years ago I ran a few marathons and a triathlon, not to mention countless 5ks, 10ks, and half marathons.  My last marathon I averaged 6:40 pace, so now when I run 4 miles and can barely break 8 minute mile pace, its very defeating.  I know I have the ability, I just don’t have the time and will power right now.  But I still need to do something.  I know I need to get one of those big calendars and write out a training plan.  My fiancé is very supportive of me working out, but unless I take a little initiative she doesn’t know to push me.  I think with the calendar she will be able to see what I’m supposed to be doing, and make fun of me for not doing it.

I’m also in the middle of getting a new job.  I don’t know if putting out resume after resume, and having interview after interview end with me not getting the job is adding to my lack of motivation.  It’s hard to put yourself out there, but I don’t feel a direct negative from it.  Maybe its there, but just subconsciously.

Well I guess this was less of a biking blog, and more of an introspective look at my life right now.  Either way it was cathartic for me, writing this blog in a Star Bucks waiting for my cars brakes to get done.