mike868y

I meant east.

StumpJumperFSR

Try some climbing, you'll get a lot better. Once you start getting a good baseline on your fitness level try intervals while climbing. Once your able to do this, that's when you know you are good.

umd

Thread relevance fail.

ls01

Oh, please.

Kurt Erlenbach

My daughter is a teacher, my mother was a teacher, my sister is a teacher, my aunt was a teacher. I have four children who went K - 12 in public schools, and I was heavily involved with their schools. That said, I can say with some authority that there is no group of people who whine and complain more than teachers. Not that it's not justified.

Back to the point - intervals in a parking lot? I've never heard of that. I do my intervals in a park, where I watch a family of sandhill cranes beside a lake each time I come around. Too bad for you, bro.

sqharaway

And I'm sure that works well for you

MrClyde

We have some GREAT riding around here. Where you put that map is some good climbing areas, including Palomar Mountain. I get out there when I have the time. Intervals in the parking lot is for during the week, when I have 60-90 minutes and want to get the most out of my time. I would have never guessed that the most interesting part of this thread would be that I do intervals in a parking lot!


I don't have a lack of things to try on the bike. My limiting factors are time, and I'm too fat. I am following Carmichael's Time Crunched training program, and when hill intervals are called for, there is no shortage of hills around here.

gumbii

all you guys do is in every simple thread...

MondoDave

+1

island rider

The only problem I have with that is when I hit about 40-50 mph drafting a tractor trailer and then shift into the small ring my handling gets erratic because I start spinning at 200rpm. Damn movies...

joe_5700

2 words....planning periods. What is she doing during her planning periods? Also the 3 weeks off that your wife gets in the summer is not typical. What other jobs give you multiple days off for Spring Break, Thanksgiving, Christmas etc. and NO weekends?

davesax36

Rant begins here-- to skip rant proceed to section marked "end rant"--

OK. I teach. I get one planning period per day (45 minutes). I teach 7 out of 8 class periods, all beginning instrument classes, all the time. We have required after school sectionals until 5:30 at least three days a week, plus weekend meetings (4 per year) and 8 days of judging contests. I also have to do a camp the week before everyone goes back to school to generate extra interest. Oh, and I take professional gigs and have two other regular groups that I play with outside of school just so that I can keep my chops up on all the instruments. I will be off for about 6 weeks this year, but if teachers got paid hourly (the good ones) or paid based on effort, there would be a lot more people out there trying to get into teaching.

I don't complain that I don't make as much as my friends (although doubling my salary and cutting my hours would be great) because I sorta knew what I was getting into with the hours and the extra stuff that all good teachers do. I think that people saying teachers get paid too much and have too much time off haven't spent much time around really good teachers. We could say the same thing about cubicle jockeys that have the luxury of actually eating their lunch, being able to go take care of personal business without having to call in a sub/make lesson plans/pray that kids don't destroy the room, and still leaving work about 5 to go to happy hour or whatever.

Kids today are not like the kids we were. There is so much more parenting going on at school than at home, it's not even funny.

END RANT:

For the OP: I think parking lot intervals are a great idea if it's big enough. I've got a spot near my house that I go to for sprints. One way almost always directly into the wind so the return trip is nice (or crappy depending on which way I start).

cmyke

Dear god, what did I unleash? In all sincerity, I did not mean to derail this thread. I was simply trying to draw attention to the ass who feels entitled because he pays taxes.

Intervals in parking lot good.

bmxsykes

[QUOTE=davesax36;10947101]Rant begins here-- to skip rant proceed to section marked "end rant"--

OK. I teach. I get one planning period per day (45 minutes). I teach 7 out of 8 class periods, all beginning instrument classes, all the time. We have required after school sectionals until 5:30 at least three days a week, plus weekend meetings (4 per year) and 8 days of judging contests. I also have to do a camp the week before everyone goes back to school to generate extra interest. Oh, and I take professional gigs and have two other regular groups that I play with outside of school just so that I can keep my chops up on all the instruments. I will be off for about 6 weeks this year, but if teachers got paid hourly (the good ones) or paid based on effort, there would be a lot more people out there trying to get into teaching.

Sorry you feel you need to rant about all of the burndens of being a good teacher. If it is that much of a pain, then go do intervals in the parking lot. (thread relevance)

urbanknight

Just out of curiosity, what is your occupation and what education/training is required for it? So adjust the teacher salary to $40,000 to compensate for 3 months of vacation ($60,000 in Los Angeles) for a job that requires a 4 year bachelor's degree, a 2 year teacher credential, 2 year credential clearance (at least in CA), and continued professional development from then on. As for the benefits, the retirement adds an estimated $10,000 per year in job value. My insurance is the same as my wife's at a private design company, except my group seems to only have crappy doctors available. At least the sick pay accumulates indefinitely (I plan on taking at least 2 weeks off for paternity). Feeling like a slow day at the office? The kids will eat you alive. Need to come in late one day? Better call a sub. Got a great deal on a vacation in February? No chance, vacation is only when scheduled. You won't find many professions with that little compensation for that much effort.

Not that I'm complaining. Anybody who has taken a job as a teacher in the last few centuries should have expected a small salary to education ratio.


Unfortunately true. I have started to enjoy lunches in my classroom allowing students to come in and practice, which is a more positive environment than "Do you have John Doe? Well, today he..."


Sorry, I just couldn't resist that one, and I can't believe it all started with someone taking a sarcastic joke the wrong way. But to add to the actual topic, I think the parking lot is far better than a trainer. I'm lucky to be near the Rose Bowl, which provides a 3 mile loop with no stop signs. A parking lot would be the next best thing.

banerjek

Why do so many people prefer the parking lot to the trainer? Riding in circles in a parking lot isn't particularly fun, so it's not a road ride. On the trainer, you can focus on your technique, the numbers, exactly what your body is doing, etc without any regard for conditions. The closest I've ever done to parking lot riding is 10 years ago, I used to ride a 1.3 mile loop in a subdivision with no houses, stop signs, traffic, etc at 4 in the morning. Even that's no fun, particularly in the winter when it's freezing or raining.

I love a real ride and nothing comes close, but I'd take trainer action over a parking lot most days.

urbanknight

...who can fart around on forums at work instead of trying to get a post or two in during the passing period


Yep. 2 days ago, I had a parent come see me to complain that we're charging her for the trombone mouthpiece her son lost. Funny how she has the time to come down a complain about a few bucks when she couldn't find time over the past 20 weeks to have a parent conference I requested because her darling angel prefers to shout lewd jokes in my class and use his trombone as a tool for poking people instead of a musical instrument.

Where do you teach?

banerjek

Have you spent much time around librarians? Pretty impressive on that scale, and not justified IMO.

I don't have much sympathy for people who whine about their jobs. Anyone who thinks others have it so much better should try to jump on the gravy train that everyone else is riding and see how easy that is. That may require getting more skills that may be difficult/costly to acquire and/or taking risks. Luck and cronyism might be significant factors in the workplace, but the vast majority of people are where they are for a reason.

urbanknight

Even with an industrial box fan in front of me, riding a trainer is more painful and boring than circles in a parking lot, and even the parking lot has more scenery than my living room. But really, nobody's doing intervals for the enjoyment of it. They're doing it for training... so they can go race circles around an industrial park on Sunday

fwiw I used to do all my intervals on the velodrome. No scenery there, but I spent a lot of time on it, and at least there are other people on the track for you to chase and make an honest effort.

djlarroc

Both my sisters are teachers btw...

hcmom

I'm new to this, and about to start interval training. A parking lot sounds like an excellent solution to my where-to-do-this problem. About how long should the loop be?

Walter

Well, that worked really well.......

Hunt-man

I'm just happy the miscreants aren't bashing cops, this time. We'll not much, at least. (Sorry teachers, feel the heat - feel the burn)

1nsane

This thread got me thinking, where I could do some laps locally. And I think I have found LAP HEAVEN.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/95761

MrClyde

The loop I am using is about 3/4 of a mile. I did find longer loops, but they had other drawbacks.

I used google maps to search out the largest parking lots in the area that have an actual loop. Then for a couple mornings, I went around town test riding them. Turned out some that I thought would work great had some curbs or landscaping that made the corners too tight, or bumps at transitions/driveways, or too much elevation change. I was looking for flat and boring, but it works great for intervals.

For those that prefer the trainer, to each his own. I can see the value of a trainer, and will probably get one some day. For now, I'm enjoying the pain in the parking lot.