39 Days and Counting...

This morning I woke early again, as I had to get some hill intervals in before heading to work...yippee!  I love riding my bike...I really do.  What I dont like however, are hill intervals!  These are the most grueling, painful, un-enjoyable thing I have ever done on a bike.

The last time I did hills, I climbed for three minutes, then turned around, sped down to the bottom of the hill, turned around and headed right back up for another three minutes.  This morning however, I did not have any way of timing myself, as I do not have a cycle computer mounted on my race bike yet.  So instead of climbing for three minutes, I just went until I could go no further...which by the way ended up being about 200 feet further than my three minute mark.  I never shifted out of the middle ring, and kept from shifting to the lowest (easiest) gear, within that middle ring range.  It was amazing...each time up the hill, I just kept pushing through the pain, and them WHAM!  I immediately hit a wall right at the same spot each time.  My legs just gave out...to the point that I could not even stand while I was coasting sown the hill...I had to sit in the saddle because my legs would not support me. Even more amazing though, is how quickly they recovered, and were ready to go again.  The human body is an amazing machine!

I ended up doing for intervals this morning, but I intended to complete five.  On the way down the hill from my fourth climb I must have run over a small piece of glass that cut my tire.  As I was coasting nearly 30-mph downhill I heard a sudden, intermittent sound...psst, psst, psst.  Go ahead, make that sound out loud, at a quick pace.  No really, do it.  That is pretty much exactly what my tire sounded like as it spewed out the latex sealant that is supposed to quickly seal up cuts and punctures in my tubeless tires.

Tubeless tires?  Yep, tubeless.  Tubeless tires are the latest and greatest for mountain bikes...for a couple of reasons.  First, they weigh less.  Believe it or not, by removing the tubes from bike tires (29" inch wheels) I am able to shed roughly two-pounds of weight from my bike!  Second, by running a tubeless setup I am capable of running far less pressure in my tires, which allows them to adhere to the terrain better, ultimately providing much greater traction.  With the standard tube setup, running low pressure often results in a pinch-flat.  A pinch-flat happens when an under inflated tire contacts something hard...like a rock...and pinches the tube between the tire/rock and the edge of the rim.  This usually results in two small holes (often referred to as a snakebite), and a flat tire.

So anyway, my tire got cut by a piece of glass on the way down...and due to the fact that I had not brought an emergency tube, or even a pump with me, I decided not to chance it, and just called it a day.  My legs thanked me!  In hindsight however, I wish I would have made one or two more climbs so that I could have burned off another couple hundred calories.  Why you ask?

Today was not a good day for me...nutritionally speaking.  I have not eaten as bad as did today, for quite some time.  Breakfast started out good with a bowl of oatmeal, one-half cup of blackberries, one-half cup of raspberries, and a small box of Horizon Organic Chocolate milk (great recovery drink, remember?)...pretty healthy.  After some fire department training drills, I managed to eat a pretty healthy snack...and even managed to consume a healthy lunch.  It was shortly after lunch that the wheel came off the the health wagon!  A craving came over me, and there was no fighting it.  Before I knew it, I had eaten a large bowl of ice cream!  Things just continued to go downhill from there.  The crew that worked the shift before us had made garlic bread for dinner the night before, and there was plenty left over.  Yep, I threw down at least three pieces of that!  Then came dinner...Jambalaya.  Two hefty servings later, I forced myself to get up form the table and put away my dish.  I think I probably consumed at least four or five more servings of rice than I should have!  This is certainly not the time to be falling off the wagon...there's only 39 days left!

41 Days and Counting...

It' all done!  It took it out for a test ride this morning, and made it back with zero crashes!  I am happy to say that I was able to do everything myself this time, well...except for one thing.  Tomorrow I need to take it in to the bike shop and have them perform their magic on the drive-train so that the shifting is super crisp...it's a little sloppy right now, but it all works!  I even managed to get rid of about 95% of the cable slap within the frame that was making so much noise, and driving me crazy!

And there it is...back together again...and dirty!

I also debuted my new helmet today...the POC Trabec, a super-light and super-strong helmet.  POC Sports has been making full-face helmets and body armor for the downhill guys for years, and now they have brought their lightweight, high-strength technology to the cross-country arena.  It is so light and comfortable, that I honestly forgot it was on my head!  It looks pretty cool too.

Now all I have left to do is put my other bike back together.  You might remember that I gave it a bit of an upgrade after I stripped down my new bike after the crash.  Well, in order to rebuild the new bike, I had to take back all of the parts that I swapped over...twice the work!

This bike has to be ready by next weekend for Sedona and Flagstaff!

42 Days and Counting...

When I got home from work yesterday morning, I was greeted with a kiss and hug from my lovely wife, a much sloppier smooch from my pooch, and a big box from my friends at Ellsworth Handcrafted Bikes!  What a nice homecoming!  I had a couple of clients to train that morning, so The Great Ellsworth Bike Build-Round 2, would have to wait until later in the day.

Hey...like the box says...

Those that ride, know.

So here I go again...round 2 of the Great Ellsworth Bike Build.  Believe me, I am not happy about crashing, nor am I happy about breaking my brand new bike...but I am happy about getting to build it up one more time.  You see, after putting it all together the first time, I realized that I would have done things just a little different if I had the chance to do it over again.  Well...now I have that chance, so there are a couple minor thing that I am going to change.

One of Ellsworth's design flaws (actually, the only one I could find) is the way they designed their internal cable runs.  Most bikes, with the exception of some high-end road bikes, run their brake and shifting cables on the outside of the bike.  Yeah, it looks a little cluttered, but that's just the way it is.  On this bike however, the Ellsworth engineers designed the frame so that the cables would be run within the frame, providing a much cleaner look, and less chance of the cables snagging bushes and branches while riding.  It looks very nice when its all done, but there is a flaw.  The cables tend to bounce around and slap against the inside of the frame, causing unwanted noise...which I absolutely despise!  I like my bike to be as 'whisper quiet' as possible...it's one of my anal-retentive issues...deal with it :)

A look at the internal cable runs...leading into the frame...

...and back out at the rear of the bike.

I got a little work done yesterday, and I got up early this morning to get after it.  So far, I have the forks, handlebar and stem, crankset,  and the rear and front deraileurs mounted.  I started to run the shifter cables, then realized that I had accidentally cut the cable for the rear shifter too short.  So now, I have to wait until a bike store opens so that I can go buy a new cable.  I have never swapped out a shifter cable before, so I am entering uncharted territory...thank the Lord for the internet!  One quick google search, and up came nearly 39,300 hits (in just .24 seconds) about how to change the cable...just what I needed!

It's coming together...again

The inside of my rear shifter...uncharted territory!

I'll keep you all posted on the progress.

45 Days and Counting...

Just a brief post today, to let you all know about this morning's workout.  One word describes it perfectly...BRUTAL! 

Today's workout was hill intervals on the bike.  For those of you who are not familiar with interval training (you clearly haven't been following this blog from the beginning), intervals are short durations of activity...usually high intensity activity, followed by a short duration of either rest or significantly lower intensity activity.  For example...sprint 10 seconds, rest 20, sprint 10, rest 20, and so on.  Interval training is used quite successfully to improve cardiovascular fitness levels, specifically one's lactate threshold (roughly the point at which one's body shifts from an aerobic state to an anaerobic state), and the ability to perform high intensity activities for longer periods of time.  Subsequently, interval training has been shown to be very effective at reducing unwanted body fat levels.

Today's interval session for me involved getting up at 0500 so that I could get my training in before heading to work.  The workout called for a total of eight intervals; four rounds of three-minutes of climbing, followed by three-minutes of easy riding.  First of all, there aren't to many hills where I live...at least not ones that are paved.  Trying to do hill intervals out on the trail can be quite difficult because it is hard to find that 'just right' hill that affords you the ability to ride and rest for just the right amount of time.  This particular workout is supposed to be performed on a hill that is roughly a 6-8% grade.

Well, I don't know of any hills close by me that are 6-8%, but there is one that is closer to 15-20%...so that's the one I chose.  I know, I know...kinda stupid huh?  I didn't really have much of a choice though.  The other issue with this hill is that it is about one mile long...much further than I would travel in three minutes of 15-20% graded climbing!  This means that my easy riding would consist of the very fast (and scary fun!) downhill coast, back to the bottom of the hill...which by the way, only took about 30-seconds.  Those 30-seconds ended up being my rest period, as I simply turned around and hammered right back up the hill.

Believe me, I know what you are saying right now..."Why didn't you just rest while you were at the bottom of the hill?"  Well, to be completely honest with you, there was another rider out there (a roadie...which is what mountain bikers call road bikers) who was doing the same hill intervals as I was...and you know me...there was no way I was going to let some roadie see me resting at the bottom of the hill, while he wasn't!  It's a testosterone thing.  To make matters worse, I was performing my intervals on my mountain bike, which is much heavier than a road bike, and has both front and rear active suspension, which reduces the efficiency of each pedal stroke...so basically, I was working much harder than if I had been on a road bike. 

Mr. 'Roadie' was already there before I arrived so there was no way I was going to leave before he did...no way! So instead of performing four complete intervals series, I ended up doing five.  Thank God he was gone when I got back down from my fifth...I did not want to have to do a sixth!  Needless to say I was very happy he had left, and I quickly packed it in, and headed to work...my legs aching and my lungs burning...it was goingto be a great day!

Ok, so it wasn't all that brief...sorry.

46 Days and Counting...

Ok, here we go again...

It's on it way...again

 I spoke with Diego, an employee with Ellsworth Handcrafted Bikes yesterday...he had left a voicemail for me last Thursday, about my frame.  In the message he stated that he was processing the warranty return of my broken frame, and to please call him back, as he needed to discuss a couple of warranty options with me.  Warranty Options? I wasn't sure what that meant, but it didn't sound good to me.  There was really only one option for me...a replacement frame.

When I spoke with him yesterday, Diego couldn't remember why he needed to speak with me, and what those warranty options would have been...hmm.  He informed me that he would be shipping me out a replacement frame right away.  Thankful, I couldn't help but think "ok great, but you've now wasted five days, when you could have shipped my new frame out last friday!"  Oh well, it is on it's way, according to UPS tracking...set to arrive tomorrow.  Let the bike building begin...again!

Thank you Ellsworth!

47 Days and Counting...

This weekend my wife and I took a trip up to Sedona to try and escape the heat for a few days.  Sedona is known as one of the greatest places in the country to mountain bike, and I have never ridden there!  Since we planned to be there, I figured I would get a little high, or semi-high altitude training in early one morning.

Sedona is surrounded by deep-red rock spires, cliffs, and lush green foliage.  It has been a favorite tourist destination for international travelers for years.  It is quite eclectic, and home for artists and those who believe in the new age movement.  It's a great place to visit, but honestly...I'm not sure I could live there due to the 'weird-ness' of the 'Vortex People' as I call them.

This morning is the day that I chose ride, as I figured the trails would be relatively empty, as compared to the weekend.  I had copied a map from Cosmic Ray's Fat Tire Tales and Trails...a popular book among mountain bikers that contains hand drawn maps of hundreds of trail systems within Arizona.  Check it out if your interested...http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Biking-Arizona-Guide-Trails/dp/0966476948.

There are a number of trails and trail systems throughout Sedona, but I chose one very close to where we were staying, in West Sedona.  According to the map, the trailhead was roughly one mile from our hotel, which meant that I could ride to the ride, leaving the car behind for Donna in case I needed her to come rescue me!  Yesterday, we drove over to the trailhead so that I wouldn't have to look for it this morning...after all, it is a hand drawn map.  After a little adventure of sorts, we found the trailhead...pretty close to where the map had shown it.

Before I get into how my ride went, I want you to think back a few posts...way back to the one when I wrote about being aware of those little signs that tell you that you really shouldn't be going on a ride that particular day.  Remember that one?

The Sugar Loaf Trailhead...never again!

Ok...so this morning I awoke to my alarm at 0530.  I was pretty sleepy as I had not slept well last night due to some disturbing news I had received about a friend of mine.  My friend, Mike Metzger (no relation believe it or not) is a professional Freestyle Motocross rider...in fact, he is essentially the pioneer of the sport, and known internationally as The Godfather of Freestyle Motocross.  He had a bad crash yesterday, breaking his back, many ribs, and lacerating his liver.  He is in stable condition in ICU at a hospital in California.  Please pray for Mike!  

Chimney Rock

Anyway, I got that news last night, and didn't sleep well at all.  0530 came pretty quickly, and I thought about staying in bed...but just for a moment.  I was not going to miss my opportunity to ride some famous Sedona red rock trails!  There were a couple of other things that made me think twice about going, such as the fact that I locked myself out of the hotel room this morning, and had to knock on the door, waking Donna so that she could let me in.  Next, my cycle computer wasn't working quite right...it wasn't reading my pedal cadence (rpm), and I couldn't get it fixed.  Oh well...not a necessity.

Amazing scenery

I finally got everything squared away...and off I went.  Those of you who have been to Sedona are familiar with how hilly it is.  The mile ride to the trailhead was not some easy 'warmup' ride...it was difficult!  A couple of the roads that I had to take to get there were close to 20% grades...so needless to say by the time I got to the trailhead, my legs had already put in a fair amount of work.  I hit the trail, and within 100 feet, I turned back.  This couldn't be the right trail, I thought.  It was strewn with rocks, and lined with very sharp mesquite bushes...just at the right height for cutting my arms up good.  Within that first 100 feet, I had to dismount my bike twice, and hike up over two big step-ups.  So far, I was not impressed!

 

I tried another little spur off of the main trail...no different.  I tried another, and even one more...all the same.  These trails were (in my opinion) not ride-able.  I looked at the map, fighting the urge to wad it up and throw it away, and found that there were a couple more trail heads further west.  So back on the streets I went, riding about 2-miles until I found one.  This one seemed to be a little better, although it was still very rocky.  I stuck it out for a about a mile, where it became more enjoyable and fun to ride.  

Lizard Head Rock...I think it looks like a snake head

I made it back safely, without any major incidents...still unimpressed.  I will be returning to Sedona to ride however.  In fact, I will be there in a couple weeks.  We will be riding a completely different area though, and I am hoping it will live up to the hype. 

I must say however, that regardless of the riding experience...Sedona has amazing views...the best I have ever experienced on a ride...well, maybe they are a close second to the California coastal views that I have experienced in the past.  It's beautiful!

That drop is about 4-feet high...no I did not try it!

51 Days and Counting...

Today, as with other days, I have some good news and some bad news.  Which would you like to hear first?   Speak up...I can't  hear you.  Okay...bad news should always come first, right?  

The bad news is that my elbow is killing me...okay, so maybe it's not killing me in the literal sense...but man this thing hurts!  I have been hitting the weights the past two days, as I decided I would just deal with the uncomfortable feeling, so that I could get back on track to achieving my body fat goal.  The funny thing is that it doesn't really hurt when I'm training, but man...an hour or two later...very painful.  The tendon that was originally damaged still hurts, but honestly...the surrounding muscles that have now begun to compensate for the injury, hurt more. 

Okay, on to the good news.  Oh wait...there's more bad news.  Up until just recently I was seeing my physical therapist at least twice a week, just to keep the elbow somewhat healthy, and minimally painful.  My insurance from work was awesome!  I only paid about $7 each visit...that's right, $7!  However, due to the financial crunch that we are all feeling, the fire department that I am employed by, elected to change insurance carriers in light of the fact that we were going to take a 30-something percent increase to our current plan.  Unfortunately, the new plan is nowhere near as good as the old.  Instead of paying the average $7 per visit, I will now have to pay $40!  So, as you can see, my employer saved a great deal of money by passing on the expenses to the employees...oh well, sign of the times huh?  Oh yeah...there also used to be no limit as to how many physical therapy visits I made throughout the year...now, only twenty visits!  Amazing.

So what does this mean?  It means that I cannot afford to get regular treatment for my elbow anymore.  I am supposed to be receiving another injection in my elbow sometime in August.  Hopefully, the injection will help to alleviate the majority of pain and swelling in and around the joint...and reduce the compensatory muscle activation, which will reduce the pain I feel every time I flex or extend my elbow.  At that time I will make a few appointments with the physical therapist in preparation for my race.  After that...it's some serious time off so that I can heal.

Are you ready for the good news?  I found out yesterday that Ellsworth Bikes (as of yesterday) was processing my replacement frame!  Until then, my old bike got a nice makeover with many of the parts from my new bike!  As soon as my new frame comes in, I'll swap them all out again...it's fun!

53 Days and Counting...

So the good news is that my Tibia is fine...no fracture and no foreign body lodged in my leg!  So why the big bump and pain still?  Who knows...just have to suck it up I guess.  I suppose the bone is just bruised and there is a fair amount of tissue damage around the area...it'll heal in time.

What's the bad news you ask?  I told you yesterday that I would be posting some numbers today...that's the bad news!  While I still weigh 185 pounds, my body fat has risen...almost an entire percent!  That is not good.  It's time to get serious about reaching my goal again.  There have been too many slip-ups (eating) and not enough training lately.  I blame the eating mistakes on no one else but me...but the training...well yeah, that's on me too.  Elbow pain or not, I am going to have to hit the weights, and get my muscles fired up to burn off the remaining fat.  

If you have been following my blog for a while now, you know where I stand on resistance training and it's effect on body composition.  Due to my elbow pain, I have been avoiding hitting the strength training component of my program...and it shows.  So...Ibuprofen and ice...here I come!  I am going to need to simply push through the discomfort and get it done!

So that's what I am going to go do right now...sweat it out in my garage!

Oh wait...I almost forgot to tell you about my ride this morning.  It was the first time I had been on my bike since the crash.  Everything felt okay, but I was a little sore in some places that I wont mention here on my blog :)  It was a short ride this morning, as I had to get back home and start training clients by 730.  I figured if it was gonna be a a short one, it had better be high intensity, so I set out at a race-pace in the big ring, and never let off.  While I didn't crash today, it seems that I cannot go for a ride these days without drawing a little blood!  As I was rounding a turn, at a fairly good rate of speed, I cut it too close to a tree that was hanging into the trail...apparently a very sharp one!  It left it's mark on me as if to say "Hey...I live here...if yo run into me, I'll cut you!"  And cut me it did...nothing major, just a scratch, but it bled pretty good.  Oh well, at least I didn't crash!

more blood...no crash!

 By the way, take a look at the bracelet I am wearing...RIDE430.COM.  Go online and check it out right now...I have added a link in my favorites, on this blog page.  A friend of mine is raising money for the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund...to provide financial help for injured marines and their families.  Money is raised for the fund through a 'cause-ride' where a number of people will ride their bikes (bicycles, not motorcycles) from Phoenix to San Diego.  Their goal this year is to raise $300,000!  Go online right now and see how you can help!

54 Days and Counting...

Hello everyone...only 54 days left!  I still have some things to finish up...like losing a little more body fat (I'll post new numbers tomorrow morning), adding a little more muscle mass (gonna be tough with the elbow issue), finishing up my training program, and getting my race jersey made.  Yep, that's right, my riding/racing partner Paul and I are going to get custom 'one-off' race jerseys made up to represent the Sun City Fire Olympic Team, and to uphold our commitment to our sponsors.  I've been dragging my feet on this for some time now, but it looks as though it's finally time to make it happen.  Oh yeah...one more thing...I need to get a new frame for my bike!  I haven't heard back from Ellsworth yet regarding my broken frame, after they received it on Thursday, but I have high hopes that they'll be sending me a replacement very soon.  If not...I'll be swapping all of the parts from my new bike over to my other bike.  I am very blessed to have a 'back up' bike for my race!  Oh, and don't get me wrong...my back-up bike is still an amazing piece of equipment as you can see below.

My back-up bike...a 2008 Ellsworth Evolve...an amazing bike!

I'm feeling a little better, healing up from the crash last week.  I am going to see the doctor today however, because the swelling on my left shin has not gone away, it's extremely painful still, and there is still blood pooling all around my ankle.  I am interested to see if there is a fracture in my tibia!

I'll be posting again tomorrow...updating my numbers, and checking to see if I have progressed or not...there's actually a chance that I may have started to back-slide...tune in tomorrow to find out!

59 Days and Counting...

With every word I type I can feel the sting from the crease under my left 'pinkie' finger, where a small chunk of flesh was gouged out...its kind of like the way a blister feels once it has been popped, and it dries out a little, and cracks...only now it is in the crease of a finger that you don't think about usually.  Don't get me wrong...it doesn't hurt that bad...just really annoying!

Also, I still have a bump on my left shin that is extremely tender to the touch...there might actually be something embedded in my leg, but I cant tell for sure...maybe a small rock or something.  Time will tell I suppose.  Possibly the worst part about it is the fact that I smacked my elbow pretty hard on something (probably the bed of rocks I landed on)...and yes...it was the bad elbow.  I also hit my shoulder hard, so its pretty sore, especially when I raise my arm overhead. I included a couple photos of what my pesky little injuries look like two days after the crash.

Yesterday morning I made the call to Ellsworth Handcrafted Bikes...a call I was really not looking forward to.  To my surprise, they were very good about it (no that I was expecting them to be bad) and asked that I ship the frame back to them ASAP so that they could inspect it, and ship a replacement out to me, as soon as they could.  They have two large frames left in stock, so if all goes well, they should be able to get me a new frame in just a few days!

So hopefully I will have in new frame in hand in a week or so, and I can begin the Great Ellsworth Bike Build-Part Deux!  There are a couple of components that got pretty beat up as well, so I may need to replace them...thankfully they are inexpensive!

I'll keep you all posted as I learn more.  Thanks to everyone for your kind words and get well wishes...they are much appreciated!

61 Days and Counting...Happy 4th!

Hey everyone, happy 4th of July! 

Not too long ago I posted some videos of the trails I like to ride.  One of those videos was from a trail system known as Deem Hills.  If you remember, part of that video included a very fast downhill section that was lined with boulders...a relatively dangerous section to crash in.  Well, today I crashed there...on my brand new bike.  I feel very lucky to be sitting here right now writing about it...it could have been so much worse.

I no longer have a brand new bike...I have a brand new bike that is cracked in half!  Yep, that's right, my wonderfully light and strong carbon fiber racing frame now has a crack running all the way through the top tube...it's done...kaput!  Now I have to see if Ellsworth Bikes will warranty the frame for me...I am not sure what to expect from that.

I truly feel very blessed to be alive after this crash.  You see, I went head first (at a high rate of speed) into the basketball sized rocks that line the trail.  Luckily, I was wearing my helmet...which by the way, cracked all the way through as well.  If had not been wearing my helmet, I would have been seriously injured.  The funny thing is that this morning about 7:00 am (while I was still at the fire station) I heard a call go out for a mountain rescue at the same place I was riding this morning.  Apparently, another rider had crashed and was semi-conscious, and was carted out by the Glendale Fire Department Technical Rescue Team. 

It's weird... and very cliche', but it all happened in slow motion.  I can remember seeing the rock come at my face, and quickly turning my head away, then feeling the immediate slam into my helmet.  I sat there for a moment, dazed, telling myself not to pass out because I did not want the fire department to have to come get me off the mountain.  When I realized I was not going to lose consciousness, I did a quick 'once-over' of my bike and my body, and got back on the bike.  Happily, the bike was still ride-able, although it was apparent that something was not right.  I still had about three miles to ride, to get back to my truck...it was a long three miles!

It easy to look back on things and say to yourself "I shouldn't have done this...or that" and today is one of those days.  You see, I just got home this morning from a 48-hour shift at the fire station.  I was a little tired when I got home, but I knew I needed to ride...so I did.  It was already hot, and pretty muggy when I got out on the trail, and part of me thought I should just head back home, get up early tomorrow morning, and get my ride in then.  Now I wish had followed my instincts!

Let this be a lesson to all...HELMETS SAVE LIVES!  I truly believe my helmet saved my life today!

Here are a few pictures to look at...

Deem Hills summit...moments before the crash

That bump shouldn't bee there!

A little rock-rash!

Another view of that bump on my leg...

More Rock-rash

helmet damage

crack in the foam just under the top red pad

Cracked carbon fiber...bike trashed!  Just three rides :(