Striving for competence since 2008, he blogs on bicycle riding, bike travel, and other mostly bicycle related stuff. He chronicles the triumphs and tragedies of an aging
mesomorph attempting to
become a decent cyclist.
(Reader Reminder: Pics are clickable!)
We have had a couple weeks of really cold weather lately and one significant snowstorm. But we're getting that behind us now... weather will be in the low 50s tomorrow for the first time and those piles of dirty snow are disappearing fast now. We have continued to workout indoors twice a week in the Velo Garage and I've also been able to up the frequency and intensity of my core and upper body workouts. All of this has been productive and I have been able to see that in the power numbers I'm making on the trainer.
All in all, I 'm feeling really good thanks, no doubt, at least in part to the testosterone supplementation I've been on for five weeks. I am very, very happy with that.
We go an espresso machine for the Velo Garage, which has worked out very well for the Sunday morning sessions when I pick up fresh bagels and creme cheese.
I'm expecting to do about another month of indoor riding before the real outdoor season begins. I did get in an absolutely great outdoor ride last Friday in one of my favorite regional parks. There's a hill there that used to bully me and I like to go out there and challenge it periodically. Some day I will dance up it on my pedals... at lest that's my plan. Here's a look:
It was a good day be alive!
My goal beginning now is to try for at least one good outdoor
Since my last post the weather has continued to break records for sunniness and warmth around here. Sure, we have had a cold snap or two during January, but we have also had lots of days in the 40s, and just had two sunny days in a row in the 60s! I feel energized, more happy than sad, cheerful, motivated at work... all highly abnormal for the dead of winter. The snowblower is getting dusty in the garage.
Though I am convinced that something awful must be coming, I sure am enjoying this while it lasts! Here's a video sample of a ride from January 9th, the finish of a 30 mile ride over to the Wabash Trace trailhead in Iowa. It was a glorious day when you feel it is good to be alive!
Despite the good weather and opportunity to ride outside more often than normal, I have kept up my twice-a-week indoor training sessions with Coach Dusty and the Velo Garage crew for two solid months now. It is a good opportunity to ride with younger and stronger riders without getting dropped all the time! I took the leap and purchased a Cycleops powertap about six weeks ago to use in these sessions, which has been useful and interesting. The powertap is a harsh mistress though... she never fakes it!
Sara, Rick and Dusty
These training sessions seldom last much more than one hour but they're all about intensity. I think it is going to pay off when the strength is needed for the long rides of the summer.
Above I'm rehydrating the night I made my goal of 5000 miles for the year.
We did up the intensity a little last week!
Finally, dear diary, I had my annual physical exam a couple weeks ago and, inspired by those hokey "Low T" commercials, I had the doc do that test on me. I didn't really expect any issues and I checked out great for everything EXCEPT for testosterone levels! Well that's not stuff I want to be low on and I'm now using a gel product called Testim.
Initial results from this are entirely positive. I have more energy and am definitely recovering from hard exercise much faster. This may be another reason for my good humor of late! Men, get tested. It may not be just age that you are feeling.
Well, there's only about two hours left of the year 2011 so this seems like a pretty good time to reflect on the year's accomplishments. There have been a good many things to savor in my cycling life this year. I met my goal of 5000 miles plus another 226 or so. This exceeded 2010's mileage by about 200 and I did it in about 25 fewer rides. My average speed was faster than ever before. I am feeling incredibly healthy and stronger than ever. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I did not cash and get hurt.
I rode in some beautiful places this year, the most noteworthy being my week in Montana in June.
A number of "Bike, Wine, Food" events held by Omaha's Bikemasters
bike shop were extremely enjoyable.
Meeting and introducing my new Chinese friend Jinli Liu to the joys of road recreational cycling was a really great experience and I have already posted about that.
We are now getting into the indoor riding season: a chance to rest up a bit from a year of long outdoor rides and gain the benefits of short but intense training sessions indoors. For the last month a group of us from UNO have been training twice a week in our friends' "Velo Garage". This is really a blast and highly productive. I will be posting more about the Velo Garage experience soon.
More than anything though, I think it's the plain old enjoyment of the everyday rides that have made this year's cycling experience mean so much to me. I don't seem to get tired of that. Most of these everyday rides are solitary experiences and I guess I enjoy that too. But good people and special places do add something very special at times. There is a lot to look forward to in 2012.
(Viewers: you can click the pictures to enlarge them)
It has been a couple of years since the weather around here has been suitable for outdoor riding at Christmas. It looked like that was going to be the case this year too, but that all hanged last week and a great weather pattern settled in for us in Omaha. Not only did I ride outside on Christmas Eve (32 miles), but Christmas afternoon was simply gorgeous. There was a lot of sunshine, moderate temperature, and just a little wind.
The views from the hills on the outskirts of town were just wonderful
and I stopped to savor them a couple of times.
While riding, I really enjoyed some music on my new iPhone, something I have never done before and generally am pretty cautious about for safety reasons. My legs felt strong for most of the ride and Elton John's Rocket Man was especially enjoyable with a little tailwind behind me!
Just a few other riders and dog walkers were out... family duties I would guess.
It was the kind of day when you really feel sorry for people who don't ride bicycles!
A little out of shape for long riding, I did start to fatigue a little near the
During late October and through November I had the opportunity to mentor a guest faculty member from UNO's sister university in China, Hangzhou Normal University. For about six weeks, Professor Jinli Liu shadowed me through many of my classes and we had many good academic discussions as well as general talks about cultural practices in the US and China. What a wonderful opportunity that was!
In addition to our professional relationship, Jinli and I developed a close personal friendship and both of us were sad when he had to return home early in December. Probably the most fun we had together was on bicycles checking out the roads and trails around Omaha. Jinli runs occasional marathons and weighs 150 pounds, so he took to the bicycling very well indeed! I'm sure he would soon be dropping me if he rode a bike regularly.
In November we sure rode in a lot of wind! There were days when I might not have ridden if I had not had a riding partner to share the ride with.
Our last ride together on December 3rd was truly a memorable one. Riding at Chalco Hills Recreation Area, we started out in just a light mist but finished our ride about an hour later with snow on the ground and ice causing our chains to slip over their gears. What good fun that was!
One thing I learned in our discussions was that Jinli's hometown Hangzhou has one of the world's largest bikeshare programs (over 200,000 public bikes). But bicycling for recreation and fitness seems to be somewhat uncommon there. It was pleasure to spend time with Jinli and I learned a lot from him.
I hope to visit Jinli in China someday to continue our cycling adventures and he
is welcome to return to Omaha to visit me anytime.
Ride carefully my friend... I hope to see you soon!
A Taste of South Africa My favorite bike shop, Bikemasters, is about as far from my house as it is possible to be and still be in Omaha. Three or four times a year they have a "Bike, Wine, Food" event for customers and all of these have been excellent. It's basically a wine/food tasting with a fairly short ride before, and tequila and beer have been substituted for wine at two of the past events. Anyway, on October 16th the wines of South Africa were featured.
Since I had already ridden pretty hard earlier in the day I just decided meet up with the group for the tasting this time. I did drive along and shoot some pics of the group en route, which was fun.
Here are a few shots taken at the event, including one of our wine guide, Jerry Rambo. The Goats Do Roam was pretty popular!
This is maestro Rambo doing his thing. He's always very knowledgeable.
We have enjoyed talks with Brian and Kathy at several of these events.
Did I mention that there is food between each wine?
Just a few miles from us here in Omaha lies the Wabash Trace Trail which runs about 65 miles south to the Missouri state line. Just a few miles down the trail lies a site in the woods known locally as "Margaritaville", a popular party spot for thirsty cyclists. There is a grill, various benches, and lots of bike racks as you will see in the pics below. My friend Steve Macklin likes to have his annual birthday bash at Margaritaville and this year was no exception.
It was not a long or difficult bike ride, but a very good time was had by all the usual suspects.
