Training – more than riding a bike!

I am excited to try something different in 2023. My new job has me travelling nearly every week to either Nashville, TN or Portland OR.

So I think I’ll be able to race nearly every week, the first time since moving away from Portland 4 years ago!

Portland races are held all summer long either at the Portland International Raceway, or Mt. Tabor. PIR is a safe wide circuit similar to the race to the right which is in Nashville.

Mt. Tabor is a VERY tough and selective hill repeat circuit.

Back to the point of the post. In order to hopefully do this racing, I need to be in, well race shape! My racing age will be 50 and I’ve never travelled like this before. So what is success? And how will I achieve it?

Success will be:

  • Top 10 finishes, goal of Top 3
  • Racing an attacking / active style
  • No DNF’s due to being frustrated or getting dropped, ride until the end!
  • Socializing with old friends and making new ones
  • Spreading the word about the Amazing Cardinal Classic Cycling Team and what we are accomplishing in Women’s Cycling Development

How will I get there?

  • I am 15 lb’s over weight and many many watts under power!
    • Lower wait using DQS & 16 hour fasts
  • Increase power through following structured training plan
    • I am using a Garmin Connect bot plan for 2023
  • Keep on the bike through stretching and strength
    • Following Dynamic Cyclist stretching and strength

I am also happy to be supporting the Cardinal-Classic cycling team and have founded the Cardinal Classic Collective team, in which I hope you will consider joining me.

When I left my job at Fiserv, my former team and colleagues gifted me a new GoPro cameral. So I am hoping to document the journey along the way. I supposed a short video post might be infinitely more consumable than a long-form blog post. But the truth is, I’m doing this for my own catharsis.

Well, that’s it for now. I just got a reminder I hit my 16 hour fast mark! So it’s time to sign off and have some fruit and almonds!

I’d be honored if you shared with me, what are your sporting or physical goals for 2023? Is there anything I can do to support your goals?

Thanks!

Neill

Time for a different kind of team!

After a lengthy break in team leadership, I’m starting a new and exciting team venture. This is a de-centralized team, with a focus on Nashville / Brentwood – Portland / Beaverton – Wake Forest / Raleigh and Charlotte.

The 2023 goal is to build a roster of up to 20 riders. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to hear more or join the Collective. Cardinal Classic Collective

Raise awareness of road cycling both on and off the bike.  We do this on a local level as well as by promoting the Cardinal Classic  Women’s USA Cycling Domestic Elite Team, a registered 501 c3.  

I’m fat!

Okay, I am not entirely fat, but I am about 15-20 lb’s over race weight!

So I am going to try two methods to see how much I can drop in a month. Using fasting, but upping my daily goal to 16 hours. (I have done 13 hours in the past. Also using the DQS app to try to have a well balanced diet without counting and weighing everything.

Training has been focused more on running than riding during the last few colder months. Today the temps were up and I got the bike out for the first time this year. Thus my feeling a bit rotund. Spandex will do that!

Two Plans for 2022

I started a half marathon training plan, to prep for The Uwharrie Trail Run Challenge. I’m using a Garmin Coaches training plan for this.

The goal is to:

  1. Spend time training with Lori & Coco
  2. Lose weight earlier in the season
  3. Build some fitness without all the time riding in he cold or on a trainer
  4. Run a half marathon distance again or at leas 10 miles pretty comfortably (it used to be routine a couple of decades ago!)

I started a second training plan using Zwift for just a couple of days a week of riding. It is a mild plan, but I’l switch over to a much tougher plan once I get through the trail run / race.

The goal of the plan is to:

  1. Spinn out my legs for active recovery given the run training
  2. Build functional strength for cycling
  3. Prep for a much harder cycling plan

I am excited to be joining the Cardinal Classic Cycling team for a ride during raining camp in March. So that is some added motivation to get in shape!

I also bought a black dobak because it is thinning. Seriously, next belt is re with black stripe aka deputy belt. Then Blackbelt. Cycling and Taekwondo are not naturally complimentary sports, but it is nice time with my family and having a different focus.

2019 Starts Now

Yesterday when I was sitting down to write my 2019 plan, I got a text to go for a ride, “now”. 

On thanksgiving John had talked to me about doing a cross country mountain bike race in early March. Which is of course insanely early. Great! I’m in.

Over the past several months work has gone from okay to insanely busy. Poor boundary setting on my part and a real desire to perform well and placing work over health, I’ve gone to pot. (figuratively)

So with an early season goal, and a partner in training to help with accountability, I’m off and running.

After returning from a ride that felt twice as long and hard as it should have, I wrote my training plan to get me to not only Echo Red to Red in shape, but ready to race the Chico Stage Race. I’ve been wanting to race an omnium or stage race for the past several years, but they aren’t close to home and require time away and a real dedication.

Usually, I would say it is way to early to start training in earnest, because the summer is so long. But this year I feel differently. The long work hours, and late nights have left my diet a mess, too many IPA’s and I am uncomfortable standing up straight when I get out of bed, and not in a good I just did a killer workout way.

I’ve also been threatening to start commuting by bike to work since my office moved further from my house. It’s now worth the effort to put all that shit on! My training plan incorporates two days of bike commuting on the days I am doing stretch and core.

Wish me luck!

Enhance your $@*#)! Calm!

My fitness is coming along, but my body jdoesn’t feel good. That and as the title suggestions, I need to calm my mind.

So I started a 30 day yoga practice this morning. Felt good, but you know day 1.

Adriene is chatty, but I like her yoga sessions and have done several.

No Rocky quotes please.

Monday Night PIR (Portland International Raceway)

PIR onlyA staple of my riding routine is Monday night PIR. And while I enjoy racing on the closed

circuit course, I really enjoy being able to ride there and catch a train or ride home.

I climb over 1,000 feet in the first 6.5 miles. And the climb is on one of the least driven hills near the city. There is no center line and I can often make the climb without seeing a single car.From there I roll down through Forrest Park. I usually make it 2/3 of the way down before being stuck in traffic. After I patiently wait for traffic to clear, it’s up and over St. Johns Bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Past the University of Portland and into center city neighborhoods. There are some amazing and not so amazing homes, and sights along the way.

Dancing Bear, or Dancing Bare. Then it’s a short jaunt onto the raceway. Lots of circles, last night 14 laps of the 1.9 mile track including a couple trips to the front. Hey Jim, could I get a video clip?

Once the racing is done, it’s a nice mellow ride along the Columbia River Slough to Royale Brewery for some food truck and IPA.

It was another fun, relatively safe night of hard training / racing. And best of all I get to do it all over again next week.

My Best Race

I’m not sure if I have had my best race yet or not, or even what that means. I’ve had cookie rides where I went so hard I felt sick after. And I’ve had races where I felt I could move wherever I wanted in the field with little effort.

Sean in the 50+ group, having raced a fraction of what I have, can still out-kick me. So does that mean I can aspire to get better still? Or do I re-define my best race as something other than placing or making others suffer or comparison to those around me?

For some, illness, accidents, or life choices create a time barrier between the past best race and the future less than. Over time for us all it will become clear we will never again be able to compete with our former fastest selves. Since I was never that good, it is conceivable my best performance is yet to come.

The goal of beating the strongest version of my historic self is part of why I’ve made some changes for the 2018 season. Considering my life and the goal of having cycling be additive instead of definitive has me questioning if that is a healthy goal.

Ultimately, perhaps my best race will come when I am no longer concerned if I am putting the hurt on the group or if I am struggling to hang on. Perhaps my best race should be judged by the size of the smile on my face and gratitude in my heart for a healthy body, supportive family and the ability to do what I enjoy so much.

If those new definitions of my best race can be applied I should have many best races yet to come.

Saddle Battle

It has been said the best advice is that not taken. In my writing about beginning racers I advise a Bike and saddle fit, and I should have followed my own advice sooner.

I had a bit of a scare last week, which resulted in a doctors visit, a super awkward ultra sound, a urologist visit and perhaps surgery in my future.

On the plus side I got a cool new saddle that seems to alleviate the pain and discomfort. Today I got out on the bike after a couple of weeks of mostly being unable to ride.

Here is to hoping that bad business and awkward exams are over!

Some discomfort from a saddle is to be expected as time on the saddle goes up. I think the mystique of suffering on the bike lead me to wait too long to get a better fitting and set up saddle.

To be fair, I think my old saddle was just a bit out of position more than anything. But I’m not taking any more chances and got this Selle SMP.

See you at Portland International Raceway Monday!

Broken

“If you race long enough you will break something” – Steve Redmond circa a long time ago.

Andrew is broken!

As I recall I had just met Nichole Bossie Johnson (of Boyd cycling ) who had a broken wing. I was contemplating a switch from triathlon to road cycling.

What I’ve found over the following 10+  years is, Steve was right. It might not be your body needing fixed, but your carbon frame being sent to Rukus for repair.

Baby Pro’s broken face

In a race this weekend there was a LOT of complaints following the event about the race being dangerous. So here is my take, the course was great and what was unsafe were the riders.

As a rider, we each have responsibility for our own safety. It may mean moving to the front of the pack to stay safe, or allowing yourself to float off the back of the pack if you don’t have the strength to set the pace.

You may need to bark at a rider who is sketchy, or tell a rider who is tense to lighten their grip and relax their elbows so they become less jerky in their movements.

When I put together the beginner guide post, I tried to include information on how to train safe. The truth is, accidents happen. One of my worst spills I was training alone and going through a round-about and dumped the bike on some oil.

Matt’s Ass

Front wheels slide out, a moments lapse of concentration can lead to overlapping a front wheel and a pile up.

If there is one thing I would like to impart it is this.

“Experienced cyclists have a responsibility to guide those less experienced.”

And we all have a responsibility to ride and race within our ability.

That and make sure you have a ready supply of tegaderm at home to cover the occasional road rash!