30 September 2011

core | commute

Okay, day 2 or trying to do core with sore ribs…

I am able to do some exercises okay but others are super difficult. And just when I thought my shoulder was healed enough to try the plank again, now my ribs are preventing me from doing it.

At least I can ride…? My commute yesterday was okay as long as I did not hit any bumps and so today I tried it again, even ran some extra errands and I felt pretty good. Whew.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather 70, sunny, dry
Course
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
twister machine 50 each side - 80 lb.
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
Results  
Time  
Distance 20 miles
Pace  
Equipment Town Bike
Clothing  

29 September 2011

core | commute

Exactly one month after falling off my mountain bike at Capitol Forest and messing up my shoulder, foot and hand I fall off my mountain bike ON THE SAME TRAILS and cracked some ribs.

This has resulted in me being able to do absolutely nothing for the last four days and it has been driving me crazy.

I know, pity me…

Today I finally tried something.  A couple of days ago I went to the gym but just moving around on the mat hurt so much I did not even think of trying any of my core exercises. Today I did try and although very uncomfortable it sorta worked. The back extensions were the hardest. The twisters surprisingly did not hurt much.

And I was able to ride my bike to and from work so things seemed to be looking up.

Of course by the time I got home I had a wicked sore throat…! Jesus.

Sleep 5
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather low 70s, sun, dry, calm
Course
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 80
twister machine 50 each side - 80 lb.
hip abductors 3 x 30
Results  
Time  
Distance 9 miles
Pace  
Equipment Town Bike
Clothing  

24 September 2011

12 Hours of Capitol Punishment

Let's cut to the chase shall we? Tony B and I have had this event on our calendars for ages and finally the date arrived.

I have never ridden a 12-hour MTB race before and it was a blast! Not only is the start/finish/transition zone a veritable village, riding on a relay team makes you work that much harder. And riding at night? EXCITING!

We won our division (12-hour Male Duo) and came in second overall behind a 4-person male team that had the fastest rider on the course. Not too shabby.

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The 12 Hours of Capitol Punishment was in Capitol Forest down by Olympia which is one of the best trail networks in the state of WA bar none. It's where I rode the Capitol Forest 100 exactly one month ago where I biffed pretty bad for three weeks after that fall I was not at all sure I would be able to do this race.

Each team had to volunteer for a race duty and so we picked helping with registration. That meant showing up at 6:30 AM so lucky for me Tony invited me to stay with him at his mother's house who happens to live about 15 miles from the Fall Creek trailhead. Nice. I showed up Friday for dinner and we talked, ate and drank wine. Perhaps I had a tad too much…? Whatever. I was not putting pressure on myself and really just wanted to have a good time on the trails.

In the morning we loaded up the van and headed out.

Just so you know, at this time of year in the woods at 6:30 it's still pretty dark…

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The promoter thought of everything. In case of rain there were tents and in case it got cold there were wood burning 'stoves' and in case you got tired there were chairs.

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Tony helped with registration and I directed cars in the parking area/pit row. Then it was time to get ready to ride,

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I volunteered to ride first.

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It seems like most of these endurance events start Le Mans style and this race was the same. We lined up down the road and when they said GO we had to run up through the transition zone, take a left on a trail, run back down some singletrack and then back up through the transition zone to grab our bike. This was all in an effort to spread out the field some before you get jammed up on the trails. And it worked.

Some guy in baggy shorts took off like a shot! You know the type, they can wax you in the 100 yard dash but anything longer and they explode - for some reason it is easy to recognize. I slotted in behind this tall guy that was running pretty fast and we were opening up a gap on the field before we even got to our bikes! On the way back up through the transition zone hot shot did indeed fade and I thought I was going to get the hole shot but that other guy clipped in faster and sprinted ahead of me. Still, 2nd place already? I was fired up!

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I recognized this trail from the Capitol Forest 100 (our start/finish was the first aid station for that race) and so I knew that we were in for a substantial climb pretty darn quick. Sure enough, after about one mile of speedy trail the road tipped up and stayed that way for at least three miles.

People whop have never tried it always ask what it's like to ride a single speed bike. The answer is you are almost always in the wrong gear but if the incline is just right or you are feeling super you can almost always leave geared bikes behind when climbing. That was the case on lap one. "On your left!" And just like that I was in 1st place.

No pressure, right? Ha! Nothing like being in the lead to make you go just that little bit harder… I tried to pace myself knowing that one all-out lap was going to be destructive and the team concept really makes you not want to let down your mate.

One good thing about 10-mile laps is I was able to travel ultra light. in addition the flat fixing essentials I carried one small bottle and one gel. Full stop. And truth be told, I think I sipped from that bottle maybe three times the entire race and I never ate while out on the course.

All the way around I kept worrying that I was going to get caught. I knew I had put a reasonable gap on the field after the climb but descending on my fully rigid bike with old injuries had me worried and I took it pretty cautiously. Plus, I wanted to re-familiarize myself with this trail.

I came flying into the transition zone fully spun out. There was no chip or 'baton' to pass off as we both had the same number and both had RFID chips in our number so all you had to do was ass slap, high-five or knuckle bump and your team was back in the race. Tony seemed pretty damn casual to me when he took off but I bit my tongue knowing there was still a long way to go and shouting, "GO, GO, GO! WE'RE IN THE FREAKING LEAD!" would have been 1) silly and 2) this was self-evident as he had been waiting for me and saw that I was the first rider to show up. Plus, I had managed to hold back some in spite of my excitement on that first lap and I did not want to amp Tony up so much that he would go too hard.

I quickly fell into a rhythm off the bike. First you shove food in your face and then you wash it down with sticky sports drinks and then you clean yourself up with plain water. Then I would hang my gloves, cap, helmet and jersey on my bike as they were all pretty soaked with sweat. At first I would just hang around in the transition area but later on in the race I walked back to the van (being here early meant we had a prime parking spot) and hit the folding chair and put my feet up. We figured (correctly) that our laps would be just under one hour and so with about 15 minutes left I would walk back to the bike rack, get dressed, maybe have one last drink or gel and wait camera in hand.

Here is Tony coming in after his first lap.

hand off

Two riders had passed him and first place from Team Crutch (as in the kind you use when your leg is broken) actually had a substantial (five minutes?) lead… I would be lying if I said I was not disappointed but we found out after they started posting lap times that this first place guy who passed Tony was absolutely on fire. His first lap was the fastest of the race so far and the next time he went out he trimmed a whole minute off his time. Yikes!

So I took off and just resolved to ride a steady tempo and hopefully reel at least one guy in. Lucky for me that happened really quick. Then I was in no-man's land for a long time. Just as I thought I was going to run out of climb there was the white jersey of Team Crutch just up the trail. I pushed a little harder and I passed him and he was kind enough to inform me that I was in the lead again.

ASIDE - everyone was so damn polite! I would ride up behind folks and give them warning that I was coming and they would always get out of the way as fast as they could. Some even asked me what side I would like to pass on. And then they would say something encouraging as I rode past. Very unlike a road race. It is one of the things that appeals to me about mountain biking for sure.

I was absolutely faster on the descent this time. Still, as I started the second section of downhill Team Crutch had pulled me back. I let him by right away; it was the least I could do after all since he had been so accommodating on the climb, and then did my best not let him get out of site. Thank goodness for me the trail leveled off some and got smoother so my rigid bike was not such a liability.

There is one little rise about .5 miles from the finish and when I saw it I knew I had a chance. I gunned it getting as much momentum as possible and as Team Crutch slowed to shift down I scampered by on the left. And drilled it! Somehow I got to the transition ahead of him in spite of the flat 200 m section of pit row just prior to hitting the finishing chicane. Boom, just like that Tony was back in first place. This was turning into a race!

Our glory was short lived unfortunately. The next time the Team Crutch Wunderkind got on his bike he put in the fastest lap of the entire race. And by fastest I mean SEVEN MINUTES FASTER than the next guy who I think was me. Rats. A seven minute gap on a 55 minute lap is not something that I am capably of making up. Still, I was loving the trail and in spite of two really steep pitches had been able to ride the whole thing for my first two laps so I was still charging on lap three.

A little too much it turns out… You know when you think you have the course dialed but you really don't? Exactly. I came around a corner expecting smooth trail and there was a substantial root staring me in the face and siting at a 45 degree angle. My efforts to lift the front wheel were fruitless as I was on the brakes pretty hard and the root pushed my front tire out with ease. Bang. Down I went on my left side and right on my left palm that I had inured one month ago. Why I stuck it out there is a mystery to me… I guess sometimes you just don't have time to plan out the ideal impact trajectory.

Right away my hand hurt. A lot. As I picked myself up and inspected my bike I was seriously bummed. Not only did I not want to hurt myself again and prolong the healing process but I wanted to finish this race and did not want to let Tony down. So I got back on my bike (which just like one month ago not display the slightest sign of the crash) and started to roll. Whew. Turns out my hand was not that badly hurt and it got better pretty darn quick actually. Just in time for the bumpy part of the descent.

Interestingly, I believe this third lap of mine was my fastest in spite of my get-off.

When I pulled into the transition zone and got Tony was on his way I checked out my hand.

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The only thing wrong was some skin peeling off in little spots where my soaking wet gloves were making it soft and my rigid bike was wearing it away. No big deal.

I took the time to look around. As usual, there are a huge variety of people and bikes at these events. There are those that try to go fast and wear Lycra (or 'your sister's underwear' as one Team Crutch member told me his blue collar friends call it) and there are plenty of baggy shorts. There is everything from the light weight carbon bike to the single speeds and then there is invariably something like this here.

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This thing had 8" of travel front and rear and both of the tires together probably weighed as much as my bike. Of course he probably had a lot of fun on the descents.

I got back to the transition area and waited. And waited. And waited. Uh oh… what was up? Team Crutch went ripping by and still I was waiting. Funny (read: interesting) how five minutes feels like 30 when you are in this kind of situation. Then Tony pulled up and it turns out he had been cramping up on his third lap. Not fun.

I took off and gave chase but by now the deck was stacked against us. The combo of Tony's cramps, the Team Crutch Wunderkind and their second fastest rider (who was my speed) going next and me starting to fade as well spelled doom for our overall victory hopes. I could tell I was going backwards when I hit the steepest pitch of the climb and barely managed to muscle my bike up and over. I was one nanosecond from yanking my foot out and walking but somehow made it. And that was the last time I rode that climb. what a brute!

By this time all the 6-hour riders had pretty much finished and so I encountered fewer people on the trail. And in spite of the fact that my climbing had slowed some my descending still was picking up. If I had to guess I'd say that my fourth lap was my best descent. I was finally learning the trail and really railing the burms on the descents. It was SO much fun. And the thrill of not touching your brakes around a corner because you know what is coming up is a big rush. BIG. I'm just glad that this time I really did know what was around the corners.

Team Crutch Uber Stud put in another blistering lap which he described as, "I was definitely backing off that time…" and in the process of backing off put another seven minutes into us. Short of a massive Team Crutch mechanical or a spectacular double flat the fat lady had sung.

When Tony pulled in after his fifth lap it was about 6:30 PM. The rules stipulated that anyone who started after 6 had to have their lights on.

Lights were one thing that had me worried…

All my lights 1) are ancient and 2) have not been used since last winter and 3) don't mount on your helmet. Ever tried to ride twisty singletrack with just a handlebar light? It sucks. The light is constantly pointing left when you are turning right, etc. I had charged my light all night at Tony's mother's house and was almost literally praying they would work. And that they would not slip on my bars as I bounced down the mountain.

Lucky for me I did not need them for the first half of my last lap. Don't get me wrong, it was pretty dark in the woods at times but my eyes adjusted okay and I did not have to push the button until I was descending and saw I was about to leave the clear-cut and enter the forest. I came to a stop, checked my mounts and turned on my lights. Oh yeah, you had to have a rear flasher too.

The first thing I noticed was that when it's really dark lights help a LOT. Then as I picked up speed I noticed that indeed my handlebar light did suck.

But you know what? It was really, really fun to ride in the dark. For sure I was going slower but instead of trying to go as fast as possible I was just trying to ride clean and incident-free which is a whole new kind of challenge. Course knowledge was incredibly useful here. There were spots in the descent where I knew that the drop-off on the left was bigger than on the right or that this particular corner had a root in the middle or that this corner was followed by a rocky stretch of trail and it saved my bacon.

The last climb before the finish was so fun. My lights were dancing back and forth as I rode out of the saddle and I had a huge smile on my face as I finally turned the corner and hit the gravel road back to the finish.

Then I handed off to Tony. And changed my clothes and practically ran back to the finish to get some beer and spaghetti. And potato chips. And then more spaghetti and potato chips. And finally more beer. When I caught site of the podium.

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How cool is that? Whereas I only finished my last lap in the dark Tony had to start his last lap in the dark. And when I say dark I mean lock-yourself-in-the-bathroom-and-stuff-towels-under-the-door-to-seal-the-crack dark. The race village was alive with the hum of generators and the blazing beams of spotlights and I bet Tony could see none of it 100 m up the trail. I was really hoping he would be careful so that we could stand on this outrageous podium.

Luckily he was. And he had a lot of fun doing it! He said that slowing down because of the dark meant his cramps stayed in remission and he had a really good time. Awesome.

As I was hanging out stuffing my face the winner of the solo 12-hour category pulled in. He managed to ride 10 laps for 100 total miles in just over 11 hours. Right on. Then Team Crutch pulled in and I went over to congratulate them. Ringer or not, they rode really well. And then Tony showed up with that same big smile on his face. All was right with the world.

If you take a close look at this picture of us on the podium with the second place team in our division you will notice a band around my right leg just above the ankle.

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As I was getting changed before the start of the race I banged my leg into some super sharp part of one of my van doors and it removed a surprisingly big chunk of skin. It didn't hurt that much but then when I looked down blood was running into my sock… I was thinking this was not such an auspicious beginning to our race but had a Band-Aid so put it on and started riding. Of course my sweat floated the plastic bandage right off my leg so I went to first aid tent and asked the guy for a fabric bandage. That lasted about half a lap. The next time he put this wrap that only sticks to itself around the bandage and that stayed on until I hit the showers. Nice.

On my second (third?) lap I caught and passed this guy on a 29er single speed bike. Then the trail tipped in his favor and he chased me down and proceeded to put on a cornering clinic. I was trying my best to hang with him and this was when I realized that you really need to ride way up on the berms to take the fastest line. Pretty fun when you can feel your tires squishing as you compress them zooming around corner after corner. After four laps I saw him limping out of the forest going the wrong way back to the start… perhaps he pushed it a little too far?

After my third lap I went to stretch my quad and felt my hamstring cramp! It was then that I realized I had not been taking any Endurolytes. Right away I gulped three, chased them with three Ibuprofen and with this routine the problem went away for the rest of the race.

In one of the clear-cut descents there is a mound of dirt that I described in my Capitol Forest 100 post. At the base is a sign that says, "Hard Way" and another that says, "Easy Way" The hard way is up and over the mound and the easy way is around. During both of my laps in the Capitol Forest 100 and during my first three laps in this race I took the easy way. When I had such a tough time climbing that one steep pitch during my fourth lap I wanted to do something to redeem myself and so took the hard way. You know what? It's not that hard. And it's more fun! I did that on lap five and six as well. Even as it was getting pretty dark. Good times.

Huge thanks to the promoter and Friends of Capitol Forest for all the support, trail maintenance and a smoothly run event. And congratulations to Team Crutch on a fantastic win and to Tony for asking me if I would like to do this race in the first place. And to everyone that entered and finished!

If you look at my GPS file below you will notice that as the race wore on I got too tired to remember to hit the lap button so my last lap is really three laps… And as usual, the GPS does not seem very accurate when trying to record distance on super twisty trail and comes up a little short.

There are no official results posted yet but I believe these stats are accurate:

  • Team Crutch and us were the only two teams to get in 12 laps.
  • Team crutch had the fastest lap and we had the second fastest.

Here are all the pictures.

 

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 5:30 AM - 4 pieces toast w/peanut butter, 3 eggs, almond milk, water, grapes
Lunch  
Dinner 8:00 PM - 2 beers, 2 plates of spaghetti, lots of potato chips, water, Nuun
Workout Food 30 minutes before start - gel
race - lots of Hammer Gel, LARABARs, HEED, Nuun, bananas, mini Ritz Cracker peanut butter sandwiches, orange slices, peanut butter sandwich, 8 Endurolytes, 7 Ibuprofen, water
Injuries - Fell on my left wrist/palm again but it seems okay.
- In the same fall I also apparently hurt my ribs on my left side as it was a little hard to breath deep and sleep following my accident.
Therapy  
Time of Day 9:00 AM
Workout Type  
Weather mid 70s, mostly sunny, dry, muggy, calm
Course  
Results 12-hour Male Duo - 1st
12-hour Overall - 2nd
official 12-hour overall results
official overall by division results
Time about 11:30
Distance 60 miles each
Pace  
Equipment Mountain Bike
Hutchinson Python 26x2.0, 30 PSI
Clothing bib shorts, sleeveless undershirt, short sleeve jersey, full finger gloves, cap

22 September 2011

core | commute

I stayed up late watching a movie and this morning the alarm shocked me out of bed. What surprised me is how quickly I got up… my body must be trained to rise when the alarm sounds.

At the gym I managed to complete my abbreviated core routine and the ride to work was pretty cool. Not cool as in cold but rather it was just the slightest bit damp yet warm and not wet. Fall is coming! And so far I like it. Ask me again in about 30 days and I will be bitching and moaning.

Sleep 5
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
Workout Type active recovery or something like that…
Weather  
Course
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 90
twister machine 50 each side - 80 lb.
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
Results  
Time  
Distance 12 miles
Pace  
Equipment Town Bike
Clothing  

21 September 2011

run | commute

Tried to get in some stretching before my run today… man did I need it.

Once again I met my friend Thom W on the treadmill for our Wednesday run. That stretching really helped so I started out at a speed that is sorta fast for me and increased it from there. Nice.

The last couple of minutes did get me breathing pretty darn hard but it also felt good. Now I just need to lengthen the time I can sustain this and also try and go a little faster. More and more basically.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:15 AM
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course run - treadmill, 1% incline
Results  
Time run - 30 min
Distance run - 4.2 miles
commute - 9 miles
Pace run - 5 min at 7:03 min/mile, 20 min at 6:58 min/mile, 1 min at 6:53, 1 at 6:48, 1 at 6:43 and 1 at 6:38
Equipment run - Brooks Defyance
commute - Town Bike
Clothing  

20 September 2011

core | commute | stairs

Got to the gym, rode my bike to work and then wham… a super stressful day at the office. Not fun.

I was so wound up I rode home in the saddle all the way which is not that easy on my town bike. I guess I was looking for some way to blow off steam and this kinda did that.

When I got home Shelley said, "Want to hit the stairs?" and I was like, "Uh… okay." Man am I glad we did. I met a friend there and we were going just about as fast as you can and still call it walking. And talking the whole time! Nice.

Thanks to Shelley for getting me out there and to Martin for pushing me when I would otherwise have languished.

As another bonus NONE of my injuries bothered me on the stairs today. I can still feel my left hand/wrist when I ride the bike big time but stairs are okay. That's something anyway.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food gym and commute - water
stairs - Nuun
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
stairs - 6:15 PM
Workout Type  
Weather 70, mostly sunny, dry, calm
Course
plank  
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 90
twister machine 50 each side - 80 lb.
push-ups  
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
stairs - Howe Street
Results  
Time stairs - 30:30
Distance commute - 9 miles
stairs - 10 flights? I lost count from all the talking but we were moving!
Pace  
Equipment commute - Town Bike
stairs - Brooks Defyance
Clothing  

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19 September 2011

core | commute

Yes, I'm not wicked sore from yesterday's run so that is a very good thing. That's including my right foot, left hand and right shoulder.

Got to the gym and did my somewhat abbreviated core workout and rode my bike to and form work.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather mid 60s, dry, mostly sunny, calm
Course
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 80
twister machine 40 each side - 70 lb.
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
Results  
Time  
Distance commute - 9 miles
Pace  
Equipment Town Bike
Clothing  

18 September 2011

run

Time to up the mileage. A little anyway.

Discovery Park is a fantastic playground. There are several trails and if you tie a few together you can do a pretty reasonable run without too much repetition. There are also some serious hills if you want and the views are really great so you do not get bored. Plus it's trails! Hello, the road is boring.

After my ride yesterday Justin A said he might go out for the standard 10 mile loop on Cougar that usually takes me about 1:30 when I'm fit and in an impulsive moment I asked if I could tag along. All I can say is good thing that did not work out.

Wow. This was not as easy as I thought it would be.

I started mellow and just enjoyed the damp fall feeling as it was an awesome morning. There were rabbits hanging out in the parking lot (my car was only the third vehicle to show up today) and there were slugs and snakes on the trail and water dripping off the trees. And it wasn't cold! This is the kind of fall that I love.

I cruised around the park and only met two other people on my first lap. It went okay but every little climb (and they really were little on the Loop Trail) slowed me down some. I also was not able to flow on the descents and felt like I was constantly putting on the brakes with every footfall. Sometimes when you can flow on the descents it's almost like coasting on a bike. Almost. That was not happening at all today.

It was warm! Much warmer than I thought it would be and as I got close to the car after lap one I contemplated taking one shirt off but then figured I did not want to stop and I was not sweating that much so ran past the parking lot and carried on.

As I started out on lap number two suddenly the trail was full of people. I noticed that there were about 20 vehicles in the parking lot as I ran through and then I was passing folks and they were passing me walking and running in the other direction.

The descents were feeling a tiny bit better but the climbs were still somewhat of a slog. I finally resigned myself to just 'jog' this out and instead made a goal of simply not stopping running even on the big climb.

I peeled off the Loop Trail and headed down toward the stairs that descend to the north end of the beach. The wood steps were massively treacherous and I did pretty much walk here… In spite of being really careful I almost wiped out once on a slick, muddy spot.

Cruising along the beach trail at the bottom I of course had flash backs to going the other way in all the outdoor exercise classes I participated in with adventX.

As I neared the lighthouse I started to notice something slapping my left ankle and when I looked down it was the laces of my right shoe. This morning I had discovered that my shoes have one extra set of holes way up near the top and had decided to use them. It felt good but it also made the laces shorter and I no longer had enough slack to tie a double knot. Oh well, it only took a second to fix and I was off. As I rounded the corner at the lighthouse I hit a big headwind and suddenly got worried about the climb.

As you leave the beach the trail tips up right away. From here I would guess that it's a solid 3/4 mile to the top? With a ton of stairs.

There was a young couple a few feet in front of me and that helped for a brief moment as it was like a carrot. As I got close to the woman who was in back I said, "Excuse me." and she almost jumped! When I ran past she said, "I thought you were a bear!" C'mon… really? That made me smile and distracted me from my effort for about 10 seconds. Then I got to another set of stairs.

Boy, I had to take all these steps one at a time. But I did not walk! As I neared the top I knew I would make it and it felt pretty good. I was breathing hard but not that all-out, rasping, my wind pipe is 2 mm in diameter kind of breathing. Whew.

From here I rolled it in back to the car and after a bit I think I even got back up to the speed I was going at the beginning so not bad.

When I arrived at the parking lot I took a good walk to cool down and to keep the muscles loose. And my foot felt great! My left hand and right shoulder were a tiny bit sore just from swinging my arms and from carrying the bottle but no biggie.

I'm pretty certain that MapMyRide is coming up a tad short. Many of the trails I ran are not visible in the user interface so I had to guess where they went. But whatever, I had a good time in spite of this being kinda hard. The bonus is I am not sore after and am looking forward to more.

Sleep 7?
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 5:15 AM - 2 bananas
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food drive to park - Nuun
run - water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 7:30 AM
Workout Type LSD
Weather mid to upper 50s, damp ground, overcast sky, no rain, some wind
Course counter-clockwise around the upper loop trail and then a bigger loop with the climb from the lighthouse
Results  
Time 1:01:27
Distance 7.5 miles?
Pace 8:12 (assuming my mileage is correct)
8:32 if the MapMyRide distance is correct
Equipment Brooks Cascadia, hand-held bottle
Clothing shorts, short sleeve active T, long sleeve active T

17 September 2011

ride

Have I mentioned that I love my single speed road bike? Well I do.

It's so simple, so fun to ride, so low maintenance and such a huge mental break. You might not think that shifting causes mental stress but it does. Because I say so.

Today I got out with Justin A (teammate) and Neal G (teammate and sponsor) and we had a good time chatting and catching up. We also got lucky with the weather as our ride corresponded exactly with the dry part of the day. As we pulled in to the finish the rain drops started. Gotta love that.

Our pace was supposed to be moderate and I guess it sorta was but we covered that ground pretty fast and did not lollygag at all. It also was not too cold even though the seasons are definitely changing. I had a great time. As is evidenced by my expression.

CIMG7879

Here are all the pictures. Yep, Martin had to bring his camera. It was a social ride after all.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food 2 small bottles each w/1 tablet Nuun, gel, LARABAR
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 8:00 AM
Workout Type fun ride
Weather upper 50s, mostly overcast, light breeze, dry
Course  
Results  
Time 2:25
Distance 42 miles
Pace 18 mph
Equipment Single Speed Bike
Clothing bib shorts, Craft short sleeve undershirt, short sleeve jersey, arm warmers, cap

16 September 2011

core | commute

I'm still not able to do anything other than my abbreviated core routine but I guess I need to keep reminding myself that I should be happy I'm not in a cast. Still, I am surprised at how now well I handle being injured. Two words: big baby.

We had out annual retreat for work today and it was up at the Daybreak Star Center in Discovery Park so naturally since this is my favorite commute route home I rode my bike there.

What a great morning! And yes, it was a great ride home after.

Sleep 5
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather mid 60s, sunny, dry, light wind
Course
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 80
twisters (machine) 40 each side - 70 lb.
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
Results  
Time  
Distance 15 miles
Pace  
Equipment Town Bike
Clothing  

15 September 2011

one thing definitely leads to another

Funny how an innocent conversation can snowball into something big. And by 'big' I of course mean Martin buying more electronic gadgets and crap.

First some history. I have a lot of computers in our basement. They are ALL really old and they use a lot of electricity.

Almost a year ago I was talking to a friend about virtualization. We both work in IT (in the same office actually) and as virtualization was blowing up we were both saying how it would be great if we had an environment at home that we could play with.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and said friend is helping me shop for hardware to do just that.

We started looking seriously when I saw this article here in Maximum PC:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/build_it_340_ultra-budget_box

Talk about low budget! And this computer is still very capable. And it's relatively energy efficient. If you go with a less expensive case and add as much RAM as possible (16 GB without spending the bank on the motherboard) you end up with a perfectly fine, 64-bit, quad-core computer that can host up to seven virtual machines.

Add another identical computer and you have redundancy and the ability to fail them all over to perform hardware maintenance, etc.

But what about storage? You don't want to store the VMs on the physical computer that is hosting them because that 1) makes the virtual host more expensive and 2) makes your environment less redundant. The solution which was proposed by my friend was to get this.

Iomega StorCenter ix2-200 Cloud Edition

ix2_200_out_large

In case you did not know, Iomega was purchased by EMC and so this baby is certified for just about every kind of storage and protocol you can think of. Including all the features that come with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 which is what I will be using.

The ix2-200 has two drive bays and I will put 1 TB drives in each running RAID 1 (more redundancy!). Since I'm trying to go green the power saving features were really attractive and the street price is just $200.

The coolest thing is that for under $1,000 total cost (including tax and shipping) I will be able to swap six inefficient machines (some of which are not 64-bit compatible) for two efficient ones, upgrade all my servers to the latest versions of Windows (which requires 64-bit compatible hardware), save a lot of electricity and ditch a ton of clutter and associated hardware (KVM, extra monitor, etc.).

Can you say 'project'…? Oh yes. I'm looking forward to this one.

14 September 2011

core | run

Friends are good!

Friends keep you company when you exercise. Friends help you keep going when you would otherwise hit the couch with a Costco-sized bag of chips and some of those 20+ oz. bottles of sweet, sweet Belgium beer you can get at every corner store nowadays.

This morning that friend was Thom W and we went running together.

Thanks Thom.

I wore my road shoes pain-free today for the first time since my tumble. That's a plus. On the down side my left hand and right shoulder ached some while swinging my arms.

Sleep 5
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries Left hand hurt a little just from swinging my arm!
Therapy  
Time of Day 5:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 80
run - treadmill, 1% incline, 25 min at 8.5 mph (7:03 min/mile), 5 min at 8.6 mph (6:58 min/mile)
Results  
Time run - 30 min
Distance run - 4.2 miles
Pace  
Equipment  
Clothing Brooks Defyance

I am a winner!

Winning is fun!

It also makes you (read: me) feel special.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Plus, said person will invariably not be a winner (loser?) and so what do they know.

A few days ago I won something for the first time in ages and it was awesome.

CIMG7869

So I know this guy, Sam Johnson.

Sam races his bicycle. He's good enough that he got to ride for the elite amateur team Hagens Berman. Then he got called up to ride for the professional cycling Team Exergy. He was also, probably as a result,  written up in the Seattle PI Velocity blog. And of course he likes to blog.

Not all bloggers are good reading but Sam's style (including stories from Krogg's perspective) appealed to me so I started following his posts. After a while he began having giveaways. I would enter each time but luck was not with me. Still, it was pretty exciting to enter his latest giveaway contest for A FRIGGIN' EXERGY JERSEY!

And guess what? I won! Nice.

Yesterday my prize showed up in the mail. I was expecting a small box or similar but I guess when you are a pro you wear your cycling clothes a little tighter than the average guy and so your jersey fits into a water bottle… After peeling off the tape and address labels I noticed that the bottle was an Exergy team bottle. Bonus.

CIMG7871

When I opened the bottle it was like one of those Jack in the Box toys and stuff was spilling out all over the place.

CIMG7872

I now have enough Ride The Wind rubber bracelets to outfit my entire family. Twice. And two super cool anodized aluminum top caps to install on my bikes. Throw in the innovative shipping container that Sam used and I would have been totally satisfied but no, there was more.

I hadn't even gotten to the jersey yet…! How small was this thing? I could not wait to find out.

CIMG7873

And finally there it was; a real honest-to-goodness pro team jersey. My first by the way.

CIMG7874

In case you can't read the text (I asked to have it signed) it says, "Martin, swing the axe. Love Krogg."

I will Krogg. It might be a very moderately-sized hatchet compared to yours but and I will think if you each time.

13 September 2011

core | commute

After pretty much destroying my back yesterday (and not being very regular about my core exercises in general) it felt good to get back into the gym. And by 'good' I of course mean it felt good when I was done.

Today my left hand hurt too much to do twisters the way I like to so I used a fancy/expensive machine instead. Good thing I belong to a gym.

Sleep 4
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries left palm
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
Workout Type recovery
Weather upper 60s, mostly overcast, dry, fairly calm
Course
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
twisters (machine) 40 each side - 70 lb.
leg scissors 80
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
Results  
Time  
Distance 12 miles
Pace  
Equipment Town Bike
Clothing  

11 September 2011

High Pass Challenge

Clocks are magic.

Without clocks sporting events are casual, fun and you can talk while participating. Throw a clock into the mix and suddenly people are shooting for a PR, racing their friends, trying to keep up with others they have no business trying to keep up with and basically hauling ass.

The organizers of the Cascade Bicycle Club High Pass Challenge proudly advertised the presence of a clock so you can probably guess what happened.

Still, this was a ride I had wanted to do for ages and this year there was finally no conflict in my schedule AND a friend was signed up so off to the 'races' I went.

Truth be told, I am not immune to the competitive spirit that a clock infuses into timed rides. The email conversation that my friend John P and I had prior to the ride went something like this.

John: "Yes, we should carpool.  It looks like it is about 2.5 hours to Packwood for a 7-8 AM start-line.  Leave your house at 4:45?"

Martin: "Is 4:30 okay?  I hear some people 'race' this because it's timed and it might be nice to get in a fast group... :)"

John: "Okay......4:30....are you sure you don't want me to see if the condo at Crystal is available Saturday night?"

Martin: "I know it's early but I don't want to be gone from home that long.  It's only 15 minutes... :)"

One word: predictable. A few more: Martin-has-not-trained-in-ages-and-pretty-much-had-to-stop-riding-two-weeks-ago-after-his-accident-and-isn't-riding-much-anyway-so-what-is-he-thinking. That's rhetorical of course as we all know that Martin was NOT thinking and was instead experiencing the peak of a competitive fever hot flash.

So we meet at my house at 4:30, load up the van and drive down over Cayuse Pass and into Packwood where this ride started.

I guess in the back of my mind I really wanted to make that 7:00 AM start. But we had to get gas and it's a long way and so I was trying to be cool with missing it but the closer we got to Packwood the more it looked like we were actually going to arrive in time and the more excited I got. We pulled into the event parking lot at 6:40 and I immediately noticed two things.

  1. There were already a TON of people lined up behind the start line rearing to go.
  2. The parking lot was pretty full.

As luck would have it I spotted a slot not far from the start or the toilets and so we blasted in, pulled our bikes out, pinned our numbers and changed clothes. By the time I get my tires pumped up and roll away from the van it's about 6:50 and I have to piss like a race horse. Or a guy that has been trying to hydrate prior to a long, hot ride; take your pick.

I hear they are handing out RFID timing chips so I grab one and then get in line at the porta-potty. When I am number eight in line the announcer comes on the PA and says, "Eight minutes to go!" Holy cow! They are actually going to start this thing on time… When I am number five in line the announcer let's us all know that it is now 6:55 and when I am number two in line I hear it's 6:58 and I am sweating. Not just because we might miss the start but also because I am doing the wee wee dance big time.

Did I mention that I still can't see John? He took off to go to the bathroom but got in some other line. Yikes.

No lie - with one minute to go (I think they announced that too) I see John. I wave to him and yell at him so he sees me and ask him to lock the van and then it's my turn to use the toilet.

Let's just say I was fast.

I exit the booth, grab my bike and John and I pull onto the starting road about 80 riders back from the front. They sound the 'gun' and we're off.

I had no idea what to expect but I heard the start is animated so right away I am picking my way through riders and moving up in the pack. It was that 'racer's instinct' kicking in I guess. We are not 200 m down the road when I can finally see that there are about 20 riders off the front and they have a gap! Crap. I check to see that John is behind me (which of course he is as he used to race) and we take off.

I had to go 29 mph for at least .5 miles to catch up. Nice warm-up. Not.

As I latch onto a wheel I am breathing pretty damn hard. Eventually I relax and look around and see another good friend Paul M who 'won' this thing last year so I feel I made the right decision and settle in.

The next 20 miles are a little tense… Our pack is going about 26-29 mph but soon we get caught by a larger group. With bike handling skills all over the board I am really trying to pay attention and not draft too close and also to stay relatively near the front so I don't get gapped off and needlessly have to expend energy or get caught up in some horrendous wreck. In spite of my best efforts I have to close two small gaps but the group keeps re-forming and surging and it's not what you would call safe. :)

ASIDE - I am continually amazed by some people that will go to the front and absolutely slay themselves at the start of rides like this in spite of the fact that we have a hard climb coming up very fast and then a 20 mile climb soon after…?! What are they thinking? This race fever is obviously running rampant.

Paul and I talk while we ride and he tells me about a 1-mile climb coming up that is relatively steep and that I should get up near the front of the pack when we turn left off of the highway. It's easy to do this and it was great advice as some guy in a Raleigh jersey hits the front in the big chainring and proceeds to absolutely shred the bunch. At the bottom we were at least 80 strong and by the top we're down to about 13. Thank good ness John and Paul are right there.

As the hill levels off some our pace relaxes a bit as well and soon about 10 more people catch up to us. But then the road tips up again. This same Raleigh jersey guy goes to the front and one-by-one people pop until we are down to seven. I look around and see 1) a young kid in a Hagens Berman kit and carbon tubular wheels, 2) Brian E (longtime local strongman), 3) some ripped guy with very subtle world championship rainbow stripes on his socks, 4) this dude with a CamelBak, 5) Raleigh guy, 6) someone in an orange jersey and then there is me.

Ouch.

My friend John is gone. Paul is gone. I am at my limit wondering if this is such a smart place to try and hang out. It also occurs to me that John and I never agreed if we were going to ride together or what so I am feeling pretty ass-holish to boot. Does it make me slow down? Nope. I justified it to myself this way.

  • I probably won't last all the way.
  • I'll just see if I can make it to the top of Windy Ridge.
  • When I get shelled I'll pull over and wait for John.

And just like that I decided to keep going.

As it turned out, our pace dipped again and a group of about six caught us and John was one of them. This gave me the chance to ask what he wanted to do, admit that I was being a self-centered ass and should we ride together. To this John said I was free to go ahead and gave me his blessing. For some reason not having any excuses to slow down put even more pressure on me…

As we climbed I think Raleigh jersey guy did 99% of the work. Literally. And at least 70% of the time he was in the big ring. Unreal. I recall turning to the Hagens kid at one point and gasping, "That guy sure is strong, eh…?" He concurred. At one point orange jersey guy simply pulled out of the line and went backwards. I never saw him again.

The pace did slow. Thank god. Finally I was able to talk while riding although I saved my breath. And Raleigh jersey guy did shift to the small chainring on the steeper sections. Still, his cadence was about half of mine! Most of this climb found me in my lowest gear and this guy is alternating between his big ring and the small ring while in the middle of his cassette.

I had been doing my best to eat and drink. Unfortunately I had tried to take a bite of a bar at the base of the first hill and almost choked to death because my gasping for air caused me to inhale some food. I was also drinking from my liquid food bottles and at one point when the pace eased slightly I actually managed to suck down a caffeinated gel while on the climb. Still, I could tell I was on the edge. It was the strangest feeling; one speed was just manageable and anything higher would put me in the red and I knew I only had seconds before blowing. Luckily these red sections were few and far enough between that I could cling to the group.

During one of those lulls in the pace I casually asked Raleigh jersey if he would mind pulling over at the next food stop so we all could get water. You know, not like I was tired or anything… I was just thirsty. He was like, "Sure, no problem!" so now I had a goal. Last to the next aid station.

As we neared the aid station at 46 miles (the one I dearly wanted to pull over at) rainbow socks gets out of the saddle and surges. I mean this was a major acceleration! I came this close to saying something and then thought better to keep my mouth shut. I mean people should be able to do what they want, right? Still, I was just coming off the back as we rolled by the turnout to the aid station and so instead I just gasped. "Can we stop here?"

Brian said, "How about we pull over on the way back." Full stop. Of course Raleigh jersey agreed and the pace picked back up. By now I could tell I was totally cooked and it was just a matter of time.

Just so you know, there are a LOT of rollers in the last 5-10 miles of this ride before you get to the turnaround at Windy Ridge. I would just barely get tailed off the back (it was so subtle that some people might not have recognized it as such) on the climbs and then catch back on and roll through the group to the front on the descents (just so I could start the next climb with a head start) totally faking it. When we got to the parking lot we did the loop and I asked if they would wait so I could use the toilet. Raleigh jersey said there was no water and to be 'fast' so Brian and I ran in, did our thing and ran out. There was just one person (rainbow socks) in the parking lot. Damn.

As we got on our bikes and raced up the road I could feel myself coming apart. Then we could see a pair of riders up in the distance and I flat out told Brian I would not be able to bridge that gap and he proceeded to ride away from me.

Right about this time I saw John heading the other direction. He smiled and I waved. All show. Other people were incredibly encouraging! They would shout out what the gap was between me and the leaders (as if I could do anything about it) and tell us we were doing great, etc. It was kinda cool.

Rainbow socks and I sorta rode together and sorta did not. He seemed to do his own thing pretty much all the time and was obviously a stronger climber than me but on each roller/descent I would pass him and then keep on going across the flatter transitions and when the road tipped up he was right on my wheel and then would slowly ride away from me again. Impressive but it did not help me any.

As I pulled into the aid station we saw at mile 46 (so this would be at about mile 66?) I could see that everyone from my original group had pulled in as well. Whew. I quickly filled both of my bottles and looked around for something to eat as I half expected there would be no more stops if I stayed with this bunch. NOTHING was appealing to me which is a sure sign that I have been going hard and my stomach is in a bit of turmoil… In the end as I saw guys rolling out I grabbed two small bananas in desperation and sprinted after them.

Dave D (Events Director at Cascade Bicycle Club) was at this aid station and wished me luck. I believe his exact words were, "Careful on the descent, And you better catch Brian before the flats…!" Thanks Dave. Thanks a bunch. Did I mention that Brian was sporting some cute, little carbon fiber clip-on TT bars? Oh yes.

Although I managed to catch back on to the lead group which had re-formed after this food stop it was a very short-lived joy. On the fist climb I was off, caught back on during the descent and then the next climb shelled me for good. Bu-bye. At some point during this section of the ride a rider going the other way yelled at us that we were only 30 seconds behind the leader. We all looked at each other and then it dawned on us… CamelBak guy was up the road as he had never stopped. Nice move.

Whew. In a way it was a big relief. I had really been pushing myself hard and honestly was not sure how I had lasted this long. Somehow I had achieved my goal of lasting to the half way point and so now I throttled it back, tried to get my stomach to calm down and once I got on the descent I enjoyed the hell out of it. What a freaking fantastic descent that was!

The road has all these signed 20 mph corners but once you go through one you realize that you don't need your brakes at all and can easily take them at 40. They were banked just a little and really well designed. Needless to say I had a huge smile plastered to me face for the next 30 minutes.

As I rolled up to the next water stop I figured it would be the perfect spot to wait for John so I filled my bottles, ate another banana and proceeded to hang out by the side of the road. Not 10 minutes later John pulls up and after he has a chance to re-stock too we roll out. And there was still more great descent to come! This road is absolutely brilliant.

It's not perfect of course meaning there are some dips and cracks and one corner that got washed out and has an interim wood bridge with gaps between the planks but overall it's excellent and I had a super time. After much extoling of how awesome this road was John and I pulled into the last aid station.

From here it's 10-15 miles of incredibly scenic road. It climbs a little again which was not so welcome at this point but the forest is amazing. All the trees are draped with moss, there are ferns everywhere and it just feels and smells like old growth. At one point we rode past a campsite and some guy in full camo had a huge animal (deer?) strung up from a tree and was butchering the carcass. I wish I'd had my camera…

By now I was torched. And John was doing just fine. Kinda serves me right for ditching him in my vein attempt at glory I suppose. Not only was I holding cramps at bay but my back was blowing up big time. There was a bit of respite as we descended back to the highway but then it was pure slog back to the start/finish. There was a slight tailwind and we were able to maintain something around 23 mph but ouch. I had to beg John to stop THREE TIMES so I could get off my bike and stretch my back. That's three times in 10 miles. Not fun. John pulled most of this last section and I am very grateful for that.

As we pulled into the finish Paul and Raleigh jersey were sitting in the grass. Raleigh jersey looked amazingly fresh and had already changed his clothes. Turns out there was a sprinkler behind the parking lot and so John and I immediately stripped down to our cycling shorts and took a 'shower'. Oh man did that feel good. And cold.

They really take care of you on this ride. The food throughout is excellent, there is a lot of it and then at the finish you are treated to schwag (the by now ubiquitous cycling event pint glass) and they had a grill going that was serving several different kinds of sausage, grilled onions and FREE BEER. That's right; multiple giant coolers full of various kinds of New Belgium goodness. My current favorite is the Ranger IPA which they had in cool looking cans.

In my depleted state I knew one beer was all I could handle so luckily hey also had sparkling water. Of which I had three bottles. And one for the road. It had been a hot day.

This ride is SO scenic. Windy Ridge is - in my humble opinion - much more beautiful than the Johnston Ridge route. You see Spirit Lake, you are in the blast zone and the climb and descent are definitely more fun to ride. WAY more fun.

Turns out both John and I ended up in the top 10! I heard that two guys from the lead bunch did not stop at the last aid station and instead blew by the way the ride had come up the mountain. The only problem was the route went the other way and they shortened the distance by about 10 miles. That spells DQ. What a bummer. It also turns out that Raleigh jersey's name is Tyler and that he used to race on First Rate Mortgage and he obviously has not lost much since.

I'm really happy I was able to hang as long as I did, I'm really happy John gave me his blessing to go up the road and I'm really happy that we connected again to finish together. It would have been awful to ride those last 30 (especially the last 15!) miles alone.

Congratulation to Tyler who was the first finisher and to Paul who did ride solo for at least the last 30 miles and still finished ahead of us.

Some days my back cooperates more than others and this was just not one of those days. But in retrospect I still loved being out there. That is some inspiring scenery. And on the upside my foot, hand and shoulder (all the things I injured when I fell off my mountain bike two weeks ago) were not a problem! Oh yeah, and I think I set a personal record for least time off the bike on a ride like this. 17 minutes total?! And that includes waiting for John.

Sleep 5
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food 2 large bottles each w/3 scoops Perpetuem, 3 large bottles w/Nuun, 3 small bananas, 2 Fig Newtons, 2 gels, sample size Clif Bar
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 7:00 AM
Workout Type  
Weather mid 50s at the start, mid 80s at the finish, sunny, dry, light wind
Course  
Results  
Time 5:50
Distance 112 miles
Pace 20 mph
Equipment Road Bike
Neuvation wheels
39/53, 12-25
Clothing bib shorts, sleeveless undershirt, short sleeve jersey, arm warmers, wind vest, cap

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