Feeling Better

Saturday's road ride went very well. I felt pretty strong and and stayed near the front of the group. I even chased down a couple of breakaways, which is unlike me. I HAVE to find a way to get in a second mid week ride. I think three days a week will make the difference. 

Spent the rest of the day with the family at the beach. I tried to even out my farmer/cyclist tan. Spent a lot of time looking for shark's teeth. Even went to a restaurant for dinner. Had a great day overall.

BMX

BMX was a good time as usually. The boys are picking up speed and we have been practicing our "jumps" in the front lawn. Several of the other boys that my two have befriended even commented on how well the boys were jumping. This, of course, all contributing to their mother and grandmother's worry lines. Results are exactly as before, with the stronger, more conditioned boy taking three victories over his brother.

We have a new guy at work who is much slower then my normal coworkers. This is causing me to have to "up" my pace to pick up the slack and complete the tasks that I'm expecting to complete. Because of this, I'm finding myself much more fatigued which is making it hard to find the energy needed to do a Thursday ride or spin on the trainer. I feel that performance wise, I need this added day of riding. I just hope that this guy catches on soon and starts to pull more of his own weight.

Last night

I did my tuesday night ride yesterday and the wind was a killer. It must have been gusting up to 20 mph at least. We rode 30 miles and had to work for about 90 percent of it. We still were able to average 21 mph with just two of us. I definitely have to try and get in an easy ride on thursday. I'll ride saturday as well and our next race is a week from then. It will be my most difficult race due to a steep hill that we have to climb 4 times. I don't know the grade but from the pictures it's steep and long. My friends who have competed in this race before have said that it is tough at the beginning and then down right brutal by the last lap.

Fishing

We are taking a break and going fishing this morning with the boys. We go with my father-in-law on the john boat. It's always a good time, even if we don't catch anything. The boys are looking forward to it. They also want to show off there new stick-on tattoos to grandpa. The owner of the bike shop that we go to is heavily tattooed, which has increased their fascination with them. 

Yesterday's morning ride was a killer. It was fast paced from the start. I didn't last for the entire "long ride", but from where I cut it short, I still ended up with 61 miles. My legs were cooked. One of the owners of the bike shop lives about four houses away and we have decided to start lifting weights to supplement our fitness. He has a complete free weight set with a bench and squat rack that he cannot seem to be inspired enough to use by himself. We are supposed to start monday night.

Results

Results are in and I finished in exactly 15th place. Very surprising. I did nip another rider in the last couple feet before the finish line. I'm glad that I chased that guy down, that's what got me in the 15th spot. 

I plan on doing a ride tomorrow morning and then on saturday morning.

The knee has gotten better and did not affect my performance in last weeks road race. I don't think I finished in the position I wanted (top 15), but I feel that I rode a great race. I felt strong right up until the last half mile and I think I rode a pretty smart race. I tried not to do any work and stayed with the front group. Results have yet to be posted.

BMX went well last night. The boys only had each other to race. They were the only two there in their class. It was exciting to see them slug it out on the course. They stayed almost evenly matched until about turn three when strength and conditioning paid off and won three straight victories. they took it in stride with almost no bad feelings.

New Ailments

The poison ivy is subsiding, but there is still some itching in the spots that were the most affected. I also still have a bunch of little bumps on my legs. These are getting better slowly. I bought and used the $29/ounce poison ivy scrub and that seemed to actually be my savior. I have had poison ivy contact in the past but never this bad. 

My new problem is a swelled up knee. This was preceded by a slight and occasional "popping" of the knee. It felt like my knee was slightly going in and out of joint. I wasn't concerned because it happen only once in a while and it didn't hurt. It was more of an annoyance. Then last tuesday it just swelled up. Not huge like a grapefruit, but big enough to notice. I did the ice-heat thing that night and have been wearing an elastic brace at work. I notice that any lateral movement causes discomfort. I didn't ride all week until last night. It was fine on the ride and no addition swelling after. It does seem to be getting better.

I have my second road race on sunday. It's a shorter race but I'm still looking forward to going. I'll have to make sure I stay near the front. The shorter distance will mean faster speeds and it will be easier to get dropped if you don't ride smart. I'm going to hope for improvement over the last race and shoot for a top 15 finish.

Camping Weekend 2

We got back today from camping and had another great weekend. We did get some rain and high wind on saturday night. Our tent has reached it's final days. We had severe leakage from the top and seepage up from underneath. All our bedding and one of our children got soaked. My wife and I have decided that we are definitely getting a pop-up camper this year. This was our first non-biking camping trip and I did have a good time. 

Unfortunately, during the week, I have developed a severe case of poison ivy on both legs. The itching and bumpy rash have come to a apex over the weekend. I am using a topical creme which helps a lot but there is still a ton of scratching that needs to be done. I bought some poison ivy scrub today and I noticed that the bumps are starting to disappear, so by tomorrow I should be much better.

What the F...!?

While listening to music on the computer after dinner, "Nights in White Satin" by the Moody Blues came on. Not being a big MB fan to begin with, when the talking crap at the end came on, I immediately jumped ahead to the next song. Well I'm sure you know what came next....."why did you change it? That's the best part of the song!"

What the hell is with people!?!? This song sucks, especially that part!! I think that the people who are into that song are the same wingnuts that go crazy over Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights." COME ON PEOPLE!! We don't need to revel in the crap that was the anthems of our youth. 

I can picture it: the year was 1989. You're all dancing around in a tight circle, screaming the lyrics to these songs at the top of your lungs. Each one of you wearing at least one colored polo shirt with the collar popped. Losers!

Ok, I know, bold statements. Let the fallout begin...

Disappointed Boys

The afternoon rain has started, and as much as we need it, it has caused the cancellation of BMX racing for today. Because the track is packed clay that is trucked in and hand graded, they cover it when there is the threat of rain to prevent erosion. Personally, I'm kind of glad. I can use the break and a good dinner for once.

Hello? Anyone there?

I have had no time to update the blog. Work has gotten busier, and now that we go to BMX two times per week and and I train on tuesdays, it's tough to find time to do anything. I definitely feel run down. I think it is partly because I'm not eating as well as I was. Because we are doing a lot of running around, I have been just grabbing something small before I go to bed. It's also getting hotter already, and it takes it's tole on your energy when you work outside in it all day. I just have to get better organized so I have time to eat better and still get all of our stuff done.

BMX is tonight and the boys are always excited. I can almost guarantee a phone call at about 3:30 from them, wondering "where are you?" We have also gotten them riding jerseys, which they wore for two days before they let us wash them.

We are going camping again this weekend. We have a site at a park in Naples. We are going with the same couple that we went with before as well as another family of a woman my wife works with. It should be fun but there are no bike trails as we know them. This will be our first non-biking camping trip. I'll probably go crazy. 

My next road race is the "Spring Fling" in Deland Florida. It's a two day event with a circuit race on saturday and a road race on sunday. I'll enter both races.