Cranking it Up!
After finishing the Chilly Hilly bike ride on my Redline 925 (fixie) I decided that my 42/14 gearing just wasn’t a big enough gear. I was getting tired of having to pedal at 150rpms to go down hill at 26mph, and frankly I just didn’t feel like I was getting enough of a strength workout with the standard gear ratio. So I embarked on another one of my it’ll only cost $5 if I use recycled parts projects… remember the handlebars?
So, here’s what it took to swap out my 42T chain ring with a bigger gear…
Filed under: Cycle, Fitness, Ironman, bike maintenance, exercise, fixed gear, fixie, single-speed, triathlon
|
Digg! this story.
|
Leave a Comment
Week 12 Report
Ok, last week was a really meager effort in blogging…. cue sappy violin music… excuses, excuse… now, onward. No more feeling sorry for myself. Hey, it was a busy week. But I got all my training in, and for the most part I’m happy with my results. Good news is, I actually have got this posted by Monday as opposed to dragging it out until later in the week. More good news is that this week is a recovery week, which is good, because I need the extra time for work.
High level summary of what I learned about myself in week 12. Well, when the going gets tough, I gravitate toward what I like. Notice the giant blue pac-man shape eating the rest of my disciplines in the picture to the left. That would be cycling… my true joy, and oh yes… that’s where I go when things are hard… that would be my happy place. 
I’ve written in the past about how amazing triathlon is as a sport with subtleties and strategic complexity… (certainly compared to other endurance sports). I am most intrigued by the idea that different athletes have different strengths and they can tailor their race strategy around their strengths. For me… I am really happy that bike comes right after the swim, and is the longest. Why? Because I can tell myself throughout the swim, “Hey, as soon as you’re done here, you get to ride your bike!” and when I get out of the water, no matter how exhausted I am, I hit T1 and am jazzed that my race is “about to get going!”… Did I mention how much I love to ride my bike?
Anyway, this turned into a bike week… here are the details:
Filed under: Cycle, Diet, Fitness, Flexibility, Ironman, Marathons, Run, Strength Training, Stretching, Swim, Weightloss, bike maintenance, blogging, exercise, fixed gear, fixie, food, single-speed, sports injuries, triathlon
|
Digg! this story.
|
Leave a Comment
What are all these GEARS for?!
Yep, this weekend I went back to a bike with gears… it’s the first time I’ve used gears since last October, and frankly… it’s weird shit man! What am I supposed to do with all these things? And not having to pedal as I slow down? Being able to actually stop spinning my legs? What a strange sensation?
Filed under: Cycle, Daughters, Fitness, Friends, Ironman, Living Seattle, Marathons, Run, bike maintenance, cooking, exercise, fixed gear, fixie, single-speed, triathlon
|
Digg! this story.
|
Leave a Comment
Week 7 Report
Week 7 Complete - This was a big week jumping to 14.5 hours of workouts. This isn’t the most exercise I’ve ever done in a week, as I had several 16+ hour weeks last year, but this is definitely a lot for this early in the season. The good news is that I am being particularly aware of trying to keep in a nice low to mid effort base zone, so although the hours are long they aren’t particularly hard.
I had to pile up the hours on the weekend again because I was so busy during the week with work. Next week looks to be a similar challenge as we are doing a mini-vacation to Victoria BC for Mon-Wed. Although my wife made sure the hotel has a pool and fitness center, I am sure that it will be difficult (read: impossible) to put in 2:22 of exercise per day. This weekend is the Chilly Hilly, the first “organized” ride of the year around here. It will be fun to catch up with some of my buddies from the cycling community. But more on that next week.
Here are the details for this week…
Filed under: Cycle, Diet, Fitness, Flexibility, Ironman, Marathons, Run, Strength Training, Stretching, Swim, Weightloss, bike maintenance, fixed gear, fixie, single-speed, sports injuries, triathlon
|
Digg! this story.
|
Leave a Comment
Week 4 Report
Week 4 Down… This week was definitely random, but I got in some solid base work on all three disciplines. I fell off my process goals for strength training and swimming ever so slightly, but I’m not going to let that distract me. I am going refocus my efforts for next week as I continue to find a workable model for family, work, training, blogging, and play. I definitely want to make a goal for next week to find some more structure; but looking ahead to the schedule I can already tell that’s going to be hard.
As for training goals: I am continuing to progress on integrating strength training into my regular routine. I didn’t do a formal strength training every day this week. Friday I helped move and setup my new strength training system, so I moved weights around, but I didn’t actually do a formal workout. Saturday, I did a real long/hard 51 mile ride with 2000+ft of ascent on my fixie bike, so I’ll call that a leg strength training session, although again, it wasn’t really a formal weights session. I let my flexibility slide a little this week as well. And as a final blow to being process oriented, I only swam twice this week. But, as I said, I’m not going to let this get me off track, I had a solid week of training, and I am happy with my progress.
Detailed breakdown follows…
Filed under: Cycle, Diet, Family, Fitness, Flexibility, Ironman, Marathons, Run, Strength Training, Stretching, Swim, Weightloss, Yoga, bike maintenance, fixed gear, fixie, single-speed, triathlon
|
Digg! this story.
|
Leave a Comment
New Toys - Finally I can look like the cool kids, and enjoy my fixie!
As many of you may have probably picked up from reading my posts about cycling lately, I’ve become obsessed with my new single-speed/fixed-wheel (fixie) Redline 925. Since I bought it back in November I have not ridden any other bike. I’ve put over 750 miles on it.
Well, the guys at Recycled Cycles put a straight bar on it before they sold it to me, because according to them, the stock mustache handle bars weren’t attracting any potential buyers. I’ll admit the straight bar is cool, cooler in my book than the mustache… but not nearly as cool as drops or bullhorns would be. But alas, I was eager to get the new bike and so I didn’t quibble with them over the handlebars.
But, 750 miles of riding around on this thing in a rather upright position, and frankly getting “those looks” from the other cyclists was starting to get to me. The fact is, serious cyclists all seem to look down on people riding around upright. Dammit, I’m riding this same hill with a freakin 42/18 and you’re running up and down those gears like this little bump is L’Alpe d’Huez, and you’re looking down at me!? I’d chew you up for breakfast.
But I have thin skin… really, I didn’t get enough hugs as a child… so I had to do something about these straight handlebars!
Filed under: Cycle, Fitness, Ironman, Strength Training, bike maintenance, fixed gear, fixie, single-speed, triathlon
|
Digg! this story.
|
Leave a Comment
