Aaah, Friday

It has been a longish week for me work wise. There was some joy mid-week when I took part of the day to help M&L pack for their trip back north and I stopped in to two bike shops to test ride mountain bikes. I like the Specialized Rockhopper but did not care for the Giant. But for the money and Trek credit, I have to go with the Trek 6000.


Hope to get it this weekend and enjoy a spin with the Nifi as a recovery ride. If all goes as planned I will do Spin in the morning and on Sunday tackle a 40 miler out to Captiva. I really need the longer base miles. Quick spin last night felt great, but they are a fraction of what I need to accomplish.

Speaking of accomplish -- I had my first session with Tracy, a trainer at the gym and animal loving triathlete -- very interested in our R2R cause. She worked me on several machines, focusing on the climbing muscles for my legs and a bit of upper body to help round out my efforts. She explained that you need good upper body strength to climb and not atrophy like many roadies do. And drink water -- lots of water to combat the altitude adjustment. The only downfall was my lower back really got tweaked and acted up towards the end of the session. Bad core muscles and pulling dogs is my theory.

All in all I liked it better than Core class. I do better with individual instruction anyway. Not feeling sore the next day. The day after that my triceps were screaming all morning. Today not much discomfort at all. I think next week we can amp up the leg workouts though.

I leave you with on final picture from Captiva -- proving weight lifters are two dimensional.



Spin On

Does My Butt Look Big?

As promised, here are some of the promised images from the Captiva Coffee Cruise. Not much different from the Holiday romp, and just as fun:


Does my butt look big in these shorts?


A nice coffee on a tropical bike ride... How very British

There are more pics but Blogger is Buggering me on uploading images for the past couple days. I will try more later.

More to come on the weight training.

Spin On

Temporarily Out Of Action

The ability to upload images is currently not working, so I will synopsize the weekend:

Three rides, one with Kevelo -- thanks for the cruise, pictures coming.

Trip to the Trek store and the Insuck FINALLY crapped out in front of them which means a $200 credit and possibly the Trek 6000 in my future:)

Sunday was a nice ride, not really cranking or keeping score of anything because I had no computer on the Carbon Suppository.

Tonight is the first attempt with a trainer to work on a routine and weights... I sense "ouch!" will be the headline tomorrow.

Spin On

Rolling Along

Item One: Emily is feeling much better. She is playing with Shilo, going for walks and bugging us to play ball. Our goal is to keep her as quiet as possible but she makes that hard to do with her need for activity.

Item Two: I did get a ride in Monday -- 16 miles with increased average speed despite a strong head wind. That of course does mean I had a great tail wind from time to time as well. Felt schpänky to ride fast and fluid.

Item Three: The newest rendition of the '08 Team R2R jersey

Lastly: Looking forward to another Captiva Coffee Cruise with Spenghali Saturday. Always a pleasure to ride with the Team!

Spin On

So Fast

Friday was good. I was eager to get out of the office and ride and looking forward to the weekend. I got in about 16+ miles, hung out at home that evening with "the Girls".

Saturday, more changes at the gym. Spin class was moved to the main, hard floor, mirror filled weight room. It is bright and loud and not the least bit comforting. Add to the fact that you have to pull out the bikes and put them back each time -- it's just a pain. The new management is losing a lot of ground and support with the staff and patrons. I have a few months left before I evaluate my renewal. All that aside, class was good -- lots of resistance work.

From there it was off to stock up on Belgian ale and some wine for the evening. M&L were spending the night and friends were coming by with their dog for a little dinner and dog play. Started a little rocky when M fell coming up the steps. She was alright but it was scary and happened so fast. Of course, she could have lost a limb and still said "I'm all right" -- that's what Mom's do.

Got a bit touchy when Shilo met Henry for the first time. He is a little French Bulldog who barrels his way into everything -- including our home. After a few tense moments they worked it out. Emily was oblivious to the whole thing and wanted to play.

My partner called -- he never calls on a Saturday -- to say he was just coming back from the ER after having to lay his Harley down. He was sore, scraped and stitched but no major damage. Thank you Lord! The kicker is he was two miles from turning it in on trade for a boat -- two miles!! At least he is okay.

Today I found out a co-worker's seven month old was hospitalized with pneumonia. Again, it happened fast. From a cold to the ER. Be well Allison!

Sunday was a hang low day. poor Emily could barely move she was so sore from Saturday. It was her last Hurrah! before we decide on surgery. She slept most of the day on the couch, limped and held up her leg when she moved. I did chores and then just sat nearby in hopes of helping her feel better. When Nifi got home from errands we gave her a pain pill and she came around. It was pretty pitiful watching her want to play and not being able to walk more than a few feet. This morning she seemed better. Shilo needs play and Emily needs rest.

Congrats to Tom Boonen for the winning the Paris-Roubaix!

Things happen fast.

Spin On

Weekend Report

Friday was all about the bike. I took a weeks worth of "smoke breaks" to work on bike logos, jerseys and the redesign of the R2R web site. As the clock headed towards 5:00 I spent some tutorial time learning Dreamweaver as well -- daunting program.

Got home, changed and headed out for about 15 miles. The InSuck worked until I stopped, checked later and it was stuck in Set Mode. My only option is to take it in to Trek and have them look at it -- half and hour drive. Crap.

Spin Class with Edmund the Inhaler Saturday morning -- hard class. He like to sprint so our legs are going like sewing machines which tends to later have a systemic effect on me -- fatigue and nausea. Errands, lawn work and dogs to the vet. Later I linked up with Al to get my gear problem resolved. Apparently the cable came unwrapped inside the housing causing it to jam. We'll see, he is back tonight with a new cable. While he worked, I linked up with a very tasty Flying Dog Ale.

Sunday was a SLOW moving day. I forced myself to spend 40 minutes in the Rank Room and spin some crap out of my system. Dinner with M&L, dog walk -- caught in the rain, crash.

Spin On

Starts and Stops

Going back to Saturday, we had a good Spin Class. We worked on resistance which I prefer over speed and cardio. Felt good to push that morning. I finished up with a conversation with the person next to me who just came back from Colorado and fit in some Spin out there. He noted how "hard-core" they are about fitness an how they rebuked him for his form and positioning on the bike. Lower bars to simulate an actual bike, build up your back muscles and forget about listening to the music -- it is about keeping your body still, moving the legs.

Class ended with Joyce The Just announcing she was leaving the gym and this was to be her last class. She was just one of the many people there to succumb to new (poor) management decisions. I really hope they keep the spin classes going early. Best of luck to you, Joyce.

On the topic of the gym, I finally got a call from a trainer to work up a program with me. She is a triathlete and will develop and evolving program for me that will hopefully focus on climbing strength. I am considering pulling the trigger on that next week.

Despite my Trek Insuck computer not working (again) I got in a nice ride Sunday afternoon. Temps were clawing at 100ºF but as I got to the Island it cooled down thanks to a sea-breeze. Not sure the distance but I had a great tailwind on the way home and flew! I later tested the Insuck and think the problem lies in the fact that you must be rolling to turn it on. More to come on that.

Spinning tonight I hope, more later.

Spin On