Hi Everyone! How's it going? Busy as ever here. In fact, so busy that I've decided to take some time away from posting on this blog. Don't worry, I don't intend to completely abandon it, it's just that my life is getting extremely hectic lately, but in a good way. I can't remember if I've ever mentioned here before, but I started a new business a few months ago, and as with any new business, it's been consuming a lot of my time. It's been a challenge to find time to work my day job, train, go to school, and try and get this business up and running!
So needless to say, something's gotta give, and although this blog doesn't consume a lot of my time, it is something that takes some thought. I promise I will get back to it sometime in the future, I'm not quite sure when, but I will. In the meantime you can follow what I'm up to via shorter posts on Facebook and Twitter, and also please check out my business's website! It's a really cool product, that I'm sure will change the way people change in public! The name of my company is Qwik Wrapz.
As usual, I hope all is well, until next time my friends...
Hi Everyone! I apologize for the lack of a recent post, but life has just been going, going, going, and I'm just pushin' on! Even through all the craziness, I'm still sticking firm to my training regime. Tackling the FTP's every Tuesday, hill repeats, VO2 bursts, and good, long road rides on the weekends. My form has been good, too good as a matter of fact! I'm beginning to get a little worried that I might be peaking waaay too early.
My next race isn't until April 9th, so I've decided to back it down a notch, and try and save some of this good stuff in the legs. Wish I had more to say, and I'm sure I will soon. Until next time...
Hello Everyone! How's life treating you? Great, I hope! Just sitting here at the ol' PC, having returned from a nice 2-1/2 hour Sunday morning spin out to the coast. What a beautiful weekend of weather we had here in San Diego. Those of us who are fortunate enough to call this area home are truly blessed to do so.
This week was a really solid one in terms of training, even though I was without bike for two days. Yes, as I was literally pulling out of the driveway Wednesday for a 3-hour endurance ride, might rear derailleur cable snapped. Game over! I sent a text to the mechanic who has been working on my bike lately, and went back inside to watch some TV until I heard back from him. I'm not one who is good a sitting around very long, especially in front of the TV, so rather then waste some valuable training time, I decided to change clothes and head over to the gym. I loaded up the bike in the back of the car, and told myself I'm going to play a game, and spin hard on the stationary bike until I receive the text from the mechanic, and then head to Cardiff to drop off the bike. Well...
2 hours 10 minutes, and 2000 calories later, still no text! I was soaked to the bone with sweat! I mean I was literally soaked! I was leaving a puddle on the ground where I was stretching, and had to mop the floor underneath the stationary bike when I was finished. Thursday, more of the same. A little over a hard hour on the stationary bike, this was all following a good, hard 2-1/2 hour workout of hill repeats on San Elijo Tuesday!
Friday the mechanic was able to get my bike in and replace both front & rear cables while I went to lunch with my Mom in Encinitas. Saturday was brutal! I decided to take on Palomar Mountain for the first time this year. I rolled from the house, made my way through Escondido, up Lake Wohlford Road, down Valley Center Road, then up South Grade Road to the summit. My legs were feeling really good! I told myself I wasn't going to push it that hard up Palomar since this was my first run of the year. I still managed to reach the summit in 75-minutes, just 6-minutes off my best time! Not bad! Well, if the legs are feeling this good, why not keep going?
Off to Cole Grade Road I went. Up Cole Grade, and in to Valley Center, and finally, 88-miles, and 5-1/2 hours later, I reached home. I have a theory when it comes to training, that if your legs are feeling good, and you don't have any races in the near future, don't waste them by going easy, push them all the way! Take full advantage of the feeling.
Today, exactly half the distance, and a little over 2-1/2 hours. I wasn't feeling as strong as yesterday, so I opted to give the legs a little break. Next up, possibly the Santiago Canyon TT this Saturday, March 12th. I say possibly, because I'm not totally committed to going, and the event is same-day registration, so we'll see. Hope all is well, until next time...
Good morning Everyone! How was your weekend? Did you get a chance to go play in the snow? There was definitely an unusual weather pattern here in San Diego this Saturday, which made for some beautiful mountain scenery yesterday. Speaking of yesterday...
I was signed up to race the Peninsula Clif Climb up in Rancho Palos Verdes, the same race I did last month. I really enjoyed the event, but given the fact that I hadn't been training all that much, or that hard lately, I decided to pull the plug and skip it. Here's my theory on races, especially races that are only 2-hours away, and 20-minutes in length.
If your heart's not in it, not necessarily to win it as the old saying goes, but at least to be competitive at some level, then don't sign up. I decided Saturday night that my heart just wasn't in it. Instead, I decided that what I really wanted to do was just get out on the road for at least a good 4-hours, and just ride. That's exactly what I did.
4-hours, 68-miles, 2000-calories, and 4000-ft of climbing. I still managed to get in the saddle six days last week, although five of them were on the trainer! Ugh! This week...I'm actually going to pull the TT bike out of the garage and attempt to get comfortable on it in preparation for the Santiago Canyon TT March 12th.
Hope all is well with everyone! Until next time...
Hi Everyone! How was your weekend? I had a good one myself. Let me begin by saying as far as training went this last week, I didn't log a whole lot of time in the saddle. I did manage to get in the saddle six out of seven days, it was just the amount of time each day wasn't as much as usual. Let's see...8.5hrs total.
A lot of the reason for the low hours was due to the new biz. It's really been consuming a lot of my time and energy, and that's a good thing! The only hard part is actually staying motivated to train to be prepared for the upcoming races. Still, the business must come first, it's what's hopefully going to help pay the bills after all.
I'll keep you posted on its progress, and the training/racing program as the weeks go by. Until next time...
Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I've just been as busy as a one-armed paper hanger! I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this here, but I've been in the process over the last 6-8 months, of starting a new business. Totally from the ground up, which means I've been learning by fire, and it's steadily been keeping me busier and busier. I told myself when I began this project, that I was going to do everything possible to keep my day job at the restaurant, go back to school at night, keep my training and racing going, and tackle a new start-up. I believed then, and still do, that it's possible to do all that. I did however say though, that if the new start-up really begin taking off, that I'd be willing to hang up the racing shoes for awhile to make a go of it.
I must be honest and say, that most of my adult life has been fairly easy and laid back. That's not to say there hasn't been challenges, but I've intentionally designed my life to be fairly stress free, and have avoided major responsibilities for the most part. I've never considered it laziness by any means, I was just a single guy with simple needs. Well, over the last ten years that's all changed!
I met a wonderful woman with whom I fell in love with and married. We became small business owners eight years ago. We became home owners six years ago. And now, I'm attempting to start another business. We don't have kids, not because we haven't wanted any, it just hasn't been in the cards for us yet. So needless to say, my life, and my responsibilities have changed drastically!
You can say I'm sort of doing things backwards, but I don't believe there's a concrete way of doing things in life. We're all different, and arrive at destinations in our lives via different routes, and a lot of times, we don't have control of those destinations. But since I've decided to make these changes in my life, and I'm no longer a young kid, it's time for me to step up and contribute as much as possible to the life I enjoy. I don't believe that means one has to give up everything they enjoy, and condemn themselves to a life of work, work, work, but some reorganization of my priorities are required.
These last two weeks are making me realize what that may mean. I've found it somewhat difficult to get out on the bike and put the hours in I'm accustomed to. It's been more short, intense, trainer workouts in the garage, and that's been mainly due to the new business. It's been consuming more and more of my time, and I know that a new business can do that in the beginning (I remember the early cafe days!). And it's extremely important to keep your focus on a business in its infancy. These are the times that really can make or break it.
So, needless to say, I'm not sure what that means for my training & racing, but I promise I'll do my best to keep it going! I truly hope you're all doing well out there, and I can't wait to post another race report soon. Next up on the racing calendar, I'll be heading back up to Palos Verdes to compete in the Peninsula Clif Climb TT on the 27th, then it's the Santiago Canyon TT on the 12th of March, then the Vless Huis Ronde RR on the 8th of April, and Devil's Punchbowl on the 23rd of April, followed by San Luis Rey on the 30th. That's the schedule for now, beyond that, I'm not sure. Until next time...
Well, the results for Boulevard are in. That didn't take long! My name isn't on the list, but it appears as though the whole field is listed. According to my wife, she thought I came in around 39th. So, more then likely, I'm one of the "Rider Unknowns". This probably happened because I came in with a pack, and within the pack I was off to the far right side. Even though we had numbers on both the right and left hand side of our backs, things probably got a little confusing at the finish because our group was caught from behind by the lead pack of Masters 45+ racers who went flying by us battling it out for the win. Doesn't really matter in the end, since I was too far back for any points anyhow. Here's the list...
2001 Boulevard Masters 35+ Results
