This past Memorial Day weekend, I spent quite a bit of time in Frankenmuth. Friday night, we headed up there to check out the hot air balloons. It was pretty cool being close enough to feel the heat from the fires and watch the ballons take off right in front of us. Henry seemed to be enjoying himself and Susan was able to get quite a few photos using her new camera lens.

Saturday morning was an early day. I sold my road bike last year to build up my fixie/singlespeed cross bike and knew that wouldn’t be a good choice for a road race, so I decided to volunteer instead. It was pretty neat to be on the other side of the table during registration.

Some volunteers didn’t show up and I was asked to be a road marshal. I grabbed a flag, a hi-vis vest, and a map to where I’d be marshaling at. I got to the intersection and noticed there was another volunteer there, but no police. After we chatted a bit, we decided it would be wise to have two marshals running the intersection. It was a good thing we did, when the peloton came around the corner, they pretty much took up the whole road. We always had one person on the lookout for traffic and the other was directing the cyclists. It was a lot of fun!

For volunteering, I got to do the Gran Fondo di Thumb for free. I loaded up my cross bike and headed back to Frankenmuth Sunday morning. Before the ride started, I was talking with a fellow cyclist who asked if I was going to do the ride singlespeed. I replied I was doing it fixed. He took a look at my tires and said good luck with that, pushing those tires will be a lot of work.

We set off just after 8 AM. My training plan called for a two hour ride that day and I figured I’d get to the first rest stop and turn around. All I can say is riding in a pack is a lot of fun. I was able to keep up with the big dogs for about twelve miles. Right before I got dropped, the cyclist I was talking with before the ride told me I was bad-ass for keeping up as long as I did!

I was alone for the next few miles until I heard someone come up behind me. We worked together and were some of the first ones to reach the rest stop. After a short rest, a cookie, and some Gatorade, I was off on my own back to Frankenmuth. I ended up following the wrong markings when I got back into town and had to turn around a couple times to get to the finish line.

On Monday I finally installed two outside GFCI outlets so the A/C folks can come out and install the units. After that was done, we decided to take Henry to the beach. We drove up to Port Crescent and found a nice spot to relax at the state park. Henry wasn’t sure what to think. We tried dipping his toes in the water, but it must have been too cold for him. He shriveled up and was not happy about being in the water.

Even though it was a busy weekend, it was a great weekend!

Four weeks down, sixteen more to go… training has been going okay. Finally started capturing my position on my tri-bike, think I just about got it dialed in. At least I can hold aero on the trainer for a lot longer than I could when I started!

The bathroom re-model is slowing coming along. Plumbing is finished, electrical is finished, and hoping to get most of the cement board hung tomorrow. Still need to cut a hole in the roof, but it’s been raining steady for the past couple weeks now.

…the Killer Gravel Road race, killer it was. Somehow I convinced myself I could handle single speed at this race. Half-way through the first set of hills I was beginning to regret that decision.

Pre-race:

We got up early, fed Henry and headed down to breakfast. I had a couple pieces of French toast and a small muffin, washed down with a glass of orange juice. I’ve learned my lesson about eating too much for breakfast before a race…

A quick stop at Wal-mart for some race nutrition (pop-tarts), baby food, a snack for Susan and some Gatorade. We found a parking spot a couple blocks from the start line, but several blocks from packet pick-up. I thought about riding my bike down there, but changed my mind and walked instead. Packet pick-up was in the basement of an Ace Hardware store and although there were tons of people, it was very well organized. After making the trek back to the car, I chatted with Susan for a little bit until I figured it was about time to get ready for the race.

I was nervous about what to wear and was happy with what I chose, shoe covers (one or two sizes too small), tights, Ore-to-Shore socks, REI bib shorts, race-cut bike jersey, Nike running jacket, winter bike gloves, and my skull cap. I had debated going long sleeve over my bibs for an insulating layer, but ended up not needing it. I wasn’t cold until we were right outside town and the wind started to pick up a bit.

After getting my gear together and tires inflated, I road my bike around a couple blocks for a warm-up. Then it was a quick stop at the porta-johns and off to the starting area. Single-speeders were in Wave 2, so at least I didn’t have to stand around for long. I did strike up a conversation with a fellow cyclist who like pretty nervous, hope he did well. I ate one pop-tart before our wave moved up, chugged some Gatorade and off I went.

Race:

I was cruising along on the city streets without much problem. I was passing by folks and was having a pretty good time. We hit the gravel and it didn’t seem so bad. I was okay up the first couple of hills, but probably pushed myself too hard. When we got to the series of hills known as The Three Sisters, I had to push up the last one. It was a lot of uphill and downhill from there on out.

Around mile ten I started to cramp in my right calf muscle (really, 10 miles?) I was trying to ride as many hills as I could, that probably hurt me more than anything… I really need to do some sort of hill training this year.

The first few sections of gravel weren’t too bad, but then we got to some spongy stuff that I imagined would be similar to riding through peanut butter. Having only one gear, I didn’t have a lot of choices; I was either pushing through or walking through. I decided to push, but it didn’t feel like I was going very fast (which I wasn’t…)

There were quite a few mud holes, some of which had serious ruts going through them. Somehow I stayed rubber side down and was able to get through the worst of it. When we reached the climb known as The Killer, both legs were cramping and I was pushing.

I figured this would be a good opportunity to have my second pop-tart. I’m sure it was a site to see, this guy pushing his bike up a monster hill chomping on a pop-tart. It was pretty funny when I was pushing up another hill and there was a tandem team also pushing. I managed to get past them and one of them commented saying, “People are even walking faster than us!” I think they were having a rough ride, although I wasn’t much better off.

We got to some pavement and I caught up with a guy riding fixed gear. We chatted a little bit before I dropped him on a hill climb and he said this was the worst race conditions he had ridden in four years. We ended up seeing quite a bit of each other until I pulled away from him a couple miles from the end (although he did have a faster time than me).

Well, I took longer than expected to finish and Susan and Henry were cold waiting for me to cross the finish line. I mustered up what little strength I had and sprinted towards the finish line. I was hoping to have a picture of me crossing, because I’m sure I had quite a face after that race.

Post Race:

I texted Susan to let her know I crossed the finish line. My race time was just under 3:15 (about an hour longer then I had anticipated). After my legs finally stopped screaming, I pushed my bike over to the street we parked on, hopped on and headed to the car. Susan had the car running and the heat blasting, which was pretty much awesome. Unfortunately they looked cold and were ready to head back to the hotel. We stopped to get some lunch at KFC and made are way to the hotel for naptime.

I’m not sure if I’ll be doing this race again, although today I’m looking back and it was actually pretty fun trying to finish something challenging (especially on one gear). My race nutrition held up pretty well, two pop-tarts and two 21 ounce bottles of Gatorade. If I do try this race again I’ll probably swap to a 42-20 gear instead of 42-18.

I did get a bunch of comments on my bike and riding single speed, which was pretty neat!

The bathroom remodel is coming along.  Today I tested the tub drainage lines… no leaks!  I did have a minor waterfall in the crawl space draining the water however…  Apparently letting a little air out of the test balloon releases a ton of water.  I was able to pump it back up and get the submersible pump set up in a five gallon bucket.  Hoping tomorrow to get the toilet and sink line tested, then I’ll start working on the water lines.

…you feel like puking afterwards!

Well, it’s been awhile (and a new year) since I last posted on here. I managed to get through about 8 weeks of Jorge’s Winter Cycling plan. I’m switching gears (hah) to focus on my next upcoming race, the Barry Roubaix gravel road race on March 22nd. I’m hoping the weather warms up a little (okay… a lot) so I can get out on the roads a few times between now and then (instead of logging even more hours on the trainer). I’ve decided to do the 36 mile singlespeed category and can’t wait to try out my new bike in a race. Reservations are set for the Bay Pointe Inn, hopefully they are kid friendly. 😉

The past two weeks have been interesting. As I stated in my last post, I’ve been trying to increase my chin-ups reps. Two weeks ago, I tried to muscle the last set and ended up with a massive headache. I found out I probably caused an extertion headache and ended up not working out since…

Last night I figured I’d try and see how chin-ups went, and although I didn’t get head pains, I was only able to squeeze out seven (might have been able to get eight, but didn’t want to push it). Taking time off from working out never seems easy, but having a cold and fighting another one during that time made it a little easier to swallow.

Tonight, I am back on track and am starting a different chin-up program to see if I have better results. Tomorrow I pick up where I left off on Jorge’s Winter Cycling plan, can’t wait! 🙂

Well… I didn’t have much luck in the lottery for Escape From Alcatraz, but I thought I’d throw my name in the Kona Lottery for the second year in a row. If I don’t get in this year, there’s always next time around. 😉

I’m still doing Jorge’s Winter Plan and took the lactate threshold heart rate test again. This time around my LHTR was 165, not sure if it’s a good thing it’s lower or not, but the workouts aren’t getting easier.

Along with the bike plan I’ve also been trying to do some upper body work. I found a pull-up app and have been trying to improve how many chin-ups I can do. So far I’ve gone from being able to barely squeak out two to a solid eight chin-ups! Once I hit twenty chin-ups, my plan is to work on my wide grip pull-ups.

The wait is finally over! I’ve been waiting to use my upgrade eligibility for a new phone for quite some time now. MotoMaker was finally released for Verizon this week and all I can say is the Moto X is a pretty damn sweet phone!

So I finally took the plunge to do Jorge’s 16 Week Winter Cycling Program. Last week I did the heart rate test to figure out my lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR) was 177. This week I have done the first two workouts and so far have learned my aero position was not great.

I have been flirting with going aero on the rollers for a while now. On the first day of Jorge’s plan, I decided I would spend a good portion of it aero (at least I tried…) I’m not sure if it was because I was on the rollers, but I definitely could not hold aero for very long (looking back, I’m not sure how I could do it comfortably on the road).

The next day I decided I would move my seat as far forward as it could go (and started looking at seat posts that might even be able to move it even more forward). In doing so, I also moved my aerobars forward. With the aerobars further forward, I didn’t initially realize the housing wouldn’t be long enough for the derailleurs. I tried turning the handle bars and the rear derailleur started shifting.

I went to the bike store to pick up some housing and last night, before my workout, I was able to get everything re-cabled and adjusted. Again I tried to go aero, but even though it was better, I had a lot of pressure coming from the saddle. I think tonight I’ll tweak my position a little bit more and see how Day 3 goes tomorrow.

So far I am pretty excited about doing the winter plan, hopefully I will be able to stick with it!

Taking advantage of the beautiful fall weather, I decided to commute into work last Friday. The morning ride went pretty well, I’m glad I picked up the super bright light at the local bike shop on Thursday. It was pretty foggy out and I somehow managed to blow past Irish Road (apparently my sunglasses with clear lenses had also fogged up). Once I took them off I found out I could see a lot better.

The commute home was more interesting. I had wanted to take a “short-cut” through the Everett A. Cummings County park, but wasn’t sure exactly where the dirt road started. My first attempt landed me in the middle of a disc golf course (that actually looked pretty sweet). I pulled out my phone and realized it was the next road up on the left.

The cut through started off on some normal dirt roads until I came upon a gate stating motorized vehicles were not permitted. I noticed right away the path became narrower and had been well ridden on by horses. The hoof prints left behind made for a pretty bumpy ride. I was going along fine until I hit some sand and was forced off my bike. Had I known about this sand beforehand I probably would have passed up on the short-cut, but it will be a good place to train for the Barry-Roubaix (which I’m thinking about signing up for).
I passed five horses on my way to the Genesee County Fairgrounds and was back on the road again. If I can manage to stay upright on my bike, it seems like this route actually is quite a bit shorter, all though a bit more challenging (and a lot more fun!)

This weekend we also went to Huckleberry Railroad. It was pretty neat, although I don’t think Henry knew exactly what was going on he did seem to enjoy the train ride! We haven’t decided if we would be going back next year, but we will definitely be going back once Henry is old enough to walk and go Trick-Or-Treating!