Struggling to Find My Form: November 2007

Feel The Burn

First, let me say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I hope your day is filled with family, food, and safe travels.

My off season weight program is in its 8th week and is going well. I can definitely see improvements and in the sparse riding I am doing in November, I feel pretty strong. Right now I am in the Hypertrophy phase of the program. The workouts are hard, but manageable. Weight training (and lack of bike miles) has stalled my weight loss efforts. My weight has stayed the same, but I feel my body is leaner and better defined. The plan is supposed to add strength with minimal mass gains. We shall see.

I went to RunTex and bought a new pair of running shoes last week. This is the first pair of running shoes I bought on fit rather than looks. I wanted to go to a specialty store to get fitted for shoes because when I run I often have lower back pain. They analyzed my old shoes and picked out 3 pairs for me to try. I ended up with a pair of Brooks. I took them out for my first run which was a short 3 miles and found them to be absolutely superb. What a difference. Maybe the best $90 I have spent in ages.

My official cycling program starts in December. I delayed it due to the arrival of the new baby. The first few months are basically just base building. I should be able to take lots of pictures on those slow steady rides. I am supposed to get out and ride on Saturday with a few guys that I raced against this year. They are already in their base building phase and invited me along for some easy miles.

It is cold here in Texas - 38 degrees right now. It feels like a Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania when I was growing up. Except for the fact that I have a child running around the house spilling his dry cereal all over the floor and hammering on his toys with his Oscar the Grouch hammer. The baby is still sleeping too much to be too disruptive. It is now 10:30am and I am wondering if that is too early for a Red Stripe.

Stay safe.

The Boys

Retro

If I were going to buy a SS, it would be from these guys. I dig the retro design.

New Addition

Anthony Joseph, born on November 6th. Just a tad over 9 pounds. No, he does not look like Master Yoda.

I look forward to catching up on all of your happenings when we get home from the hospital later this week.

Hill Country 53

Sunday was the ride that I host annually, the Hill Country 53. The ride leaves from my house and is a 53 mile loop out into the Texas Hill Country and back. Last year was the first year I hosted the ride. I didn't know many people at that time only having been in Texas for 5 months. We had 6 people last year. This year we had 20 people on the ride. Some were fast, some were slow, and all had a good time.

We left my house at 8am sharp. The temperature was about 50 degrees, so some of the riders were bundled up.

The first of 3 rest stops. The main reason for these were so that everyone could regroup. I didn't want the slow people to fall too far behind in case there was some sort of incident. We carried water and gels and bananas and in my car so people could reload. Notice the Radillac in the background. My sister-in-law drove the sag car for the first half of the ride.

Pete retruing Ted's wheel after Ted ate it in a slimy low water crossing. This was just after my warning - "There is a slick low water crossing up the road. Be careful!"

Brad heading east. He was soaked because he went down in the low water crossing as well. He claims Ted took him out as he was falling. Others on the scene said no. We may never know the truth.

Todd, the head mechanic at Southwest Cycle Sport was nice enough to drive the sag car for the second half of the ride so that my sister-in-law could head back to my house and help my wife get lunch ready for our return. We dropped a car at the second rest stop the night before. Todd also took most of the pictures in this post.