Training Ride 3/31/12

Last ride of March and I made it count.  My favorite route, with perfect weather.  I couldn't ask for a better way to close out a month than a grueling metric century in the hills of Lake County.  Rides like this are what cycling is all about.  Probably one of the hardest metrics you can do in Florida, I imagine.

Training Ride 3/29/12

Last weekday morning ride of the week AND the month.  So I did a somewhat special route that I usually do on evenings down to Ft. Pierce and back.  Nothing much to complain about, except the garbage road surface quality in St. Lucie County on A1A.  But the fresh tarmac when you hit IRC makes up for that.  Tomorrow is an off day and then I will close out the month in Clermont Saturday.

Training Ride 3/28/12

Didn't sleep well last night but I was still full of energy for my ride this morning somehow.  I'm sure I'll pay for that at work today.  This was a fun ride, warm temperatures seem to be back for good and I am stoked about that.  Looking forward to Clermont this Saturday.

Training Ride 3/27/12

Hit my monthly mileage goal today.  Wasn't sure if it would happen at all due to the illness I had for a week plus some sketchy weather, but it's done and the rest is icing on the cake towards my 10,000 mile annual goal.  Today's ride was great except the roads by the airport got a bit of rain and for about 10 minutes I was in rather uncomfortably wet conditions.

My Stable: 2009 Specialize Tarmac Pro SL

2009 Specialized Tarmac Pro SL

Frame / Size / Year:

Specialized Tarmac Pro SL / 58cm / 2009

Handlebars / Stem:

Ritchey PRO Butted Aluminum Ergo Bar / Ritchey PRO Aluminum 1.125 inch steerer

Fork / Headset:

Specialized Pro FACT carbon / FSA IS2 Sealed Bearing Threadless Headset

Front Wheel / Hub / Rim / Tire:

SOUL S4.0 / Continental Grand Prix 4000 S Tire

Rear Wheel / Hub / Rim / Tire:

SOUL S4.0 / Continental Grand Prix 4000 S Tire

Crankset / Bottom Bracket:

Ultegra 6700 Compact Crank

Saddle / Seat Post:

SMP Glider / Specialized S-Works Carbon Seatpost

Pedals / Chain:

Shimano 105 Pedals / Shimano CN6700 Ultegra 10spd Chain

Shifters / Derailers:

Shimano Ultegra 6700 10 Speed STI / Shimano Ultegra 6700 10 Speed

Brakes / Brake Levers:

Cane Creek SCR3

This is my road bike.  I do about 90% of my rides on this bad boy.  It's everything a racing bike should be: light, fast, and pretty.  It's love in carbon fiber.

Training Ride 3/25/12

When I left the house I planned on doing 45-50 miles.  Once I hit 50 I felt like I wanted to keep going, so I did some more.  Once I hit 60 I figured I'm so close that I should just get a metric century, and thus it was.  Hard rice, good weekend of cycling.  I think I did almost 150.  Gonna close the month out strong.

Training Ride 3/24/12

Longest ride of 2012 so far.  I could easily have done a 20mph century, which is a goal for me before the year ends.  I'm super spent though, this was a hard, hard ride.

Training Ride 3/22/12

Went a few extra miles today.  Every bit counts and I figured I have a rest day tomorrow so there is no problem adding a measly extra 5 miles onto this ride.  Not that I'm riding so much during the week that I'm near overtrained, but being late for work is much more of a concern.

Training Ride 3/21/12

Changed it up a bit today.  I wanted to do some hill repeat intervals to keep my legs fresh for climbing as I haven't been to Clermont in a loooong time and probably can't go this weekend.  Pushed myself pretty hard on the intervals and I'm happy with the effort.

Training Ride 3/20/12

Another week of morning rides begins.  It was nice and warm, but there was rain on the roads, even though I don't recall any storms.  The wet roads sucked, but otherwise it was a great ride, the miles passed rather quickly.

My Stable: 2007 Cervelo P2C

2007 Cervelo P2C

Frame / Size / Year:
2007 Cervelo P2C

Handlebars / Stem:
Visiontech aerobars

Fork / Headset:
Wolf CL carbon fork; FSA Orbit IS 1 1/8" headset

Front Wheel / Hub / Rim / Tire:
Vuelta Team Pro 50mm Carbon Tubulars w/ Conti Gatorskins

Rear Wheel / Hub / Rim / Tire:
Vuelta Team Pro 50mm Carbon Tubulars w/ Conti Gatorskins and Chaero Disc Cover

Crankset / Bottom Bracket:
FSA SLK MegaExo crankset and bottom bracket

Saddle / Seat Post:
Selle SMP Stratos and Cervélo aero carbon IAA seatpost

Pedals / Chain:
Shimano sport touring SPD pedals and SRAM Red chain.

Gearing / Chainring / Misc.:
Shimano Ultegra cassette and Shimano Dura-Ace derailleur and bar-end shifters

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My Time Trial bike.  I try to do dedicated TT training a couple times per month, but for the most part this is a dedicated racing machine.  Honestly, I don't get as much use out of it as I would like.  It seems like time trials are not popular in south Florida with only handful per year, whereas there is a time trial every week in Orlando alone.  If I lived in Orlando I'd be TT'ing every week.  I've often considered going to the Orlando TT series, but those usually happen on Tuesday night which means taking time off from work Tuesday afternoon and then being a wreck Wednesday morning at work.  So as it is, I have a very, very expensive which is very, very fast whose primary goal is decorating my bedroom wall rather than being raced.

Training Ride 3/18/12

More amazing Florida weather.  Not too cold, not too hot, no wind.  Tons of other people on the roads cycling today.  I decided that in the interests of maximizing my happiness to do a bit more mileage than my normal Sunday ride.  It was just so good.  I wish I was rich and retired, I would do this every day.

A Very Humbling Reminder

Sometimes we look at our own training regimen and believe we are going hard.  Sometimes, during a really hard and/or long session we think we know the meaning of suffering. 

...and then you see someone else show a picture from their training and it makes you stop and say "goddamn!"  A cyclist from Oregon posted this picture today which simply humbled me:

This man experienced a definition of suffering I cannot comprehend.  This will really make me shut the hell up next time I complain about it being "windy."

Training Ride 3/17/12

Pretty great ride.  Weather was kick ass and there was almost no wind.  A lot of traffic due to awful St. Patrick's day festivities, but I can live with that a bit.  Anyway, I have a lot of eating to do so if you don't mind...

My Stable: 2007 BFSSFG IRO

2007 BFSSFG IRO

Frame / Size / Year:

59cm IRO Limited Edition Frame and Nashbar carbon fork

Handlebars / Stem:

Nitto Bullhorns and Salsa threadless stem

Fork / Headset:

Nashbar Carbon Fork and IRD Techno Glide head set

Front Wheel / Hub / Rim / Tire:

Velocity Deep V laced to Formula hub

Rear Wheel / Hub / Rim / Tire:

Velocity Deep V laced to Formula hub

Crankset / Bottom Bracket:

49t FSA Carbon Pro crank set and FSA Platinum Pro bottom bracket

Saddle / Seat Post:

Brooks Team Pro Saddle and IRO seat post

Pedals / Chain:

MKS Royal track pedals and clips and Izumi bicycle chain

Gearing / Chainring / Misc.:

17t IRO cog

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This is my commuter.  I ride this bike every single day to work on week days and on the weekends to run errands.  I don't claim any zen-like fixed gear mentality; a fixie for me is simple and low maintenance.  Those are very important things to me for a commuting bike.  Despite the simplicity, the bike has some nice components because I like nice stuff and people who know bikes will notice the little touches and see it's a rad bike.

Waddaya think?

Training Ride 3/15/12

Good way to end the week.  Warm morning ride up to Golden Sands park and back.  A long week of training rides due to playing catch up on Monday, but I'm still looking forward to the weekend.  Good weather this weekend and hopefully I'll get some equally good riding.

Training Ride 3/14/12

Good morning ride.  A bit cooler than yesterday but nothing unbearable.  Much less wind, so that was a plus.  One more day of this morning BS and then I'm done for a while.

Training Ride 3/13/12

Kept the TT bike out for a morning ride.  I think I've had enough TT bike for a while.  It's nice to switch it up but putting a ton of miles in on the TT bike isn't the most comfortable thing ever.

Training Ride 3/12/12 Part 2

Part two of my training today.  Took the TT bike out for a hard 2 hour or so ride.  The weather was fantastic, and I couldn't be happier to not be at work.

Training Ride 3/12/12

Rained out yesterday, so I'm going to do a two-a-day today.  Just when I got ahead mother nature set me back, but sacrifices will be made until I'm where I want to be.

Training Ride 3/10/12

A bit wet on the road from last night's rain, so my post ride shower was great.  But otherwise the temperature was great, the wind was light, and the roads relatively empty.  The good news is, I have now pulled ahead of my monthly mileage goal that I fell behind due to my illness last week.  Things are turning.  In a good way.

Training Ride 3/8/12

Rare after work ride due to AM rain.  Was nice to change up the time and route.  Took the TT bike for a spin to Ft. Pierce and back.  Was really fast back north on A1A, just cruising hard.

Training Ride 3/7/12

Only about 25 degrees warmer than yesterday.  Incredibly windy, the Wabasso Bridge was actually scary from the wind.  But the warm temps made for an overall nice ride.

Training Ride 3/6/12

Getting back into the swing of things.  This was a pretty cold ride and I was happy when it was over.  The weather this weekend looks good and I foresee no issues getting my mileage back on track after last week's illness.

Training Ride 3/5/12

Rained out Sunday so to get some miles in I did an abnormal Monday ride.  If I wanted to really make up the miles I'd ride again after work.  Let's not get crazy.

Training Ride 3/3/12

This was a death march.  First I am not at 100% health.  Second, it was the hottest temperatures I've ridden in since last year.  Third, I could not stay hydrated to save my life, which ties into point one.  All in all, I'm happy to be done and looking forward to a powerful shower.