shovelhd

How many were bike racers?

Herbie53

3 and one is on a get skinny gonna go fast uphill bent. Most of the no shows were runners.

Runners are flaky I guess.

IBOHUNT

Glad the medical went well. Congrats to Mrs Cleave.

Now just get well; many more drive trains to make look like they belong in Tiffanys

Allegheny Jet

I'll once again watch the Cavs play. I quit on them four years ago when LBJ came back to town for the first time after leaving and some of the Cavs players treated him like a long lost brother during WU by hugging and fist banging. I was surprised they didn't ask for autographs or take pictures during pregame. (selfies now days) Once the game started LBJ *****ed slapped them all with a great performance in every aspect of the game. No Cavs player would "hard foul" him to say this is my town now. Not the way I played B-ball growing up. But, hey!, since Cleveland hasn't won any kind of championship since the NFL had 12 teams it should be new era.

Hermes

I cannot figure Cleveland pro sports out. The pro teams get great fan support but cannot pull off a championship. It must be the ownership and business management. Owners unwilling to pay up for talent or they pay up for the wrong talent. LJ may have fallen into their lap and there was no way to eff it up plus he appears motivated to play for the Cavs.

Allegheny Jet

LBJ is motivated. Check this out
LeBron James turns on the Miami Heat - YouTube

Cleave

I am a bit vertically challenged for basketball and I never really got into watching the sport -- pro or college. Locally, I'm amazed at the continuing drama surrounding the Clippers.

BTW, just so everyone knows, we're having some family issues. Everyone is physically fine but one of my kids is making some interesting decisions and demands. Putting that on top of our recent real estate acquisition for building our green, dream house makes for a lot of non-cycling, life drama. First-world problems, but still problems. Unpleasant, but it will pass and (hopefully) lead to some extended peaceful times.

Cleave

Oh, noticed something interesting on Facebook yesterday. CDR is teammates with one of my college roommates. We raced together for RPI. (As an aside, I and another guy started the RPI Cycling Club (team) during the spring of 1976.) My former roommate retired a couple of years ago so he started racing a bit more. Anyway, saw a photo with him and CDR in a race together and they were wearing the same kit. Incredibly small world.

Racer Ex 

More first world problems. Selling two cars, a travel trailer, some furniture, and one of my wife's bikes. Figured with the move she would no longer need two road bikes. She wanted to ride both today before deciding which one to keep. One was a stock Fuji Finest 1.0, the other was an Orbea Mitis Dama with Campy 10; I built the bike from a frameset and it's pretty bling, aside from being 4 pounds lighter.

She's keeping the Orbea.

Thatagirl.

AzTallRider

After a disappointing performance (under my capabilities, particularly in the TT's - a consistent 5th place) at the Pasadena games, Coach realized my head was not in the game, and took me off the road bike. Recommendation (which I interpret as orders was to only ride if I really wanted to, and only the TT bike. I hate my TT bike, and part of it was to overcome that. With the 60+ hours/week work effort, and being off the bike, visits here were 'painful', so I didn't try to keep up. I did do the bike leg of a relay tri, with my two step-sons, and turned in a mediocre 20K.

Then, this past weekend, I went up into our mountains for an annual "boy's weekend" of riding and watching the tour. 65 miles into an 85 mile ride, my left achilles started hurting. Then the right. I limped back keeping the watts under 100. Massaged myself for hours, felt better, and decided to try the Sunday ride, letting the others know I might have to bail out. I ended up taking a shortened route with another guy, after riding reasonably hard to keep up on the climbs, having decided it was "just pain". Well, afterwards I could hardly walk, and by Tuesday my ankles had swollen up like I had rolled them playing B-ball. Wife taped them, I've been icing, etc. and things are looking and feeling much better. Found some tips and have a rehab plan involving stretching and strengthening. Apparently calve issues, which I've had, can cause Achilles issues.

I'm through the adaptation phase of the diet (it was tough!), and feeling good about it. I WILL get that long post written, as soon as work eases a touch.

shovelhd

Glad to have you back AZT. Good luck at work. I just got reassigned to a bigger project that will keep me on my current contract for at least another year. Time demands are unknown but at least I'm hourly.

I shadow officiated my first race last night. This means I do everything the CO does in parallel while he mentors me, but his results count. This is a training race that does not use numbers but has primes and results for men and women in A and B races. We only pick top three. We scored by eye using names of those we knew and kit/bike combos for everyone else. For the finish he used his iPhone 5S in slow-mo mode, which worked incredibly well. My iPhone 5 can't do this without jail breaking which I won't do. This will have to wait until the fall when I upgrade to the iPhone 6.

Numbers or not, scoring is harder than it looks. I learned a ton. It's also mentally difficult for me to watch a bike race, especially when I knew if the 2 man break in the A race had me in it we would not have been caught by the pros on the last lap. They just needed one more guy to make it work. Dinner afterwards was great. I caught up with a bunch of people I haven't seen in a while, and gave some free advice to some upcoming racers.

My groin seems to be fully healed. My finger is going to need more time to heal as expected. I am doing my first gran Fondo on Saturday, 64 miles, 5300 feet and 20 miles of dirt roads. I will tape my broken finger to my pinky to help with the vibrations. I'm doing it on the road bike with 23's which I will air down. My left eye is on a stronger dose of the medicine which negatively affects my vision. I see the doctor on a couple of weeks. If this is the solution then I am going to get a referral to a different eye surgeon. Meanwhile I have been riding a good bit, doing base work and watching my TSS and CTL. I'm not sure what I will be doing next year but at this point I just can't see myself stopping racing altogether unless my glaucoma dictates it. I miss it so much already.

Hermes

Whoa AZT. Love your TT bike and heal up fast.

AzTallRider

Last time I tried to set my differences aside and make all nice with the TT bike, it wouldn't let me unclip and I Tombay'd against a truck at a light. I swear the thing is possessed - considering an exorcism.

And the TdF: what next ?!?!

Allegheny Jet

I've learned a long time ago that TT bikes are Satan's spawn.

carpediemracing 

Will 25s fit? I wonder if it's worth the effort? I should reduce vibrations significantly and allow you to reduce pressure safely.

Best wishes on the eye thing. It'd be a huge loss to the community if you couldn't race anymore. You're one of the most active riders out there, both on and off the bike, and I know that the racing is a huge part of the joy you get out of being in the racing community.

carpediemracing 

I was thinking along the same lines as you.

I know a guy racing in Europe right now. He talks about getting squeezed out of position, both brake levers in contact with different riders, people leaning on him, etc, and how it's normal for this to happen for the first 15 km of every race. He talks about how he has a teammate that's similar to him but is more experienced and puts down significantly less watts to stay in the same races. He's even studied his teammate on video to see how he rides in the field etc.

In the old days they talked about how, say, the Columbians were just way out of their league in the flat, technical stages (cobbles, narrow roads, etc). Now I think it's many of the GC contenders that are in that same boat.

I think of Froome and I just can't imagine him fighting for position on narrow roads, crosswind, cobbles, brake levers buried in someone else's thigh. Merckx would have been at home in the same situation, or Kelly, or I imagine Lemond (watching the video where he accidentally breaks the turn signal off of a camera motorbike is pretty telling - he knows how to handle his bike well enough that he can accidentally put that much force on a stationary object with his front wheel/tire). I think teams have so much invested in their GC riders they save them from the "tough" races, inadvertently weakening their technical skills. If Sky sent a prospective TdF team to P-R or LBL or Ghent it'd be a great learning thing but also a massive risk. To see Wiggins, for example in P-R was great. I half expected to see Contador or Nibali or some of the other "better" bike handler GC types show up.

shovelhd

25's will fit, and I have a set on hand, but they are wire bead tires I bought for commuting and I would not want to change a flat with them on the road. The 23's I run are GP4000s which are really 24mm and have very good flat protection. By aired down I mean 90psi. I'm not trying to turn the Felt into a cross bike.

Thank you for the kind words.

sarals 

Shovel. I have to add that this - this forum of what have become friends - would not be the same without your insight. Current insight. You're valuable in so many ways, and yes I'm being selfish.

AzT, that applies to you, too. It was easy to see that the passion you had for the sport the year before at PSG was not the same this past year. I didn't want to say anything about it at the time. I'm sorry to hear I was right.

I hope you both come back with the enthusiasm, passion, and vigor that you both had in recent past. That's who I knew in you two. I miss that.

carpediemracing 

I saw this and then forgot where I saw it. It wasn't here, actually, it was elsewhere. Anyway I talked with him a bit and he was talking about racing really early on. I didn't realize just how into it he was. Then again, now that I think of it, everyone who raced back then was into it.

Also I had no idea he retired.

carpediemracing 

Heh you're welcome.

As far as the tires go I think of wide tired bikes (meaning anything over 23c) like SUVs. Maybe not the bike to race in a crit (at least not for me) but a lot of fun to ride. Sorta more bomb-proof, with a different-to-me kind of handling. It's like my brother's Highlander - I really liked the way it felt in terms of handling relative to the high center of gravity. I liked the tires pushed to the corners, the bigger volume tires, I felt like I was in a Dakar rally vehicle. Likewise I love riding the mtb on the road - saddle is a bit high for off road (but same as my road bike), bars are narrow/low, and it is a hoot to ride.

Granted I haven't put a tire bigger than a 23c on my Tsunamis, so there's that. And a wider 23 is basically a narrower 25.

AzTallRider

Saw a sports-medicine ortho doc yesterday. He says I have a chronic tendinosis/tendinopathy, and that it finally crossed the threshold into an acute tendinitis condition. Damage and swelling to the sheath, scar tissue, and tangled fibers. My tendons are too tight. Been that way my whole life, and I've always attributed it to my height; growing fast, etc. But whatever the source, I need to fix it or face recurring consequences. I'm on Prednisone, and start PT Monday. That will include "Astym" on the tendons, and stretching regimens for both the tendons and my calf muscles. Tight calf muscles also contribute to Achilles issues.

I tracked this doc down through the Dignity Health (my employer) network, and really like the guy. Sports guys are a different breed. Unlike most doc's you meet at our age, he assumed I was not on any med's, rather than the opposite, and his goal was to treat aggressively and get me back on the bike as quickly as possible. Refreshing.

Good news is I am back on the bike as soon as the pain is gone. It's already way below what I'd call pain, but I'm waiting until tomorrow (started the Prednisone yesterday), and will begin with easy spinning: 100 watt stuff.

shovelhd

You heal up AZT. Don't rush.

IBOHUNT

+1 on that. I've learnt a lot here from all ya'll

Now, all that said TT bikes are the best - well, OK I am a bit prejudiced because that's the ONLY(!) thing I can get on a podium with.

Allegheny Jet

Wishing you the best AZTR. We all have our little demons to beat. Currently mine is a HR issue during races or hard training. My doctor is not concerned about it as he relates it to ageing. I have shown him screen shots where it has happened. He is the county coroner so he must know about heart issues. During hard races or prolonged hard intervals my heart rate will jump 25 bpm and then match the effort. Harder efforts it creeps up, lesser effort it creeps down, a break or recovery for 30" and it drops back down to normal. I can usually feel a flutter when it jumps then can see it on the computer. So far it does not seem to be a limiter but during races I am thinking about it. Thankfully it has not occurred during my track racing. The issue also has not yet occurred during prolonged TT efforts which I regret since it would give me reason to bail out.

Today's workout is part of recovery week and I was scheduled to do 20' at slightly above LTP. I went to the velodrome, warmed up, drank a bottle of water then started the interval aiming to hold 25-26 mph. Was doing well, holding the speed but really suffering, then at 13 minutes it began to rain. and I had to abort the mission.

revchuck 

AzTR - Hope those tendon issues disappear quickly! I think your growth spurts are behind you.