I get on my son about it pretty regularly, but one of the few lessons I've successfully drilled into my own head is to take care of my future self. We'll save the discussion of finances for a later date, but I have developed a very stable routine of replenishing my supplies long before they are exhausted.
Usually this is as simple as making sure I have changes of clothes at my desk for when I ride my bike to work. About once a week I take the dirties home and bring in 3 or 4 fresh shirts, underpants, socks, and whatever else the weather dictates. That way I don't have to carry all that stuff both ways on my daily commute. I do the same with snacks for exactly the same reason.
Back over the summer, I bought a set of Reynolds tubeless wheels from a big box retailer, and they just didn't work. Couldn't get them to set up on the bead for anything. They'd hold 40psi in the rim bed. I tried tubes. I tried clincher tires. I tried near-detonation levels of pressure: nothing worked. The rim bed was just barely too large. So I took 'em back. But I kept the tires I'd ordered for them, because they'd get used some day.
Maybe a week later I blew a rear tire on my existing tubeless wheels. NBD: sealant to the rescue! Except apparently not, because the cut was slightly larger than what the sealant would handle. After every ride, I'd be covered in sealant and I'd have to wash the bike.
I gave up and put on one of those fresh new tires and completely forgot about the other one.
Then 2 weeks ago I got a chance to do a fast outdoor ride. I took my trusty race bike and generally had an amazing time with no issues other than glorious speed. Put the bike back on the trainer afterward and thought nothing of it.
But on the next ride--a 50 miler--I heard a lot of tire-slippage whenever I put down power. I didn't realize it until the next day, but the tire was flat, and apparently had been for about 40 miles of the ride. Pumped it back up and rotated the cranks and found it: a 1/2 inch vertical gash on the sidewall of the same wheel that had flatted before. 1150 miles on the expensive tubeless tire. Frustrated, I tossed the TT bike on the trainer and banged out a less-than-pleasant 40 mile ride.
And then it hit me at 1 am: I had another tubeless tire! After 20 minutes of searching for it, I found it hanging right in front of my face, and without having to spend a single extra dollar or wait 2 days for shipping, I had my race bike back in top form for the next day's ride.
Taking care of future me. Thanks former me!
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Monday, September 10, 2018
Peer pressure is just the worst
My boss runs. It's kinda her fault that, when I wanted to lose weight 4 years ago, running was my go-to. I had soccer at the time, too, and used running to regain my speed, but truly it was her fault. While I wouldn't say she explicitly goaded me or even coached me, she helped me understand some of the barriers to my success, and I was able to work down to a pretty decent competitive pace, and even win a couple of local 5K races.
But when I went to bikes, I went whole hog, and basically stopped running altogether, revisiting the sport for brief forays into a half marathon in 2015, and then a full in 2016. Since that marathon, though, nothing significant at all. Maybe 2 or 3 runs a year, always when traveling to places too inconvenient to bring a bike.
The bike adds a level of mysticism and complexity that just isn't there with running. To run fast, one must simply train, wear decent shoes, and suffer. To ride fast requires training and suffering, but also infinite variability in equipment. That's my sweet spot for a sport: training must not be enough, but it must be possible get up to speed with "adequate" equipment while allowing me to endlessly tinker.
The bike also adds the critical ability to be used as legitimate transportation. I ride to work. Then I work, and then I ride home. I do not run to work. I do not run to anywhere except the place from which I started. Running is, therefore, pointless.
Swimming was just never on my radar at all. I hate being wet, unless it's sweat. I do not like the temperature of pool water, which is simultaneously too cold to get in, but too hot to swim in. Oh and swimming itself is just an inconvenient way to risk death while, again, going nowhere. Honestly, why would you even bother?
Except that my boss is now doing tri's. And one of our VP's is also doing tri's. And they're huddled over there, every day, right behind me, chatting about tri things. Sickening.
But also intriguing.
I have a TT bike, and only 3 or 4 events a year in which to use it. I *had* great running shoes, and if I'm going to get in the water, I'm already more comfortable in skimpy euro trunks than baggy American grocery sack shorts. And, weirdly, I actually already have a tri suit that fits.
So Friday I went and bought new running shoes. Saucony Ride ISO's. I've had great luck with the Ride series in the past, and so far I LOVE THESE SHOES. I ran a 5K that night at a 7:30 pace and felt great, then ran again today after riding to work and backed the pace down to save room for a swim later, doing just a tick over 5 miles at 8:14 average. There's pain, but it's normal adaptation pain.
Saturday morning I rode the TT bike to the gym (in the tri suit) and got in the water (NOT in the tri suit). Boy do I suck at swimming. I've watched a bunch of educational swimming videos, so I'm approaching it very much as a scientific enterprise rather than a sport, because I'd be right back out of that water in a heartbeat otherwise.
I made it 7 laps of the pool, about half freestyle and half side-stroke (my fallback stroke of choice). I was able to breathe for one full lap before it all went sideways, but I had to start somewhere.
I'll be back there again this afternoon, this time with goggles, to put in a bit more time working on breathing and getting more comfortable moving back and forth across the pool.
I'm not saying I'm a tri guy now--that would be a gross over-sell--but I am succumbing to peer pressure (again), spending just a few dollars, and exploring a new element to my sporting preferences. Whether or not it sticks will depend entirely on my relationship with water.
But when I went to bikes, I went whole hog, and basically stopped running altogether, revisiting the sport for brief forays into a half marathon in 2015, and then a full in 2016. Since that marathon, though, nothing significant at all. Maybe 2 or 3 runs a year, always when traveling to places too inconvenient to bring a bike.
The bike adds a level of mysticism and complexity that just isn't there with running. To run fast, one must simply train, wear decent shoes, and suffer. To ride fast requires training and suffering, but also infinite variability in equipment. That's my sweet spot for a sport: training must not be enough, but it must be possible get up to speed with "adequate" equipment while allowing me to endlessly tinker.
The bike also adds the critical ability to be used as legitimate transportation. I ride to work. Then I work, and then I ride home. I do not run to work. I do not run to anywhere except the place from which I started. Running is, therefore, pointless.
Swimming was just never on my radar at all. I hate being wet, unless it's sweat. I do not like the temperature of pool water, which is simultaneously too cold to get in, but too hot to swim in. Oh and swimming itself is just an inconvenient way to risk death while, again, going nowhere. Honestly, why would you even bother?
Except that my boss is now doing tri's. And one of our VP's is also doing tri's. And they're huddled over there, every day, right behind me, chatting about tri things. Sickening.
But also intriguing.
I have a TT bike, and only 3 or 4 events a year in which to use it. I *had* great running shoes, and if I'm going to get in the water, I'm already more comfortable in skimpy euro trunks than baggy American grocery sack shorts. And, weirdly, I actually already have a tri suit that fits.
So Friday I went and bought new running shoes. Saucony Ride ISO's. I've had great luck with the Ride series in the past, and so far I LOVE THESE SHOES. I ran a 5K that night at a 7:30 pace and felt great, then ran again today after riding to work and backed the pace down to save room for a swim later, doing just a tick over 5 miles at 8:14 average. There's pain, but it's normal adaptation pain.
Saturday morning I rode the TT bike to the gym (in the tri suit) and got in the water (NOT in the tri suit). Boy do I suck at swimming. I've watched a bunch of educational swimming videos, so I'm approaching it very much as a scientific enterprise rather than a sport, because I'd be right back out of that water in a heartbeat otherwise.
I made it 7 laps of the pool, about half freestyle and half side-stroke (my fallback stroke of choice). I was able to breathe for one full lap before it all went sideways, but I had to start somewhere.
I'll be back there again this afternoon, this time with goggles, to put in a bit more time working on breathing and getting more comfortable moving back and forth across the pool.
I'm not saying I'm a tri guy now--that would be a gross over-sell--but I am succumbing to peer pressure (again), spending just a few dollars, and exploring a new element to my sporting preferences. Whether or not it sticks will depend entirely on my relationship with water.
Friday, August 24, 2018
BP: 7th in the Big Dog Race? Whoa...
Last week, just 2 days after a full weekend of racing, I lined up with the other local hot-shoes for another shot at Tuesday Night Glory. I was still hurting pretty bad from Sunday's TT, and had to put down some slightly stronger efforts than I'd wanted to get to work on time.
Knowing I didn't have it in the tank to just mix up with the bulldozers, we had a quick team strategy session before the race and decided to do things differently. We're not a big threat in that race, so nobody's really watching for us to make power moves. In fact, the two principal teams are so consumed with each other, they'd probably not notice much of anything we might try. And even better for our efforts, there's another team that brings big numbers and tries every week to make something happen, so we're even less likely to be noticed.
As the race got started, it was gloriously languid enough for conversations to take place through the group. I sat back and relaxed at the back, feeling that I might have one big effort, maybe, somewhere in the race. I sure as HELL wasn't going to waste it on a prime this time.
So I waited, and I watched, and I learned a lot. Sure enough, the two principal teams were so focused on marking each other that they were throwing out efforts left & right. Back to front, roll off, repeat. Team #3 was trying to make breaks happen, but nobody was biting, and amazingly, the group stuck together.
When the final prime rang, and the dust settled, I jumped, bringing a pair of unattached riders with me to the front and throwing them into the wind. They rolled out to a 10-meter lead, but I had no interest in trying to power off the front of the group, so I let their efforts expire...just in time to be set out into the wind myself for a full lap. With 3 to go. Yikes. Had I fired the cannon too soon?
I paced down like crazy, and the group settled with me. I dragged them through the kudzu on the edge of the course, and still they followed. With 2 to go, they jumped, and I had just enough gas left to jump with them.
Going into the bottom turn on the last lap, the group strung way out, and we hit 43 mph making a gap. I barely got across that gap as we rolled up to the final turn, and then I came through it like an idiot. Just like last year, when I didn't feel I'd "earned the right" to be there at the finish, I second-guessed myself coming out of the turn and allowed the others to dictate my placement. I rolled on power, but only 50%, hunting for a way through, and by the time I'd found one, the leaders were up the road. I picked up 2 spots and nearly grabbed one more at the line, but I'd finished in a points-paying position in the A race for the first time ever.
Knowing I didn't have it in the tank to just mix up with the bulldozers, we had a quick team strategy session before the race and decided to do things differently. We're not a big threat in that race, so nobody's really watching for us to make power moves. In fact, the two principal teams are so consumed with each other, they'd probably not notice much of anything we might try. And even better for our efforts, there's another team that brings big numbers and tries every week to make something happen, so we're even less likely to be noticed.
As the race got started, it was gloriously languid enough for conversations to take place through the group. I sat back and relaxed at the back, feeling that I might have one big effort, maybe, somewhere in the race. I sure as HELL wasn't going to waste it on a prime this time.
So I waited, and I watched, and I learned a lot. Sure enough, the two principal teams were so focused on marking each other that they were throwing out efforts left & right. Back to front, roll off, repeat. Team #3 was trying to make breaks happen, but nobody was biting, and amazingly, the group stuck together.
When the final prime rang, and the dust settled, I jumped, bringing a pair of unattached riders with me to the front and throwing them into the wind. They rolled out to a 10-meter lead, but I had no interest in trying to power off the front of the group, so I let their efforts expire...just in time to be set out into the wind myself for a full lap. With 3 to go. Yikes. Had I fired the cannon too soon?
I paced down like crazy, and the group settled with me. I dragged them through the kudzu on the edge of the course, and still they followed. With 2 to go, they jumped, and I had just enough gas left to jump with them.
Going into the bottom turn on the last lap, the group strung way out, and we hit 43 mph making a gap. I barely got across that gap as we rolled up to the final turn, and then I came through it like an idiot. Just like last year, when I didn't feel I'd "earned the right" to be there at the finish, I second-guessed myself coming out of the turn and allowed the others to dictate my placement. I rolled on power, but only 50%, hunting for a way through, and by the time I'd found one, the leaders were up the road. I picked up 2 spots and nearly grabbed one more at the line, but I'd finished in a points-paying position in the A race for the first time ever.
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