Going Long and Hard.

RNG1 said:
I couldn't get that on line video to work either, I was bummed.
Jim my secret sources say you just switched from the Joule back to Garmin for the powertap. I am doing the deed this week and keep flipping back and forth in my decision. You mind sharing your thoughts? Which Garmin are you using with the PT?
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The Joule sucks monkey balls, don't waste your money!! I'm using an Edge 500, I like it but I may look into getting the 800. We got one in the shop and I was playing with it and it's pretty bad-ass. Son.

Here's that link again. PS-Everyone alive should own the Animals As Leaders CD, Tosin Abasi is a god.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmfzWpp0hMc

-Jim.
 
pooriggy said:
Isn't every guy guilty of this?
but seriously I have the same issue. In the trainer the bike is 90 degrees upright, maybe on the trail when your off camber you shift you heels?
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I actually had brusing on the inside of my heels because of this, I however have not been fitted to anything in my life, so I'm sure that has to do with it.

jimvreeland said:
Here's another Tosin vid. I think he hits every technique possible. Even a bass slap-thing. The low E is MURDER!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt-RoSzsEKA

-Jim.
Click to expand...

James Pearl likes this.
 
pearl said:
I actually had brusing on the inside of my heels because of this, I however have not been fitted to anything in my life, so I'm sure that has to do with it.
Click to expand...

I actually had bruising on my ankle and crank arm rub until Jay adjusted my cleats... haven't had a problem since on either road or mtb so you probably do need to be fitted... it certainly can't hurt to have yours checked out
 
Monday

Today's the day. Sorta. The day I stop eating BBQ Dipsy Doodles and ride my bike again. I really don't want to, I'd like to extend my Dipsy Doodle phase all the way through December, but I may not be able to recover from that😀

I procrastinated as much as possible this morning in a feeble attempt to indeed extend my Dipsy Doodle phase. I played my geetar from about 9am to about 1pm. Session#2 with Mastah Shreddah tonight so I need to get my chops tight. Mastah Shreddah doesn't F around!!

I was gonna do a 100 hour ride, that got replaced with a super-secret ride, that got replaced by my C-Rock loop, which got replaced by a ride to C-Rock + 1 section of singletrack and then a ride home. The Rock was a little greasy and I fell like 3 times in the first 15 minutes so I decided not to push my luck and I just left. Shoulda stayed home and ate Dipsy Doodles.

Before I headed out to get my fingers ripped off by Mastah Shreddah the fam went out to eat at the iHop. Kids eat free on mondays!! WOOHOO!!

Then to the Shreddah's crib. He's honestly trying to kill me. I have just enough technique that he feels pretty good about pushing me a bit harder than he does his other students. He's been more nit-picking my playing than he is teaching me new stuff. I know a ton of material, it's just unorganized in my head. We did a few of the exercises from last week and my speed doubled on mostly everything just with the tips I got then. Tonight he dumped a bunch of stuff on me and we went over my picking again to tune it even further. I can run through scales at over 200BPM already so getting up to shredder status is just a matter of a little here and there to be more efficient. He's also got me picking things opposite, starting with an up instead of a down, it's very awkward and forces you out of your comfort zone. Weird. My hour lesson went into almost 2 hours because we were just jamming out afterwards, ton of fun. We're into all the same bands and guitar guys so it's pretty easy to goof around😀

Before I left he let me listen to the pre-production of the new CD he's going in to record the first week of January. The new material is SICK!! He's really stepped up his game a lot and he's definitely gonna hit baller-status when it drops. It's like instrumental After The Burial with John Petrucci playing over it. Tons of weird poly-rhythmic off time stuff. It makes his Speed of Dark material seem like a 5-year girl is playing on it. I'd venture to say it may even be above Tosin's stuff😱

-Jim.
 
jimvreeland said:
The Joule sucks monkey balls, don't waste your money!! I'm using an Edge 500, I like it but I may look into getting the 800. We got one in the shop and I was playing with it and it's pretty bad-ass. Son.

Here's that link again. PS-Everyone alive should own the Animals As Leaders CD, Tosin Abasi is a god.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmfzWpp0hMc

-Jim.
Click to expand...

Jim, I'd be very interested in your Edge 500 if you decide to sell it for the 800 .
 
Tuesday

Brrr. It's cold. Something like 20 whatever degrees when I left my crizzy. Rode the mountain bike into work. The wind was BRUTAL!! Took almost an hour to get in between the big tires and being blown off the road every few minutes😀

Ride home was still cold but without the wind it was much nicer!! I've come to the conclusion, along with Dennis (who also rode in today), the the Tool jacket is just too much. Today I was sweating my keister off with only a Craft sleeveless baselayer under it. Very warm. Too warm. I need the lighter one, I think it's a Countdown? Other stuff I got to break out today, Barrier shoes and Gavia gloves. Nice!!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/59767748

These files will be pitiful to look at this time of year. I'm just goofing around and trying to put out the least amount of energy possible. The focus of the next couple weeks will be just to get re-acquainted with some type of training load and schedule before I jump into my uber-base phase in January.

Last year I did nearly all of my base on the mountain bike. It works for me. Despite what this racing season was like, it is my focus discipline. Riding that bike all the time I think helps a lot. I lose my power data but that's not really the point of base anyway so whatevah.

The geetar. My fingers hurt. Played for 6 hours yesterday. Epic. Today my fingers don't move so much. I did a "recovery" session by playing through scales nice and slow to get my hand to loosen up a bit. Maybe an hour tops. Blah.

That is all ninjas. Sorry, Pirates!! We're pirates today!!

-Jim.
 
Wednesday

Cold. Blah. No bike. Blah. Me and the boys were lollygaggin' this morning so by the time we left I had to reverse the drop-off order which leaves me no time to get back and jump on the bike. The morning thing is a tight one and could be hit-or-miss. Eric needs to be at school between 8:45-9:00am. Normally I drop off the Ethanator first and then on the way back home drop Eric off which gets me home just before 9am. Clothes and bike are ready to go and it's a quick transition to hit the road. Need to be ready to work by 10am, so squeeze in a 45ish minute ride and it's as tight as it gets. Considering I do everyday during the winter without hiccups is a minor miracle of sorts. Throw in mornings like today where we're being goofballs and BAM!! No ride. Blah.

Work was worky. I robbed this punk for his OG green CK headset. Ted, I need to get your frame back to you!! I may have said it somewhere earlier, going balls deep with this build and doing it 100% as I would if it were a ground up build. Need to re-lace my Jim-TECH wheels but it'll be worth it in the long run because the bike will be that much sicker!! Here's another teaser shot from my super-secret-uber-road-bling-build...

154799_1752569095992_1291834825_2026324_5869519_n.jpg


I also pulled my Grifos off my Hope wheels. I have some sweet Roubaix-Style tubies coming in that are going on. SON!! It's gonna be S-I-C-K!!

Here's a funny story from work today. We built one of those pimp Cycleops PT400 indoor cycle things and had to deliver to the dude a few towns over in bling-ville. Me and NigNug threw it into the Refridgagon and headed on our way with directions from our trusty salesman. Get to the house and knock on the door. An indian kid with a terrible accent answers the door. Eventually I get through to him that I'm from the bike shop trying to deliver this exercise thing. He doesn't get it at all. He gets his dad. Same story. Finally I take out the receipt and say "Is this you?" NO. It's not him. That guy moved. We're at his old house. POOP. In a weird turn of events, this indian kid and our customer's kid are homies and he gives me directions to his house around the corner. We made it over there only to have to lug this 200 pound thing upstairs into this mansions "workout" room. Eventually we set everything up and it was all good in the hood. What a Cluster-F!!

Came home and plugged in the 8-string to unwind. Tuned it Tosin-style to start learning Wave of Babies by Animals as Leaders. Learned up to the first solo. The solo is silly so it'll take a couple weeks I think. 1 bar at a time on repeat in GP6. Takes a bit but it works to nail those complicated parts. I didn't play any scales or work on my lesson at all tonight, blah, slacker. I did find a new guitar hero, don't think I can post it here, it's on my Book of Faces.

That is all.

PS-My wife and oldest are sick today, I hope I don't catch it, I like NOT being sick at last!!

-Jim.
 
jimvreeland said:
Tuesday

I've come to the conclusion, along with Dennis (who also rode in today), the the Tool jacket is just too much. Today I was sweating my keister off with only a Craft sleeveless baselayer under it. Very warm. Too warm. I need the lighter one, I think it's a Countdown? Other stuff I got to break out today, Barrier shoes and Gavia gloves. Nice!!
-Jim.
Click to expand...

The Phantom Jacket and a base layer (type is dependant on temp) is all I need up top in the winter. Comes equipped with pit-zips/removeable sleeves to help regulate body temp. Worth a look.
Gavia gloves are sweet as well.
 
Why would i marry a woman who doesn't like converge or drive stick?
If you ever see a nerd driving 3mph in a really fast car with the locust blasting, it's my wife 😉
 
gtluke said:
From my wife:
JIM VREELAND?!?!?!?!??!?!!!! WHERE IS MY CONVERGE VIDEO?!?! I WAS PROMISED THIS! 🙂
Click to expand...

Blah. I'm sick. At some point. Blah.

While I'm awake I'll fill in some poop. Yesterday my wife and oldest were home sick, I went to work to escape but to no avail. All day long my condition deteriorated, by the time I came home it was over for me son. I took my place on the couch amongst the other diseased people. Blah.

At work I did get to build a blingy bike and hang out with Utah for a bit. I'll post a picture of the bike because that's more exciting.

68100_1754659428249_1291834825_2030197_7143183_n.jpg


I know I'm not supposed to do this, but, this is by far the ugliest $7,000 bike I've ever seen. Not sure if the companies have some inside contest to see how many times they write their name on a bicycle frame, it's gotten ridiculous. Thank god for the Cervelo R5, IMO it's one of the few carbon bikes out right now that actually looks good. And the Cannondale CAAD10 1, not carbon, but good looking.

Speaking of good looking bikes, I have another piece of my pretty new road project, not a terribly exciting piece, but a piece nonetheless. A braze-on Force FD. Because that's how I roll. Force, no fancy-smancy Red on my ride son. I have the rest of the Force group that's been on all my bikes at some point. The new frame is prolly a month out? At least that's what I'm going with. Dropped my CK order for a matching BB and new green R45 front hub. Sold my BB30 Force cranks and ordered the standard GXP's. It'll be a patented Jim build. Thinking about what do to do for the bar area, green tape black hudz or black tape green hudz. The tape would be British racing green and be more subtle, which is the way I'm leaning. I may get both to have them there just in case I change my mind during the build. Also, the brown OG lookin' cork would be classy. Son.

63512_1754464823384_1291834825_2029757_7018471_n.jpg


Home sick today with Eric. He's coming out of his cold and I'm going into mine, he made me hot chocolate before, it was kinda cool. We also rented Johhny Dangerously on demand and have been watching that all day. What a good movie, classic son. Once. ONLY ONCE!!

That is all, I've re-entered my BBQ Dipsy Doodle phase. Enjoy it.

-Jim.
 
Saturday?

Sick. Blah. Stayed home again because I feeled like poop. My wife went out X-Mas shopping all day so I didn't get too much rest with the boys running around the house like maniacs😀

We decided to finally ditch the desktop computer, we haven't used it in a while so. GONE!! Cleaned up a ton of room on my computer bench. I'm now able to run my little amp under the desk where the tower used to go. Sweet!! I think that's really all I have for today.

166491_1757710144515_1291834825_2036986_2204633_n.jpg


-Jim.
 
Sunday

More exciting. Still sick but I don't care we're starting up the first official murder-train ride. Or, that was the plan at least, turned out to be much more eventful than that.

Me and Tyler were heading down to Allaire when the refridegon decided to blow a hose or something and spew coolant all over the parkway. The van looked like it was on fire. It was kinda cool. We pulled off the next exit which was 120, CheeseQuake. Parked the van in the commuter lot and we decided to ride while the thing cooled down a bit.

165704_1758567045937_1291834825_2038766_4892243_n.jpg


As we all know, but won't discuss, all the cool stuff is behind this sign...

65767_1758566765930_1291834825_2038764_6992290_n.jpg


Anyway, after our loop we rode over to the kwicky mart to get some coolant. Filled up the reservoir and headed back towards home. I almost thought we were gonna make it back but right at exit 4 on 287 the van gave up. Blah. 1 exit? Seriously? Had to call the wife to come rescue us. Somehow we made it back home in time for me to still get to work on time.

Some of my stuff for my secret road project was a least waiting for me when I got in. That was cool. I got my tires and a front derailleur adapter. Going balls deep. Tubies for the off-season. May be the best or worst decision ever, we'll have to see. They look cool as poop. The Paves would match the bike the best but their sidewalls are a joke so I went with the much beefier Grifos.

162907_1758566565925_1291834825_2038763_4432782_n.jpg


That's gonna look super-classy!! Traditional wheels with gumwalls, OG BLING!! My 11-28t Red cassette cleaned up great from the cross season...

33800_1758564245867_1291834825_2038757_111926_n.jpg


I'm pretty excited about this build. I've just been riding whatever road bike I could get my hands on so it's nice to actually build something I really want. It's gonna be cool!!

-Jim.
 
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