There are two kinds of #HTFU: 1) starting when you don’t want to2) not stopping when you want to
— Russ Campbell (@rusto88) February 24, 2013

Side Work

Noticed that I logged 263 road miles (in addition to many hours on the trainer) in the month of January and ABSOLUTELY NONE so far in February. This is due to a combination of the weather (blizzard of '13, rain), a death in the family and ensuing travel involved, and illness (nasty cold had me knocked out for 5 days).

Meanwhile, I did manage to do a long overdue refresh of the Minuteman Road Club website. Nothing special, moved everything over to WordPress to make it easier to take over should I no longer be webmaster there: 

Favorite part is the right sidebar area that has tabbed feeds from Strava, Twitter, Road Results and Cross Results.

USA Cycling Adds New Cat 5 to Cyclocross

via cxhairs.com:

1E6: Category 5 established for men in cyclo-cross and upgrade system changed to resemble the road more. There will be voluntary upgrades and mandatory upgrades based on points. Cat 5 to Cat 4 upgrade by experience only.

More here: http://www.cxhairs.com/2013/01/23/cat-5-in-cross-its-here/

This presents interesting problems for race promoters to sort out:

• the race day would potentially get longer with an extra field, thus more costly (officials, EMT, site fees)
• rolling the new 5's in with the 4's might mean an unmanageable number of racers on the course
• dealing with yet ANOTHER disparity between men's and women's races (no Cat 5 has been established for women)

Lucky that the announcement came about as far away from the start of the cross season as it could so that promoters can figure out what they will have to do.

Food

My on-the-go, on-the-road job as a photographer provides many benefits to the bike riding/racing portion of my life but the variability/unpredictability also leads to many, MANY poor choices when I find myself out longer than expected and oh SO hungry.

Why doesn't Whole Foods have a goddam salad bar drive through?

Anyway, I'm sitting here in what used to be a haunt where I have often gorged on all sorts of obscenities, patting myself on the back for ordering a tomato/cucumber salad instead of the other, less honorable choices on the menu.

On Winter Base Miles

What is it about putting in long miles on icy cold winter days that makes them so satisfying? Is it the unhurried pace? Knowing that you are doing something even most other cyclists would look at you a bit crookedly for?

Fenders. A kind gesture not only for you but also for your buddies.

Up A Notch.

Did a 20 minute FTP test today (self administered via TrainerRoad on my Kurt Kinetic Road trainer). Bumped FTP up to 249 watts from 242 and LTHR to 158 bpm from 152.

Of course, the question is: could I have gone harder? Here's the tale of the tape:

I can honestly say that I don't know. You can see how I ramped it up a bit there towards the end, but it was agony. I do know it was a good thing nobody was home at the time, I was making quite a racket between breathing hard and gasping loudly.

Starting The Year Out Right: New Year's Day Ride

Now, I'm no hard man like some others I know who commute long miles all winter long, regardless of the weather. But occasionally, I overcome my tendency towards la dolce vita and do what I otherwise would think is a little nuts.

And so, with surprisingly very little prodding (or sleep), I took a mostly easy-paced ride with Gary yesterday. Temp was in the low 30's F, wind seemed to be out of the southwest at 10-15mph giving a nice wind chill of about 19ºF.

Filling in the (HUGE) Gaps - 2012 Wrap Up

Been quite a while since I threw anything up here so I figured I'd give a go at slapping together, in (few) words and (lots of) pictures, a rough summary of what I've done since April. I'm piecing this together through a combination of a review of my cycling log and the photos taken.

Sunday Random Bike Pic

, originally uploaded by rusto.

Sunday Random Bike Pic

Agostino Iacurci [via Unurth]

Instagramapalooza/Boston Solo Omloop

Pre-ride

So, this past Thursday's ride was one I've been thinking about doing for some time. Nearly all of the rides I've done have involved heading west and south of here or driving somewhere else altogether to ride. And I've never taken my bike into Boston.

A good deal of the people I follow on Twitter live in Boston, Somerville, Cambridge, etc. and I get to read about their adventures, exploits, near-misses and derring-do on a daily basis. Add to that reading about Geoff's long solo ride from Providence to Boston in January plus my frustration at multitudes of missed photo ops because I was in my car rushing through Boston from one place to another.

All that was swirling around in my head along with my desire to do a long ride that was more about enjoyment than fitness/training.

I made a few attempts to get a course into my Garmin, but neither MapMyRide nor BikeRouteToaster were up to the task. MMR gave me a decent plot but the exported gpx was refused by Garmin Training Center. BRT would not let me choose "bike" as the travel method and so would not plot any of the route on to the paths along the Charles River.

After the fourth failed attempt to export a route, I felt like I knew it pretty well anyways. The only doubtful part was getting across from Charlestown to Boston, but if I had to go back out via the Gilmore Bridge, that would be ok. The only other requirement I had for the route was to hit a few of the big climbs that I was aware of inside of Rte. 128: Park Ave. in Arlington, Summit in Brookline and Prospect Park in Waltham. Blue Hills would have to wait for another time.

Is it good? Darn tootin'!

Hill Repeats With John

Up and down some hills with John R yesterday. He was crushing them. They were crushing me. A few photos to follow...

Work for the "Funemployed"

Today was one of those days to really appreciate the free-lance life: weather predicted to be outstanding plus no pressing deadlines meant that I could accept an invitation for some late-morning MTB action and forget life's troubles for a while.

10:30 a.m. and the boys from Boston come rolling up to the parking lot at Russell Mill Town Forest in Chelmsford. NEMBA has been working with the Town of Chelmsford to improve the trails for mountain biking. This would be the first NEMBA maintained trail set that I've ever ridden.

Damn, that thing is CLEAN!

Dave, Joel (both Minuteman Road Club) and Abel (Hup) pile out of Dave's car and start gearing up for the ride. It was already at least 70ºF out, no wind and just a couple of clouds in the sky. Perfect for playing hookie...

Too Long, Too Hard, Too Soon

Yeah, it says "There are no achievements on this ride." but that doesn't include two: I put in 60 miles and made it home under my own power (barely). But I definitely bit off more than I could chew.

This was a two-part ride.

Part 1 - Rode out from home to the Atkinson Pool in Sudbury, thinking that I'd merely be riding through after the folks that were going to meet me there decided on a later start. Turns out, there WAS someone there waiting to ride.

Enter young Ace (his real name!) and his dad. Ace, all of 15 years old, introduced himself as a budding racer/triathlete and had been lurking the MRC boards for a year or so. He was on his dad's Marinoni (vintage mid '80's?). Seemed like the only modern amenities were the Speedplay pedals.

After introductions and enough conversation with me that his dad was assured I was not an axe murderer (or worse), we set out.

Punishment and Mercy

 Look at me, two rides in one week. I'm on a real tear now!

Song stuck in head: Ma & Pa, Fishbone

Chris P posted up about doing the traditional Minuteman Road Club Wednesday night ride. This ride usually starts at around 5:30 during the height of the season and runs from Stow into Action, Littleton, Harvard, Bolton and back into Stow. About 30 miles (plus getting to the ride start from home and back).

Even though Monday's ride proved to me that I had a long, long way to go just to be able to cling to the wheel of someone like Chris, I offered to lead a "B" group if anyone wanted to take an easier pace. Otherwise, I assumed if the usual crew showed up, I'd get smoked early on and just pedal the route on my own.

Chris pegged a 5pm start to account for the still-early sunset time. As usual, I was rushing around the house, filling water bottles, trying to swap at least one of the 3 left-hand gloves I could find for one righty, etc. Felt like I was going to be late.

Then I stepped outside. 

I'm Not Dead Yet!

But you'd never know it from the stats from my first ride in nearly 3 weeks. On as flat a route as you can get in Massachusets.

Now, I'll admit, I rode the first 30 minutes with a man who I'd put at about 70 years old. I bumped into  him in the parking lot where I start many of my rides.

Steve rode a 1973 Bridgestone 400. I wish I got a pic of that bike. He stayed in the small chainring and had what looked like a 30 tooth cog in the back which he never shifted from. This produced a top speed of about 10mph.

Steve, looking sharp in that striped wool jersey.

I think we'd gone about 2 miles when he stopped and started talking about going back. My intention was to put in 2, maybe 3 hours of riding so this was not an option for me.

As we exchanged pleasantries, a guy Minuteman Road club kit goes speeding by. Instinctively, I shout, "Go MRC!" and he gave a quick wave as he crossed the intersection.

Suddenly, I thought: hey, I KNOW that guy!

Jonny Bold: "At What Cost?"

Much of this hit home for me as I struggle to recover from injury: a top Masters competitor takes a hard look at his motivations for racing and training after suffering an injury during a cyclocross race, worth the time it takes to read.

Hello Trainer, My Old Friend

Tossed out this tweet earlier today:

It didn't take long for @bthreeton tweet back with:

Because my fitness sofly creeping
Left my legs while I was sleeping
And the saddle sores that were planted on my taint
Still remain
Within a sweat-ty chamois.

But my old buddy Gerald Berliner went to town:

Hello trainer, my old friend,
I've come to ride on you again
Because a rain cloud softly creeping in,
Left its drops while I was riding,
And the mud that was splattered in my face
Still remains
Within the sound of cadence.

In restless dreams I rode alone
Paris-Roubaix streets of cobblestone,
'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my bike to the cold and damp
When my thighs were stabbed by the crash of my neon light
That split my tights
And touched the sound of cadence.

And on the naked ride I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People riding without sqeaking,
People drafting without looking,
People falling off and no one even cared
Coz no one dared
Disturb the sound of cadence.

"Fools" said I, You do not know...
Doping like a cancer grows.
See my blood test so that I may fool you,
While I take my Epo so I can beat you.
But my words like silent freewheels fell,
And echoed
In the wells of cadence.

And the people bowed and prayed
To the aero carbon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the peloton that it was forming.
And the sign said that the bikes of the prophets were stolen from the local malls
And tenement halls.
And vanished in the sounds of cadence.

Got a cycling related song parody? You know what to do: hit the comments.

Old Man Bones

Keeping the Rickety Equipment Running After a Late Start

Racing bikes is hard.

Of course, it should be or it would not be a satisfying challenge. On top of the race itself, you've got pre-dawn workouts, dealing with the whole weight-loss/nutrition calculus, juggling race/workout/family/work schedules, bike maintenance... the list goes on and on.

But for me, the most difficult issue to deal with is the fact that I started racing last year at age 49. You see, my mind plays this trick on me when I saddle up: it lets me think I'm 40 or even on good days, 30 years old. Love that feeling!

The thing is, after a little time, my body always has it's say and finds some way of reminding me that I've been around for half a century. Usually, it manifests itself in comparatively benign ways such as finding myself dropped by my younger, stronger brethren or a little creakiness in the morning. After some rest, my mind and body reset and I can once again regain that fountain of youth feeling the next time I get on my bike.

I never use my age as an excuse for poor performance: I always feel like whatever shortcomings I have are ones that can be overcome with training or experience. I'll admit, I do tease a bit when I manage to beat a "youngster" up a climb or on a town-line sprint.

Injuries I've sustained up to this point have been the kind any cyclist could face, regardless of age: road rash, bruises, a separated shoulder, run-of-the-mill soreness.

This time, I think it might be different.

Last week, after finishing atQuadCross, I had a little back pain - no more than I have after other major exertions under race conditions such as I did at Battenkill. I did have that one small spill in the race, did I hurt myself worse than I thought?

I stayed off the bike Monday and Tuesday but had a location shoot Tuesday that required a lot of hauling of heavy gear and being on my feet all day - not very helpful for healing.

As the week progressed and particularly after this past Wednesday's Minuteman Road Club CX Training Race, the pain became more focused near my right hip and, at times, I could feel pain down the right side of my leg and along my calf. Walking normally became difficult.

I started to worry whether I would be racing on the weekend at Green Mountain.

I awoke Friday morning with the plan to do an hour spin on the trainer to make sure everything was working but could barely achieve 75 rpm for a couple of minutes - it hurt THAT BAD.

Pinched nerve? Inflamed hip labrum? Beats me.

I knew right then I was out for racing today. Very frustrating: mentally, I have been so eager to race that all the difficulties that surround training have been inconsequential and easy to overcome but being hurt like this is a major setback.

Seeing the doc on Tuesday to hopefully get a definitive answer as to what is going on. I don't want him to tell me to slow down.

I can't.

I won't.

Quad Cross Photos by 20# Skull

Fellow MRC cyclist/photog Todd Prekaski, aka 20# Skull, got this shot of me contemplating a remount right after the start. Every one of those guys, and more, eventually passed me:

"Must... hold them off... a little longer!"

More photos from QuadCross are here in 20# Skull's Facebook gallery.

Here's my photos.