Wednesday December 15th
Hi.
For those of you who have clicked this thread wondering what it is, let me be up front in saying that this is the next training thread in the never-ending series of training threads which will someday be made into a feature-length motion picture entitled, Dude, STFU Already. So if you don’t like my training threads, go ahead and skip it now.
So the title, for those of you who don’t know. Nat is originally Taiwanese and 6 of my 7 bikes are from Taiwan. Some might say that she is still Taiwanese, but those of you who have met her know she has assimilated into the fabric of America now. So my bikes pretty much have the same sort of history, though none of them are bilingual as far as I know. Both cross bikes (Van Dessel and Fuji), all 3 mountain bikes (Niner, Niner, Niner) and 1 of my road bikes (Trek) were, like my wife, made in Taiwan. The only non-Taiwanese bike I have is the Super Six. And the only non-Taiwanese born woman in the house is my daughter, who you all know is named Super Six Zurawski.
FTR, we're going to Taiwan. Figure most of you know that but JIC you don't.
One additional note on the title is that while I will be in Taiwan for 6 weeks, this does not constitute an entire winter, though it does cover a good part of the cold bits. I’m cautiously optimistic that on February 12th, when I return, we’ll have an epic warm winter and I will merely continue to ride in my shorts and s/s jersey. While I’m gone I will of course hope for 6 straight weeks of ice storms. But pretty ice storms, not the nasty ones that knock out power lines. But just enough that all of you get fat and slow.
I’ll also kick this right off with a note on format, and say that there will be none. I mean, let’s be fair. For half of the winter I’m going to be in a country 7000 miles away, partially working and partially vacationing and partially making videos and fully eating. You can’t expect me to conform to any sort of standard. I’ll try to drop a post every night, which will be your morning, but really, that’s not terribly likely. I won’t commit to any sort of sections like I’ve done in the past, though I’ll try to throw in these bold keywords for you to focus on. I’ve always been a fan of articles like that, though I think that stems from some sports format I used to read somewhere along the line. So express your opinion, are sections better or is this? Or do you not even care? I think this question is mostly for Kev actually. Since I know Pearl scans for his name, he gets a mention too.
As of yesterday I woke up still sick, believe it or not. That makes an official 4 weeks and 3 days, which sucks. Last week was something completely new, even though it seems like a big run-on sentence of a cold. The first 3 weeks were just dragging me down, then the Horseshoe Weekend plus the massive drinking binge that night with Ilya, Fred, and Utah really pushed me over the edge. Ben was there also but he didn’t partake. And Bill was supposed to go but he was painting his toenails or something.
So the 2010 season is over, and I think I had a solid one. On the mtb I more or less represented as upper class pack fodder, while on the road I moved from 5 to 4 and in cross I went from 4 to 3 to 2 in 1 season. I got the upgrade last week to 2 and I’m reasonably sure that my mtb and cross upgrades are over. I think I can hit cat 3 on the road but then I’m likely done. This means that in 2 of the 3 disciplines I can line up with Maurice. That’s funny. My rope has just about run out. But I’ll still keep trying.
On that note, and looking forward to the 2011 season - I guess I need to lay that out at some point in a way that makes sense to someone. The 2011 season is based around being in races, with the additional twist of hopefully running them. This could all work out perfectly, with the SSaP/Battenkill being the end of a large 16 week FTP-raising period, then taking a little down time to work out the 6 hour race. Following that would be a 12 week ramp to the Freedom Tour/Darkhorse 40, then 4 weeks of a transition of sorts which would bring us to the Mooch Race (no longer referred to as the 50k). Then I’d run into the same 12 week cross plan with some modifications which will hopefully wear me down less than this year did. Maurice told me that Nationals are in Wisconsin next year so I’m interested in that, especially if I can roll it into a work trip. Chicago is close to Wisconsin I think.
Yes Battenkill and not Fair Hill. Sorry Monte, they got to me. It wasn't the vodka, I swear.
Last week I rode 3 hours on the trainer, W-F, 1 hour each, and this week I did the same yesterday and today. It sucked but I was really focused on getting better so I took it easy as best I could. I took the weekend off because I’m really done with being sick. Bill busted my balls, to which I made some snide comment about his lame performance in the C race last week. I also ate cookies as a meal 3 different times last week. You gotta understand, this year was hard. I needed a goddamn detox. It’s probably a good thing I was sick else I would have drilled the beer last week.
I also talked to Weber on the phone last week and we had a good conversation. We agreed to pretend to be enemies so the guys over at MTBR have something to talk about, since it’s obvious they don’t talk about bikes or biking. Along with my cat 2 cross license I got my international driver’s license which means that the video footage in Taiwan is going to be even more interesting. I have to find a scooter. Of course that will be epic, like an ocean.
Speaking of videos, I really liked the way the Horseshoe Weekend came out. I’m going to try to put together a video almost every day we’re over there. We’ll be on the ground on 12/31, and will be there for 44 days. I don’t think the 44th day will get a video, because it will be too hectic to make that happen, though you never know. We often spend that last day tooling around the apartment just sort of biding our time. The 0th day will be the flight. You lose a day when you fly there, as we will leave here on a Wednesday night and get there Friday morning. Well you don’t really lose a day so much as you spend a whole day flying from here to there. You get it back coming back though, as we leave on a Saturday evening and get home that same Saturday night.
On the bike I will ride in Taiwan, either my brother-in-law is an idiot or you really can’t get size 56 road bikes over there. Either way, I’m pretty sure I’m bringing the Fuji with me. I’ve put out some feelers on a bike suitcase and I think I should have 1 by this weekend one way or the other. It might cost us $300 to ship it on the plane both ways but I have to imagine that I would spend as much renting one, and this will be the right fit at least. I’m a bit concerned about the 1x9 and the elevation profiles though. As we get closer to going the reality of getting a bike seemed to be getting more and more slim. My BIL said he could get me a 48. He says that’s what I should be riding. I laugh, not only at the idea of me on a 48 but the idea of him telling me what size bike I should be on.
Oh and I bought a Van Dessel last week, the Full Tilt Boogie. Damn that’s a nice bike.
One last note, I bought my first training plan for 2011 yesterday. It more or less starts officially this coming Monday, which some people with common sense may think is absurd. They’d be somewhat correct, though the amount of hours I put in the last 4 weeks of the cross season was downright paltry. This morning I woke up on my own at 4:00 am and rode the trainer before going into the city. I think I’m finally 95%, and ready to move on. The first set is an 8 week winter plan intended to raise your power at threshold. After that I’ll look to do the week 9-16 plan, which has the same goal.
I’m also hoping to kick it up a notch in 2011 and destroy it on the bike. I feel like it’s about time. Either that or I’ll cook myself trying. One way or the other, it’s back to science and enough of this getting fat.
This thread will self-destruct in about 8 weeks and 3 days.
Sorry for the long first post but I sorta just went SOC with this one. I may or may not post every day, or more than once per day. Whatever, we'll see.
I don't love the title of this thread but I've sat here and stared at it long enough. So F it, time to Submit New Thread.
Hi.
For those of you who have clicked this thread wondering what it is, let me be up front in saying that this is the next training thread in the never-ending series of training threads which will someday be made into a feature-length motion picture entitled, Dude, STFU Already. So if you don’t like my training threads, go ahead and skip it now.
So the title, for those of you who don’t know. Nat is originally Taiwanese and 6 of my 7 bikes are from Taiwan. Some might say that she is still Taiwanese, but those of you who have met her know she has assimilated into the fabric of America now. So my bikes pretty much have the same sort of history, though none of them are bilingual as far as I know. Both cross bikes (Van Dessel and Fuji), all 3 mountain bikes (Niner, Niner, Niner) and 1 of my road bikes (Trek) were, like my wife, made in Taiwan. The only non-Taiwanese bike I have is the Super Six. And the only non-Taiwanese born woman in the house is my daughter, who you all know is named Super Six Zurawski.
FTR, we're going to Taiwan. Figure most of you know that but JIC you don't.
One additional note on the title is that while I will be in Taiwan for 6 weeks, this does not constitute an entire winter, though it does cover a good part of the cold bits. I’m cautiously optimistic that on February 12th, when I return, we’ll have an epic warm winter and I will merely continue to ride in my shorts and s/s jersey. While I’m gone I will of course hope for 6 straight weeks of ice storms. But pretty ice storms, not the nasty ones that knock out power lines. But just enough that all of you get fat and slow.
I’ll also kick this right off with a note on format, and say that there will be none. I mean, let’s be fair. For half of the winter I’m going to be in a country 7000 miles away, partially working and partially vacationing and partially making videos and fully eating. You can’t expect me to conform to any sort of standard. I’ll try to drop a post every night, which will be your morning, but really, that’s not terribly likely. I won’t commit to any sort of sections like I’ve done in the past, though I’ll try to throw in these bold keywords for you to focus on. I’ve always been a fan of articles like that, though I think that stems from some sports format I used to read somewhere along the line. So express your opinion, are sections better or is this? Or do you not even care? I think this question is mostly for Kev actually. Since I know Pearl scans for his name, he gets a mention too.
As of yesterday I woke up still sick, believe it or not. That makes an official 4 weeks and 3 days, which sucks. Last week was something completely new, even though it seems like a big run-on sentence of a cold. The first 3 weeks were just dragging me down, then the Horseshoe Weekend plus the massive drinking binge that night with Ilya, Fred, and Utah really pushed me over the edge. Ben was there also but he didn’t partake. And Bill was supposed to go but he was painting his toenails or something.
So the 2010 season is over, and I think I had a solid one. On the mtb I more or less represented as upper class pack fodder, while on the road I moved from 5 to 4 and in cross I went from 4 to 3 to 2 in 1 season. I got the upgrade last week to 2 and I’m reasonably sure that my mtb and cross upgrades are over. I think I can hit cat 3 on the road but then I’m likely done. This means that in 2 of the 3 disciplines I can line up with Maurice. That’s funny. My rope has just about run out. But I’ll still keep trying.
On that note, and looking forward to the 2011 season - I guess I need to lay that out at some point in a way that makes sense to someone. The 2011 season is based around being in races, with the additional twist of hopefully running them. This could all work out perfectly, with the SSaP/Battenkill being the end of a large 16 week FTP-raising period, then taking a little down time to work out the 6 hour race. Following that would be a 12 week ramp to the Freedom Tour/Darkhorse 40, then 4 weeks of a transition of sorts which would bring us to the Mooch Race (no longer referred to as the 50k). Then I’d run into the same 12 week cross plan with some modifications which will hopefully wear me down less than this year did. Maurice told me that Nationals are in Wisconsin next year so I’m interested in that, especially if I can roll it into a work trip. Chicago is close to Wisconsin I think.
Yes Battenkill and not Fair Hill. Sorry Monte, they got to me. It wasn't the vodka, I swear.
Last week I rode 3 hours on the trainer, W-F, 1 hour each, and this week I did the same yesterday and today. It sucked but I was really focused on getting better so I took it easy as best I could. I took the weekend off because I’m really done with being sick. Bill busted my balls, to which I made some snide comment about his lame performance in the C race last week. I also ate cookies as a meal 3 different times last week. You gotta understand, this year was hard. I needed a goddamn detox. It’s probably a good thing I was sick else I would have drilled the beer last week.
I also talked to Weber on the phone last week and we had a good conversation. We agreed to pretend to be enemies so the guys over at MTBR have something to talk about, since it’s obvious they don’t talk about bikes or biking. Along with my cat 2 cross license I got my international driver’s license which means that the video footage in Taiwan is going to be even more interesting. I have to find a scooter. Of course that will be epic, like an ocean.
Speaking of videos, I really liked the way the Horseshoe Weekend came out. I’m going to try to put together a video almost every day we’re over there. We’ll be on the ground on 12/31, and will be there for 44 days. I don’t think the 44th day will get a video, because it will be too hectic to make that happen, though you never know. We often spend that last day tooling around the apartment just sort of biding our time. The 0th day will be the flight. You lose a day when you fly there, as we will leave here on a Wednesday night and get there Friday morning. Well you don’t really lose a day so much as you spend a whole day flying from here to there. You get it back coming back though, as we leave on a Saturday evening and get home that same Saturday night.
On the bike I will ride in Taiwan, either my brother-in-law is an idiot or you really can’t get size 56 road bikes over there. Either way, I’m pretty sure I’m bringing the Fuji with me. I’ve put out some feelers on a bike suitcase and I think I should have 1 by this weekend one way or the other. It might cost us $300 to ship it on the plane both ways but I have to imagine that I would spend as much renting one, and this will be the right fit at least. I’m a bit concerned about the 1x9 and the elevation profiles though. As we get closer to going the reality of getting a bike seemed to be getting more and more slim. My BIL said he could get me a 48. He says that’s what I should be riding. I laugh, not only at the idea of me on a 48 but the idea of him telling me what size bike I should be on.
Oh and I bought a Van Dessel last week, the Full Tilt Boogie. Damn that’s a nice bike.
One last note, I bought my first training plan for 2011 yesterday. It more or less starts officially this coming Monday, which some people with common sense may think is absurd. They’d be somewhat correct, though the amount of hours I put in the last 4 weeks of the cross season was downright paltry. This morning I woke up on my own at 4:00 am and rode the trainer before going into the city. I think I’m finally 95%, and ready to move on. The first set is an 8 week winter plan intended to raise your power at threshold. After that I’ll look to do the week 9-16 plan, which has the same goal.
I’m also hoping to kick it up a notch in 2011 and destroy it on the bike. I feel like it’s about time. Either that or I’ll cook myself trying. One way or the other, it’s back to science and enough of this getting fat.
This thread will self-destruct in about 8 weeks and 3 days.
Sorry for the long first post but I sorta just went SOC with this one. I may or may not post every day, or more than once per day. Whatever, we'll see.
I don't love the title of this thread but I've sat here and stared at it long enough. So F it, time to Submit New Thread.
