Intervals with Krueg

2 hours out to Cannon City and over to Nerstrand. We toiled out, somehow staying in our big rings a majority of the way. rested on Nerstrand Blvd, and then flew back to town in gears no smaller that 53-16, well except for the steepest kick towards the very end. At one point we were almost spinning out our 12's.

As advised, got in some good interval work today, no specific numbers, but some extended segments, somewhere in the 8-15 minute range. Heart rate was a little high, but I had just eaten some popcorn just before the ride and I think I'm a little unnerved by the coming race weekend, and the two papers I have to write, one of which I'll be starting on shortly.

Weather: it was well crumby in the best way. I actually love riding in the wet and the grit, when your legs are sand-covered and your bike is too. Your face comes back flecked with mud and you don't use your glasses anymore. Rims are black from the wet and the used brake pad residue. These are my favorite conditions, usually because they cause everyone else to suffer more than usual.

And speaking of suffering, I think that it is my favorite part of bike racing and bike riding. Not in a sadistic way, but just when you can go on suffering more than the other guy. It's the most rewarding to drop someone during an intense effort, or hold them off after an attack. What a struggle.

Reassembly and the Value of Values?

Today I've got to go down to Mike's Bikes after class to get these:

so I can do this:



And ride my Madone again. Just finished installing the new cables, DA shifters and DA crank, all that's left is the chain. Might as well get the bike a little dirtier as it's really only half clean. Gotta get dressed and get to class. We're discussing Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil today, should be a pretty good time, what with his perspectivism laying the seeds for the post-modern movement in post-WWII America and Europe... what are the value of values anyway?

ciao

Update

For some reason my brief post from AR isn't showing up.

Short stats:

450 miles in 7 days
29 hours of ride time
lots o climbing
could not have had better compatriots to ride with


Saturday I hit up the Doc ride in Dousman, and picked up some slick new racing rubber for the season, got in a decent 2.5 hours with quite a bit of work being done.

Sunday was an hour easy after scooting on back to school. I am still playing catch-up.

Monday was a group ride of 8 from Olaf. For some reason, I have had no problems hitting it hard, despite using this week as a recovery week. Best part of the ride: Holding of Jake for the final two miles back into town from the NWpassage. He sat up with Krueger and I kept motoring for a bit. When I saw that I had a gap, I just kept going. He chased and chased but the gap never got any smaller. Guess my fitness is coming around quite nicely. First race this weekend down on in Lawrence, KS.

JV advised me to start doing intervals, even if they aren't all that disciplined, to start mixing it up. And that's what I've begun to do, though I don't really care for them. Tomorrow should be a hard day with Krueger out to Nerstrand to do some TT interval work back and forth on the road between Nerstrand and Cannon City. Legs feel good. I feel good. Back to work.

None

Short stats:

Sat: 3hrs at 143
Sun: 5 hrs at 147
Mon: 4 at 139

biking in AR is nice. to say the least

Nothing Like Waking up and Sliding into a Skinsuit

I leave for AR today:
Today I woke up, slid into said skinsuit, and put in 15 minutes just to shake out the legs from a ridiculous 5 hour ride yesterday which included 16-20 mph winds, a chain that was running on borrowed time, and an insufficient amount of caloric intake. Gotta get to class

Ciao

Trainer Time

This is what I've been up to the last two days: trainer time

This is my friend Katie, we ate dinner and she got a little flustered as you can see:

This is that Finn character and Katie (not the first one)
Havent been able to get outside and rock these duds the last few days, but hopefully thursday:

Spent 6.5 hours on the trainer so far this week, with about 30 minutes of tempo and 45 minutes at race pace. Today was a 3.5 hour session done mostly at endurance pace, for the rest, I ran my own personal criterium avg hr of 164 max of 191. Last 7 minutes were done above lactate threshold, slowly ratcheting up my hr till it maxed out at 191. I'm pretty sure I can get it to go higher...

Talked to Larry Moore, my neighbor and a team MACK rider today about his prep and training for Hillsboro Roubaix. He's had some bad crashes, including one where his quadricep detached from his hip and rolled down to his knee. He took the last year or two off from racing, but last year after riding with him, the pressure from his teammates and me was too great and he's going to be racing again, which is great as I am in need of a training partner back home.

Arkansas trip in only 3 days now. I am almost beside myself.

Oh, Sick

Oh well,
That's right, I'm sick. After riding outdoors as much as I did this week, I managed to develop the worst headcold I've had in recent memory. Put me down and in bed for most of Friday. However it has abated for the time being, enough for Krueger and I to get in 2:15 today while watching We Were Soldiers (not a bad war movie by the way). Avg hr of 138; felt ok most of the time but the legs were tired from not riding the last 2 days. Hr was a little higher 5-10 bpm more than usual for the work I was doing, chalking that up to sickness.

In other cycling related news, I've registered for Hillsboro Roubaix and I'm quite disappointed that O'Grady didn't win Het Volk today, oh well. I've got a paper to get to work on, outlining it as it's due at midnight tomorrow.

Ciao

Flurries

Back to this for a few days:


Like most cycling blogs, I suppose this one should include some comments about the weather as of late. It's been fine really. After the epic ride on monday, I ended up doing 5 hours yesterday and then today was a 2 hour ride mostly at recovery pace with two 15 minute tempo intervals out on the Paradise Lost loop. The wind was terrible. Just terrible, 17-22 mph gusting to 28. Once I got onto Woodley St. the tailwind was incredible, I was pushing a 53-14 on the rollers and flats into town at 138 bpm. The flurries hit around that point and it was kind of nice just coasting in listening to the new Arcade fire album, which is just as great and sublime as riding outside in somewhat adverse conditions.

On the homefront, my mom's been getting my suppliles for my trip ready, including a requisite trip to the Bike Dr. for vanilla Gu and Clif bars. Andrea responded to my questions about turning pro and it was pretty encouraging. From what I can gather, it's about exposure, friendliness, and results. This season should be about all three.

I love riding outdoors, again, even in the slush it just isn't that bad.

However, we just got dumped on tonight with more snowfall so I guess it will be back to riding the trainer for 3 hours a day until it gets nice out again. even though it is a training camp, I might just taper wednesday through friday in anticipation... Once indoors, I will no longer rocking the world champion's stripes which I wore everyday I've been outside, they really do make you faster: thank you ebay.

Slush Ride (rarely giving)

Oh yeah, here I am, looking well, yeah:

Today I rode outside, again. Only this time it was still snowing and there was slush and snow on the roads when I started. Despite the WNW wind, I headed down towards Sogn Valley to do some climbing work. 45 minutes into the ride I hit the first dry roads a few miles out from Dennison. And then Mark Krueger called me. He, like I just did not want to ride indoors. After giving him directions to Sogn Valley I continued on my way and eventually doubled back to meet him. Got in 4 hours today, the sun broke through the clouds for awhile and riding in a bright white mist/fog for a few hours today was awesome. I wasn't all that cold and Although I did some hill work, I wasn't as fatigued as I though I would be after 4 hours. 4 hour rides are definitely falling within my endurance ability. yes.

Mark and I descended and then climbed to the church where the finish of our collegiate race this spring. Then we climbed Sogn (I for the 2nd time). The two times I did it without going hard were in 5:20 and then 4:55. Those times arent too bad since Sean's early-season tests for Sogn were running 4:17/4:35 all out. Maybe I'll be able to outclimb him this year too.

Allright so I didn't post this last night, guess it's time for a picture:

This was my bb area, mostly ice encrusted. By the time I met Mark, my rear derailleur would not go past my 15 and I had about 3/4 of an inch encrusting my chainstays. Even the cranks collected ice and grit. Despite the freezing I didnt really have problems shifting or braking. Thank you Shimano

Weekend Recap

Friday, nothing
Saturday, 4.5 on the trainer mostly base with some standing climbing efforts at low tempo
Sunday 1 hour just to shake out the legs, some highspin intervals, all base pace

AR in two weeks. I feel good, just need to weed my way through my academic obligations

ciao

Epic Territory

Today's ride ventured into epic territory despite being only 2:15 long. Mostly due to the weather (chillier than expected and windy) and the pace at times. I am tired. Tempo for at least 1.5 hours with the LT intervals, breaking away from the group of Jake Finn and Mike. Did the windmill twice, once as a warm-up (127bpm/1hour)then Northwest Passage in 1:10 (153bpm avg for hr2) and then windmill again (149bpm/3rd hour) and then a .5 hour cool down, part of it on the trainer.

After getting off Old Dutch, I got on the front and pulled a majority of the way to 86, doing an LT invterval from the top of the last hill to the turn for webster. After recovering I just got on the front and hit out on 86, 23 was recovery, windmill got faster and finally I took off to go for a solo 3 miles out from the townline sign, Jake and Finn came with. We ended with the Speedlimit sign sprint, all agreeing that it felt like a race, that it felt good, and that it was, well, awesome. Here's how it played out:

I took off thinking no one would come with. I look back and see Jake sitting on, I attack over the first hill to try and drop him. No such luck. By this time, Finn's with us. The pace drops. eyeballing. lots of eyeballing. Finn comes to the front/attacks, everyone sits on, he gets off I pull half way up the hill, Jake does a short turn, Finn attacks in the big ring, pulls everyone up the rest of the hill. Weak attack from me at the top before the descent, everyone sticks. Jake lets me get behind him, Finn starts the lead out 800 meters from the line, Jake goes I go, I get around Jake and gap him. Game over, sit down and power in for the win.

yes, the glory from the training ride sprints...

good ride had by all.

I chalk it up to a few factors: adequate base, chocolate milk recovery drinking, and 9 hours of sleep over the last few nights (to the chagrin of my roommate). Tomorrow should be a recover day, maybe an hour and a half easy on my own. Just finished d/l'ing the newest Modest Mouse album, should be good for a recovery ride. This weekend I hope it stays nice outdoors, so I can get in another 4 hours Sat and Sun.

3/4 of my profs have ok'ed my trip to Arkansas in a little over two weeks. Nice, two weeks. Hearing from and about my teammates has kept me hyper-motivated for the indoor training. Hope you all are riding back in WI, it's already been a 13.5 hour week for me here in the nolongergreatwhitenorth.

all done

ciao

Out of Doors (day 2)

So far in the outdoor season, I have already flatted 50 feet from leaving the front door and dropped my chain twice. Hopefully these are the only kinks that need to be worked out as I train.

Today was the second day of riding outside so far this year. Yesterday we had a group of ten: Finn, Jake, Peter, me, Sean, Andrew, Bria, Mark, and then Sue and Patrick from the Mike's Bikes club. It was pretty easy until we turned home, I put the hammer down, I couldn't help it, doing some zone 4/LT intervals and sprints. 1:50 outdoors and a 40 minute session on the old trainer after I got inside. In TX I chatted with a guy named Rob who sang the praises of being honest about base miles: after every effort, he'd see cliffs, nice consistent drops in his heartrate. I've begun to see that happening since I got back to school. Endurance is where I need to focus, and so far it seems to be paying dividends. As for the sprint, that wasn't really a problem in yesterday's ride, 2/2.

Today was a leisurely 4 hours ride, 3:45 outside, 15 inside. avg hr 135 so that was spot on. I went out Old Dutch to the frontage, through Webster and then intsead of cutting down to Lonsdale, I took the long way back. 320th/70th street on the way back was well worth it, 6 miles of new pavement, washed light gray from the salt and winter, but perfect nontheless. No real hard efforts today, max hr of 162. When doing endurance work, for some reason I love riding into the wind, it forces one to go slow, to really work and focus on technique.

Speaking of technique, I've also gained some power from fiddling with my bike fit. I've raised the seat a good inch or so over the last month, and it's starting to feel really comfortable, I might need to go to a 120 stem, but we'll see. Arkansas is only 2.5 weeks away. wow. Should probably get back to school work and get to sleep at a reasonable hour tonight (being a damn college kid and all).

get outside

Weekend Review and New Record

Managed to get in 7 or so hours of bike time in over the weekend and an "hour" ski, most of which was spent jawing as the tracked trails were just a little too gravelly for Finn, Peter, Nolan, and I. Monday was an off-day and just took it easy, the somewhat habitual 20min wakeup spin. Tuesday I spent 4.5 hours on the trainer, with two 5 min LT intervals. other than that all my trainer time is endurance pace. I really don't mind doing hours of endurance pace, it's what I need the most work on anyway. Tonight was only another half-hour spin, tomorrow hopefully will be another epic session as I don't have class Tuesday or Thursday. For the weekend it'll be 3 hours Friday, maybe Saturday and an epic Sunday, monday off.

Classes are going well, today I learned how ordinary people can torture other people, both method and transformation for my social psych class. It's a solid class, where we'll study the principles of social psych and apply them to the events at Abu Grhaib prison a few years ago. My great-books prof ok'ed my trip to AK and it's one of the greatest motivators to continue to ride the trainer.

In fact, last year I was so new and did not keep any training records, I feel so much fitter this year coming into the season. I have definitely put in way more endurance work (since I know what I'm doing for the most part this year) and have a year of racing under my belt. My only early-season goal so far is Hillsboro-Roubaix and some consistent collegiate results. I don't plan on having any major peaks this year, if it happens, it happens: my superweek peak fell into my lap last year. Hot Dog, Hillsboro-Roubaix sounds like one of the coolest races I have ever seen, 22 mile loop, 3 laps for cat 3's, 1.5 miles of paved brick roads, then shoddy, winding forest roads with short power climbs, and open flat roads through cornfields, sounds perfect.

My weight is also great, I'm hovering at 182-3 which is really only a pound or so away from my post-superweek weight I maintained (riding at 178 during superweek). I'd like to get down to 178 eventually, but it'll have to come from my upperbody, like arms.

This post has gotten long enough

ciao

Another Brief One

I am up way past my supposed bed-time. This first week of the new semseter has rolled through rather quickly, I'm only averaging an hour and fifteen on the trainer so far, hopefully I can get a whopping NINE hours in over the weekend, with a rest day, one hour day on monday...we'll see. Homework isn't too bad and having class on MWF only is really quite a benefit. Come spring, I'll save my TTh's for endurance, and when the sun stays out long enough, same with MWF, after 1:30.

Texas was a thumbs up experience. Pictures to follow, for now it's time to read some Doestoyevsky and I am too tired to spell correctly.

Ciao

The Short Story

Summaries as I am tired and need to sleep/get up at 7 am tomorrow:

Sun: 4:15
Mon: 3
Tue: 6:30
Wed: 5:15
Totals so far: 19 HOURS

on the bike in four days. Hot Dog! The weather's been pretty good, I'm hungry (again) and for some reason, I've apparently had quite a bit of B-12 if you know what I mean.

hopefully, I'll get in another three tomorrow and then 6 on friday again. Picture to follow as well as long long write-ups for long long days.

Ciao

Saturday and Sunday in Texas

Saturday woke up early and goofed around until my final for Art after 1945, it went well though I should have known more about Michel Foucault and his relationship to post-structuralism/post-modernism/art criticism. Afterwards, I just packed and hung out with my roommate Brad and my friend Emma until she drove me to the airport. Watched the news for the first time in forever and it was pretty absurd, the headlines they came up with anyway...
Arrived in TX at 945 pm to a ghosttown of an airport. It was a balmy 40 degrees, but better than 12!

After getting settled I dropped off to sleep and woke up to ride at 8. Didn't end up riding until 1 in the town of Taylor with a few friends of my Aunt Pam's (who I am staying with). We set out for 77 miles but we all couldnt hold the pace to make it in before daylight. Ira, Ron, and Dave (the guy who did the majority of the pulling) were all pretty raw, especially since Ron was the youngest at 40 yrs old. Got 4:15 minutes in the saddle at 65 miles, and there was quite a bit of wind. I'll have pictures up when I get back to MN at the end of the week. Today it's a recovery day as I went MUCH harder than I should have yesterday. Oh well.

Ciao

Quick, Much-needed Update

Ahh so January has come and gone quite rapidly. I'm three weeks in on mostly bike specific training, doing endurance work on the trainer for 2-3 hours and intensity on the xc skiis for 1-2 hours everyother day. Still planning on using the college season as a means of getting into real shape as my school schedule will allow me to ride at least 3 hours a day everyday so I can build endurance. Today's my Art after 1945 History final, shouldn't go too badly, as I'm feeling "so postmodern"

need to update the links for
Tony Phillip's blog
Tim Kamke's blog
Mach Schnell webiste...

After the final I'm off to a somewhat dreary Austin, TX to stay with my Aunt Pam and put in roughly 25-30 hours on the bike. Despite not having any point of reference and feeling somewhat guilty and the low level of training I have put it, I still feel as if I am in better shape than I was last year; my peak should come in the super week window. Just endurance, and lactate work really; I'm not doing any sprint work except spinning out in a low gear about one time during each work out.

Still have to pack though...better get on it

Ciao,

Brandon

Thumbs-up

Last season's skinsuit, and my first ever, looking a little loved, a little tired.

Yes, opitimism. And plenty of it.

New Bike Yesterday

I had to hassle Emma to take these "rare" training photos at the end of a massive 1hr20minute training session in my swanky flat, Hilleboe. At any rate yeup, that's the new bike, built up enough to ride on a trainer (still need to cut the cables and attack the front brake).

Specs:
well hell it's full DA throughout except for the brakes which are Zero-G's (thank you e-bay). Look full carbon fork, Chris King headset, Specialized Toupe saddle, Deda Newton bar and stem. Bontrager Race wheels (just kidding, these are for training).

Tonight is looking like the first all-nighter of my interim course, Art after 1945, need to write a letter to an author but it's only 750 words so no problem there. Boy, am I glad I got in my training tonight, lest I be called a "p*ssy" or a "r*tard."

Looking a wee bit tepid
Apparently, more photos aren't working, I'll those up tomorrow. Oh well.

New Bike Tomorrow

AFTER SOME CROSS-TRAINING due to inclement weather in the past few days I finally cabled my bars and wrapped them. "They look mean (in the good way) - Emma Hornick. All that's left to do is to pick up my frame and fork from Mike's Bikes of Northfield (they're drilling out the cablestops for the NOKON cabling, cutting the fork, installing the crown race, and putting on the chain) and I'll have my brand new ride for 2007 after several months of ebay-ing (oops). Managed to do 2hrs20 on the trainer yesterday total and have been waking up with 20 minutes on the trainer before going to breakfast. It's not so bad in twenty minute chunks with a break inbetween to vary the elevation of the front wheel and to stretch/eat/whatnot for a minute or two. Tomorrwo Noaa predicts it to be 38 but pretty windy; I'll plan on 3+ hours immediately after class, leaving at 1, maybe gravel, we'll see.

Night