the bkr....

musings and thoughts...

i'm looking for suggestions for places to find a hotel - the misfits have scored a place with the only room left being a smoking single with a full sized bed... ain't no room in THAT in for gewilli...

two - looking back at last years results for the 35+ and there is a HUGE range... measured in hours...

i'm pretty confident in sayin - no way i'll be OTB in that bunch. Assuming the 30+ is stacked similarly.

With 90 guys in there right now - i'd say maybe the likely hood is that a portion of the increase would be in the top half of the results but it should almost skew out the same as last year in that there will be faster folks in the race AND slower folks than last year...

musings of a dude (gewilli) who hasn't (i'll publically state it) raced in a hilly road race in a long damn time... Going back reading the "gearing recommendations" of 39x23 and i'm thinking 39x27? do i need that? 39x25 should be enough?

then i look at the data from yesterday, and for some reason i'm spinning more than ever... i was at 80-120 for 77.7% of the ride... avg at 87... maybe the lower gearing would be good... although 27... hmmm yes - i've publically stated that the knee busting 55x45 chainrings are coming off...

The luggin flat land freak seems to have managed in the last month become dependent on an RPM over 90... so that's a good positive change in the direction of becoming more efficient on the bike...

and maybe that's why i'm huffin and puffin more than in the past - requiring a bit more oxygen than the slow lugging leg burning ways of the past...

that and when i do go for a sprint lately i find more problems being overgeared than undergeared...

I know that sounds like a rookie observations... and intuitively and in practice (college days at least) sprint practice was always about leg speed, racing each other in the little ring... And being very comfortable spinning it up past 120 makes a difference in the top end, even if i'm trying to make stupid 2-3 pound wheels go around...

So the change to 39-53 may be more permanent than originally intended... i do like that 55 tho - way too much fun... but then - prolly still too much gear -

Here's a kick ass way to enjoy a Shift and get a few extra calories... mix one with 1cup of Hawthorne Valley Farm yogurt... mmm tastey... and i think the kick in the pants i need...

the ride home is definately a recovery one - i need to maximize the rest days this weekend so i can hammer harder next week... but i don't wanna put the legs away on fire. I'm actually feeling the little ride of yesterday still... More evidence that i'm needing more duration... I feel pretty good about the intensity and 10-15 minute intervals even if done in the am and pm are pretty damn hard, and for a while i was tiring myself out and noticing a diminishing return. And here's where the PT should be and is really just starting to become helpful. Making sure the slow days really are slow enough and easy enough... Not much of a problem getting the strength work, the duration and repetition over two hours is the trouble - add that a couple times a week and my training should really start to turn around...

Initial report on the KoB MtB TT on the 1st, course is soft and probably will take about 40 minutes to complete...

The one very positive thing out of yesterday was my recovery - despite feeling at the limit even a small opportunity to recover almost completely recharged me... indicating the intervals are paying dividends already...

Yes all the gibberish above is a bit "introspective" and all that...
oh well...

I'm grooving to a bit of the grooveradio feed! Wicked awesome mix of "everybody dance now" killer beat with some awesome reggae undertones... blood pump beat to go with this Shift stuff from stonyfarms...
http://mp3-hb.grooveradio.com
plug that stream into your winamp player and catch a listen (the song's over but well they keep pluggin)

and thanks to Lee... one of the funniest Fart vids out there


respect
G