instant winter- just add beer

Well, most of the things i was looking forward to in the last post didn't go as planned. a freaky winter magically appeared out of nowhere and ruined all our plans!
Last Thursday morning i was riding in arm warmers, knickers, and a wind vest in 55 deg weather; 12 hrs later, the temperature drops to the 30s and 4 inches of snow gets dumped the following day.

Grant's tomb? Canceled.

Gimbel's with Saul Raisin? Nope!

so, I did what any man would do when confronted with a situation such as this on st. Patrick's day weekend: I drank way too much Guinness!

I had a serious case of Guinness 'stache.



I did attempt to make it out for a ride on st. Patties- even though the city was nasty and full of snow, Central park was clear. I hopped on my greener-than-the-Irish 'cross bike and met up with my teammate rob. we went for a quick spin. I don't know why, but it was a rough ride. I felt totally out of it. Those Guinness's were definitely welcomed afterwards.

I spun indoors on Sunday and somehow ended up getting a chainring tattoo on the front of my leg (while i was mounting the bike on the trainer...)



I though i was done with the trainer for the season. Much like many things in my life, I was premature. (Zing!)

the interval workouts have been getting tougher. yesterday's trainer session was pure ugly. 3- 10 minute efforts over my threshold, with 5 min recovery in between. When doing an interval of that length and intensity, you're confronted with pain for an extended period of time. it's not a flash of pain like the one you find in a sprint- it's almost a meditative state- a painful, sweaty meditative state with heavy breathing and your heart rate in the 180's. It's an odd sensation to explore. It's interesting to see how your though process changes when you're body's under steady stress. does anyone know what I'm talking about? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

I'm supposed to TT a loop around central park tomorrow morning to gauge my fitness. I'm hoping I can do it in under 17 minutes. It's a rolling 6 mile loop.

it's supposed to get warm again starting tomorrow. I hope it sticks. The first race of the season (for real) is this Saturday. I'm pumped and ready to go. My heart start's a-beatin' every time i think of being in a race situation. It's time to see if this training has paid off. I think I've done a good job at sticking to the training. However, i think my weakness has been diet. I've lost around 7 lbs, but could lose more if i didn't eat like an ass. I think i may be a little hard on my self, but that's the only way to improve, right?


time for sleep. TT in the morn. hoo-rah.

Crank it out

Hey boys and girls,

So while this past weekend didn't go as planned race-wise, it turned out to be a really awesome weekend for training rides. I got out for 60+ mile rides on both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday was a nice hard ride- I rode out to Rockland State park via River Road and 9 W. The weather was Fantastic. It was perfect arm warmer and wind vest weather.

I can't tell you how happy I am to not be chained to a trainer any more.

By getting out this weekend I was also able to gauge my fitness. The heart rate zone training that I've been following has definitely made a different. I chug along in the Low 20's on the flats in my endurance zone, and my heart rate is lower going up the climbs.

The workouts have been getting more intense. earlier in the training season it was a bunch of endurance work. Building the aerobic base. Now we've shifted our attention to threshold intervals- resulting in horrible workouts such as the one I have to do tomorrow:

85 Min Sub/Sup Threshold Workout: Warm up: 10:00 Min Endurance interval/ 5:00 Min Sup Threshold (max effort) interval/ 10:00 Min Endurance interval. 3 x 10:00 Min Sub/Sup Threshold intervals done 5:00 min Sup Threshold/5:00 Min Sub Threshold with >95 Cadence. Take 5:00 Min Endurance Recovery at >95 Cadence after each. Finish with 15:00 Min Endurance Riding at >95 Cadence.

For the record, 5 minute max efforts followed by 5 minute sub threshold efforts hurt my soul. It's a tough workout but I think it'll pay off. gotta teach the body how to tolerate and flush out Lactic acid- raise the threshold!

I've been using the program that came with my Polar S520 to track all my metrics this year. I used to use an excel spreadsheet, but now that I've figured out how to upload my HR data, I'm never going back. The program is called "Polar Precision Performance." I'm able to track any metric I could ever want to follow, and can also put out custom reports mixing any of them. the interface is also fully customizable. check it:



(click on the photo for a bigger size)

That background pic is from the Chainbiter cross race i went to this last fall in CT. sweet!
Here's what the HR charts look like- this is from the last Threshold workout I did:



This is the input for the day's workout- it logs mileage, avg speed, time, and how much time was spend in your specific HR zones (also fully customizable). It's a great training tool and perfect for huge dorkfaces such as yours truly.



I've been riding hard this week. Having to get up at 4:30 am to get your ride in is grueling, especially when it's followed by a 12 hr work day. Such is the life of an aspiring yuppie bike racer, I guess...

Things to look forward to:

-Team kits are in! we pick them up on Friday! Weeee! Hell, that's the only reason I joined this team!!! (half joking!)

-Going to watch the Grant's tomb Criterium put on by Columbia University. Rooting our cat 4 teammates that are participating. Following that, we're going on our first team ride decked our in out fancy new kits (from Hincapie sportswear- hollah!)

-Sunday is going to be a special treat. Our team is doing the Legendary Gimbel's Ride in Westchester, and Saul Raisin is joining us! if you're not familiar with Saul, go HERE. He is a 23 year old pro, riding with the Credit Agricole team. He was in a horrible accident a year ago, fell into a coma, broke multiple bones, and had to re-learn to eat, walk, and bike. He's made a remarkable comeback and is set to race his ass off once again. Apparently on his last power test he was able to hold 400 watts for 30 minutes. Insane. I may just die on this ride, but it should be a great learning experience. It's a ride that quickly turns into a sort of race simulation, with team tactics coming into play. It basically turns into a big dick-swinging competition. I'll be find on the flats; I'm just hoping to survive the hills. Either way I'll be looking SO Pro in my new team kit!

-Chad and I are building our teammate/friend Cassie a bike from the ground up. we've found an awesome frame and we're going to built her a sweet racing machine to replace the hunk o' junk OCR 3 she's been riding. I'll document the whole thing for you kids, including where I found sweet deals on components.

-I think I'll win an award for most color-coordinated bike racer- my bike (saddle, frame, tires, bar tape), helmet and shoes all match my team kit. So pro! my stocky ass might be getting dropped, but I'll look good doing it!

I'm such a tool.

Time for bed, pain awaits me in the AM.

Scratch that...

Stupid alarm clock didnt wake me up... will try to do the spring series race tomorrow morning. There goes my saturday night!

I'm pissed at myself and my alarm clock right now...

Ah well, no worries. It's going to be a long season.

TOMORROW WE RIDE!

Well tomorrow is my first race of the season! It's time to ride. Time to go to battle.

I just got back from watching "300." what an epic movie. It may have bordered on being slightly too homo-erotic for yours truly, but holy moly, I am inspired. I'll be thinking of that as i go to battle tomorrow morning. I'll try not to take it so far as stabbing someone with a frame pump.

I'm off to shave the legs and go to sleep. Wish me luck!

More TV Time, More Trainer time. Racing in T-5 days

And counting.

Well, kids, it looks like uncle Christophe was on TV again (thanks again to Jason for pointing it out) . looks like the VS network has taken a liking to the clip of me giving Floyd Landis one of my T-shirts (which can be found on sale HERE) . They've been selling pretty well, by the way. I've received a ton of positive comments about the "Free Floyd" shirts. I'm guessing they might be using this TV footage for some time (until the fiasco clears up). I'm really glad that VS has been making an effort to report on the situation in Pro-cycling in an even manner. That one network has provided more fair and balanced coverage on Floyd than any other major news source out there (although Trustbutverify could show everyone a thing or two). I find that comforting. Hopefully it's enough to bring more awareness to the true state of what's going on and how it's threatening the sport we all love. The more people know the true facts, the more public pressure there will be to do something about it.


I guess I should begin to reap the rewards of my fame and celebrity. Frankly, all I want is a lifetime supply of Assos Chamois cream and a flock of nude virgins to apply it. I'm sure that can be arranged for a Z-list celebrity such as myself...

Enough with my delusions.

The cold finally broke on Saturday, and by the "cold breaking," I mean it was a high of 53 degrees. I jumped out of bed, slapped on my early spring gear (base layer, short jersey, arm warmers, and knickers) as well as my obnoxious and commemorative Hincapie sunglasses, and off i went. I ended up riding 75 wonderful miles. some alone, some with my teammate Nate Follow the link for hit flickr site, he's a great photographer- and was the one that shot me for the Maxxis tire shoot- see below:



Anyway, enough of my narcissistic meanderings (wait, isn't the the whole point of having a blog?)

The ride was fantastic. I felt like a kid again (a kid with a $5000 racing bike and a heart rate monitor, but a kid nonetheless). I went across the GWB and headed up to Nyack via river road- doing a few hill repeats on the way. When I got to Piermont I met up with Nate. We met up at the Piermont bike shop and decided to extend our trip a little. we bikes out to Rockland State park and did a victory lap of it. as we were doing our lap, a cold front came in. Good job not remembering your wind vest, Christophe! It got colder, and my fingers started to numb a little. As we rode, though, we warmed up, and it was more than tolerable on the way back. I'm feeling pretty decent about my conditioning, although I won't really be able to tell until Saturday- my first road race of the season.

Hoo-rah. I can't wait to slap my race wheels back on my bike- my Eurus's have been sitting in their campy wheel bags waiting to go for a ride. Only 5 more days.

It's only a CRCA club race in central park, but it will be my 2nd road race yet. I'm planning on sticking with the pack and not trying anything stupid (unless I can find some accomplices to do so) The last thing i want is a broken collarbone or a snapped frame on the 1st race of the season.

I'm looking forward to it.

Am I ready? I don't know. I'm definitely in the best riding shape of my life, although I feel like I've slacked off the past week or so (although it was a rest week). I may just experiencing late term it's-been-a-long-trainer-season-and-I don't-want-to-see-that-godforsaken-thing-for-another-8-months-psychoses. (you can tell by the look on my face)


I also should quit eating like an ass hole.

The race is 4 park laps, about 25 mi. no biggie.

Here's to not coming in last!