54 is the number I was givin.
James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead
- Thread starter Norm
- Start date
I guess I should rethink my diet of work and stress to lose ten pounds.
Not sure I totally agree with 50 being the plateau for everyone though...I think @pooriggy has had his best ( read that as most successful XC years) above 50...not that that is necessarily the measure of success, but still, he is fitter and more competitive. And for me at 47, and being on the sidelines for literally 3 years due to injury, I'm shooting for 50 to be my comeback year! Sort of...I'll settle for being able to ride for 2 hours in the woods and still walk afterwards lol.
And I totally agree with busting older siblings stones...being child 5 of 7 I can completely relate...and still do...no matter what the age we are still kids! And that is one of the things that keeps us young at heart!
Good feedback all - I will get to some of this later as I have another thing on my Trello board* for today. But rest assured, I will respond to comments in time.
In combination with the content of yesterday's post, I decided to do the Strava distance challenge for October. That's 1250 km, which comes out to just about 777 miles. Using my slide rule and abacus, that translates to just about 25 miles a day. I wanted to use this as a motivation to ride a bit more, to make sure I don't skip the bike just because. In the end, it probably worked, as I did manage to pass that number today, and with 2 days to go one assumes I will top the 800 mark for October. Not so bad, all told.
The downside of this approach was that it more or less pushed me to stay inside and crank out as many miles as I can, as fast as I can. If I was time-limited on a specific day, I would blast out 21 or 22 miles in an hour on one of the flat routes. I know people say that the indoor stuff ins't realistic - and I can see that. But if I put you on a pancake flat road with no wind and virtually no rolling resistance, I bet most people here could crank out 20+ mph. I digress.
As I noted yesterday, I've been pretty busy so my time to ride is usually after 4:30, if not later. With the shorter hours it's hard to want to get out on the road. Combine this with the fact that about a month ago I had several post work rides that just sucked. I had 3 encounters that were too close for me in 2 consecutive rides. Then on the 3rd day, I got rained on. Additionally, I never talked about this here, but earlier in the year, maybe 2 months ago, I came scarily close to being eliminated from the earth by a moron in a white VW. I was making a left and the guy drove around me in the left lane and passed me, just...JUST as I was turning. I guess the combination of me hearing it and D making some sort of gasp of disbelief triggered me to pull up. Given that this guy was going 50-60 mph, it most likely saved my life.
So in this great game of riding inside, or outside, or inside, I've been tending towards inside with the variables I have to work with. Early rides are also out these days, as I pretty much need to stay home and proctor Julia. She's here full-time for school, and left to her own devices she would be in her bed listening to her music, on her phone, paying little-to-no attention to the class. Such is the year 2020. Welcome to the CoronaDome!
Getting back to the Strava distance challenge, I completed it today. I know indoor riding isn't what a lot of people like to do, but as we've discussed before, I kinda like it a lot. I admit I do enjoy catching up on TV. For the last 6 months I really didn't watch much of anything. It's nice to get back into that. I'll discuss the media stuff in another post, assuming I keep this up. In any event, I'm happy this is over because I want to ride stuff that isn't pancake flat every day. Tomorrow I plan to climb that big one in the new France world, I think 4000' vertical or something.
* I use Trello as a personal ToDo list. It works like all the other personal ToDo things out there - great until you stop looking at it. Then it sucks.
Today's Topic: The Strava Distance Challenge
In combination with the content of yesterday's post, I decided to do the Strava distance challenge for October. That's 1250 km, which comes out to just about 777 miles. Using my slide rule and abacus, that translates to just about 25 miles a day. I wanted to use this as a motivation to ride a bit more, to make sure I don't skip the bike just because. In the end, it probably worked, as I did manage to pass that number today, and with 2 days to go one assumes I will top the 800 mark for October. Not so bad, all told.
The downside of this approach was that it more or less pushed me to stay inside and crank out as many miles as I can, as fast as I can. If I was time-limited on a specific day, I would blast out 21 or 22 miles in an hour on one of the flat routes. I know people say that the indoor stuff ins't realistic - and I can see that. But if I put you on a pancake flat road with no wind and virtually no rolling resistance, I bet most people here could crank out 20+ mph. I digress.
As I noted yesterday, I've been pretty busy so my time to ride is usually after 4:30, if not later. With the shorter hours it's hard to want to get out on the road. Combine this with the fact that about a month ago I had several post work rides that just sucked. I had 3 encounters that were too close for me in 2 consecutive rides. Then on the 3rd day, I got rained on. Additionally, I never talked about this here, but earlier in the year, maybe 2 months ago, I came scarily close to being eliminated from the earth by a moron in a white VW. I was making a left and the guy drove around me in the left lane and passed me, just...JUST as I was turning. I guess the combination of me hearing it and D making some sort of gasp of disbelief triggered me to pull up. Given that this guy was going 50-60 mph, it most likely saved my life.
So in this great game of riding inside, or outside, or inside, I've been tending towards inside with the variables I have to work with. Early rides are also out these days, as I pretty much need to stay home and proctor Julia. She's here full-time for school, and left to her own devices she would be in her bed listening to her music, on her phone, paying little-to-no attention to the class. Such is the year 2020. Welcome to the CoronaDome!
Getting back to the Strava distance challenge, I completed it today. I know indoor riding isn't what a lot of people like to do, but as we've discussed before, I kinda like it a lot. I admit I do enjoy catching up on TV. For the last 6 months I really didn't watch much of anything. It's nice to get back into that. I'll discuss the media stuff in another post, assuming I keep this up. In any event, I'm happy this is over because I want to ride stuff that isn't pancake flat every day. Tomorrow I plan to climb that big one in the new France world, I think 4000' vertical or something.
* I use Trello as a personal ToDo list. It works like all the other personal ToDo things out there - great until you stop looking at it. Then it sucks.
Liked for the abacus reference...with love.Good feedback all - I will get to some of this later as I have another thing on my Trello board* for today. But rest assured, I will respond to comments in time.
Today's Topic: The Strava Distance Challenge
In combination with the content of yesterday's post, I decided to do the Strava distance challenge for October. That's 1250 km, which comes out to just about 777 miles. Using my slide rule and abacus, that translates to just about 25 miles a day. I wanted to use this as a motivation to ride a bit more, to make sure I don't skip the bike just because. In the end, it probably worked, as I did manage to pass that number today, and with 2 days to go one assumes I will top the 800 mark for October. Not so bad, all told.
The downside of this approach was that it more or less pushed me to stay inside and crank out as many miles as I can, as fast as I can. If I was time-limited on a specific day, I would blast out 21 or 22 miles in an hour on one of the flat routes. I know people say that the indoor stuff ins't realistic - and I can see that. But if I put you on a pancake flat road with no wind and virtually no rolling resistance, I bet most people here could crank out 20+ mph. I digress.
As I noted yesterday, I've been pretty busy so my time to ride is usually after 4:30, if not later. With the shorter hours it's hard to want to get out on the road. Combine this with the fact that about a month ago I had several post work rides that just sucked. I had 3 encounters that were too close for me in 2 consecutive rides. Then on the 3rd day, I got rained on. Additionally, I never talked about this here, but earlier in the year, maybe 2 months ago, I came scarily close to being eliminated from the earth by a moron in a white VW. I was making a left and the guy drove around me in the left lane and passed me, just...JUST as I was turning. I guess the combination of me hearing it and D making some sort of gasp of disbelief triggered me to pull up. Given that this guy was going 50-60 mph, it most likely saved my life.
So in this great game of riding inside, or outside, or inside, I've been tending towards inside with the variables I have to work with. Early rides are also out these days, as I pretty much need to stay home and proctor Julia. She's here full-time for school, and left to her own devices she would be in her bed listening to her music, on her phone, paying little-to-no attention to the class. Such is the year 2020. Welcome to the CoronaDome!
Getting back to the Strava distance challenge, I completed it today. I know indoor riding isn't what a lot of people like to do, but as we've discussed before, I kinda like it a lot. I admit I do enjoy catching up on TV. For the last 6 months I really didn't watch much of anything. It's nice to get back into that. I'll discuss the media stuff in another post, assuming I keep this up. In any event, I'm happy this is over because I want to ride stuff that isn't pancake flat every day. Tomorrow I plan to climb that big one in the new France world, I think 4000' vertical or something.
* I use Trello as a personal ToDo list. It works like all the other personal ToDo things out there - great until you stop looking at it. Then it sucks.
isn't that a phil collins song?
-
any road to the east/north of 287/206 sucks.
Go west "young" man.
or, see ya in the spring - i'm thinking RV tomorrow afternoon.
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
Pretty sure it was Abacac and it was a Genesis album/song...I'll give you a pass only because Phil Colling did sing the song...kids!
What???
Do you mean ABACAB.
This was one of those albums that helped bring in the 80s sound. Genesis really made the leap from 70s to 80s. Listen to this classic from 78. Then follow it up from this cut off of ABACAB in 81. Wow
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
Oh s**t...nothing’s more humbling than being proven wrong when correcting somebody else! Off course it is Abacab!
Today's Topic: Genesis
I grew up in the 80's. Despite the talk about the big 5-0 I'm not even 49 yet, and while i was born at the start of the 70's, I grew up in the 80's. As much as I want to say I remember Sister Sledge and the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979, I really don't. My memories seem to mostly go back to 1981, when we moved to Bloomsbury, my parents got married (mom & step-father), and I started 3rd grade. My school memories, sports memories, TV & music memories, they all pretty much start in 1981. I have small patches of recollection from living in Washington next to a 1-legged girl who was my best friend at the time. But being honest, having a girl with 1 leg as a best friend is sort of hard to forget no matter how young you were.
In the 80's there was a divide in music affinity, at least in our town. It wasn't really ok to like the Beatles, for instance. It was either Led Zeppelin or the Beatles. You really weren't allowed to like both at that age. But that was classic rock, not the music of the day. We were pretty much Van Halen, AC/DC, and Rush. Those were the popular bands then, which were supplemented by the likes of Dokken and Dio as the hair metal came front & center as the 80's wore on. Guns & Roses probably marked the end of that era, as I was about to go to college and get exposed to the total shock that Pearl Jam's 10 was in my freshman year. But that would be in the future.
There were a few bands that were simply not allowed to be liked. The 2 that really come to mind are Genesis and Air Supply. Frankly, at no stage in my life has it ever seemed to make sense that Air Supply had a place in this world. As for Genesis, when I look back at that 80's stuff I still don't like it but I can appreciate it, much like I can appreciate Ah-Ha's Take On Me.
Then Phil Collins split from Genesis and went solo, and did that song In the Air. The story went that this was a real song, and the guy who it was about did all these bad things not knowing that Phil Collins has seen it all! Imagine his horror, the story goes, when this guy goes to as Phil Collins show, in the front row, and Collins plays this song for the first time ever, exposing this creep! Many & much gasping!
Of course, it was all one of those stupid things that kids believe*.
Another stupid thing that I believed back then was that Genesis sucked. Fast forward 20 years or so, and a friend who was really into music suggested I listen to the early 70's version of Genesis. Specifically, Selling England by the Pound. To say this album is good is like saying I like ice cream. It is a gross understatement. I'm pretty sure that if I had listened to the album in 1982 when Diver Down** was the absolute shit, I would have set it on fire and thrown it back at you. But many years later, and perhaps not quite as reactionary as I was back then, I gave it a fair shot and I loved it. It is a brilliant album even in the year 2020.
I could never really get into The Lamb Dies Down on Broadway. I don't know if it's not as good, it's not for me, or the other album was just right place, right time. For me, Selling England is their best. And it's a great album.
Thanks to @pooriggy for linking those videos. They really drove this topic today.
* another story from when I was a kid. I remember hearing a joke on WZZO (95.1) back during one of the Olympics about how a US sprinter tried to cheat the taxi out of his fare, so he sprinted away in an effort not to pay, but was run down by the driver. Years later - and I have no idea what reminded me of this - I saw this for the morning show humor that it was. At age 9 or 13 or whatever, I was too oblivious to get it.
** Eddie Van Halen dying recently is a small part of my childhood dying. EVH was the absolute, quintessential guitar player when we were kids. There was simply nobody like him. @jmanic and I had a conversation about VH the day he died and it reminded me about Diver Down and the fact that this album was the main motivator for at least 50% of my art projects through grade school.
JDurk
Well-Known Member
At 52, I regularly forget things I did hours, days, weeks, months ago. But I can still recall the day in '78 when 10y/o me, first heard VH on my next door neighbor's record player. He dropped the needle on Eruption, skipping over Running with the Devil. Never knew it was track #2 until I finally purchased a copy of my own. Pretty sure I stopped listening to KISS after that and it changed the music l listened to.
"And ye shall awake, on the eve of November, Ween of Hallow, and thus see a zero as the middle number on the scale. And there shall be rejoicing, and destruction at the peril of a pillowcase full of candy from thy youngest child."
-LevIggycus 21:12
As we all know, we "gain an hour" tonight which really means we get to sleep an extra hour and the time will be the same as if we hadn't. While this means I see a bit less dark in the morning, it also means the dark will come sooner in the evening. I actually don't mind the dark in the morning, right now. I like getting up at 6:00 on these cold days and doing my thing while the sun hasn't risen yet. It makes me feel like I'm ahead of the curve, getting a good start on the day.
I do see the downside of not adjusting the clocks. By mid-December it would still be dark at 8:00 am, which is a little screwy. At the same time, it's going to be dark at 5:30 pm tomorrow and for the next 7+ weeks it's only going to get worse. Being that I'm already riding inside after work, there's little change in that regard. But there's just something off about the daylight ending so early in the day. I don't necessarily mind it, per se. But those 4:30 sunsets towards the end of the year seem super early.
The temperature has turned recently, which I'm more than happy to have after that brutal stretch of summer. I know last winter I was ready for summer, and this summer I'm ready for fall. I suppose that's a good balance and suggests I'd be a bad candidate to live full time either down south or up north. Perhaps that flip-flop approach to winter/summer makes some sense in this regard. But that's so far in the future it's not worth thinking about right now.
Normally this would be the time to start thinking about the things in winter that you look forward to, things that give you a break from the slog. Last year it was the holiday, skiing, Sedona, and as always, our theater season. Of those, the only thing that's got much of a chance this year is the ski season. I was lamenting to @seanrunnette today that I'm bummed there will be no theater season for us. Usually we go to half a dozen shows of diverse production value, from the high school spring play to Chester to Broadway. We usually use the winter as a time to enjoy that stuff. Not this year.
Sedona (and the like) is another item that's off the table. Before you object, I'm not ready for the airport & airplane & public places yet. I know people are doing it, and that's cool. As the numbers go up, I'm going to do my best to lower my risk. And a trip to Sedona would be the opposite of that. If it were closer, I'd love to drive. But a 34 hour drive one way isn't a reality unless you're going to stay for a month.
That leaves skiing. Right now, to me, that's a pretty big unknown. We'll see how that plays out. Aside from that I'm sure we'll work on our bike runs, at least with the limited daylight we have. But doing work outside is less appealing when it's 22 degrees out. Hopefully we're able to get out there and play on it from time to time. In addition, I'm trying to think of house projects to keep me occupied. I've enjoyed having things to do on the side. Nothing big comes to mind, at least in terms of being indoors. I suppose we may paint the kitchen.
Yes, we all go through this adjustment every year, but to me this year will be different because there's nothing specific to look forward to. We're all being forced to live our lives like Amish. Well...ok, Amish with cars and iPhones and Netflix but you get the idea. I've slept in my own house more this year than any year in the past 5. While I suppose the whole reason you buy a house is so you can sleep in it, part of the reason you work is so you have the option not to, at least on occasion.
I imagine we won't go the whole winter without doing something. But what that is...well, is TBD.
-LevIggycus 21:12
Today's Topic: The Cold & The Dark
As we all know, we "gain an hour" tonight which really means we get to sleep an extra hour and the time will be the same as if we hadn't. While this means I see a bit less dark in the morning, it also means the dark will come sooner in the evening. I actually don't mind the dark in the morning, right now. I like getting up at 6:00 on these cold days and doing my thing while the sun hasn't risen yet. It makes me feel like I'm ahead of the curve, getting a good start on the day.
I do see the downside of not adjusting the clocks. By mid-December it would still be dark at 8:00 am, which is a little screwy. At the same time, it's going to be dark at 5:30 pm tomorrow and for the next 7+ weeks it's only going to get worse. Being that I'm already riding inside after work, there's little change in that regard. But there's just something off about the daylight ending so early in the day. I don't necessarily mind it, per se. But those 4:30 sunsets towards the end of the year seem super early.
The temperature has turned recently, which I'm more than happy to have after that brutal stretch of summer. I know last winter I was ready for summer, and this summer I'm ready for fall. I suppose that's a good balance and suggests I'd be a bad candidate to live full time either down south or up north. Perhaps that flip-flop approach to winter/summer makes some sense in this regard. But that's so far in the future it's not worth thinking about right now.
Normally this would be the time to start thinking about the things in winter that you look forward to, things that give you a break from the slog. Last year it was the holiday, skiing, Sedona, and as always, our theater season. Of those, the only thing that's got much of a chance this year is the ski season. I was lamenting to @seanrunnette today that I'm bummed there will be no theater season for us. Usually we go to half a dozen shows of diverse production value, from the high school spring play to Chester to Broadway. We usually use the winter as a time to enjoy that stuff. Not this year.
Sedona (and the like) is another item that's off the table. Before you object, I'm not ready for the airport & airplane & public places yet. I know people are doing it, and that's cool. As the numbers go up, I'm going to do my best to lower my risk. And a trip to Sedona would be the opposite of that. If it were closer, I'd love to drive. But a 34 hour drive one way isn't a reality unless you're going to stay for a month.
That leaves skiing. Right now, to me, that's a pretty big unknown. We'll see how that plays out. Aside from that I'm sure we'll work on our bike runs, at least with the limited daylight we have. But doing work outside is less appealing when it's 22 degrees out. Hopefully we're able to get out there and play on it from time to time. In addition, I'm trying to think of house projects to keep me occupied. I've enjoyed having things to do on the side. Nothing big comes to mind, at least in terms of being indoors. I suppose we may paint the kitchen.
Yes, we all go through this adjustment every year, but to me this year will be different because there's nothing specific to look forward to. We're all being forced to live our lives like Amish. Well...ok, Amish with cars and iPhones and Netflix but you get the idea. I've slept in my own house more this year than any year in the past 5. While I suppose the whole reason you buy a house is so you can sleep in it, part of the reason you work is so you have the option not to, at least on occasion.
I imagine we won't go the whole winter without doing something. But what that is...well, is TBD.
Bonus: A 209 Pound Shark & a Little Chicken
November
November has been my favorite month for as long as I can remember. As we roll into the best month of the year, we can take some time to reflect on why exactly it is such. In reality, there are 3 reasons. 2 of these are based on growing up in NJ and going to school here. The 3rd is of a personal nature.
First - The Teacher's Convention. At this point in my life this is less of a good thing than it once was. But it was always drilled into my mind that we would get a 4-day weekend for absolutely no reason at all. As a kid, who was I to pass judgement on free days off? As an adult, I think it's somewhat inconvenient, but who am I to argue with tradition? With the 3 kids in the house this whole week, and both of us needing to work, keeping them occupied may be tough. I expect it to be more of a circus than usual. We may need to kick the kids out of the house later this week.
Second - My birthday. In exactly 3 weeks, I will turn 7 touchdowns old. I feel having a late November birthday is a good time to have it. It's close enough to Christmas that people feel generous but not too close to have the presents conflict with one another. At this age, of course, this means nothing. But as a kid, birthdays were such an awesome thing to look forward to. Now Simon, on the other hand, has a birthday in mid-December and even as much as we know it happens, his day often gets overshadowed by the big holiday just a week+ later.
For those of you looking to get me something, I enjoy shark outfits plus the various accessories.
Third - Thanksgiving weekend. As a kid this was a double bonus to have not 1, but 2, 4-day weekends. As an adult we also get this weekend off so it works out for everyone. This year we technically have no kids that day, but we have them for the weekend. My parents are going south with some friends so we'll have a Thanksgiving without the gluttonous food-fest, and it will be a reasonably peaceful day, for at least one day. If this were normal times we might consider going somewhere. Now, probably not.
A fourth reason to be hopeful on this best month of the year campaign would be the coming event on Tuesday. But we don't need to get into that since I assume that anyone reading this thing knows where I land on this topic.
There are probably many reasons people dislike November, such as getting older, having to deal with kids for 2 random extra days while you try to work at home, having to see relatives and watch football and eat a roasted turkey (which frankly, is never that good), and having shitty officials elected to office year after year. Oh and the leaves fall off and immediately get rained on. Plus it's getting cold out there.
That said, I prefer to look at the bright side, and will welcome the passing of another year while staying warm my pink shark onesie.
ChrisG
Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
Been wanting to get into this conversation, but I went back to teaching in the classroom last week, and my mental energy drain went through the roof for a few days. Things are returning to more workable level now.
I was 42 in 2008, the first year of the MTBNJ team. At that point, I'd been racing since 1993, having upgraded to Expert (what we now call Cat 1) on the mtb at the end of 1998, along with gaining the points to go to Cat 3 on the road. So I'd been at it for a while, racing in the woods and on the road. I was a relative late-comer to CX, not getting into that until 2007, which also turned out to be the last year I raced on the road with any frequency.
As time went on, I raced less in the woods as well, but found myself doing 12 or 13 CX races a season, mostly sticking to the NJCX series and occasional MAC races in between.
I think I maintained a pretty even level of fitness from 2008 through to 2015, the year I turned 49 and "aged up" into 50+ CX. Results-wise, that was the best year I had in my CX age group.
In 2016, I left the team and took up Ben on his offer to explore coaching as a new outlet, and this gave me a fresh way to look at the sport. While I continued to do some races, my focus shifted towards working on my personal mtb skills and learning to properly instruct others to do the same. Riding volume began to drop, and fitness with it. Looking back, 2015 was really the last year I had the kind of power and speed that I'd kind of taken as granted for the prior 15+ years.
The flipside is that I've been getting more and more enjoyment out of working on my bike handling. I finally gave in to getting off of the rigid SS that had been my only mountain bike for 12 years, and bought a 21st century trail bike last November. I can honestly say, at age 54, that my motivation to be on the bike in 2020 has been as high as ever; probably higher. I daydream about riding and put myself to sleep at night riding trails in my head. And I still put in plenty of hours on the road, but it's all at endurance effort.
So, I don't know where I'd be, riding-wise, if I was still chasing Cat 1 fitness and biding my time until racing happens again. I feel like a substantial part of me will always approach the sport with a racer's mindset, but I'm utterly content to not be racing, or even attempting to "keep up" with my local riding buddies that are still pounding the pedals every weekend.
The mode changed after 50, but the stoke remains.
Today's Topic: Virtual Climbing
If you're not into Zwift and stuff, feel free to move on because you won't love this post.
Last month I decided to go for the miles, this month I'm deciding to go for the climbs. I have historically enjoyed climbing, with the caveat that those were in the less gravity-bound days. It was before Zwift came along, so it was New Jersey climbing, which more or less tops off at 400-500 feet at best. Zwift gives you the ability to put in significantly larger efforts to get your proverbial climb on.
Back to the Trello board, last year I did sort of the same thing but it was a combination of climbs as well as courses. I've split these out into climbs, and non-climbs. There are something like 11 climbs in 4 different worlds. Of those 11, 4 of them are less than 10 minutes so you are really dealing with 7 considerable climbs. As such:
- Keith Hill in London
- Innsbruck has 1 huge hill that you can climb in both directions
- Watopia Alpe
- Watopia has the big hill like Innsbruck, both directions and similar timing
- France's Mont Ventoux
I have only done the France segment once, and it was just shy of 2 hours. So you really need to be all-in for that one because it's a damn long ride. The Watopia Alpe is also pretty long but you can knock that out in 1:15 or less if you're really on point - my best is 1:06 which may take a long time to beat.
All of these times were set last year when I had my weight on the trainer set to 200. The thing is, I probably wasn't 200 back then so it's a bit misleading in a way. I figure instead of stressing those details, the best way to approach that is to get myself below 200, keep riding hard, and over the course of the winter take some of those records with that combination.
In reality, it's a thing to keep me motivated. Deep down, and I would think this is obvious to many of you, I love to put out the effort and the way that exertion makes me feel. Well...some days. Being able to maintain that level of output for those lengths of time makes mea better rider, which is what you want at the end of it all. At some point, I'll circle back on what @stb222 and @ChrisG wrote. Not today, and certainly not tomorrow when the sky will be falling. But soon, I assure you.
Anyway, now that I am doing harder rides I also need to mix in easier rides. Like today was an hour spin, which I know is needed but makes me feel less awesome about what I did on the bike. All of it is part of the 10,000 foot view, which is what I'm trying to focus on these days.
A zwift post and I am tagged towards the end! Mind games are strong in you. I wonder if we will ever be let back in France? Hopefully tomorrow sets off that change.Today's Topic: Virtual Climbing
If you're not into Zwift and stuff, feel free to move on because you won't love this post.
Last month I decided to go for the miles, this month I'm deciding to go for the climbs. I have historically enjoyed climbing, with the caveat that those were in the less gravity-bound days. It was before Zwift came along, so it was New Jersey climbing, which more or less tops off at 400-500 feet at best. Zwift gives you the ability to put in significantly larger efforts to get your proverbial climb on.
Back to the Trello board, last year I did sort of the same thing but it was a combination of climbs as well as courses. I've split these out into climbs, and non-climbs. There are something like 11 climbs in 4 different worlds. Of those 11, 4 of them are less than 10 minutes so you are really dealing with 7 considerable climbs. As such:
Yesterday I did both of the Innsbruck climbs, first the CCW one then the CW one. The first I was 3+ minutes off my best time and the second one I was almost 7 minutes slower. I typically will not do 2 in 1 ride, so by the end there wasn't anything in the tank to give. Since Strava has these segments defined now, I can tell you that the first effort was 3rd of my 9 efforts ever, and the second was 5th of 15. Not terrible.
- Keith Hill in London
- Innsbruck has 1 huge hill that you can climb in both directions
- Watopia Alpe
- Watopia has the big hill like Innsbruck, both directions and similar timing
- France's Mont Ventoux
I have only done the France segment once, and it was just shy of 2 hours. So you really need to be all-in for that one because it's a damn long ride. The Watopia Alpe is also pretty long but you can knock that out in 1:15 or less if you're really on point - my best is 1:06 which may take a long time to beat.
All of these times were set last year when I had my weight on the trainer set to 200. The thing is, I probably wasn't 200 back then so it's a bit misleading in a way. I figure instead of stressing those details, the best way to approach that is to get myself below 200, keep riding hard, and over the course of the winter take some of those records with that combination.
In reality, it's a thing to keep me motivated. Deep down, and I would think this is obvious to many of you, I love to put out the effort and the way that exertion makes me feel. Well...some days. Being able to maintain that level of output for those lengths of time makes mea better rider, which is what you want at the end of it all. At some point, I'll circle back on what @stb222 and @ChrisG wrote. Not today, and certainly not tomorrow when the sky will be falling. But soon, I assure you.
Anyway, now that I am doing harder rides I also need to mix in easier rides. Like today was an hour spin, which I know is needed but makes me feel less awesome about what I did on the bike. All of it is part of the 10,000 foot view, which is what I'm trying to focus on these days.
Update: Back in Innsbruck tonight, to try the CW direction of the big hill. Today was the 16th time I have done it, and the 2nd fastest ever - 2:23 off my best time. Looking at these times I am not sure how often I have given it my all. Still some work to do for sure.
I cast my ballot a week or 2 ago. To be precise it'll be 2 weeks ago this Friday. I used the drop box downtown, which is about a half mile from the house. I like this method of voting, because it allowed me to use the Internet to research the people who are running for local office. I didn't need to look into the big ticket names. As someone who gets a paper delivered to his house in a blue bag every weekend, there's not much mystery who I'm voting for. The local stuff, however, is a lot harder to wing when you get into the booth. Usually, I just pick randomly based on a name. This year I didn't need to do that.
On the topic that everyone is afraid to bring up, I am bracing for the inevitable. I don't know how else to go about my life right now but to assume the worst will happen. It's sort of like invading Normandy Beach in a way. To hope you will make it out alive is a bit of an optimistic situation. It was probably best to brace for the worst and give it your all. While I know this is a bit over the top - and really only a bit - it does encompass the cognitive dissonance a little bit to be trying to live in this environment as if nothing is wrong. But when I wake up every day and have to be a parent to 3 kids, you simply can't let the outside have too much of an effect on you.
If this sounds heavy it's because it is. Our country has become a bit of a joke in some ways. While I think Animal House was a really funny movie, it is exactly those 2 things: Funny and Movie. It's not a way of life, an ethos to live by. You watch it, then move on with your life and clean up after yourself and wipe your own ass when you take a dump. You don't persist in flinging pies at everyone because you think this is how the world works. At least, it used to be that way.
The real shame of everything is that civil dialog is dead. We as a society only have ourselves to blame for this. Even though the vote will be 49-to-51 or whatever, Trump social media pages get 10-20x the views & likes that Biden social media gets. Why is that? Because we crave the pie fights, the mud slinging, the total carnage. Asinine things sell. People can't help themselves but be attracted by them. To those of you who have cast off social media - kudos to you!
As a father of a daughter I cannot imagine voting for this guy. The fact that she's half minority only makes it more-so. In reality, having a conservative government most likely helps the finances of this household. We do well, with 2 professionals here and living well within our means. Less taxes means more money in our bank account. But it's just not the right way to see the world, in my opinion of course.
I'm going to stop now and apologize. This is the beginning and end of what I will say about this mess. I hope to go to bed tonight or wake up tomorrow with a better outlook on this particular beach. I am not so delusional that this will be over by then. But I can hope. In the meantime, I will try to shed a few pounds, ride my bike up a few hills, and just be as good of a dad & husband as I can be. Because at the end of the day, those are really some of the things I can control. Much of the rest will be what it will be.
Get a good night sleep, everyone. You'll probably need it.
Topic: EEEEEEEEERECTION!
I cast my ballot a week or 2 ago. To be precise it'll be 2 weeks ago this Friday. I used the drop box downtown, which is about a half mile from the house. I like this method of voting, because it allowed me to use the Internet to research the people who are running for local office. I didn't need to look into the big ticket names. As someone who gets a paper delivered to his house in a blue bag every weekend, there's not much mystery who I'm voting for. The local stuff, however, is a lot harder to wing when you get into the booth. Usually, I just pick randomly based on a name. This year I didn't need to do that.
On the topic that everyone is afraid to bring up, I am bracing for the inevitable. I don't know how else to go about my life right now but to assume the worst will happen. It's sort of like invading Normandy Beach in a way. To hope you will make it out alive is a bit of an optimistic situation. It was probably best to brace for the worst and give it your all. While I know this is a bit over the top - and really only a bit - it does encompass the cognitive dissonance a little bit to be trying to live in this environment as if nothing is wrong. But when I wake up every day and have to be a parent to 3 kids, you simply can't let the outside have too much of an effect on you.
If this sounds heavy it's because it is. Our country has become a bit of a joke in some ways. While I think Animal House was a really funny movie, it is exactly those 2 things: Funny and Movie. It's not a way of life, an ethos to live by. You watch it, then move on with your life and clean up after yourself and wipe your own ass when you take a dump. You don't persist in flinging pies at everyone because you think this is how the world works. At least, it used to be that way.
The real shame of everything is that civil dialog is dead. We as a society only have ourselves to blame for this. Even though the vote will be 49-to-51 or whatever, Trump social media pages get 10-20x the views & likes that Biden social media gets. Why is that? Because we crave the pie fights, the mud slinging, the total carnage. Asinine things sell. People can't help themselves but be attracted by them. To those of you who have cast off social media - kudos to you!
As a father of a daughter I cannot imagine voting for this guy. The fact that she's half minority only makes it more-so. In reality, having a conservative government most likely helps the finances of this household. We do well, with 2 professionals here and living well within our means. Less taxes means more money in our bank account. But it's just not the right way to see the world, in my opinion of course.
I'm going to stop now and apologize. This is the beginning and end of what I will say about this mess. I hope to go to bed tonight or wake up tomorrow with a better outlook on this particular beach. I am not so delusional that this will be over by then. But I can hope. In the meantime, I will try to shed a few pounds, ride my bike up a few hills, and just be as good of a dad & husband as I can be. Because at the end of the day, those are really some of the things I can control. Much of the rest will be what it will be.
Get a good night sleep, everyone. You'll probably need it.
I’m surprised you said as much as you did. I mean I agree with and relate 100%.
This is my feeling especially. This does not change. And no matter what happens, my kids will be 12 and 10 in 4 years and the winner of this shitshow will be a faint memory when they start growing up.