pulling out the moutain bike

Pulled my mountain bike out for the first time since thanksgiving. I bent my cassette during that ride and I didn’t fix it or put lube on my chain after I was done riding. My drive train is a bent up rusty mess.

I put some lube on and went for a ride. It was 40 degrees today, that is pretty much my limit, I don’t ride outside when it’s colder than that.

Still a lot of snow up here in Maine, a lot has melted in the past week though.

why race?

Race season is soon approaching and it makes me think of a question I’ve asked myself quite often…Why do I race?

I find my self diving on average 6 hours most weekends of the summer to go to races, often times places that I would never go if there hadn’t been a race there, sometimes in conditions (very hot, raining) that I would normally never ride in, and After adding up the cost of gas , race license, normal wear on car, registration, it costs me about $75+ a week. Plus all the time involved, an entire day maybe more because the evening before the race you need to …

Find and Pack all race gear and food in car………..1.5 hours

Making fixes to bike to make sure it is race ready……….. On average 1 hour

Another less measurable cost is the mental one. There is less riding just to ride, when you race you do training rides that are sometimes not very fun and painful (hill intervals, LT intervals, sprint intervals) you may feel under pressure to train hard to perform at you personal best come race day.

Why would anyone want to put themselves through all of this?

Some may say that they want to find out how good they are. this is an ok reason for the first few time s someone races but after that you should have a good idea of how you stack up.

Professional athletes from more popular and lucrative sports often say they compete for their fans or God and country. I don't believe people who say that . There may be others that motivate these athletes to better themselves but in my opinion the root of why we compete is the same…

1…….So we can have some sense of accomplishment that comes along with training and being better than others.

2…….So others will like and respect us, so we can have a bit more self worth.

3……..To have fun

4…….. To make money (not really a factor in mountain biking unless you are one of the top 5 in the nation)

Depending on the person and the situation varying degrees of these four reasons
In future deep thoughts I will explain in greater detail just what these reasons mean and how to determine which reason is driving you to race and how it effects others around you.

one ring to rule them all

2009 is going to be a good season.

available in skymall magazine

trainer (helpful tips)

Theses are the things that work for me….

Is the build of an elite cyclist a healthy one?

Is the build of an elite cyclist a healthy one?

After coming across these photos on solo break blog i’m starting to feel ok about my problem of packing too much upper body on this winter. I'm still a skinny guy by most peoples standards but huge compared to these guys.


Pic: Tyler Hamilton using medical tape to hold his weak rib cage together

Pic: Michael Rasmussen using all his strength to put a sock on.


I think theses photos raise the question, is the build of an elite cyclist a healthy one. the gentlemen in these photos look like they are fragile and sick. No question that are incredible athletes and are super fast on their bikes but at what cost. They are so specialized for the sport of cycling that any muscles that aren’t needed to ride faster are considered useless oxygen sucking dead weight. I’m not a doctor but I’m guessing this must have some long term negative effects (lower bone density ? being more frail as a old man?) I don’t know for sure, I’m just saying it doesn’t look healthy.

grunting

I think I’ve been @ the gym with the grunters for too long this winter. In case you don’t know grunters are the huge guys that grunt when they lift weights. The grunts are like the screeches of the siren from roman mythology they draw you in and before you know it I’ve got packed on 5-7 Lbs of lean muscle. All on the upper body because that’s the way the drawing call of the grunters works.

So I’ve got this extra muscle that isn’t gong to do me any good on a bike and my fitness isn’t where it normally is because I’ve been lifting so much and ignoring my normal riding and cardio cross raining routine. My trip to visit my dad in WA DC was an eye opener, I found out just how bad my fitness is.
It’s time to turn things around and start riding again if I want to have decent fitness for the 2009 season.

Good buy grunters, time to join planet fitness.

WA DC riding

Did some riding with my dad in Washington DC. I got a free upgrade on my rental bike when the bike shop manager found out I was an influential photographer for the mid-Atlantic Spokes magazine. I wouldn't consider myself a photographer but one of my photos was asked to be used by someone who dose submit photos to spokes magazine and it ended up on the cover!!!. Just another thing to add to my resume. I'll put that between to 4th grade jump-rope champion and 2003 york ME pumpkin carving 2nd place finisher.






I haven’t rode outside in a few months , it was nice to get out again . My dad was in better shape than I would have expected. He has become a avid cyclist he recently lost 20 lbs and goes for 2 hour + rides when its nice out.




Felt a little weird being all race geared out on a unraced geared out bike in an unracing setting.

my dad and I laid the hammer down on all the other bike path riders. we showed no mercy, cutting off children in strollers and elbowing old men and woman and anyone who tried to pass us was put to the curb. just kidding

for the rest of the weekend see My Art Blog