Trainer Confessions

Building the foundation

2012-01-16T05:37:05-08:00

Tough, but not that tough "Cyclists equate suffering with excellence, and its widely believed that those who can endure the most punishment will rise to the top of the heap." That quote from Hell on Two Wheels (by Amy Snyder) was still fresh in my mind yesterday morning, and I'd be lying to you if I said it didn't factor into my decision to forgo the option to ride on the trainer to instead don two or three layers of cycling clothing and face the brutal temperatures outside. A little part of me was convinced that only the hardiest of...

Using My Brain

2012-01-08T03:26:13-08:00

Sub-Story Just finished up reading "We Might As Well Win", the true story of how Johan Bruynell led two different riders, Lance and Alberto, to Tour de France fame, supposedly without the aid of performance enhancing drugs. I'm not a literary critique, so I won't offer any commentary as to how well the book was written. But for me, a person whose TdF viewing was limited solely to snippets shown on Sports Center, it offered up enough light entertainment to distract me from the seemingly never-ending endurance rides done perched upon the trainer. While I whipped through the book at...

What's in store for 2012?

2011-12-30T14:32:07-08:00

Now What? Early last week when I surpassed 10,000 miles for the year, I added the final feather to my cap in what will go down as quite the memorable year. Just a couple of days later, I opened up my wallet and let the Battenkill promoter pull out $84 as part of my first race registration for the 2012 season. The act of closing down 2011 and then setting the first target for 2012 gave me reason during the ample free-time this week to ponder on what I wanted to get out of cycling in the year ahead. Believe...

Climate Ride – why is it important to you?

2011-12-27T02:58:04-08:00

[This post is somewhat off-topic & on Global Warming, but given that it ties back to the Climate Ride, it does belong here on Trainer Confessions. What you see below is the text I intend to send to a few local news papers for inclusion in the Letter to the Editor section. If you see any text that could be improved upon before then, please let me know. And of course if you want to make a donation to the Climate Ride, please follow this link.] When I signed up for the Climate Ride (a charitable 5 day 300+ mile...

Just another day in a cyclist's life

2011-12-19T14:27:46-08:00

A whopping 400 miles! I remember in 2005 being a bit proud of myself at the end of summer of my first season of riding (note that I don't have riding seasons now -- there's no beginning nor end to when I ride). I had logged a whopping 400+ miles and I was exuberant over my accomplishment when I informed one of my managers (Julie) in the EMC2 office. She was an avid cyclist so I thought she'd appreciate the significance of such a big number. She did smile, but in retrospect I think it have been just a case...

Climate Ride 2012 -- I'm in!

2011-12-13T14:24:07-08:00

Climate Ride NYC-DC 2012 May 19 - 23, 2012 | 5 Days | 300 Miles I wasn't sure if I was going to sign-up for the Climate Ride again this year. Don't get me wrong -- I wanted to sign up; my experience in 2011's edition was nothing but positive. It was an extremely well run event where I was surrounded by 149 like-minded cyclists intent to make a difference out on 350 miles (I of course had to add in extra 50 miles to the ride's standard 300) of mostly quiet back roads. It also was an event that...

Failure

2011-12-06T17:43:09-08:00

Rude Awaking Tuesday morning was my first interval session of the 2012 training year. If you needed further evidence that I'm a sadist, I'll let it be known that I actually was quite chipper as I descended the stairs at 5 AM, into the dark basement and then up upon the trainer. It had been nearly 3 months without any structured intervals -- my first month of training had me at the gym lifting weights 3 days a week, but on the bike it was strictly endurance paced riding. And for the two months prior to that, it was all...

Back to (the new) normal

2011-11-29T16:13:44-08:00

Zombie I'm now nearly complete with my first month of training for the 2012 racing season. The two week hiatus I took from all forms of exercise back at the end of October is fast becoming just a speck in my rear view mirror. And were it not for the evidence documented here on this blog, the Awesome Autumn Adventures I Announced (and for the most part completed) could easily be dismissed now as a figment of my imagination. I'm back to the normal training regimen, well, perhaps back to a new normal. Unlike last year's start to the training...

Reason to be Thankful

2011-11-24T03:41:34-08:00

I Was Competing? When I thumbed through the mail yesterday and spotted a letter from NEBRA, I had no reason to rip open the envelop then and there to excitedly read its contents. My only vague knowledge of NEBRA was that it stood for New England Bicycle Racing Association, and that they had something to do with publishing the racing calendar towards the end of the year. I assumed they were sending me some mass mailing about the upcoming racing year, and I therefore dumped the NEBRA letter along with the rest of the bills and junk mail on the...

The Best Bicycle Ride Ever

2011-11-15T17:41:07-08:00

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree Poor Allison (the 7 year old with the big smile in the picture above). She's got my brown eyes. She's developing a passion for cycling. And now she's on a writing kick. Before you know it, the poor girl will be boring random people on the internet with blog posts about her latest PowerTap readings. Tonight she suggested that we sit down and do a writing contest. The rule was that we all had to write about the same topic, and then the person with the most detail was the "winner". I...