Where is Big Dave?

A photo of the Omaha TNR--where in thee hell is that Big Man? Goddamn boy, youse have got to get out and ride! Where is my June itinerary?

Cold and wet recovery ride.

A nice hour and a half trip around the lake in the forties and raining--loved it.

I finally had a chance to wear my new rain cape from Hincapie--it kept me warm and dry. It is not as breathable as I thought it would be. It should not be a big problem as I was not left wet from sweat--it was actually nice on a cold day. The final grade will have to come when it's warmer out.

The Hincapie Alpe Brim cap continues to be one of my favorite--never too warm--never cold.

I still love to play in the mud--Cold and rainy and it just so happens that I got a package from Mad Alchemy yesterday (more on that later), perfect timing, so I applied a very nice Russisch Thee embrocation which did the trick keeping the legs warm.

Just a hint--we got the Baby Don his own jar of Mango Love--a non-warming summer embro--talk about a kid that was jacked up--that kid is so cool!

I got worked by the Baby Don.

This week brings a much welcome week of rest before the final push leading up to Battenkill. I got out for a relatively easy spin this afternoon. When I got home, the Baby Don raced out and asked if I would go with him on his "training ride" today. With an invitation like that, how could I pass it up? As it turns out, Max keeps a training log and today's plan was a "weawwy wong ride." When I asked him exactly what that meant, he explained that he wanted to go around the block, over and down the big hill by the hospital, up the street by the gym (Brooklyn Avenue), around the gym and then back home. Pretty ambitious for the little climber--that route is a little over 3 miles.

As we started out, it started to lightly rain and the Bull couldn't have been happier. He kept going on and on about riding in the rain and how much fun it is.

The Bull is looking incredibly fit now that he is on his regimen. He says that he is at his racing weight of 40 pounds.

Max explained to me that it's much better to ride in the road than on the sidewalk because he is a big kid now. He also explained to me that he couldn't go "hard" today because he didn't "embro," but thought it would be okay because riding in the rain is more fun. True story, I swear. Let me explain a little bit about Max's "embro." He actually sneaks into Cora's medicine cabinet and takes very liberal amounts of Cora's $80 face lotion and rubs it into his legs. A debate for another time, but who the hell needs $80 lotion anyways? She swears it's from before we were married. Whatever...it's provided her with the incentive to order us some real embro from Mad Alchemy. Max is hoping for a jar of Mango Love, a non-warming summer embrocation.

As we were coming up Beaver Street, the last little hill, which is the steepest we rode today, the little man hammered and made it up without incident. I almost soiled myself when he told me that this hill was too steep for his one cog. Again, true story. I was pretty darn proud of him as he hammered the whole 3 miles. Just up the hill, we needed to make a left to head home, but the little guy refused and made me do the loop again with him. Pretty darn impressive. Can't wait to ride with him again tomorrow. Love you, buddy.

I got a lot done this weekend.

After working Friday night, I managed to get 4 or so of hours of sleep in before heading down to Oneonta for some testing with Joey. I was excited to do the test for a couple of reasons. First, I am always excited to see Joey--always good conversations and good times. Secondly, I was anxious to see where my threshold power is, having been working my ass off and coaching myself. I want to make sure that I'm headed in the right direction. Things seem to be firing on all pistons--but numbers always tell the truth.

Ground Control to Major Matt: you are cleared for take-off. These were the last words I heard from Ground Control before he cranked up the power and tore my legs off.

I was really excited--in 3 years of doing this, it was the first time I was allowed to wear my headphones. Little things always seem to make the difference. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, but yes, U2 "Out of Control" was blasting--it was a little extra jack. Another bonus was that my mom wanted to come to check out what all the hype is about and to meet Joey. She also agreed to man the camera--she's quickly earning champion photographer status.

At first look, my power seems to be up around 15% across the board. I was looking for something in the 10% range, so I was pretty pleased. Now if I can move it up 10% more by Mt. Washington, I'll be really happy. The only bummer of the day is that I always wish I had more time to spend with Joey--one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and super-knowledgeable.

I got home around 8:30 pm and there was a message from Mike, saying that he was in for the Battenkill course recon ride. I'm not sure if I would have made it out of bed when my alarm went off at 6 am the next morning if I was doing the ride solo, as I was pretty cooked from the testing and the lack of sleep. I've been anxiously awaiting the ride as I've heard so much about how epic the course is--it's 62 miles of rolling paved and dirt roads. I was most curious as to what the dirt roads were all about.

It was a little chilly at the start but then we were treated to what turned out to be an awesome day. We never saw the forecasted 40% chance of rain and in fact, I got my first sunburn of the year. I had a great time with Mike--he's one of my favorite people with whom I work--all around very fit. I was very impressed with the way he rode, considering that he's only put in something like 22 miles in his legs so far this year.

So the verdict--I would agree--the course is epic. The dirt roads, for the most part, are more pleasant to ride than the pavement, as they were super smooth and packed down. The hills fit into my game plan nicely, as they are relatively short by local comparison, but will require big, big power to get up them quickly. I'm sure things could change significantly when wet. The only dicey part were several sharp turns covered in loose gravel which I'm sure will be a real pleasure riding with 100+ other guys. I've got to remember to keep my head up--the big learning point of the day--a road bike doesn't soak up a pothole like a mountain bike does--just a touch scary when you're not paying attention.

We saw all these cool trucks lined up as we were leaving town--the one on the far left had an Alaska plate. I sort of felt like we were cruising down old Route 66, heading out of Radiator Springs. Hmmm...thinking about Disney movies? Definitely time to get home to the kids.

The Vomit Comet

The last couple of days have been brutal. Tuesday I went out with one of my neighbors and put in a nice hour and twenty minutes or so of z1-z2 which serve as a warm up for what was to come. I got home in time to hook up with Chris to go out and "kill the hills" for an hour and a half. Well, the only thing we did not kill was the first 5 minutes over to Murphy Hill. For the next 1:25 mins., we went ape shit--great ride! We talked about doing it once a week as it was a great intensity workout--hopefully our schedules permit. Afterward I managed to put in a 40 min. z1 warm down before heading home.

All-aboard the vomit comet--all out for 1:20 mins.

I grabbed a bite to eat and headed over to the shop to work on the window trim. What was supposed to be a hour of work managed to turn into 4 and a half--it was pretty easy to do--make the wrong cut and cost yourself 2 hours of work--fun!

Today I got up at 8am to meet Bud for my window trimming tutorial and then worked until 1 pm on the bedroom which pretty much got me nowhere--not so sure trim work is my thing. I grabbed 2 hours of sleep before heading out for 2 and half hours. I needed to get in 45 mins of "sweet spot" power on the hills--it all went well--I'm beat and going to sleep.

You know your kid is cool when.....

Had a great ride today. I went out early with Max. After insisting on applying his own"embro," we were walking out the door and he turned, looked at my bike, then at me and said "Daddy are you going to rock the one cog today?" True story--damn that little man is cool. He rode like a champ today. Wish I had a picture of him today wearing his jersey with his "thirsty bottle" hanging out the back.

This is how Jackrabbit rolls

Memory lane...last years roll out.

Well if I couldn't be fast I thought I would lay down the power. I entered the 35 mile Panama enduro race and decided to bring the boys along. I was thinking it would be a three hour jaunt, but it was a 4 hour sufferfest. The darn head wind blew me down to 6 mph for a six mile stretch. I was wondering if I would just take the easy way out and let the boys get their wish because at this point they had had it. Q was cold and pissed that Mack wouldn't share his sticker book. Anyway, fist-a-cuffs were thrown, biting may or may not have occured...either way there was about a half hour of screaming for mommy and screaming about fair and other drivel I couldn't hear because of the wind. There was some bouncing while brothers fought for position, some yelling from Bigdad then mercifully everybody fell sound asleep for almost 1 and a half hours leaving me to the task of dragging them back to Panama. It was a great workout.

Here is about a minute of suffering at like 10 miles into the race. There are still other riders in my sites. After about 25 miles there were no others at the back with me. But with about 3 miles to go I caught 2...I'm only grudgingly going to mention the two whipped dudes short roping their lame girlfriends right in front of me for like 15 miles. Come on! Grow a pair and make them drag their own fat asses up the hill...there I said it I feel better now. Piece out.

40 in 40 hit 40

About 20 miles into our ride we had to stop and take a shot of this crazy bastard trying to cut down an enormous tree with an ax and a tiny chainsaw. Of course the tiny tractor was really going to save him if the 20 mile per hour wind decided to blow the other way.

Here I am about 10 miles in with Rance. I was excited that he brought his camera. Next time I'll bring mine.
Rance, while he was still smiling in my presence. Always supporting the home team. GBR! Right buddy?

Did a few miles today scouting the Jackrabbit hundie course...My buddy Rance wanted a taste of the course so I threw a leg over and we hit 40. 20 of the out and 20 of the in. Not sure if Rance will want to ride with me ever again. I realize that the JR course isn't for the faint of heart. Train brothers or these roads will grind you. 1000 feet of climbing every 10 miles. No flats...no tarmac...just great country back roads. I've got a few pictures coming...

Intervals

I capped off a tough week with more intensity--intervals up Cornish Hill. I wanted to vomit!

The speed suit

Hills and then some more hills.

The last four or five days have been absolutely gorgeous here, clear skies, temperatures near 50 and dry roads. I was also fortunate to have four days off from work. I managed to string together great training in over the last couple of days, which was greatly helped by actually getting some normal sleep. I'm convinced I would get faster if I did no additional riding and just started working days, so I could sleep like a normal person--oh well. Battenkill is just around the corner--can't wait.

I would love to tell you that this is solely to illustrate the "euro" sheen that one produces with a nice embrocation or that it is to show it was so warm out that the Belgian knee warmers were all that the legs needed to stay warm for today's ride. I could also use it to reiterate the absolute need for caution when applying embro so as not to get it on your chamois-yes, luckily my faux paux today was limited to that rugged area between the balls and the ahnu. Years in such a harsh climate kept the suffering to a moderate degree. But the fact is I'm vain and I really just could not pass up posting up a shot of the legs which are looking jacked or as the Big Man would say "yoked up."

I took a new route today--awesome! I got in about forty miles and found several new hills that were definitely keepers for the regular rotation.

I did just a touch over three hours--my goal was to ride all the hills at 90% of my threshold which amounted to about an hour--crushed.

Kunchar Rd at two hours in was a killer!

Yes, the roads were dry which was great, but the dust was a bitch--dirt and road salt do not soothe the lungs when you are blowing a gasket!

Over the back side of Hooker Mountain--only one hill to go--legs are pissed.

Going with the old school look--last little effort for the camera.

My wonderful Mom tagged along for today's festivities and did a great job with the camera--thanks--love you.

See if you can find Bigdave.

A little reminder.

Kind of odd, I know, but this reminded me of my last couple of nights at work.

Final Finish

As it turns out, the "stealth" finish is a no-go on the Z5. Clear coat with red and white outline-- not original I know, but it fits in with the rest of the tribe.

A Ride with Big Georgie

Looks like this will be a good watch--we just ordered ours.