Who
I embark on this blog journey in the most humble
spirit. I am fairly certain most
internet surfers are not interested in my musings. My life is not extremely interesting. Even my best stories tend to put people to
sleep. I have a day job helping
companies manage Information Technology infrastructure projects. I have a house and a couple cars to maintain. I hold volunteer board-level positions in
three different non-profit organizations.
I share these facts so you will understand, I don’t have a tremendous
amount of free time to work out or ride my bike. I am an average Joe (I also know some
spectacular Joes) with, at best, average physiological talents.
What
I decided to go on the blog journey this year to share a
few of my best stories. I plan to post
mostly race reports for the handful of races I contest this year. Don’t expect to read about my battle in the
front pack and how I was able to sprint free at the end to win the race. My competition is myself. At my age I am happy to finish the race
without going into cardiac arrest. I
will however, battle to near death to contest a race or sprint against my
riding partners. Speaking of riding partners, I proudly call myself a member of the Wrecked'em Racing team. Say it out loud.
Data
I have been training with a PowerTap hub since 2006. After careful analysis of the data, and
comparison to other athletes, I have determined I don’t really have a
strength. Please don’t conclude I am
good at everything, quite the opposite.
I am somewhat analytical and receive considerable satisfaction from
processing and analyzing the data from each ride and race (analytical is very
different from anal, though some would say I am anal as well, I like to think I
am prepared). From the numbers I can
usually determine the changes I need to make for the next attempt. Often it is pace, many times it is nutrition
and / or hydration. I have made every
mistake known to woman (men are still making up new mistakes).
Equipment
My race bike of choice is a Trek Fuel. I race this bike in all off-road races as
well as gravel grinders. I have
considered getting a gravel specific bike, but I have not found the right bike
which is both light (lighter than my Fuel) and inexpensive. I ride a Trek Madone on the road where I
spend 90+% of my training time.
Races
I plan to contest the following races in 2015:
May 16 Almanzo 100 A - race
June 27 Lutsen 99er A - race
Aug. 8 24 hrs of
Cumming 2 person
team – defending 2nd place in 2014
Sept. 19 Chequamegon 40 A
- race
Oct. 10 Perry 101 B
- race
Oct. 24 Buffalo 105 I
organize this race and ride for fun
Cup O’ Dirt
I was reminded this year about another “interesting
competition” called the Cup O’ Dirt challenge.
You can read the details here: http://cupodirtchallenge.com/ I wavered on paying $25.00 for a coffee mug, since
I don’t drink coffee. Ultimately, I
decided $25.00 would buy a souvenir to add to my trophy case
containing belt buckles, bottle openers, bun warmers, flimsy finisher medals, plastic trophies and one wooden shoe. As you
can see from my race schedule, I plan to complete five dirty hundies with the
races I enter. I will likely complete
one additional 100 mile gravel grinder for training to get the six I need to
complete the challenge. One of the bonus
items you receive from the challenge is a postcard type picture to use as a
spoke card or to submit for your next snail mail race entry. I looked at the picture on the card and
quickly noticed it was the Wrecked’em team from the Perry 101. I have included a picture of the extensive contents
of my “welcome packet” below.
I want to publically thank those who help me on my bike
journeys. First is my wonderful wife who
has chased me across miles of countryside and stood at the side of a trail or
road for countless hours to provide much needed nutrition and hydration. I also am very grateful to the team at Iowa
Bike and Fitness in Pella for the help with gear and advice. I also need to thank the folks from
PowerTap http://www.powertap.com/. They have been gracious enough
to include me on their grass roots team.
I am a believer in their great products and will be sharing tips on how
I use them.
So there you have it, initial thoughts on my bike racing
for 2015. I plan to post race reports
for each race I enter to share some of the interesting or funny events along
the way to the finish line (of life and bike racing). If you are still reading at this point, thank
you. Until next post, keep riding.
