tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246311962024-03-07T00:19:15.563-08:00Cycle JabberThis is my world of cycling and just a fun way for me to share my experiences, thoughts and joy I have for cycling.
Thanks for visiting Cycle Jabber and good luck in your training!
Dirk FrielDirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.comBlogger162125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-30520915666056831702010-06-12T18:30:00.000-07:002010-06-12T18:30:11.910-07:00Critérium du Dauphiné Libere Stage 6 - L'Alpe d'Huez - Contador, Brajkovic<object style="background-image:url(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/IxQHZu4x_Kc/hqdefault.jpg)" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IxQHZu4x_Kc&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IxQHZu4x_Kc&hl=en_US&fs=1" width="425" height="344" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-813638664219532342010-05-15T21:00:00.000-07:002010-05-15T21:12:10.171-07:00<div><br /></div><div>The Day Before Tour of California Starts<br /><br />Sacramento, CO. Here are a few images of my day at the race hotel...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7QRt07LLBlSYVtRkbrJSxYnDNoyRYEuo9Z_0oAQPbZAWpgKss1UyVJnR9kEpWt5TKkZjTXY13qrcG5QVuQjvru6DdN0ry8LFi6xysSLahyphenhyphenSK_Rdu64M1GsmTJ8Z2EdlWx40Sbwg/s1600/CIMG0159.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7QRt07LLBlSYVtRkbrJSxYnDNoyRYEuo9Z_0oAQPbZAWpgKss1UyVJnR9kEpWt5TKkZjTXY13qrcG5QVuQjvru6DdN0ry8LFi6xysSLahyphenhyphenSK_Rdu64M1GsmTJ8Z2EdlWx40Sbwg/s320/CIMG0159.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471715216533134450" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Team Fly V australia discusses stage one details.<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br />Chris Butler prepares for his second race as a professional cyclist on Team BMC.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbuufn7FyOZ0D3uC6XVX8Daxj5ribO6K70uQ6jH2MGUTVD2c97CTbZb6yTxlY15ne5NY0z-YM-OZXaSGE6FtNoT-3LyBZKIYr7mqrGx9pB4H1gODcADNAYPt8OQ_rDUgd6yPSSfA/s1600/CIMG0158.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbuufn7FyOZ0D3uC6XVX8Daxj5ribO6K70uQ6jH2MGUTVD2c97CTbZb6yTxlY15ne5NY0z-YM-OZXaSGE6FtNoT-3LyBZKIYr7mqrGx9pB4H1gODcADNAYPt8OQ_rDUgd6yPSSfA/s320/CIMG0158.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471714547385559858" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKED5QSPxTmQJ0xlhnS8Wupnpw9Jv5uKoYR3gPsSAcJG5uYkuZykQ94fToOhK8E3lAzmqo6-gN8K2nWxRJ8CmVg65N8K-le-gxtppemLluKipu9GGSa5a-gbH3RqGdROS88MtdGw/s1600/CIMG0155.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKED5QSPxTmQJ0xlhnS8Wupnpw9Jv5uKoYR3gPsSAcJG5uYkuZykQ94fToOhK8E3lAzmqo6-gN8K2nWxRJ8CmVg65N8K-le-gxtppemLluKipu9GGSa5a-gbH3RqGdROS88MtdGw/s320/CIMG0155.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471714268336710754" /></a></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyiABucbZtuOGPE6PlIPHfoDgfGCMFxifNed8d6ggowS3Vofhfh5_a418Kp6XRjsdkahA3jMdVrxPKevg7wNHMN2PsOg6oir-gTZiGu6iPDEmL7ZwPg5lubvcd4B7-XiegDUEbIw/s1600/CIMG0151.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyiABucbZtuOGPE6PlIPHfoDgfGCMFxifNed8d6ggowS3Vofhfh5_a418Kp6XRjsdkahA3jMdVrxPKevg7wNHMN2PsOg6oir-gTZiGu6iPDEmL7ZwPg5lubvcd4B7-XiegDUEbIw/s400/CIMG0151.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471713331623575458" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Jani Brajkovic of team Radio Shack getting ready to film a SRAM commercial.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-12021176336278891322010-05-14T19:40:00.000-07:002010-05-14T20:19:55.869-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHrS-1V5gE3PPX9sdfIm8HEUYYiLwEpaOEQR2oZqHYA_uWOGvpEwCycEdhihPg9v-fIbWb3s5w5Zg7aHQO1A916ZYwQDrnc1UuVpIQhxlJNdYZbiwl1ZNai-aY1foaT6jkMWbERQ/s1600/trainingpeaks.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHrS-1V5gE3PPX9sdfIm8HEUYYiLwEpaOEQR2oZqHYA_uWOGvpEwCycEdhihPg9v-fIbWb3s5w5Zg7aHQO1A916ZYwQDrnc1UuVpIQhxlJNdYZbiwl1ZNai-aY1foaT6jkMWbERQ/s400/trainingpeaks.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471329389226707362" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHGGk7v-PQzZJUzNPmcNFcEMAJvOYJcdybOrKfw8WuUl3koTrhb00nBbC65Qt52aE6xZCG2RF8jt6uOVZ98ZYD0zYFfex0N03h4KDFU3vA5Pn3KdKyJgFwvCoBXZKq-s7vfzD4sA/s1600/flyVaustralia2.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 249px; height: 47px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHGGk7v-PQzZJUzNPmcNFcEMAJvOYJcdybOrKfw8WuUl3koTrhb00nBbC65Qt52aE6xZCG2RF8jt6uOVZ98ZYD0zYFfex0N03h4KDFU3vA5Pn3KdKyJgFwvCoBXZKq-s7vfzD4sA/s400/flyVaustralia2.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471324325644426962" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNSLuzwuI72ZonR_DHGfVa1RYN4pC6WKXwMZeQ2gjoVl1mYGIniyjCwC3Hwb1SkAuvu0lHI_LzScOtMhbdo0tQjkBkq0TztIum0TbhPvQNYNWAjcNmLCyv7_dEmzw2BPx7QW-E7w/s1600/Tour+of+California+graphicB.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 233px; height: 145px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNSLuzwuI72ZonR_DHGfVa1RYN4pC6WKXwMZeQ2gjoVl1mYGIniyjCwC3Hwb1SkAuvu0lHI_LzScOtMhbdo0tQjkBkq0TztIum0TbhPvQNYNWAjcNmLCyv7_dEmzw2BPx7QW-E7w/s400/Tour+of+California+graphicB.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471324182066447202" /></a><br /><a href="http://video.competitor.com/2010/05/cycling/velo-center/velocenter-atoc-preview/">VeloCenter: ATOC preview</a><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> I haven't done an entry on my blog for a while so I thought I'd pass along all my plans for the Amgen Tour of California that begins Sunday. I'm flying out tomorrow morning for Sacramento and will primarily be travelling within the Fly V australia camp. However I will be making my rounds to several teams each day.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm analyzing and posting race files from Fly V australia and Team Saxo Bank each day so once the stage finishes my work just begins. My goal will be to download files from Fly V and Saxo Bank's Jakob Fuglsang ASAP. I am then writing a race report and data analysis article which will get posted here: <a href="http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/2010-tour-of-california-team-saxo-bank-and-team-fly-v.aspx">www.TrainingPeaks.com/atoc</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Besides posting race files from two riders each day (one Fly V and Jakob Fuglsang of Saxo Bank) I will also be working with Henk Vogels and Ed Beamon who are Fly V's directors. I will be sharing my thoughts with Henk and Ed as I review Team Fly V australia's daily files. I will also be working with Team Saxo Bank's director Bobby Julich who is a long time childhood friend of mine. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm also planning to support my other close friends: Neil Shirley of Kelly Benefits (who just returned from a crazy hard Tour of Korea); young neo pro on team BMC Chris Butler (ToC is his 2nd ever Pro race!); Phil Zajicek of Fly V has been "flying" as usual at the recent Tour of the Gila, and finally super talented Jani Brajkovic of Radio Shack who just finished top 10 at Romandie (yet another top-10 placing in a Euro stage race). </div><div><br /></div><div><div>Who will Win?</div><div>Mmmm tough question. Levi has the experience, hometown crowd and focus. Fabian can never be counted out, but how much celebrating has he been doing since his victories in France and Belgium? Garmin is a tough unit to beat as well and Zabriskie can rise to the occasion like no one else. A surprise victor could spoil it all as well as this is bike racing, maybe a Zajicek possibly. All eyes were on other teammates when Brajkovic rode away with the victory in the Tour of Georgia a few years ago.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Look for me on <a href="http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid51191055001?bclid=19954650001&bctid=85268413001">VeloCenter TV</a> as I hope to do short daily field reports on what was interesting from the previous day's data files. I will also be conducting my own interviews with directors, riders, sponsors and more so stay tuned at the following outlets:</div><div>-Twitter.com/DirkFriel</div><div>-Twitter.com/TrainingPeaks</div><div>-follow Twitter hashtag #atoctp</div><div>-TrainingPeaks blog <a href="http://blog.trainingpeaks.com/">http://blog.trainingpeaks.com/</a> </div><div>-TP.com's YouTube channel <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/TrainingPeaks&rclk=cti">http://www.youtube.com/user/TrainingPeaks&rclk=cti</a> </div><div>-iTunes channel <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/official-blog-trainingpeaks/id360704955">http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/official-blog-trainingpeaks/id36070495</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to Team Fly V australia for their unending enthusiasm to improve. They are proving with more than 35 victories so far in 2010 that no dream is too large. Visit them at: <a href="http://www.pegasusracing.com.au/site/">http://www.pegasusracing.com.au/site/</a></div><div><br /></div><div>I'd like to thank Team Saxo Bank for their support and the use of TrainingPeaks.com for the second year in a row. I had Julich's support from the beginning and now Bobby has proved how valuable that data can be for all involved. Also thanks to the team for supporting of my vision to promote daily stage files from the world's biggest races. Transparency has its rewards. Please visit the team web site at <a href="http://www.riis-cycling.com/">http://www.riis-cycling.com/</a> as well as the Saxo Bank Taking the Lead site at <a href="http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=3436">http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=3436</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Life on the road will be tough for me this next week but I welcome it with open arms. I will probably hit the sack well past midnight each night and "the sack" may be the team RV for as much as I know. No worries though. Just being at such a huge international event on US soil is a dream and I'm proud to tag along. I'm also honoured to work with the talented riders, staff members and as always the amazing sponsors that make such dreams come true.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ciao and see you in Cali!</div><div>Dirk</div>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-34899394686485636132010-02-26T22:11:00.000-08:002010-03-01T10:52:56.178-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh47M9BUogY-eGso6SUDvTKJKF-ecKCA528-Vr-Ii58mWlWNrDzfp-Jzc-yVoh0SNtcDxKrWpkM4K8WvV9yTX_5lmhfz5ScYzVVGrAbmN1T8_6mdpnM2wzypLgDqJOdW6fM5RbNwQ/s1600-h/IMG_0703.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh47M9BUogY-eGso6SUDvTKJKF-ecKCA528-Vr-Ii58mWlWNrDzfp-Jzc-yVoh0SNtcDxKrWpkM4K8WvV9yTX_5lmhfz5ScYzVVGrAbmN1T8_6mdpnM2wzypLgDqJOdW6fM5RbNwQ/s400/IMG_0703.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442802752415630562" /></a><br />The weather in on the front range of CO has been horrible this winter. Usually we get a 50+ degree day weekly and this year we've had about 5 since Christmas. I have more hours XC skiing this past two weeks that riding. I'm just glad we have an indoor velodrome to help supplement the training hours. I hate riding indoors.<div><br /></div><div>When I'm not XC skiing I'm alpine skiing with my daughter Keara and she is doing awesome.</div><div><br /></div><div>Today in fact was a great ski day at Eldora. 5" of new snow and sunny blue sky. Keara has been rockin' out at age 7 on the double black diamond runs. Check out this photo of her hitting the glades on the south side. Notice the "Black Diamonds" in the background. I couldn't do that when I was age 7. No way.<div> </div></div><div><br /></div><div>We also ran into a Natural Grocers/Vitamin Cottage teammate of mine, Christian McCarthy, and his son Zach at Eldora today. It was like a holiday in Boulder County today as the School District had an in-service day for the teachers. It seemed as if half of all the students headed up the mountain to Eldora for an incredible ski day. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Let The Classics Begin!!!</b></div><div>Lastly, Het Volk, now called Het Niewsblad, starts in just a few hours from now in Belgium and I can't wait to watch. Check out www.Cyclingfans.com or steephill.tv for the live video feeds. </div><div><br /></div><div>Back when I raced it in 1993 (Team Saxon) there wasn't even a such thing as e-mail, no live video etc. I'd call home from Belgium once a month from the pay phone and my mom would just cry on the other end. Nowadays mom and dad can tune in live almost no matter where little Johnny is racing to see first hand live action. Sure wish I had that.</div><div><br /></div><div>I gotta give a shout out to Lance Armstrong today for tweeting the following: </div><div><br /></div><div>"@DirkFriel definitely remember that. i was rockin' tube socks and a hanes beefy tee undershirt. ah, the good ol days. be well." </div><div><br /></div><div>Lance was referring to my tweet of:</div><div>"Het Niewsblad is tomorrow. Hard to believe I raced it 17yrs ago. Good memories of being in the break for 100+kms w/ @lancearmstrong"</div><div><br /></div><div>Yep, back 17yrs ago I suffered on a cold wintery day in Belgium in thick thermals trying to stay away in a break with Lance, Marc Seargent, Johan Capiot and Edwig Van Hodoynck. We took off on the Kwaremont and stayed away until the Bosberg, 100+kms. It was a great day at my first ever spring classic. It also happened to be Lance's first ever Spring Classic so I was pretty happy to share rotations with such a select group. </div><div><br /></div><div>I made it into the break as we were entering the final 300meters before the old Kwaremont. We were on a 3-lane road and somehow the group spread cur to curb racing for the final turn before we entered the narrow farm roads of Kwaremont. The group literally opened up in front of me as if the skys were parting and I made a huge effort to squeeze the gap and seize the opportunity I had been given. I knew the chace only comes a few times in a classic and so I sprinted to the front front of the bunch as if it were the finish line. </div><div><br /></div><div>I entered the Kwaremont about 12th place and was quite surprised with how things eased up once we hit the one-lane road. The cobbles hadn't started yet so I was trying to gather myself and get ready for the mad dash for the cobbled section. A couple guys attached and I didn't take much notice, but ten I said to myself "what the heck" why waste this opportunity? "Go for it man."</div><div><br /></div><div>So there I went. With no radios back in 1993 we raced with instinct. I just bolted off and never looked back. Sticking it out with the front breakaway for nearly 70 miles sure wasn't easy, but I pulled every trick in the book to stay with those guys.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eventually the tall Edwig Van Hoydonck stopped working because Johan Capiot was also in the break with us and Johan had won the race in previous years with a mean sprint. Edwig was the strongest guy in the break, but he had no chance if it came to the a sprint finish with Johan. And of course, no one knew me and they had little knowledge of a young Lance Armstrong (who would eventually become world champ later that year). So we were brought back in by the field after the Muur de Grammone and the Bosberg. </div><div><br /></div><div>I have to say that has to be one of my best memories of racing in Europe between 1990-1995. Entering such important climbs in the front with grand champions of the sport on roads which helped write the history of cycling from the earliest beginnings makes me proud. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks mom and dad for allowing me to live my dream and leave home to pursue my adventure when I was just 19.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope I can provide my daughter, Keara, with the same opportunity someday.</div><div><br /></div><div>Love you mom and dad,</div><div>Dirk</div><div><br /></div>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-32090104389911920462010-02-11T11:21:00.001-08:002010-02-11T11:23:39.340-08:00<a href="http://blog.trainingpeaks.com/2010/02/wko-3-0-comparing-files-with-multi-filerange-analysis-tells-a-more-complete-story.html">WKO 3.0: Comparing Files with Multi-File/Range Analysis Tells a More Complete Story</a><br /><br />Posted using <a href="http://sharethis.com/">ShareThis</a><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-83075867724512675202009-10-02T08:38:00.000-07:002009-10-02T09:05:06.562-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVDxBQqwZBFCptri3aVk6Q7ejgBEeP1_-YYviItbXHVI8-Eecyund5e9wDE6RIBVgyKrBZ4o-nMahc0BetMf_qS9b93Af1B3GH8VWXCK7Lz3fZEbEl724l9fHM38R6UtcjZIJz4w/s1600-h/gimage_thumb.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 184px; height: 244px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVDxBQqwZBFCptri3aVk6Q7ejgBEeP1_-YYviItbXHVI8-Eecyund5e9wDE6RIBVgyKrBZ4o-nMahc0BetMf_qS9b93Af1B3GH8VWXCK7Lz3fZEbEl724l9fHM38R6UtcjZIJz4w/s400/gimage_thumb.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388031591487640578" border="0" /></a><br />TrainingPeaks (Peaksware) Turns 10 Years Old<br /><br />It is hard to believe that somehow an idea and need I had 10 yrs ago has developed into something inconceivable a decade ago. I'm proud of all the hard effort our employees have poured into Peaksware over the last decade and am especially thankful for all the support provided by our customers.<br /><br />Ten years ago, TrainingPeaks got started with a conversation between myself and Gear Fisher at a bar in Vail, Colorado called The George (ironically Gear’s real name). Within three months Gear had built a very powerful web-based system for myself and my father, Joe Friel, which allowed us to manage our coaching clients.<br /><br />Thanks to all of our partners along the way as well. We couldn't have done it without the entrepreneurial spirit displayed by endurance coaches and the dedication of their athletes. It feels great knowing we have played a small part in helping thousands of athlete's reach their dreams. Many of those same athletes have turned to our Professional Edition software to help them launch coaching companies in order to help others.<br /><br />Millions of workouts have been recorded and are safe and sound. If you recorded a workout a decade ago it is still accessible today. Just login and take a look. Our focus is to be able to say the very same thing decades off into the future from now.<br /><br />To read more about our history feel free to visit <a href="http://www.peaksware.com/corporate-overview/history.aspx">http://www.peaksware.com/corporate-overview/history.aspx</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">TrainingPeaks recent blog post about our anniversary can be <a href="http://blog.trainingpeaks.com/2009/10/happy-ten-year-anniversary-trainingpeaks.html">seen here.</a><br /></div>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-6144387633950554232009-06-19T17:31:00.000-07:002009-06-19T17:33:00.071-07:00<div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center">Today the Natural Grocers team visited the Scheels store in Reno. Scheels is the worlds largest sporting goods store. Awesome place! They are also a Blue Bicycles retailer which is the bike our team is sponsored by.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxaSEyP9XdtkEcO18YsXh4ICwHXStbycWMr_mDz_z0nOlfF_5jIJZR21xjS2zMZSXOxJPHROi6AUPgLGfU2YbpNfLHkIw-bn8VgJ3iC5VUjbVI48w4Hrw3bDvRieTLUhjnDLNZTA/s1600-h/CIMG6802.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxaSEyP9XdtkEcO18YsXh4ICwHXStbycWMr_mDz_z0nOlfF_5jIJZR21xjS2zMZSXOxJPHROi6AUPgLGfU2YbpNfLHkIw-bn8VgJ3iC5VUjbVI48w4Hrw3bDvRieTLUhjnDLNZTA/s400/CIMG6802.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Each entrance of the store has huge aquarium arches. Pretty amazing.</div><br /><div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOqhtRoQPoqdAtDYSKSN9R1_gKo3bJT-x7s4C6BO5scNSCC4PjaxdmY0JtwyU4h2QMTPELLFCVh6eIAtzd7WBEZs4noWe_g6MWRDiL8C9laq6ILJFCAIfeLzj395vfzpGYv8unZA/s1600-h/CIMG6791.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOqhtRoQPoqdAtDYSKSN9R1_gKo3bJT-x7s4C6BO5scNSCC4PjaxdmY0JtwyU4h2QMTPELLFCVh6eIAtzd7WBEZs4noWe_g6MWRDiL8C9laq6ILJFCAIfeLzj395vfzpGYv8unZA/s400/CIMG6791.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div>This is the Gary Fisher museum in the store. Really cool stuff.<br /><br /><div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2fStpL4nmIZljdqgeIhI72F3Xa7Dz6bbcPi6wtDR4DE2nE7EHPlf8XmtZp547awlzcqAd-kJPloJabFOjktpYb8NdA130AZ_3RYLN9zoTDXafG5rV5LNOSFbTa1RMaQsXoDdt_A/s1600-h/CIMG6796.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2fStpL4nmIZljdqgeIhI72F3Xa7Dz6bbcPi6wtDR4DE2nE7EHPlf8XmtZp547awlzcqAd-kJPloJabFOjktpYb8NdA130AZ_3RYLN9zoTDXafG5rV5LNOSFbTa1RMaQsXoDdt_A/s400/CIMG6796.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div>here is the team with Scheels bike shop employees. Thanks for the hospitality!<br /><br /><div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipb_qfkuphCamWFbJq7BfB9gt93USHLE_EiqW2Jqeze4tlR4Zjzyd6wTQhLS6Q1yfNz-gQ4MMOwYnxYlxvVQpVxklXQV4CKROUhYHuO_9U2D1iAqrrMAFdJZLss7OvKaPpBznzhg/s1600-h/CIMG6801.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipb_qfkuphCamWFbJq7BfB9gt93USHLE_EiqW2Jqeze4tlR4Zjzyd6wTQhLS6Q1yfNz-gQ4MMOwYnxYlxvVQpVxklXQV4CKROUhYHuO_9U2D1iAqrrMAFdJZLss7OvKaPpBznzhg/s400/CIMG6801.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div>Yes they have a 3-story ferris wheel in the store. This is more of a mall than a single store. Amazing.<div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-12246532282017565102009-06-19T09:36:00.000-07:002009-06-19T09:53:35.101-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx-yvfxBqZtTWTUlOzboyzepdxQaIGHiKwxMXv0mSxtLPP5sc9VcpQ_F4OMWEi3M5E-dj9AVD-ZfOO36KAGvrpseDhsfSvYflXhgVR-kG12Hd-NXyzemGa92IRTRcU6r-g222Swg/s1600-h/bilde.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 318px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx-yvfxBqZtTWTUlOzboyzepdxQaIGHiKwxMXv0mSxtLPP5sc9VcpQ_F4OMWEi3M5E-dj9AVD-ZfOO36KAGvrpseDhsfSvYflXhgVR-kG12Hd-NXyzemGa92IRTRcU6r-g222Swg/s400/bilde.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349080535268780978" border="0" /></a><br />Tour de Nez<br />Reno, NV<br /><br /><br />Last night was stage one of the Tour de Nez in Truckee, CA. It was a 60-minute criterium and on about lap five Chad Gerlach and my Natural Grocers teammate Jon Baker attacked and went on to stay away for the entire race. With about five laps to go the two-man break lapped the field and duked it out for the victory within a 40-man field.<br /><br />Here is a race report from <a href="http://velonews.com/article/93588/rais-gerlach-tops-at-tour-de-nez-opener">Velonews</a>.<br /><br />Here is the race report from the <a href="http://www.rgj.com/article/20090619/SPORTS/906190407">Reno Gazette</a>.<br /><br />My race went smooth and the rest of the Natural Grocers team did an amazing job of covering every move that attempted to chase. I put out a big effort leading into the final lap to help Baker stay at the front.<br /><br />Gerlach was my teammate on two teams back in the late 90's. The most amazing results I witnessed by Chad were two stage victories in the 1998 Tour de Langkawi, Malaysia. That year our team was even first place in the Team Classification ahead of Mapaei with only two stages to go in large part due to Chad's placings. <br /><br />Today is the downtown Reno criterium which is a crazy technical .79 mile loop with 10 turns! Wow holy cow get to the front!<br /><br />Ciao<br />DirkDirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-7444296614464992002009-05-03T18:30:00.000-07:002009-05-03T19:10:07.886-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZD5G8_4TSgoJw0lmzeXwAxjYgXcqYo4UACEA7UXzVvjdVcgMXsQy1vqjgLP4y-Oa1W6xT0-HRAUWFkvjPBkvdvnWlu0WcQ3OGL_b3gc3WPv8TPQBGLxV3OgXhwdikPBWL_k1yHg/s1600-h/totg_09day5_155.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 363px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZD5G8_4TSgoJw0lmzeXwAxjYgXcqYo4UACEA7UXzVvjdVcgMXsQy1vqjgLP4y-Oa1W6xT0-HRAUWFkvjPBkvdvnWlu0WcQ3OGL_b3gc3WPv8TPQBGLxV3OgXhwdikPBWL_k1yHg/s400/totg_09day5_155.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331780350707334706" border="0" /></a><br />Phil Zajicek Win's Final Stage of Gila Tour ahead of Lance and Levi<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">(See a short <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAuEbbOOLKc">Podium video here</a>)</span><br /><br />I had one of my biggest thrills as a coach today as Phil Zajicek beat Lance and Levi in the final stage of the Tour of the Gila. I've been working with Phil since the fall of '08 and it has been a rough year so far, but today made it all worth while for sure.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong. Heck I like Lance and Levi and have even worked with Levi (and his amazing coach Max Testa) to help him set up his TrainingPeaks charts (see story about <a href="http://blog.trainingpeaks.com/2008/01/leveraging-technology-with-levi-leipheimer-and-scott-nydam.html">Levi and Scott Nydam here</a>). But when you work with a guy closely on a daily basis you'd like to see him beat the world's best. It is a rare occassion that it happens so today was special for sure.<br /><br />Phil has had a rough year so far. It started out with him breaking his wrist in the Tour of CA then he crashed hard again at the San Dimas stage race just prior to Redlands. Since Redlands Phil has been trying to stay focused and train hard in the mountains around Boulder. Things seemed to turn around a few weeks ago when Phil won the Air Force Academy road race in CO Springs. He then went on to finish 2nd overall in La Vuelta de Bisbee, where he won the time trial.<br /><br />The Tour of the Gila didn't start out amazing as he finished @13th in stage 1 at the top of the Mogollon climb. But things got back on track with an incredible TT result. Phil finished 4th only 13 seconds behind Lance which moved him up to 5th overall.<br /><br />Phil surfed the crit and luckily played it safe (way too many crashes it sounds like in the final laps). When I spoke to Phil after the crit he was fired up and more than ready to rock out on the Gila Monster climb (the main Cat 1 climb in the final stage).<br /><br />Things went to plan and he came through with flying colors. Way to go Phil! He finished 3rd overall with only a couple of the world's best riders on the higher steps.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Phil's PMC was -2 TSB heading into the Gila with a CTL of over 120. He had been hitting top-10 CP5 and CP20 values in the last few weeks as well which is always a great sign. </span>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-77390714076102207732009-03-08T18:26:00.000-07:002009-03-08T18:33:56.243-07:00Bear Creek Lake TT (Metro State TT).<br />5th place 19:30.<br />1st- Zajicek 18:30.<br />2nd Kevin Nicol (sub 19')<br />4th Chuck Coyle ~19:20<br /><br />See my <a href="http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/MU3F35AD75NEIW3RTNFWLN2QVE">SRM file here.</a><br />Mmmm that was good until the last half. Oh well at least I know where I stand and what it will take to get faster. I haven't even done any long TT efforts in training this year, so it may not take all that much to get faster.<br /><br />I was spot-on the first half of the race, then I fell apart. The last 6 minutes was just too much for me. I had the right pace the first 12', but didn't have the fitness to hang on. I had a whopping 40w difference between the first and 2nd half (361 vs 341w). Not good.<br /><br /><a href="http://dirkscycling.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html">Compared to last year</a> I was 20w lower and 15 seconds slower. If I had held 360w this year I probably would have been a good 40 seconds faster. Oh well. Looks like it is time to start training more seriously now I guess.<br /><br />Ciao<br />DirkDirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-5029958869065639752009-01-14T18:57:00.000-08:002009-01-14T19:25:41.007-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEQUmf5YFAiMup-SCMHWqfjI4tJFGVB59rl5Qec_ZmbEaM71cwkIQ_zeWFu6KvKWQ67RnULdPTs91mkq3zsUCi4yWGsCvmQ_z-m3DchjFPT1XNNNv-Ft6_Z9nhtkckYJD3JP163g/s1600-h/CIMG6072.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEQUmf5YFAiMup-SCMHWqfjI4tJFGVB59rl5Qec_ZmbEaM71cwkIQ_zeWFu6KvKWQ67RnULdPTs91mkq3zsUCi4yWGsCvmQ_z-m3DchjFPT1XNNNv-Ft6_Z9nhtkckYJD3JP163g/s400/CIMG6072.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291351128649252274" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Back from California</span><br /><br />I just got back from a California vacation for my daughter's sixth birthday where we visited Disneyland, Sea World and just about everything in between. The weather was amazing and Keara had a great time and will never forget her 6th birthday.<br /><br />I couldn't imagine a warmer January and I was definitely missing my bike. But it was good to be lazy and only do a few runs I guess, although we did walk miles and miles at the theme parks.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ocLTOntXp1sdDqYHV5VJPjY5zzaw4vmZkMC1CxUlpGu_9Hskmlspip2Z_8xclGPoasE2PPnvH_h4mQYYq95khD58UmTQUeei9cBxtrjhOSsvj7FUH8c2SuRBDCFEkEjTUoCnEw/s1600-h/CIMG5932.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ocLTOntXp1sdDqYHV5VJPjY5zzaw4vmZkMC1CxUlpGu_9Hskmlspip2Z_8xclGPoasE2PPnvH_h4mQYYq95khD58UmTQUeei9cBxtrjhOSsvj7FUH8c2SuRBDCFEkEjTUoCnEw/s400/CIMG5932.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291355195762639794" border="0" /></a><br />Now it is back to work at TrainingPeaks and I'm in Colorado Springs Friday and Saturday for the <a href="http://www.usatriathlon.org/content/index/1750">USA Triathlon Race Directors symposium</a>. I am looking forward to meeting more race organizers and help them set up free customized TrainingPeaks accounts for all of their entrants. It is always fun meeting new people excited about the sport.<br /><br />If you haven't signed up yet try out my <a href="http://www.twitter.com/dirkfriel">twitter feed here.</a> I am trying to mainly focus on newsworthy events surrounding TrainingPeaks and various events, training camps and things that I attend.<br /><br />Ciao<br />DirkDirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-3532168251636306592008-12-30T10:19:00.000-08:002008-12-30T12:49:05.453-08:00<span style="font-weight: bold;">Kaloko: Lance Rode My Favorite Climb in Hawaii</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Today</span><br /><br />I just got a twitter update (or Tweet) from Lance (sign up for Lance's Twitter feed here<br /><a href="http://twitter.com/lancearmstrong">http://twitter.com/lancearmstrong</a> ) where he said he was climbing Kaloko road on the big island. This happens to be my favorite ride on the big Island. I've done it about four times over the past six years on my trips to Kona to watch the Ironman.<br /><br />Kaloko is a brutally steep climb and a 39 x 27 or compact gearing is a necessity. Even in a 39 x 27 I was barely able to keep an average of 59rpm for an hour. Kaloko road is a residential housing area cut out of the jungle and rises up to nearly 5,000ft. If you start from the town of Kona you are quit literally doing a 5,000ft climb.<br /><br />Click on the below map to launch an interactive the TrainingPeaks File Viewer.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/69794D6B757848623433324F726C73546757713164413D3D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuDJyDfCl48iTSpBEvMy4jSEfz1S0PthYHlRGaK-ROmnhAzhPmm2n3r5CYva2l2XnpybQJFVT8f8G8B9-VOCM-tGsFWhE_V2PHM4UvECXkpDwc0xz6w31yBuPJWz64t-ILyswHsw/s400/kaloko+11-19-19+AM.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285649609834287298" border="0" /></a><br />Here is a link to one of my <a href="http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/78454F503339584C48496254576A54333159453556513D3D">power files</a> from Kaloko.<br /><br />Try climbing it if you dare, but bring the right equipment, some extra clothing for the cold ride down...Oh and look out for wild pigs and heads up for mossy slippery turns as you enter the rain forest section.<br /><br />Sign up for my Twitter here <small> <a href="http://twitter.com/DirkFriel">http://twitter.com/<span id="username_url">DirkFriel</span></a></small><br /><br />Ciao,<br />DirkDirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-89134640931195457142008-12-20T15:23:00.000-08:002008-12-20T15:55:46.674-08:00<span style="font-weight: bold;">BRRRRRrrrrrrrr Cold Cyclocross Ride</span><br /><br />Today wasn't much fun but I forged on since this week was so nasty here in Boulder. I've been itching to get out and ride my bike outside for a week. The forecast was 22F for a Hi today but the wind chill made it feel like sub-zero no doubt.<br /><br />The Route:<br />6,800ft of climbing today, Headed up Sunshine and over to Four Mile Canyon, then up to Wall Street. Back down to town and north to Hygiene and finally over Left Hand and Lee Hill.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/643042524C6B3946486769565650764B72312F4763673D3D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 182px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLP0ZUgvuFha8kHErjX7pqrthLrnl2HejqwKR4Y412lfiB3TBwbXozqKdnF8rap5vnKXGd7EDQjPBJpLKAsQPsDH8hqXl-xTIAY4yiT_nLh4-ZalDK0ABMjNr-4yOAOMZdDJtfyg/s400/ride.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282018390580931106" border="0" /></a><br />Click the above map to view the interactive map and ride data.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlDh0dd7NrudQnwnGU1upMQaoXlwKHK8xmwCgVv9xNPC-kORwir42dfiqwcWjpDchuGy4Cr3AFlJFj2ox9UlC27aR7RbhTm-YI2uWfgoJwt0Lyx6EKCltzW4DDrgmpPEUg6UteVg/s1600-h/IMG00011.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlDh0dd7NrudQnwnGU1upMQaoXlwKHK8xmwCgVv9xNPC-kORwir42dfiqwcWjpDchuGy4Cr3AFlJFj2ox9UlC27aR7RbhTm-YI2uWfgoJwt0Lyx6EKCltzW4DDrgmpPEUg6UteVg/s400/IMG00011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282019837309859762" border="0" /></a>This is the ghost town of <a href="http://www.rockymountainprofiles.com/wallstreet_colorado_townsite.htm">Wall Street, CO.</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBpeZCdK_Sx3INI1TAXzGBK925IR_dy5rjdR3KryF81tBX0Q6mysxJktMErPn3zXFPhMENbvEN17rrohY96kGHa6BT1yPM31DSCF5D_lDJ9IrtLo0BLo7XreviCj3oc7IGJfJ5g/s1600-h/IMG00012.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBpeZCdK_Sx3INI1TAXzGBK925IR_dy5rjdR3KryF81tBX0Q6mysxJktMErPn3zXFPhMENbvEN17rrohY96kGHa6BT1yPM31DSCF5D_lDJ9IrtLo0BLo7XreviCj3oc7IGJfJ5g/s400/IMG00012.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282019828693536898" border="0" /></a><br />The Rig:<br />Cannondale CX bike with <a href="http://www.excelsports.com/new.asp?page=8&description=Piranha+CX+Tubeless+Ready&vendorCode=HUTCH&major=8&minor=10">Hutchinson Tubeless tires</a>. The front tire is a Piranha and the rear is a Bulldog. I hav eto say I love these tires especially on snow with low pressure. Tubeless is the way to go for sure.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AR8sZYH3yrPDi3raTEQ_JY9IevYjB5UbRORvwG7ezvkBnKpmi5UwrT7eqbdiit9Qx2HIgvjNXWCk-5xzodJF_TAgj46oMN8B2wPvFLHFxvzJFOdBc7rqfpDGIuTPfoIx69l-wA/s1600-h/IMG00008.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AR8sZYH3yrPDi3raTEQ_JY9IevYjB5UbRORvwG7ezvkBnKpmi5UwrT7eqbdiit9Qx2HIgvjNXWCk-5xzodJF_TAgj46oMN8B2wPvFLHFxvzJFOdBc7rqfpDGIuTPfoIx69l-wA/s400/IMG00008.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282019840423807522" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR07_AhGfP-Vf6VNp8kkbwB238_2EWdoVW0izp1zY_tJnCNip-Z7tJNQl3UCZON8p65cPWr_y98N8U2HZireQZ1atjclbbLRUlhGjSxhifUNYQIB87YE_NzpdEVxSvjpQOpsTONw/s1600-h/IMG00009.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR07_AhGfP-Vf6VNp8kkbwB238_2EWdoVW0izp1zY_tJnCNip-Z7tJNQl3UCZON8p65cPWr_y98N8U2HZireQZ1atjclbbLRUlhGjSxhifUNYQIB87YE_NzpdEVxSvjpQOpsTONw/s400/IMG00009.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282019847829202594" border="0" /></a><br />The Fuel<br />I consumed 1300 calories and still bonked 4.5hrs into the ride. All I can say is I rode with a low heart rate (130 most of the time) but the cold temps just took it out of me. I started with the Clif Shot recovery hot chocolate packs and just stopped by gas stations to fill up with free hot water and added the fuel packs to the H2O. This was for sure the best part of the ride. Nothing like drinking hot chocolate in a water bottle when you are fending off the bonk.<br /><br />There is no way I take this again tomorrow. Time to go ski with the kids and have some real fun.<br /><br />Ciao<br />Dirk<br /><br />PS sign up for my Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/DirkFriel">http://twitter.com/DirkFriel</a>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-56882399002526673422008-12-05T10:37:00.000-08:002008-12-05T10:44:18.578-08:00<span style="font-weight: bold;">Great Skiing in Foothills Park Today</span><br /><br />Today was the first day that the <a href="http://www.bouldernordic.org/">Boulder Nordic Ski Club</a> has been allowed by the City of Boulder to Groom Foothills park for XC skiing. I've been dreaming of this day for about four years now. In the past I have skied the same loop, but I had to make tracks myself and just chugged along dreaming of the day when I could ski effortlessly (well not effortlessly but at least faster) across a freshly groomed ski track. Well today it happened and it was pure joy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLlgchizFK0zSP67hTR_jLTUR2JQoDXojyvmRDCXxEB3_rc1czeQ-XRL03_Icobosj7omq_wFaJOzASMsukKuMQTr9UCGqfWw_0XjOr6r8xNGq9NlWPAFtqWRAR0kpCgD3ZwHiEQ/s1600-h/foothills+xc+12508.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLlgchizFK0zSP67hTR_jLTUR2JQoDXojyvmRDCXxEB3_rc1czeQ-XRL03_Icobosj7omq_wFaJOzASMsukKuMQTr9UCGqfWw_0XjOr6r8xNGq9NlWPAFtqWRAR0kpCgD3ZwHiEQ/s400/foothills+xc+12508.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276377616046013394" border="0" /></a>Here is a screen shot from my TrainingPeaks file viewer. You can go directly to my file viewer and <a href="http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/4130684647712F516D316D706F524F673177736971413D3D">download the file if you wish here.</a><br /><br />Today's workout intent was to just work on muscular endurance and general strength. I didn't want to go too hard since XC skiing can quickly zap you and make recovery very slow. It was nice though to ski at an altitude of 5,500ft vs 8,000ft up at Eldora. I'll probably hit Eldora Sunday though.<br /><br />Ciao,<br />DirkDirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-48093132371557464642008-11-27T11:55:00.000-08:002008-11-27T15:11:41.374-08:00<span style="font-weight: bold;">Thanksgiving & Transitioning to My New Blue Bike</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLU2HtDaipXIMvJrtC0pO4sKNsM4_geTTMnTlL6VgAP0XPkyoXWKg_n76UoWARs1X4O8F97s_ixrCIFO8Zk6kQ178Qv2xAZJhbVwwmrGumV0L4__wbsxzAJBYySee7Q86dswQ2wg/s1600-h/CIMG5668.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLU2HtDaipXIMvJrtC0pO4sKNsM4_geTTMnTlL6VgAP0XPkyoXWKg_n76UoWARs1X4O8F97s_ixrCIFO8Zk6kQ178Qv2xAZJhbVwwmrGumV0L4__wbsxzAJBYySee7Q86dswQ2wg/s400/CIMG5668.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273469290803200146" border="0" /></a>Happy Thanksgiving!<br /><br />Hello from Scottsdale, AZ. Today my dad and I headed out for our annual Thanksgiving day ride (see and <a href="http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/7A4B766A6535373256794758393975505370576578413D3D">download the ride here</a>). This was however not your typical "Valley of the Sun" bike ride as we rode in a nasty rain for the first hour. Our original intent was to ride north to Bartlett Lake but the weather changed our plans. Today's high was 69F, which I know isn't that cold, but the rain made it very dangerous considering all of the small rivers we had to cross. I was seriously wanting to pack it in after about 40 minutes and just go for a run, but we slogged on and greatfully the skies opened up and we finally dried out for the final hour of the ride. Our route was changed so instead of heading north we aimed in a southerly direction where the clouds seemed more welcoming (and a lower altitude).<br /><br />This week I have been enjoying my training on my new <a href="http://www.rideblue.com/rc8.php">Blue Competition RC8 bike</a> , which is my new team bike sponsor at <a href="http://www.vitamincottagecycling.com/v/">Vitamin Cottage p/b XP Companies. </a><br /><br />Let's just say this bike truly rocks! It accelerates so well and loves to climb. The rear triangle seems to be very tight and translates into a dream ride. The new bike, along with lower altitude this week in AZ (compared to Colorado) has meant I've easily set some new power records heading into my early base training.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLzGFUxv7Kp_bXcLe5-QHWd_MENOU6LXzQ5mvEZtbFdebbT_h3xkjkEk9fuvlksO_2q9zUTwS0DFBvD3gIofuzCFoU4-o7NEXtc098hJwlAzBFfOock_9vsKWeDGx4NSyJ402mlA/s1600-h/CIMG5672.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLzGFUxv7Kp_bXcLe5-QHWd_MENOU6LXzQ5mvEZtbFdebbT_h3xkjkEk9fuvlksO_2q9zUTwS0DFBvD3gIofuzCFoU4-o7NEXtc098hJwlAzBFfOock_9vsKWeDGx4NSyJ402mlA/s400/CIMG5672.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273430477162718290" border="0" /></a><br />I took advantage of the lower altitude in Scottsdale (800ft vs 5,500ft in Boulder) to conduct a 5-minute test and just see where my average watts would be on my new Blue rig. The result was 415 average watts for five minutes at the end of today's Turkey-Day ride. That deserves one more slice of pie in my book.<br /><br />You can see my Performance Management Chart below which shows the date range between October 6th and today (Nov. 27th). You can easily see how the workload is progressing along and there are more and more colorful dots appearing which are my top-10 values for CP120, CP20 and CP5. TodayI quit easily set a new CP5 personal best heading into the 2009 season at 415w. For comaprison my best CP5 of the 2008 season was set on December, 14th 2007 at 445w. Keep in mind I set the 445w record while at sea level in Valencia Spain during the Silence-Lotto team training camp. All of my data for the rest of the 2008 season was collected at an altitude above 5,500ft which translates to about 10% lower values. My CP5 record at altitude last season was set in June during the Tour de Nez at 429w.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij07bcHZP1vttMJRXl4T6aHDNZ4tMlDEE6CUkEeYHnYqMf8QAlO6OT6oeOdzUJRKiYUrP2p2i8bB3vkkyELiBcE075ThyQLDssttJqp95YJhi4N_W_wknGOyKk-MGis7BV-k2Odw/s1600-h/dirk+PMC+1108.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 263px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij07bcHZP1vttMJRXl4T6aHDNZ4tMlDEE6CUkEeYHnYqMf8QAlO6OT6oeOdzUJRKiYUrP2p2i8bB3vkkyELiBcE075ThyQLDssttJqp95YJhi4N_W_wknGOyKk-MGis7BV-k2Odw/s400/dirk+PMC+1108.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273465236497134338" border="0" /></a><br />Speaking of the Tour de Nez I found good video coverage of the event commented by Dave Towle archived at Universal Sports. My shining moment is shown at 16:20 into the video where I was away in a two-man move with Alex Candelario. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=24631196&postID=4809313237155746464">See the video here. </a>After about five laps off the front, the group caught us and my teammate Jon Baker counter attacked and created the final three-man move which sewed up the podium positions.<br /><br />You can also see the crash where I broke my Eddy Merckx bike within stage 1 at minute 6:07 of the above video. The crash is shown briefly. Look for the split in the field near the large marquee sign. I survived to fight on but later found out my bike was broken...poor carbon Eddy Merkx.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTlt_s4WCmOrzUO9GgqccBGmPSNzt2YFpon5q_HCu38Fkv-KPk1FRc6NmPghyRuQw7T6uBPb3u501HjEYXy_FVuuKRGO6LmeVZ9WFtLag8EaR36NVXawNij-1HjAiXnjjtQcs4Q/s1600-h/CIMG5660.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTlt_s4WCmOrzUO9GgqccBGmPSNzt2YFpon5q_HCu38Fkv-KPk1FRc6NmPghyRuQw7T6uBPb3u501HjEYXy_FVuuKRGO6LmeVZ9WFtLag8EaR36NVXawNij-1HjAiXnjjtQcs4Q/s400/CIMG5660.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273428725089680594" border="0" /></a> I just had to finish off this blog post with a shot of the Arizona sunset I took last night. Just about every evening here brings an amazing display of light.<br /><br />Happy Thanksgiving!<br /><br />DirkDirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-37631315050168394472008-11-24T06:47:00.000-08:002008-11-24T13:28:12.234-08:00<span style="font-weight: bold;">Ironman Arizona- Fun in the Sun</span><br /><br />Yesterday I attended the IMAZ in Tempe. The day seemed to be perfect with the temperature maxing out at near 80, yet a cool breeze kept things under control for the Ironmen and Ironwomen competing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcScnDvd_9MTk8lNYjPUFpzJK8gabpqVFTYaWEs9tkMCXXtwb6CKJYyfuMEg0J_fq8xikPL3cfB6Z9lG954tE_Z3dTAbgdCUr3LwNjn8qLkARmP1iewcmVI-U_gsuBbGcNF2SlPg/s1600-h/CIMG5371.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcScnDvd_9MTk8lNYjPUFpzJK8gabpqVFTYaWEs9tkMCXXtwb6CKJYyfuMEg0J_fq8xikPL3cfB6Z9lG954tE_Z3dTAbgdCUr3LwNjn8qLkARmP1iewcmVI-U_gsuBbGcNF2SlPg/s400/CIMG5371.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272336834563356210" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I took advantage of the three lap bike course to go out on my own two-wheeled machine to witness just how fast the top pros go. Let's just say I'm glad I chose to stick with bike racing where drafting is legal. These guys rock the bike. I decided to get in race mode and attempt to stick with professional Justin Daerr for 10 minutes on a rolling section of the course near the turn around.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhng5nZdaOgMDV2JvVmCmtb0gqaPBCyAH90zQKU8VYLgewF8cMTOZmf0AiVdzY9jpeQkcDMM7KXMS9at8PLGbXijROcxt8435n15G_utgGie2AVeTa9YdHBpXtlM09YK7euBSnMzA/s1600-h/CIMG5492.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhng5nZdaOgMDV2JvVmCmtb0gqaPBCyAH90zQKU8VYLgewF8cMTOZmf0AiVdzY9jpeQkcDMM7KXMS9at8PLGbXijROcxt8435n15G_utgGie2AVeTa9YdHBpXtlM09YK7euBSnMzA/s400/CIMG5492.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272337253743236994" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Here is Justin Daerr at the half-way point on the bike. Notice the elves in the background handing up water.</span><br /></div><br /><br />Ouch! My short ten-minute stretch of time with Justin resulted in an average watts of 351w (355 normalized power). There is no way I could do that for 4.5hrs. Nice ride Justin! And he followed it up with a 3:04 run to make an 8:40 overall time, good for 11th place overall.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCOc8IVlwlnzVhA0ViFxBdpAzoEDCKw62HjmpZtm0-75ROcWOnGL_uUFXwfox05DkwdpO8QLnfY1BDCXDBZnr8a83h1IlniYS-kDnNulG5D2_dPNDchOC2iS8if_HJuBQHWrrzjQ/s1600-h/CIMG5586.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCOc8IVlwlnzVhA0ViFxBdpAzoEDCKw62HjmpZtm0-75ROcWOnGL_uUFXwfox05DkwdpO8QLnfY1BDCXDBZnr8a83h1IlniYS-kDnNulG5D2_dPNDchOC2iS8if_HJuBQHWrrzjQ/s400/CIMG5586.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272337835709084754" border="0" /></a>Here is a photo of Keith Watson who had a very solid race. Keith is a customer support rock star at TrainingPeaks and has probably helped a bunch of his fellow competitors through all kinds of software needs. Greta race Keith!<br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ngOecnnSpP8&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ngOecnnSpP8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Here is the mens top three finishers celebrating at the finish line.<br /><table width="600" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="3"><tbody><tr><td class="text" align="right">1. </td> <td class="text">ANDREAS RAELERT </td> <td class="text" align="right"> 8:14:16</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="text" align="right">2. </td> <td class="text">CHRIS LIETO </td> <td class="text" align="right"> 8:19:25</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="text" align="right">3. </td> <td class="text">JORDAN RAPP </td> <td class="text" align="right"> 8:19:45</td></tr></tbody></table>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-78145684527940240312008-11-06T09:05:00.000-08:002008-11-06T09:23:35.975-08:00<span style="font-weight: bold;">Boulder Cup '08</span><br />Last weekend Boulder played host to a couple of top notch UCI cross races. Saturday's venue was out at the Boulder reservoir where tenmperatures neared 80F! Water skiers were swooping by the venue as the nationals top crossers ran and rode through the sand, grass and asphalt.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2ZqXqyR-EE9DStFZslPSMcMkeeW4wwhlZdfUGzufsGjyvrl1s8isxlvac9auS5I6U3hFFfdYoTO72_AWsPWFXynAfSr4g42wtqAkUu-GRGE3Qfc0_mX6iaUCJZUKwlX1gVLYjg/s1600-h/CIMG5204.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2ZqXqyR-EE9DStFZslPSMcMkeeW4wwhlZdfUGzufsGjyvrl1s8isxlvac9auS5I6U3hFFfdYoTO72_AWsPWFXynAfSr4g42wtqAkUu-GRGE3Qfc0_mX6iaUCJZUKwlX1gVLYjg/s400/CIMG5204.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265592731653673170" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Jon Baker hangs tight with the lead group of five until her flatted and ended up sixth. </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.dbcevents.com/Results/2008%20Boulder%20Cup%20Day%202-Elite%20Men.pdf">See results here.</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">TJ Takes the Big Show</span><br />Sunday was the big show in south Boulder and the crowd was amazing as yet again the weather was unseasonably warm. Local favorite Jon Baker of Vitamin Cottage had some bad luck and rolled both tires half way through the event while he was in 6th place.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQKtyOUh4KP2TY5IM2E6UWPNGrwYuhyphenhyphenHRgDRh3zExJXo9wdVPNUPk3tB1uU28UrWvEhagouGSBhvxLQExYrhVgHdr-LSyqA1B_3r3f5FxqXQC-5Am9xe5wR6eRjMXMMasqZLXcPg/s1600-h/CIMG5269.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQKtyOUh4KP2TY5IM2E6UWPNGrwYuhyphenhyphenHRgDRh3zExJXo9wdVPNUPk3tB1uU28UrWvEhagouGSBhvxLQExYrhVgHdr-LSyqA1B_3r3f5FxqXQC-5Am9xe5wR6eRjMXMMasqZLXcPg/s400/CIMG5269.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265593918833141154" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">The lead group of four about 20 minutes into the race.</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKwD6UNjE1gzZ9_k6H7sKQ5BRRLTKcvfk-0aELKwBg-F1fcOb3YcS3fhu9AqiN-SnLCfhfuQvC8IghE5Qdg9JAwv6UCWC8LcgkihDmEtiGE1MJzrfvkHj7cM19AEh4F5kzEA2E7A/s1600-h/CIMG5350.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKwD6UNjE1gzZ9_k6H7sKQ5BRRLTKcvfk-0aELKwBg-F1fcOb3YcS3fhu9AqiN-SnLCfhfuQvC8IghE5Qdg9JAwv6UCWC8LcgkihDmEtiGE1MJzrfvkHj7cM19AEh4F5kzEA2E7A/s400/CIMG5350.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265594925300140322" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Here I am with the winner Tim Johnson. Tim attacked with about two laps to go and separated himself from Todd Wells to solo to the win.<br /><br /><br /></span><span>One last note...I've updated my link to my <a href="http://www.trainingpeaks.com/publicview.asp?p=dirk">TrainingPeaks public view</a> so you can check out my training, or lack of it the past few months...Time to start preparing for a possible trip to Spain again to train with some pros. You can also see some of my ride files posted on my wall at Facebook.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span><a href="http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/47704853624163337834652F65494E576B5A554D71673D3D">Here is my latest one I added to Facebook.</a></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-70976978481613659402008-10-15T21:28:00.000-07:002008-10-18T20:20:10.596-07:00<a href="http://www.ironmanlive.com/">Ironman World Championships</a><br /><br />Oh boy. Now I know why I only did one Ironman in my life. That is one darn hard race. especially in hot and humid Kona, Hawaii. No thanks. I'd rather watch this thing than suffer through it. However, this IS the race to attend if you want to get inspired. I come away every year with a lot of motivation for to train with intent through the winter months back in Colorado.<br /><br />Kona, Hawaii in mid-October is the fittest place on earth. This place has the highest VO2max values and leanest bodies of any city. This is the only place where I feel overweight. Ironman triathletes are a focused bunch and won;t let anything stand in their way. I say go for it as long as you can also manage family life and keep things in perspective.<br /><br />The Ironman World Championships this year was a great event to be a spectator at. I was amazed when for a few minutes I thought defending champ Chrissie Wellington was a "DNF" after having taken so long to fix a flat tire she gave up. However, a friendly rival handed her a second chance with a spare CO2 cartridge and Chrissie had one more chance to get her butt in gear.<br /><br />She was about 5 minutes behind the leader when she took off on her chase after a 10-minute repair of her flat tire. Chrissie quickly caughte the leader and went on to come off the bike with a gap of several minutes. She went on to win by more than 10-minutes over second place. Man what a day. I bet Chrissie learns how to change a fla tduring these next 12 months.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDG73-4F_lOT4XfzUJhL_1nApElejIZypNQXsURVGzNLMIQsewY80uu42sD2Fnegg7XezBljHou9xZbNwNuDTkt_8WOGCuCn5fA_atncd0VTf9__S8mWDZ1xnKmTONtgSm0dfqWQ/s1600-h/WellingtonMile1Run.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDG73-4F_lOT4XfzUJhL_1nApElejIZypNQXsURVGzNLMIQsewY80uu42sD2Fnegg7XezBljHou9xZbNwNuDTkt_8WOGCuCn5fA_atncd0VTf9__S8mWDZ1xnKmTONtgSm0dfqWQ/s400/WellingtonMile1Run.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258697870157230034" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Chrissie Wellington lead the whole marathon and blew the competition away.</span> </div><br />As for the mens race Craig Alexander ran from behind (I think he was 11th when he started the marathon) and moved one place up on the podium this year to win become world champion.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Th4tLunXn47GFvJekSdeo2gMUmpbmmutXLHOOukRiGTMJ9nEhmKFHQByk3RxmoFpuYFIzH1Ad2iAzN9azH-YHLEjaAOyk5x_eoBwvwWCH4lQojIU6YP5Jx9oaSm8kdcHJEgYCg/s1600-h/AlexanderWinner100k.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Th4tLunXn47GFvJekSdeo2gMUmpbmmutXLHOOukRiGTMJ9nEhmKFHQByk3RxmoFpuYFIzH1Ad2iAzN9azH-YHLEjaAOyk5x_eoBwvwWCH4lQojIU6YP5Jx9oaSm8kdcHJEgYCg/s400/AlexanderWinner100k.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258698584403638722" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Craig Alexander is seen here at 100km on the bike. </span><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />I need to send a big shout out to Michael Lovato who backed up his 9th place in 2007 with yet another top-10 finish in Kona this year. Great job Lovato!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBRa2KVoTFaFNl2uIvqc3B4obFEBmxvRnBx2mFwvT-BWxhbJEpT4TnZgd-Io39wvvakuTbHurL9uYOlGcpGO0Pbg8q5sJtwS_gAonrkmUpz5I0p27nsxyNFpPScpSR4Cmvr5hvg/s1600-h/LovatoFinish.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBRa2KVoTFaFNl2uIvqc3B4obFEBmxvRnBx2mFwvT-BWxhbJEpT4TnZgd-Io39wvvakuTbHurL9uYOlGcpGO0Pbg8q5sJtwS_gAonrkmUpz5I0p27nsxyNFpPScpSR4Cmvr5hvg/s400/LovatoFinish.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258699300140432066" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div></div>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-92052234648770178322008-09-27T18:01:00.000-07:002008-09-27T18:06:19.087-07:00<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/Ac_gJovfJw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="390"></embed><br /><br />Here is an interview with MissingSaddle.com I was a part of at the Interbike Trade show this week in Las Vegas. These guys are great and do an amazing job. Check out all the the MissingSaddle <a href="http://www.missingsaddle.com/videos.php">interviews here. </a>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-82159766357316330432008-09-22T10:43:00.000-07:002008-09-23T08:08:52.829-07:00I raced the Green Mountain Sports Mammoth Cross Sunday in Golden and was very pleased with 15th place (out of 30). This was my first cross race in a decade (I did start one in '07 but quickly flatted out after 1 lap) and went better than expected.<br /><br />The race started out well for me. I had an incredible start (still top 10 half lap in), but settled back into a level I could handle by the time we finished lap one. I went through a rough time about 10 minutes into the race where I was looking for a barf bag (too much Coke before the start), so I throttled back a gear to settle my stomach down. Then I was able to ride back into a good pace for the last 20 minutes.<br /><br />The course was super bumpy and tubulars were a major advantage for those who had them (not myself). Heck a mountain bike with full suspension would have been the right bike selection if it were allowed.<br /><br />Viva Las Vegas<br />Now it's off to Vegas for Interbike this week. I'm not racing Cross Vegas or the pro crit this year (still haven't been prime money or overall prize money from '07 yet!), but will be on the sidelines cheering with a beer in my hand.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirzGCuUlLf5Xi2dk87jqjMqAKXoAZ6E9qFGGcOOqJ_Cq2b5qv0IBck0sxyP_bgDZuj2T-7k2enjYO0t6P_udyzGNvC7x3mK_8d1YhjBW1cmGBANvBIfucZWQglxF1TBdWkm6oI0g/s1600-h/CIMG2093.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirzGCuUlLf5Xi2dk87jqjMqAKXoAZ6E9qFGGcOOqJ_Cq2b5qv0IBck0sxyP_bgDZuj2T-7k2enjYO0t6P_udyzGNvC7x3mK_8d1YhjBW1cmGBANvBIfucZWQglxF1TBdWkm6oI0g/s400/CIMG2093.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249233713491106738" border="0" /></a>(Above is Chuck Coyle jus tbefore the start of Cross Vegas 2007)<br /><br /></div>Our goal at Interbike is to try and meet with as many hardware manufacturers as possible in an effort to stay up to date with their next generation devices. TrainingPeaks is now compatible with over 60 models of training devices and we expect this to grow to be well over 100 in the coming years.<br /><br /><br />Our schedule at Interbike is very busy with meetings scheduled all day Wednesday and Thursday. We have a great new offering which is bundled with the new Timex HR monitors, and Polar has launched a special Training Plan offering exclusivley found at TrainingPeaks. Finally, the power meter market continues to grow which is really exciting to see.<br /><br />Look for an interview with myself while at Interbike on www.Missingsaddle.com.<br /><br />Ciao<br />DirkDirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-77153866176852385252008-09-19T08:33:00.001-07:002008-09-19T08:42:54.715-07:00Interviews and more<br /><br />Fall is in the air in Colorado and I've already turned the page and started to prepare for 2009. As far as I'm concerned the 2008 season is over and it's on to greater results in '09.<br /><br />I've been busy lately at TrainingPeaks and the best part of the job lately has been all the great interviews with some cycling super stars. Just this week we spoke with Cadel Evans and during the Tour of Missouri we posted a short interview with Marco Pinotti, and just prior to Missouri I sat down with Tom Danielson to discuss how he has progressed from his big crash he had in last year's Vuelta.<br /><br />See all the interviews on the <a href="http://blog.trainingpeaks.com/">TrainingPeaks blog</a> and at <a href="http://www.clickcaster.com/trainingpeaks">Click Caster.</a><br /><br />Cross season has started and I may get the nerve to jump in this sunday's race. I have to admit being anaerobic for 60 minutes doesn't sound too fun but the atmosphere at cross races makes up for it. I just need to keep things in perspective and make it a fun event more than competition.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.clickcaster.com/trainingpeaks" target="_blank"></a>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-7406114008350573412008-06-30T18:32:00.000-07:002008-07-01T05:10:00.213-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUd_LIrkjSLtvPNedzKdcOzrv8sKFNWNlJIXdpOROFUwirJahyXNRmWWtV8eD84WEzuH_UJRz7VsUqy-FnCLz66CW8i-vbjKaq4OOfWY3livRbJB0I9wMU2pfqJr0vJw9LUP6F5Q/s1600-h/steve+and+dirk+with+oxygen+tank.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUd_LIrkjSLtvPNedzKdcOzrv8sKFNWNlJIXdpOROFUwirJahyXNRmWWtV8eD84WEzuH_UJRz7VsUqy-FnCLz66CW8i-vbjKaq4OOfWY3livRbJB0I9wMU2pfqJr0vJw9LUP6F5Q/s400/steve+and+dirk+with+oxygen+tank.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217852704432189906" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Is this an Illegal Act in Italy? </span><br />(Hyperoxic training at 12,000ft at the top of Loveland Pass, Colorado.)<br /><br />Live High, Train Low is the training model a lot of elite athletes are trying to simulate these days (especially in Colorado). With the help of altitude tents and oxygen supplemented training techniques simulated high altitude sleep, and low altitude training workouts can be achieved with relative ease (but also a lot of cash). You can bet with the Olympics just a few weeks away that the final touches are being added to peak training regimes with a dash of simulated altitude methods for good measure.<br /><br />How far will athletes go to show up in Beijing in peak form? Is manipulating natural EPO levels by way of artificially simulating high and low altitudes acceptable? Well the Italian authorities have taken a stance and made altitude tents illegal in their country. I wonder if the reverse is also illegal? Can an athlete who lives high up in the Italian Dolomites use extra oxygen delivered through a tank to simulate sea level training intensity without the risk of going to jail? While we are at it, I wonder if it is legal for an Italian to go away and sleep in an altitude tent in nearby France and then return to race in Italy with the subsequent benefits?<br /><br /><br />Ciao,<br />DirkDirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-79447887569718274312008-06-23T06:26:00.000-07:002008-06-23T07:06:57.640-07:00Tour de Nez Final Stage, Northstar Village, CA.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2008/jun08/tourdenez08/tourdenez085">final stage of the Tour de Nez</a> was yet again an up and down affair. Even though the "Nez's" stages are relatively short they are far from easy. There was not one minute of recovery in the entire 4-day, 5-stage, event.<br /><br />To view and download my <a href="http://www.trainingpeaks.com/UI/FlexWorkoutFileViewer.aspx?key=6VRZnI41GqFnUR%2bWbHqUuuSLyXTl6R%2b4">race power file click here.</a><br /><br />The final race on Saturday consisted of 22 laps of a hilly, 2-mile technical circuit. The field was down to about 56 starters and my goal was to hopefully move up a few spots in order to finish top 30 overall.<br /><br />Bang! The starters pistol was shot and 56 riders went sprinting out of the start line as if we were starting a criterium. We quickly descended the downhill portion of the course and within a minute hit the first short hill and cobble section through the Northstar Village.<br /><br />The cobbles added a European feel to the race and yet again took away any chance of recovery on what otherwise would have been the easiest section of the course. I must say I was suffering like a dog but rather enjoyed the atmosphere of racing through a ski village. Million dollar penthouse condos loomed four stories above and spectators lounged in comfy leather couches sipping coffee and beer. What could be better.<br /><br />About five laps into the race I was able to help my Vitamin Cottage/XP Companies teammate Jon Baker leap off the front of the group and bridge to a small breakaway. Having helped Jon as best I could I quickly went back to survival mode and tried to stay hidden within the second group and conserve precious energy. <br /><br />Half way through the race the break with Baker was about 30 seconds off the front and I found myself still in the 2nd group with the GC leaders. Our group was down to about 19 riders and I was pleased with my efforts. However, I knew it was going to be short lived. With 9 laps to go I popped off the back of the 2nd group and found myself chasing solo. Luckily I caught two riders and we put our heads down and worked well together to the finish.<br /><br />Somehow the results got messed up as I finished with two riders yet the results show me as finishing alone. Oh well, in the end I rode a solid race and moved from 33rd overall to 28th place in the final general classification. This is certainly not a great result in the grand scheme of things, but for a guy who trains about 10hrs/week and hasn't raced an NRC stage race since 2002 I'm really happy with 28th. I'm even happier for my team though since Jon Baker finished 2nd on the final stage which was his second, 2nd place of the week. With just a tad more luck Jon could have won two NRC races last week.<br /><br />Stage Details:<br />1:36<br />305 avg watts<br />359 NP<br />*This race also produced my second highest Normalized CP 20 of the year at 398w.<br /><br />It is now time to recover and think about the next local Colorado race which is the Niwot Criterium in a few weeks. I may also do the local Wednesday time trial series this week.<br /><br />Thanks for reading,<br />DirkDirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-82678715175020665762008-06-21T12:44:00.000-07:002008-06-23T06:25:41.145-07:00Tour de Nez Report<br /><br />This week I am racing my only national calendar stage race of the year and my first since my retirement from pro racing in 2002. It has certainly been a wake up call and I haven't had an easy moment since I started this race on Wednesday evening in Reno.<br /><br />Here is a short recap of my stages so far:<ul><li><a href="http://cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2008/jun08/tourdenez08/tourdenez081">Stage 1</a> - June 18: Grand Sierra Hotel Casino criterium, 75 minutes</li></ul>My first race back on the pro circuit wasn't supposed to be like this. I crashed about half way into the race when an orange barrier cone got flipped into the group and caused a big pileup. I lost skin and got a pretty deep muscle bruise on my calf, but it could have been a lot worse. Taylor Tolleson of BMC broke his collar bone I heard. Hopefully he has a good quick recovery.<br /><br />The race ended up being a field sprint and I finished 36th. Post race details:<br /><br />73 minutes<br />304 avg watts<br />353 normalized power<br /><br /><br /><ul><li><a href="http://cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2008/jun08/tourdenez08/tourdenez082">Stage 2</a> - June 19: Northstar at Tahoe (ITT), 3.5 mi</li></ul>The first mile of this race was the hardest. It probably averaged 11% and hurt a ton. I finished 37th 1:15 behind the winner.<br /><pre>1 Ian McKissick (BMC Pro Cycling Team) 8.30.6 (31.312 km/h)<br />2 Matthew Cooke (Health Net p/b Maxxis) 0.16.0<br />3 Corey Collier (Health Net p/b Maxxis) 0.16.8<br />4 Andrew Bajadali (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast) 0.18.3<br />37 Dirk Friel (Vitamin Cottage P/B XP Companies) 1.15.8<br /><br />race details:<br /></pre>9:34<br />394 avg watts<br />400 normalized power<br /><ul><li><a href="http://cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2008/jun08/tourdenez08/tourdenez083">Stage 3</a> - June 19: Downtown Truckee Criterium, 75 minutes </li></ul>Finally something to hang my hat on, eventhough it was only for 7 minutes....Somehow i found the motivation to attack off the front of the Trucke criterium and felt somewhat under control doing it. An ex-teammate of mine on Rocky Mounts, who now rides for Kelly Benefits, Alex Candelario bridged up to me and we sat out front for about 8 laps.<br /><br /><pre><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_tb34kmakTQLDQOT1etsmB48xByjF7t4JVRFGWwh6rRTPFhFxpjQ9nuqpHuBlLWlUY84T9ch_Q7CpZ67CAWGOeeh8OdZS4v8BviG4GZ4y9mqUAMhwTuQAonjHWQlLkcxRTmUnCw/s1600-h/truckee+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_tb34kmakTQLDQOT1etsmB48xByjF7t4JVRFGWwh6rRTPFhFxpjQ9nuqpHuBlLWlUY84T9ch_Q7CpZ67CAWGOeeh8OdZS4v8BviG4GZ4y9mqUAMhwTuQAonjHWQlLkcxRTmUnCw/s400/truckee+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214430071734919026" border="0" /></a></pre><br />There are some photos of us in a breakaway on velonews at:<br />http://velonews.com/photo/78611<br />http://velonews.com/photo/78610<br /><br />Once we were caught my teammate Jon baker countered and established the winning three man break where Jon ended up placing 2nd.<br /><pre>1 Roman Kilun (Health Net p/b Maxxis) 1.14.18<br />2 Jonathan Baker (Vitamin Cottage P/B XP Companies) <br />3 Justin England (Toyota-United)<br />26 Dirk Friel<br /></pre><ul><li><a href="http://cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2008/jun08/tourdenez08/tourdenez084">Stage 4</a><a href="http://cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2008/jun08/tourdenez08/tourdenez084"> </a>- June 20: Northstar at Tahoe Road Race, 100 km</li></ul>Oh My.....so that hurt...Just 3 minutes into the race I knew it was going to be everything I had to finish this 100km circuit race. My peak 5-minute value for the race was in the first eight minutes and equated to 412w. That is not how I wanted to start the day. Today's race was 10 laps of a 10km course and none of it was flat. The course was basically one climb followed by a descent and back up the same climb again.<br /><br />The group separated on the second lap and I found my self in the third group on the road wondering how I was ever going to finish this insanely hard race. I ended up sticking with a group of about 10 riders which split up in the final two laps and I somehow finished 39th out of 56 finishers. I was 19 minutes behind the winner and about 2 minutes from being lapped. Unfortunately at the time I would rather have gotten lapped and therefore been able to skip the last lap, but in the end I did all 10 laps.<br /><br />My teammate Jon Baker finished 16th on the stage and is now in 14th place in the overall GC. I dropped from 28th overall to 33rd.<br /><br />details:<br />3:04<br />259 avg watts<br />307 normalized power<br />CP5- 412w<br /><br />One more stage to go which is the North Star circuit race.<br />Caio<br />DirkDirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24631196.post-22367017479951359642008-04-13T10:28:00.000-07:002008-04-13T10:36:07.329-07:00<span style="font-weight: bold;">Haystack TT Results</span><br />I misrepresented who Ben Day rides for in yesterday's blog post. Ben Day, of Team Toyota-United, won the Haystack TT yesterday in a time of 32:54 and beat Heath Blackgrove who had a time of 34:02. Chris Baldwin was 3rd with a 34:14. I was 1:27 out of a top five placing with a 35:55.<br /><a href="http://americancyc.web152.discountasp.net/Results/Default.aspx"><br />Results can be seen by clicking here.</a>Dirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04134871722833721864noreply@blogger.com0