Turbo's Tales

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Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
This is going to be my new blog, my new home to contribute all of my daily bike life happenings. Since high school all of my friends have called me "Turbo" (nickname came about somehow after I broke my femur in my junior year), so I feel it's only right to use it in my blog title. I will do my best to update every few days. I will attempt paragraphs if it's going to be long and drawn out just for my critics :p
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
I was going to write a 2016 race season write up but decided to keep it simple and say that this has been a hell of a year. I raced a bit too much this year but don't regret it one bit. To date I have done 4 fat bike races(Long Branch Beach Race included), SSP, 7 h2h races, 2 NYS MTB races, Stewart45, Wilderness 101 and a couple of long road adventures including Hell of Hunterdon(fat bike), 2 centuries, The Longest Day and a whole crap load of random training and screw off days.
I got my wisdom teeth out yesterday so here I am. I'll be off the bike for about 2 weeks and getting back into running in the next couple of weeks. To finish the year I will be doing some 5ks(Schilling 5k), Hashathon 6k, Woods Hollow MTB race, Cathedral pines(SS), Hillier Than Thou(road ride) and some fat bike races at the very end of the year.
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
well, I didn't make it 2 weeks but either way it jas been no less hectic. A 50+ hour work week for a month or so really wheres you down especially when working in this heat. On the flip side, muscles have had some time off and beer has been consumed.
I took 11 days completely off the bike. Thursday was an after work family ride at Sandy Hook. 6 miles on my fixie I got from @rottin' towing the boys around in the trailer I got from @Mountain Bike Mike . That was a tough/easy 7 miles. Yesterday was my first real ride and it was during the hot part of the day as I watched the kids all weekend. Road the fatty to hartshorne for a loop and then home, finishing with 2 miles on the beach. That was a tough 30.
Anyways, new week, hopefully a new diet and maybe cr this thursday. Considering enurance at French Creek sunday but most likely doing the Schilling 5k. Enjoy your week!
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
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Schilling 5k today. @Mitch and @sarcaro showed up. Good times.
 

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Stef

❤ Brownie Biatch ❤
JORBA.ORG
Team MTBNJ Halter's
nice seeing you at Cranks...how was demo bike?
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
nice seeing you at Cranks...how was demo bike?
Well, I need to start by thanking scott and jeff at Trek Bike Store of Middletown. They offered me a demo bike for the day...a Stache 9 29+. Secondly it was not the bike I am looking for but they wanted me to try it at Hartshorne...a buddy and I decided on Cranks at Mooch instead. I ended up just around 17 miles on saturday and at first with me being a bit well done the bike felt heavy, which it probably was. By the end of the day this felt like this bike felt like the perfect bike for Mooch. Rocks are spaced apart so if you are good at choosing lines FS is not needed. The bike climbs great for it's size and traction was unlimited. This 29+ tire is the fine line that I have a hard time finding with pressure on my fat bike. 29+ feels cushier than my 4"tire fat bike. My speculation is that you can run much lower pressure than a 29er and just below that perfect area on a fat bike without too much power steer. This bike was fast, fun and good all around. I was able to hammer the downhill towards the end of the race loop pretty good. Fun bike, shifted great, manitou fork wasn't super plush but soaked up big hits well. The 29+ made rock gardens feel buttery smooth.
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
Well, I am officially physically exhausted. This long season has finally caught up to me. The last two hard trail rides I have done started out on fire and 20 minutes in ended up with a maxed out hr and muscle strength and poor recovery time. What to do?
Trying to do my last ride for a couple months until cathedral(Hillier Than Thou is next weekend and will be it). I did a century last week and felt fine. Hopefully I make that and can give the body some time off. I have essentially done around 16 races including 7 of 8 h2h cat 2, ssp, stew45, w101, chainstretcher, sos, 3 of 4 nj fat bike races, peddler beach race etc....and on top of all the training, hammer rides, spin rides, longest day and a handful of centuries I need to recover.
Here is where I ask for opinions. I love my bike and don't want to stop riding but I need to. My diet is out of hand as well. So what I am asking is what would you do? I will lose the wait and straighten diet out but what else? Is it ok to run while recovering on the cycle end? Or just stick to pushups and family walks? I want to race a lot next year too but don't want to be a dud. I'll be doing a couple cat 1 ss races as well as several endurance races.
This all started with me being naive and loving my bikes. @Uzzi_SL suggested a bunch of cool rides like hell of hunterdon, ssp, stew45 and sos...did I ever say no? Nope. I need to pick and choose better next season. After Hillier my next race will be cathedral. Let's hear some ideas. I've taken in what @pooriggy , @jShort and @Mountain Bike Mike ...I want to hear all the ideas.
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
that is a long season. when i first got into racing i feel like i did the same thing, just did everything and anything i could. i eventually got stuck in a fitness rut. you are on a different level than i was for sure. a lot of people feel that if they are not riding, they are not getting stronger. you actually get stronger while recovering.

my opinion? put the mountain bike away, ride with people that share the same goals with you and turn the dial way back. it's easy to get on the mtb and throw any terms of "social" and "easy" ride out the window. it's easier to do this on the road bike with a friend and really tell yourself to relax, spin and recover.

hillier is going to totally destroy you. i dont know what the date is, hopefully it's farther out, but your body needs some rest if you feel this way.

challenge yourself in new ways. i think you said you have some sort of road bike, right?
how low can you keep your heart rate?
can you spin for an hour at 95rpm?

don't be afraid to take some time off. i never feel good if i take more than 1 day off in a row, so maybe for a couple of weeks, do every other day? you will feel better soon. you can still ride, just stay away from the intensity.
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
Thanks. Yea, wasjust roadbiking. I just need to simmerdown. I have ahard time saying no to a rideormissing out riding with people.Think I should skip the running? I always look up to guys that push. I need to find that line. It amaxes me how someone like Tinker Juarez has ridden at the elitefactory level for 35 plus years.
that is a long season. when i first got into racing i feel like i did the same thing, just did everything and anything i could. i eventually got stuck in a fitness rut. you are on a different level than i was for sure. a lot of people feel that if they are not riding, they are not getting stronger. you actually get stronger while recovering.

my opinion? put the mountain bike away, ride with people that share the same goals with you and turn the dial way back. it's easy to get on the mtb and throw any terms of "social" and "easy" ride out the window. it's easier to do this on the road bike with a friend and really tell yourself to relax, spin and recover.

hillier is going to totally destroy you. i dont know what the date is, hopefully it's farther out, but your body needs some rest if you feel this way.

challenge yourself in new ways. i think you said you have some sort of road bike, right?
how low can you keep your heart rate?
can you spin for an hour at 95rpm?

don't be afraid to take some time off. i never feel good if i take more than 1 day off in a row, so maybe for a couple of weeks, do every other day? you will feel better soon. you can still ride, just stay away from the intensity.
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
I think it is different muscles, so go on running if you like.

These guys go through peaks and valleys of training as well, and take time off. It doesn't happen over night. let your body gain strength and recover. Think of this like the flu, you can kick it, just need to dial it back in the intensity. I would prescribe this for 1-2 weeks and you'll come around.
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
The problem with running is that you really need to ease into it, or you're going to get hurt and then not be able to ride. It's tough to accept a 20 minute run as a workout when you are used to 3-4 hour bike rides being a workout. I just ran for the first time in about a year last week, and I had trouble walking for four days because my quads and calves were destroyed. I only ran 2.5 miles. I did the same run last night and am sore again, but not as much. If I ramp up the mileage though, I know I'm gonna be injured.

I find the climbing gym to be a great way to get exercise off the bike. It seems no matter how sore my legs are from riding, I have no problem climbing. It's a totally different workout, and it's really fun. I try to time it with the weather so that I ride on nice days, and climb indoors on shitty days. I count climbing as a rest day, although I usually end up with one total rest day where I just sit on the couch.

I might ride if I'm sore, but I just take it really easy. None of my rides are ever hammer rides though, so I don't really have any advice there.

If your diet sucks and you know it, just start eating better. It's really not that hard. Eat more stuff that's better for you, and less stuff that's bad. I would suggest you read Eat to Live, but I basically gave you the premise of the book in the previous sentence.

It sounds like you just need to take some time off the bike and do some easy rides and then you'll be fine.
 

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I just need to simmerdown.
Yes simmerdown son:)

After riding with you yesterday and processing everything you said I have some thoughts, I'm Iggy so I say what I think...so here it goes.
You told me you gained 15 lbs since the beginning of race season, most of it in the last few weeks. Wow, despite all those intense races and rides you gained weight? I'm gonna say your eating habits are impulsive and intense like the way you go about preparing for cycling season. You try to cram everything in like it was your last 6 months to live.

Also I'm gonna say you gained weight in the last few weeks after and intense racing season because you are burnt out and feeling stressed. Work, racing, homelife...trying to balance it all can wear you out. Like most people you find comfort in food and attempt to de-stress by eating. The outcome however is counterproductive to competitive cycling. The solution, don't do too much and cause yourself to stress out, easier said then done...we all want to do it all but with work and family we can't. Finding the balance of not doing too much and being satisfied is a learning curve, you are starting out in competitive cycling and need to find the balance.

Finally I've ridden with you enough times to say that every ride does not have to result in a PR. You look at Strava a lot and compare how your rides match up to previous ones. There is nothing wrong with this however you can burn yourself out trying to PR segments on every ride. When you don't PR a segment you claim that you are feeling off and become discouraged. Stop looking at Strava and just ride your bike, these PR's are fucking with you.
 
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