Heathpack 

So reading that you aborted after 11 miles made me google this climb, how long is this Mount Lemmon? Ans: 20 miles with 5000 ft, then a few more miles of rolling stuff. Epic. I wouldn't mind doing that.

Trying to figure out where (if anywhere) I might go to ride next Jan/Feb. Was thinking maybe Sedona. Napa would work. Paso Robles or environs. San Diego. Now I feel like I should put Tucson on the short list.

Nice riding Chuck.

revchuck 

I did about an hour's recovery ride this morning, at a real recovery pace this time. I stopped halfway through and had a cup of coffee and a raspberry streusel muffin, so I probably took in more calories than I burned. I managed to keep the climbing under 500 feet, and that took some doing.

I've pretty much convinced myself (rationalized?) that yesterday's abort was the result of fatigue rather than wussitude. I was putting out less power for less time than Tuesday when I did Kitt Peak. My butt was dragging all day, and my legs let me know how unhappy they were too. I got a solid night's sleep last night and today's game plan is to express my inner cat and lay around all day. Oh, and eat.

happybday29475

are you teasing us with LeBuzz again?

Heathpack 

Hey @LAJ and @rapwithtom, went to watch some racing at Velo Sports Center last night.

Saw a guy in your kit:

Hermes

Hey the guy in the front is on my team and founder of our racing club. At Marymore track in Seattle (400 meter concrete track) at Masters Track Nationals, he won the points race by being solo off the front for the entire race and taking all the first place points. He was on a team pursuit team at elite track nationals last year that won gold. He became the oldest racer to win an elite track national championship.

happybday29475

Neal Henderson. He's coach of the US Womens TTT track squad, out in your neck of the woods working with the team. And this is what he does in his down time (like the rest of us).

That looks like a beautiful facility...I think racing there is on my agenda in the next year or two...and I guess this is also where ERO testing is?

happybday29475

Wow. From my perspective, that is unimaginable.

The guy in second has done that too. That's a strong prescription for pain for the rest of the field!

Hermes

Andi Sparks coaches women's Team USA including the women's pursuit team and is married to Sarah Hammer. Team USA won gold at the world championships in London this year. I am not sure which TTT track team you are referring too.

Yes, ERO is at Carson and if you want to race there, one has to take a certification class that is a 2.5 hour program on Saturday morning.

happybday29475

I think Neal works for Andy. Andy is in charge of all of women's track? Not exactly sure.

edited to add detail..you are right: from https://cyclingtips.com/2016/04/coach...etail-matters/

"Andy Sparks is the head coach for the team, and I provide him with support and information to help him objectively select the best athletes for competition and optimize our competition strategy. I’m also charged with trying to come up with ideas to help our team go faster. This runs the gamut from training ideas, with regard to physiology, to technical and tactical considerations to improve the team’s speed, to nutrition and recovery strategies, to tracking an individual athlete’s progression and performance."

Heathpack 

That was the Men's 1/2 field. They were pretty strong.

What is the Ironfly guy's name? One guy did win way OTF, if I recall it was the scratch race.
@rapwithtom, yes, ERO is at this track. They will set up aero testing sessions for small groups as I understand it. So depending on timing, I might be up for that (if that's what you were thinking).

happybday29475

Love to. It would likely have to be during the winter here, or maybe during one of these damned April snowstorms, or when I have some other reason to be out there...so maybe November/December? ...I'll keep it in mind...

revchuck 

You damn betcha! And I'm going to stop there tomorrow during my recovery ride for breakfast.

Did the Shootout this morning. It was a bit different than normal (from what I've read) in that there was no "Old Guy's" version; it was a combined start. The first part was a pretty normal gaggle until the group cleared the stop signs and red lights, then it got 25-year-old-racer-stupid-fast. My speed was way low compared to my power output, plus I was on the windward side of a double paceline. Unbeknownst to me, we were going up a false flat. Almost simultaneously, I and the other codgers pulled off and ramped it down to a sustainable pace. The guy who was unofficially leading us turned a bit early to cut off about a mile and a half and put us ahead of the break; they caught us at the top of a long, gradual climb and we all came back together. There was an 11 mile stretch at ~29 mph average, down that false flat that messed me up at the start. That one definitely pegged my giggle meter. A couple of times during the ride I was spun out in the 52-11. All kinds of new fun stuff!

Totals for the week: TSS 1000.2, 292 miles, 14,295 feet, 9943 kj, and about 17:50 ride time. Tomorrow's ride will add about TSS 20, 14 miles, 400 feet, 300 kj and an hour to that. That's my biggest week on the bike, ever.

beatlebee 

Glad you enjoyed the shooout @revchuck. Come back soon!

Racer Ex 

How.
Fun.
Is.
That?

revchuck 

Beaucoup!

revchuck 

Tentatively planning on next March.

Dalai

Sounds like it's been a worthwhile trip!

Cleave

@revchuck, my experience is big training weeks like that can have a positive, almost permanent change to your physiology. Good job!

revchuck 

Thanks, Cleave!

YogaKat

Been on FB too much. I was looking for the "like" button.

valygrl

revchuck, Tuscon is great, isn't it!!

revchuck 

Sure is! No drizzle for me, either...until I got home.

Heathpack 

Tales from the LA Metrolink commuter train.

Yesterday, I got on the train to get to work and at the next stop down the line, the conductor tells a guy a few seats away from me that he needs to get off the train. Apparently he never bought a ticket & SOP is that if you don't have a ticket, the conductor puts you off the train at the next stop. You then buy a ticket & wait for the next train (meanwhile riding for free between the station you boarded and the station you're expelled from).

The guy refuses to get off the train & there's nothing the conductor can do. So he calls for the sheriff to meet us at the next stop and we proceed on. We get there. No sheriff. So we're going to wait for him to arrive. We sit on the train platform with the doors open & I'm getting annoyed.

So I say to the guy, "Dude, just do me a favor & get off the train. You're going to make us all late to work". Rabble-rouser, now multiple people chime in, saying the same thing. The guy's story floats around. He overslept & didn't have time to buy a ticket. He had a ticket but lost it. The train tickets cost too much, it's not worth it for a train that's late every day (this one is true, lol).

This goes on for awhile with the innocent passengers getting angrier & angrier and the conductors waiting patiently for the sheriff. The fare-dodger has a bike with him and one enterprising passenger suddenly leaps into action, grabs the guy's bike and runs off the train with it. The FD grabs the rear wheel of the bike in the doorway and a tug of war ensues. EP has better leverage since he's on the train platform and he eventually pulls the guy out of the train. Fisticuffs ensue and the station security guards intervene. EP hops back onto the train, the conductors close the door and our trip resumes. Problem solved. Sort of.

Today, I get on the train and there's only two seats open in my car, adjacent seats in a row of three. There is a woman occupying the far seat, so I take the near one, leaving an open seat in between. I'm sitting there for maybe four minutes when the woman in the far seat says to me, "My friend is sitting in that seat, when he comes back you're going to have to move."

Lol, I may be wearing a pink shirt & possibly look like a pushover, but excuse me? Native New Yorker here and it's bad enough that you've spontaneously spoken to me while riding public transportation, but did you also just tell me where I can sit?!

"When your friend gets back, he can sit in this empty seat," I tell her and point to the open seat next to me. She keeps telling me that I'm going to need to move, why should her friend have to sit in the middle seat, I can move to the middle seat if I want, her friend will be taking my seat. I just stare at her like she has twelve heads, every now & then repeating that her friend can have the empty seat. Eventually a conductor comes by and tells the woman to back off, she can't tell me where to sit on the train and her friend can choose any unoccupied seat on the train he would like.

Woman promptly calls Metrolink customer service to file a complaint against the conductor (yesterday's fare dodger did the same thing). Typical. I got the info to contact Metrolink myself to relay the conductor's side of the story for both incidents, really this is total BS but it happens all the time.

And yes riding the train is actually still better and less stressful than driving. LA has nice weather but loony people no doubt.

Richard Morris

Yogacat, congrats on finishing the Redbud. The main pack in the 50 miler averaged over 24 mph for the 50 miles.

sarals 

@Heathpack. You'd never see that kind of "behavior" on a New York subway (native New Yorker here, too). Never. Too. Funny!