july 31, 2007

went for 2 rides today with the aero bars hooked up. first did the small Y tt after a very short warm up. felt so much better. having a position to stay in during an entire tt is going to make a huge difference once i get completely used to them. want to still adjust the pads slightly but overall the bars feel good. in addition to getting the bars i now am looking to upgrade a few more things. want to get the bar end shifters and a new set of handlebars specifically for tt's. but that will be over the next few weeks most likely.

so for my ride today i mostly took it easy after the intense short ride. went to the century course to see where i would have to use my normal bars or where i could stay on the aeros during turns. i am optimistic for tomorrow but even if the result isnt what im hoping for it will still be fun. ride;

d-18.86
t-1:03:36
as-17.79mph
ms-36.35mph

monthly mile mark-1655
in 92:02

july 24, 2007

had to close today so i went out before work. did a nice high paced ride involving one climb and then the sharp rollers through long hill rd. felt good and think the intervals paid off from the other day. overall did something like 25 miles then rode to work hard. big news though. finally broke down and bought this...


aero bars!!! ive been talking about them for weeks with other riders and stacey. took a test ride with them on a scott plasma. this bike is crazy. bottom line. check it out.

so im looking forward to my next time trial with the club even though ive been doing no riding with them. im also looking forward to mike getting back from ireland and heading out with him. been doing more and more solo riding. overall ride;

d-31.49
t-14:46*
as-19.65mph^
ms-43.78mph

* this was only time to work and back. reset the clock before i went to work.
^the average speed was a couple tenths higher for the overall ride due to the speed of my ride to work and back.

july 22, 2007

have done a ride or two since my last post. went to staceys and timed myself yesterday. and before that went out to round valley with bill. he has climbed mount washington which is now a new goal for me. read the end of this post for details about that ride.

bill and i did a good pace and he gave me motivation to try and eat better and also made me think more and more about registering for races outside of my club. im going to do it. why not? the worst that can happen is i come in last :)

yesterdays tt to staceys went ok. even though my goal of 22 minutes, which i think is waaaaaaaaay faster than i thought, wasnt reached the improvement points are obvious for the next time.

today after coming going to efingers then heading home to relax for a bit i headed out again. went out to hopewell while doing some lite climbing. on the way back did some great intervals. 2 min the 1 rest, 2 mins then 2 rest, 3 mins then 2 rest, 2 mins then 1 rest, 2 mins. like a pyramid interval. overall had a good day riding. first sunday off in a long time and i know it wont be the last. my first ride home was a little over 17 miles so here is the ride later that day rounded up to the next mile;

d-28*
t-1:28:09
as-18.84mph
ms-44.60mph

*total day miles-45.01



d-45.01

july 16, 2007

bolted out of work wanting to get some climbs in. after warming up for about 10 minutes i hit zion and started my climb. got a little winded the first time up but recovered pretty well. down long hill then back up and then down zion when all of a sudden, DEER!! almost killed myself suddenly braking at 40ish mph. but it ran away thankfully and no incident came out of it. headed back up zion in a higher gear then one more time up long hill. this time i clicked into an extremely high gear. was pulling up on the pedals to get to around each time for part of the climb. but this is going to build major power for me. headed down zion again with no wildlife interference. ride;

d-23.04
t-1:18:58
as-17.51mph
ms-47.22mph

july 14, 2007

went out again with mike and wanted to get in a lot of miles. tempature was nice and even though the wind was in our face for the beginning of the day it stayed the same and was on our backs for the second half. hit some climbs then went down to lambertville. i didnt have the bike for the past few days since it was in for a tune up/repair and my legs in the beginning felt it. but after about an hour the blood in my legs worked its way around and they began to feel better. or maybe it was just the wind on my back :)-

after lambertville we made our way back and i had a moment where my bike went off the road and a crash almost occurred. was looking down while climbing and just didnt pay enough attention to the direction the road was headed. got to get better and stop doing this. this season ive come awfully close a few times to crashing but luck has been on my side.

after 50 miles we stopped at mikes house for a bit and i met his family. his house was amazing. simple as that. played his son in nhl 2k7 on PS3. beat him :)-

set out for the second half of my ride. had visions of hitting a century mark but decided against it. since the ride was technically in two parts and my legs were starting to get a bit sore i decided to head home. ride;

d-82.21*
t-4:34:40
as-17.95mph
ms-39.05mph

*longest ride ive done so far

july 10, 2007

went out after work with mike. first time we have ridden in a while since he was in italy. but he had a lot of enery. even though my legs were tired from work they gave me moments of power here and there and started to feel better after about 45 minutes. we generally rode around the canal rd area and went up and down a small climb area. after getting back i picked up a container of cytomax. this is a powder drink mix that will replace the gatorade type sport drink i have been drinking on long rides and as a recovery drink. although mike let me try some accelerade during this ride, the taste wasnt very pleasant. the only negative of cytomax is there isnt any protein in it like accelerade. but im going to give a look around to other supplements to provide protein in either a drink or gel. ride;

d-42.46
t-2:03:19
as-19.30mph*
ms-41.28mph

*for the last 2 miles my chain was clicking and my as was most likely in the 13-15mph range for those 2 miles.

july 8, 2007

alot of riding in the past couple of days. and one of my main goals for the year got accomplished.

i got up warrenville road! it was as tough as i expected and it was great. took some concentration and plenty of willpower but the mountain lost :)

in addition to that, and on the same ride, i did my first ride to cranford. took a little while after getting lost for a bit but eventually got there.

so today pete and i met up for some sprints. we went to different parks but met up after a bit and did some miles. he took me over to his place and it was like a bike history lesson. he has bikes from the last 3 decades that are all in pretty good condition and a great work shop in his basement. not to mention an awesome deck, jacuzzi, and a pony!

after a while we left and did about 30 more miles that included some sprints. the mercury started rising and the wind started kicking up and my gas tank was going empty. turned home and just died. my average speed dropped and my legs went heavy. todays ride;

d-53.62
t-3:09:26
as-16.98mph
ms-40.14mph

july 3, 2007

went out with pete today and did sprint training. went very well from my perspective and we got in a good overall ride. pete is an experienced rider who i know will help me to develop into a better rider. we went to colonial park and just did sprints up and down the main road. after that we headed down canal road and finished up there. good day for riding since the wind was low and the temp was just right. tomorrow im setting out with eric to meet up with other club members to do 65 mile 4th of july ride. hope i can 1. wake up and 2. ride well. we'll see. todays ride(includes ride to work and back);

d-43.52
t-2:22:32
as-18.32mph
ms-35.03mph

july 1, 2007

good ride today which i didnt think id do. met up with eric and a group of people he has been riding with out of westfield. we met around 830 and headed out from there. the group was much slower than what ive been riding but it was still good. nice to take some time on the bike and look around instead of pounding out miles. did some climbs and cant seem to get back into spinning. even the climbs are more like sprints.

stopped at the general store and hung out for about 15 minutes then headed out. headed back i took off and decided to climb long hill rd and then go back down. once i ran into the group i would turn around and go back up. worked out well making me almost have one extra climb in my ride.

after that we headed back and i hung in the back with the slowest guy. sucks to always get dropped which i know. so we just rode and talked for the last 7 miles or so.

it was a nearly perfect day for riding. just around 70 and the sun was out. only thing was the wind that could have been calmer. ride;

d-39.10
t-2:30:30
as-15.58mph
ms-48.16