January 2008 Archives

A while back I came across a cool site called Thesixtyone.com.  The goal of the site is to help new artists get exposure.  The way they do this is by using a points system in which site users earn points by "discovering" new music and "bumping" it.  Initial bumps cost you points but then as the music is bumped by other people you start earning points.  It's a fun way to find new stuff that hasn't made it in to music databases like Pandora.com.  Some of the cool stuff I have come across on the site:  Busbee, Lorelei Carlson, and Temple Scene.  So take some time and check out the site.

Pickachu has gone crazy!!

http://www.malrollo.net/pikachu.php

Hopefully some folks will come along, read this, and offer up some advice, comments, and opinions.  Hint, click that comment link!!! :)
Winter has officially "set in" on me and I can feel that fitness wise I am not where I want to be.  The combination of busy holiday times and lack of daylight has kept me off of the road.  That leaves trainers as the only option and even though my wonderful wife bought me the best trainer out there, the Kurt Kinetic, I still feel that I am not up to par.  Especially after the road ride on Sunday. 
Despite the fact that my legs felt pretty good my heart rate stayed up at the 85-90% range through out the ride and my lungs felt like they couldn't keep up.  Then on the Spinnervals Time Trial DVD last night I watched the same thing happen.  My heart rate stayed up in the 88-91% range for most of the DVD.  My breathing was a little better last night and my legs were getting a good workout.  The heart rate just has me concerned that maybe I lost a little bit too much and need to slow up a little and re-build a base.
That thought and some google searching led me to this article: Mark Allen on Heart Rate Training.  His article described a training method that involves a working out at a lower heart rather than "killing" yourself all of the time.  The advantage to these lower heart rate workouts is your body learns to perform better at a lower heart and use fat as a fuel rather than glucose.  Throughout his training his performance dramatically improved.
I did a little more thinking after reading the article and began to wonder if I am missing something in the way that I have been training.  Towards the end of the season last year a group of us, including my wife, started doing training rides to prepare for the Between The Waters Century.  When doing these training rides I was skipping the crazy high intensity A++ morning rides on Sundays and doing a long slow ride instead.  We rode for 60 to 70 miles at an average pace around 16-17 miles per hour, you know, to let the wives keep up.  I thought that this kind of riding was prepping me for long endurance but not helping me in any other way.  Well it may have been hardening those nether regions too.  Now that the weather has gotten cold and most of my rides are 21 mile hard group rides only on Saturday and Sunday I am beginning to think otherwise.  The long easy rides may have been giving me a good base.  I am not saying that these nothing but somewhat low intensity rides are a replacement for hard training, but I think they are were an important part of the overall training program and may be the reason I have been sucking so bad on the bike recently.  Sure, some people may already know this, but I am still learning!

So... the opinions and advice I want:
Does anyone else out there agree that the long easy rides would have helped or am I just delusional?
What is going to be the best way for me to get back up to speed for the upcoming season?
Should I just quit ranting and typing on this blog?

Here's a link to the post on Firebike for the Smackdown Crit in Suffolk..... it should be a great time.  These put on a great race!!
Check it out:

http://firebike.blogspot.com/2008/01/vbw-smackdown-by-virginia-beach.html

Is this not the coolest (tackiest) cycling jersey ever????

Buy it at Paragon Sports

Updated 7/2/2008....

It seems Paragon Sports no longer is listing the jersey so here's a link to it at primal-sports.

http://www.primal-sports.com/pc-619-17-bride-2-b-womens-cycling-jersey.aspx

The resolution to include wider paving to allow safe bike routes passed the City of Virginia Beach Council.... now the real challenge.  Getting the funding!
Here's the article:

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/01/beach-approves-cycling-safety-resolution

A couple of the Fat Frogs Racing Team members have recently posted some great articles.  The first article posted by Jeff Craddock is about training and had some excellents tips from the pros.  It originally came from Road Bike Rider.  The second article by Chris Fischer and David LaPorte was posted by Jay Davis and has advice on how to prepare for race day.  Both are great reading so I am posting them here to make them more accessible to everyone.

Tips from the Pros on Training

Preparing for the Big Race

I came across a cool way to quickly close an application.  It's even built in to WinXP.  It's called taskkill.  This little program can kill a running application by way of a batch file.  Here's the scenario I wanted it for.... I wanted the ability to close Firefox quickly while I have multiple tabs open and have the option to restore those tabs the next time I opened up Firefox.  With taskkill that's very simple.... create a batch file that contains the following:
@echo off
TASKKILL /F /IM "firefox.exe"

Then save it as a batch file.  Double click the batch file and voila Firefox closes automatically without a prompt to close multiple tabs and the next time you open Firefox you have the option to reload the tabs from the last session.

Even faster.... setup a keyword in Keybreeze or Launchy so that you only have to enter the first couple letters of the batch file name to run it.

More detailed information can be found here:
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=297

GX5 has a very cool replacement for the clunky phone interface for Palm Devices.  It's only been a little while since I started to use it but from what I have seen it's pretty sweet.  It allows you to assign photos and icons to contacts as well as shortcuts for you most commonly used applications. 

Here's the link:
http://www.gx-5.com/products/ultimatephone/

Monday was the first time I had the chance to ride the torture device my darling wife got me for Christmas.  It's a Kurt Kinetic trainer with an extra weight for additional resistance.  That thing is brutal! 
Fred, Amber, and I rode to Fred's Zoot Challenge Spinnervals DVD.  It's amazing how much of a difference a few extra pounds of resistance make.  Hopefully this will help me along with my training a little faster. 
Tonight it's back on the trainer with another Spinnervals DVD.

I came across this little bit of Army humor by way of

I love my Google Calendar, with that being said I created a new calendar with all of the VACA events that have been listed on the Va Cycling events schedule so far.  I will try to keep it up to date and add links to event sites and registration as it becomes available. In order to access and use the calendar you will have to register with Google if you dont already have gmail.
It's available for "public consumption" by clicking here:

Last night the gang and I opted to take advantage of the awesome weather we had and take a night ride out along Dam Neck Road on the paved "bike path".  We thought it would be a great idea... here it was January and we were out riding at 630 in the evening in shorts and short sleeves to make a roughly 14 mile ride to the Farmer's Market.  Much better than riding on a trainer in a garage when it's 70 some degrees outside.
Let me say, this was one of the most stressful rides I have had in a long time!  Bike paths that are as far off the main road as the Dam Neck Road one is are DANGEROUS!!!!  Drivers that are making right hand turns can not easily see pedestrians and bikes on the path and there are quite a few major intersections to cross between General Booth and Princess Anne Road.  The general condition and width of the path do not fair well for riding at a fast pace either.  Debris in the path, holes and cracks on the access ramps at intersections, cracks in the pavement, and manhole covers in random locations all make for an obstacle course style ride.  I really think that riding the shoulder of the road is the much safer option for any cyclist above the level of the basic recreational rider. 
Hopefully the weather will be hold out and allow for another night ride... this time the plan will be to head up General Booth and see if that route is better.

This is kind of cool.... When checking Google to see what sites are linking here and to my other site Picturespot.net I came across a blog that had used URLs to Picturespot.net. In one of Applefritter.com's blog posts about how to properly imbed a picture or a picture as a link a URL to picturespot.net was used as the example URL for the image.
It was none other than the wonderful image of our little Devon stuffing his face full of ice cream....

Here's the link to the post: The Post

Congratulations to the VB Wheelmen for picking up GamJams as a sponsor for their team!

http://www.gamjams.net/2008/01/gamjams-sponsor.html

Now this is funny!!!

Cybersex Gone Wrong - Celebrity bloopers here

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/984435/cybersexgonewrong/

I am seriously considering killing this blog and only using the vox.com blog.  The Vox blog is on someone else's server (so I dont have to worry about backups), I can instantly throw posts up with my Centro, and it's powered by what my blog has been using.  Over the next few days there might be a redirect set up.

Here's the link.....
http://stormyva.vox.com/