Ardea herodias

Okay, so, slowly over the last two years I've become interested in the birds of the American River Parkway. This is a pic of one of my favorites, over by the Bog of Eternal Stench. I think it is a Great White Heron.

No biggie on the bike today...2:15/1200 kJ just riding along and practicing my ornithology. I'll go a little farther to the east tomorrow and see if we can't capture the Cathartes aura. They don't seem to come out in the full light though, unless they are scavenging some tasty carrion.

flatline

I am on a four day maintenance block of pure endurance. No intensity. I am slowly increasing the training load to accommodate more intensity than the last block without driving the stress balance to far negative. In simple terms I am riding more miles with less intensity this week and will ride the same miles next week with the intensity added back in. Sounds simple but at such a high training load it is tricky. The hard part for me personally is sticking to the plan. For example this morning when I got to the trail at Hazel I had almost convinced myself to repeat Monday's sweet spot intervals. Good thing the coach in me can finally override my idiot bike junky side. Can you say obsessive-compulsive? I think I've turned the corner. My obsession to win is driving my compulsion to do the right thing. Good thing I'm obsessed with winning a 24 hour race. Heeheehee. Watch out for the turkeys, they're a little nervous this time of year.

Sweet Spot Training

It has begun. Twelve weeks of structured sub-threshold work. Today I included 4x10:00 at 245-260 watts. These are difficult intervals to complete because you really must concentrate to keep the pressure on. If you ease up the watts drop fast. If you go too hard you will have a hard time recovering and completing subsequent intervals and workouts. Anyway the first three were perfect, but I struggled on the fourth. There is immediate room for improvement. I like that. It's easy to pick the low hanging berries.

badass referee

I am embarrassed to say I don't know this woman's name, but she works her ass off and is the most on-the-ball ref in our district. If we are gonna have track racing in Sactown then I wanna be like her. I guess I better get some new glasses and dammit I am terrible with a stopwatch. Oh well. I'll do my best.

Yesterday was a rippin River Ride. We had a bunch of ex-pros out driving it like the old days. There was Chris Bauman, Troy White, Mike Sayers, Chad Gerlach, and the usual cache of cantankerous Masters 1/2/3's and whippersnappers.

Today we did the usual hunt and gather then headed out to Disco Park for the Cap City Cross race. Our house guest Beth Welliver won the B race and our good buddy Sarah Maile layed the Sactown Smackdown on the A group.

Good times. Tomorrow is my weekly hammerfest around the lake and then downtown for the West Sac velodrome meeting.

snap, crackle, pop...And So It Begins

I cracked off a half dozen 1200 watt sprints on the way to work this morning. The legs feel great! The boss gave me keys and codes today...I guess I'll be making bikes for a while :-) How long has it been since Miss Mary split town to live near the velodrome in San Jose? I have to admit it was she who put the bug in my ear about how rad racing on the track is and that maybe I should give it a try. She turned me on to the subculture and encouraged me to lay the smackdown. And it was her that started me dreaming about getting a track built here in Sac. We have our first real meeting on Monday. The Mayor of West Sac is on board. Here we go!!!

shop class

I sure am enjoying work at the hippest shop in Norcal and can hardly wait to race on handmade bikes. I have a boss who truly appreciates what I bring to his business and he thanks me daily for the work I do. Today I got to play with steel and a chop saw and a big hammer.

Yesterday I did seated big gear stomps. 12x20 seconds in the 53x14 with complete recovery between efforts. Today I am still tired so I took it easy. The legs were burning and I was moving like a slug all day. I'll prolly do a few sprints on the way to work tomorrow.

Thursday quad measurement...58.8

bike drunk, Track License Upgrade!!!

There was no RiverRide Saturday, thanks to the rain (though I'm sure Wong and Blaise and two or three other crackheads were out there slurping road grime cuz they're too retarded to use fenders), so I took the opportunity to lift some weight, get on the stability ball, and ride the rollers...3 sets of 6x1 minute at high rpm. Fun, fun, fun! Yesterday was hunting and gathering at the Farmer's Market and only some minimal sprinting against Dilly on the BMX bike. Today was 90 miles in five hours, the last two in the rain. I burned up 3500 calories and am relegated to the couch for the evening. I've done 19 rides of three hours or more since my season ended July 27th. I haven't been this focused since the Winter of 2004-05. Oh yeah, I got my Cat 3 track upgrade in the mail today!!! That means no more sandbagging for points and now I can ride all the big events like AVC, Alpenrose Challenge, Masters States, etc. Good times.