$15 billion in quarterly PROFITS?

Blog readers, while I try to stick with the theme of cycling, sometimes world events get in the way and I just can't resist taking on a tough topic that is dear to my heart or affects all of us in a very viceral way. Today is just such a day... get ready for a different Break Away....

In all of my life, I've never been more stunned by anything than waking up today and reading about how Exxon-Mobil Oil Corp. has reported a record $15 billion in quarterly profits!

http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/30/news/companies/exxon_earnings/index.htm

This on top of a record $12 billion in Q2. At a time when our nation is in the midst of it's greatest economic depression in the last 75 years (maybe ever), we are just crawling out of an energy crisis that drove oil prices to an all time high, we're seeing the oil crisis ripple effect throughout the entire economy causing inflaion, unemployment is rising and the World Banking System has collapsed and every American is sitting back wondering what has happened to their retirement savings; these folks have a lot of balls! This is all about greed... pure, unadulterated greed. Greed at the expense of every man, woman and child on this planet. Greed at the expense of national security. Greed at the expense of economic health. This is the same greed that drove our banking systems to collapse.

When they held the senate subcommittee hearings in September to understand what was driving oil to $140 a barrel, the oil giants were all in unison when stating that it was the effect of a global oil shortage driven by additional consumption in India and China, that American oil reserves were dangerously low and that they were not profiting from it because they are paying the same amount per barrel as everyone else. I just think it's funny that the global oil shortage came out of no-where and subsided as quickly as it started. Nothing on a planetary level can cause that fast of a rise nor this steep a fall in the consumption of oil. This makes me wonder, who controls and reports on the nations oil reserves? Clearly, this is fruitful ground for me to investigate but it is an important fact to know. Is it possible that a consortium of oil companies can underreport oil reserves and/or restrict supplies to create a shortage, when in fact, they have plenty of reserves that were bought at $70 a barrel sitting in storage. As the price goes up, they turn around and sell the $70 a barrel oil at $4.80 a gallon at the pump and pocket the profits? Kind of makes you wonder... Simply tightening the release of stored oil can create a false shortage that nets huge returns for Shell, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, BP and, of course the Arabian oil giants.

Simply stated: Exxon-Mobil managed to extract a record $15 billion in quarterly profits, from it's customers, during the worst economic period the global economy has ever known. I hope these guys can celebrate their incredible success with a clear conscience that they are not only looking out for the good of Exxon-Mobil but also the people that inhabit this planet. More likely, they are celebrating their fat bonuses and having spa weeks on the money they made from all of us. It's that greed thing again... can't escape it in a capitalistic society, I guess. The backing system sure highlighted that.

So, what is the next step? Is Exxon-Mobil taking advantage of their position over the control of America's oil futures? Greed led the banking system to pursue some unworthy business practices with respect to loaning money and it cost all of us at least $700 billion thus far to fix it. In the end everyone agreed that the government needed to have more involvement in regulating the financial systems in order to prevent prevented this risky business practices and the ensuing sub-prime mortgage meltdown. Maybe we should learn from this last crisis and apply some of that regulatory policy to the oil companies before their greed gets the better of them and causes further economic devastation to an already fragile system. Here the consequences can be much more dyer. Instead of an economic collapse, would could end up in a 3rd world war over control of the oil fields. As much as I hate to see oversite committees, I think that it is time that the US government took a more active role in regulating the business practices of the oil industry to prevent further rape of the American public.

It is truly a world gone mad...

Dalezilla Takes 2nd in the Golden State Nationals !!

Oct. 3-5, 2008, Lancaster, CA

All I can say about our trip to Southern California for the BMX Golden State Nationals is 'life just isn't fair sometimes'...

On Friday during the opening events, Dalezilla went out and won his opening moto for catagory and advanced to the semi finals. When the semi finals came around he got a good start and was leading his race when on racer tried to pass Dalezilla on the inside of the turn, lost control of his bike and took them both out of the race. When they are taking 4 to the main there is no reason for the 2nd place rider to be taking those kind of risks. So, if you are not one of the top 4 finishers, you are done for the day - I get that. It's just tough to explain it to a 7 year old boy, who is good at what he does, that somone else's mistake has cost him his chance and he is done for the day. He was pretty sad.

Saturday, Day 1 of the Nationals, was almost a carbon copy of the day before. Dalezilla won his first moto handily and went onto semi finals. In the semis he was in mid-pack and picking off riders when his right pedal sheared off the crank arm and he lost control of his bike on some doubles and wrecked. This weekend is not going according to the plan.... Oh well, there is still one more day to go. Maybe he can make it to the mains on Sunday....

Sunday come around and we do the mechanical once-over on the bike. The weather is much better and there is very little wind. Perfect conditions. Dalezilla goes out and wins his first moto to qualify for semi finals in his age bracket. During the semis, he puts on a solid race and come in 2nd - good enough to make it to mains. Finally, he has a shot.

In the main event, Dalezilla got a slow gate and came into turn 1 in mid-field. He drops down low and picks up a couple of spots. He powers by Devin Sullivan to take over 3rd and then gets passed by Devin again going into turn 2. The leader of the race wrecks on the 3rd straight and Devin almost takes Dalezilla out trying to avoid the wreck. Dalezilla recovers, lands himself in 3rd and goes after the 2 leaders.

Coming out of the last turn Dale is in 3rd but closing the gap. As they hit the last double Dalezilla is 1/2 a bike length behind on the first hill, almost even on the 2nd hill and pick Devin off at the line by only a couple of inches to earn 2nd! It was so close they could not award the 2nd and 3rd place trophies until they did a video review of the finish. Sure enough, Dalezilla did clip him at the finish but only by a hair or two....

Take a look at this video on Go211.com and tell me what you think....

Black Jack Nationals

August 29-31, Reno, NV

I don't have anything to say other than this was Dalezilla's most consistant set of Nationals races that he has ever done. He made all of his mains and walked away with a lot of trophies.

Day 1 Video:



Day 2 Video:

Dalezilla is the guy that is trying to jump the double on the first straight. Nice move, unfortunately it cost him the race and he drops all the way back to 5th before moving up to finish 4th.

So, 'What's happening with me' you ask...

I'm back on my bike after basically taking the summer off to be Dalezilla's domestique, get Megan off to Spain, teach Kira how to drive and go on our usual 2 vacations. I got some riding in here and there but not much. Certainly not enough to keep my fitness up.

Switch and I started our morning rides again. I've basically been out of that loop since March when Adub took a morning shift that left me with the chore of taking Dalezilla to school. Seems like I quit just in time to miss the warmer mornings and I've restarted just in time for the temperatures to be dropping. In fact, I have my first cold of the season from my early morning rides. And, of course, it has kept me off my bike most of the week. Hopefully, I'll get a ride in tomorrow. Finger's crossed.

I probably should be planning some goals to get me in shape for the winter racing series. The Winter Solstice, The Dumbarten Challenge and the Solvang Century will be here before I know it. Got to get some base miles in somehow... hummmm.... let me think about this and get back to you. If anyone has any good suggestions on how to get my ass back in shape after 6 months off the bike, let me know...

June 1, 2008: California State Championship Qualifier

Here is a multimedia race report with a beat!









Hope you enjoy :-)

As many of you know, Dalezilla, is into BMX racing. This weekend Dalezilla competed in the California State BMX Championship Qualification races at Santa Clara. During the practice session, he got squirrelly going down the front straight, ran off of the track, down the hill and into the retaining fence. Needless to say it rattled his cage!!! I had him sit out for a while so that he could collected his composure - remember he just got his cast off this last week after breaking his arm up in Napa Valley at a Redline Cup Qualifier in April.

After he had settled down, I had him go do a couple of warm-up laps just to get his head back into the game - Dale has a tendency to shutdown after a crash and it is hard to get him jump started again.

In the first qualifying heat, he came in 4th out of 8 riders but didn't look like the boy that I've seen racing out here for the last few weeks. The first 2 riders moved onto the main event. In the 2nd qualifier he looked even further off the pace and came in 3rd - the first 2 riders moved onto the main.

Now he is down to his last chance - the 3rd qualifier. I told him he only need to come in the top 3 and the most important thing was not to crash out. He rode a conservative race but still finished 2nd - good enough to make the main event. That's all I needed him to do....

As we sat in the staging area before the main event, it was clear the kid had not regained his killer instinct after the earlier crash in practice. At this point, as a coach and father, the only thing I can tell him is to go do the best he can do and no matter what, I will always love him and I'm proud that he is in the main event competing against some of the best boys in his category from across the state. I also spent a lot of time just trying to get him to laugh so that he wasn't depressed about his earlier efforts.

It was do-or-die time as his moto was called to the gate. I had a pretty good feeling about this because I saw just a glint of the killer instinct I have seen in my son before. He was so focused sitting at the gate, staring at his mark, waiting for cadence to be called and ready to pounce. When the gate dropped, he launched himself down the track and sat in mid-field 1/2 way down the main straight - then he started to move up. By the entry to the first turn he was in 3rd and had a head of steam. At the end of the turn he hit a jump that has a tendency to throw the backend of the bike out since you are still rounding the left hand turn. Dale baubled the landing and lost some speed.

Madman Matthew Sterling passed him on the back straight and Dale was in 4th. Dale hung in there and coming out of the 2nd turn and onto the rhythm section, started to gain on the leaders. He passed Matthew going into turn 3 and almost got by Will Larsen but was pinched off in the turn and it was a drag race going down the final straight and across the finish line. Dalezilla ended up in 3rd!!

I am so proud of the effort he put in to pull himself back together - 3rd place in a race that includes most of the best riders in his class from around the state is not too shabby!!!

To get a better feeling for what a BMX race is like, here is a link to the main event for the California State Championship Qualifier at the Santa Clara BMX track. This is the 7 year old intermediate boys although 2 of the kids here are Experts - only 1 of which beat Dalezilla.

BTW, Dalezilla is the boy closest to the camera in the blue kit.






View Dalezilla's Profile on Loop'd Network:

May 9, 2008: Dalezilla Back At The Track...

Last night, Dalezilla made his debu back at the Santa Clara PAL BMX track. And what a showing it turned out to be - left arm cast and all. Have you ever heard the expression 'Start off slow but save the best for last'? Well that is just what my boy did - and he almost pulled off a win in the main against a very tough field. Dale finished 4th in the 1st qualifier - Zachery Loftus won, 3rd in the 2nd qualifier - Matthew Sterling won and 1st in the 3rd qualifier with Cody coming in 2nd, both moving onto the main.

So set the stage for the main event: Zachery Loftus, Matthew Sterling, Dalezilla Simms and Cody , in that order to start. This is a tough field. Zachery and Matthew are both experts and regular winners as is Dale. This is going to be a showdown - only problem is that Dalezilla is hindered by having a cast on his left arm so he can't wear his glove on his left hand and has a little trouble controlling the handlebars on the jumps so he tends to be a bit cautious as we saw in the qualifiers.

But Dalezilla threw caution to the wind in the main event and when the gate dropped he was balanced, standing and popped a good one right off the start. It was a dead heat down the front straight between Zach, Dalezilla and Matthew with them going into the first turn in that order. On the back straight, Zach had the lead, Matthew came up on Dalezilla before Dale turned on the afterburners and left his companion in the dust. In the 2nd turn, Zach had a sizable lead and Matthew was fading fast - Madman Matthew Sterling tends to shut down if the race isn't going his way. Dalezila made up some time in the rhythm section but not enough to overtake Zach on the main straight and Dale finished 2nd overall.

Not bad for having to race with a handicap - I was downright proud of my boy - he is back in the saddle and ready to roll !!!

Watch the Video:




Results:

1. Zachery Loftus
2. Dalezilla Simms
3. Cody
4. Matthew Sterling

May 3, 2008: USS Pampanito 383

There aren't many times in your life when you get to do something truly unique but this last weekend was one experience I will never forget - and it had nothing at all to do with cycling - imagine that!!!

Since we couldn't attend the US Nationals due to Dalezilla's broken arm, we decided to join Dale's Cub Scout Den for a sleepover on the USS Pampanito 383 - a Balao class World War II submarine anchored at Pier 45 at Embarcadero in San Francisco. The Pampanito is open to the public for tours but we actually got a chance to stay on board overnight and live like the crew of a submarine had to live when they were on active duty.

I'm glad I wasn't in the navy on submarine duty - that would suck! First of all, subs are hot, smelly, noisy, cramped, they reek of diesel oil and the living space for 80 guys is pretty small. The sub basically has 10 living/working areas:

1. forward torpedo room
2. officer's quarters
3. control room
4. galley
5. crews quarters
6. forward engine room
7. aft engine room
8. manuvering room
9. aft torpedo room
10. pump room

There is also cold storage locker and a conning tower (which is more like a booth).

In this tiny space you have to pack 80 guys and there are only 48 bunks and they are all crowded together. Figure that one out. Anyway, if you are a 7 year old boy named Dalezilla, this is heaven!!!

Enjoy the video that I've attached to this blog. This chronicles our adventure aboard the submarine. We even went to and from the sub on train because that is what most of the servicemen in WWII did when they enlisted in the armed services. Dalezilla looked like a soldier going off to do battle!

USS Pampanito Tour by Jon Simms

Napa Redline Qualifier - Dalezilla breaks arm :-(

April 20, 2008, Napa CA

Dale and I decided to go up to the North Bay BMX track in Napa for the last day of the Redline Cup Qualifiers. Dale was out on the track practicing just before the main event was suppose to start. As you exit the first turn onto the back stretch, you immediately hit a large jump. Dale got a good jump coming out of the gate and was about to turn in one of the patented fast laps when he endoed coming over the top of the hill.

He had some trouble getting up so they checked him out and sent him back tot he bleachers. He was obviously rattled and complaining of his wrist hurting and several cuts and bruises. I tried to talk him through it but he was having nothing to do with that. He finally told me he wanted to go home. I tried to talk him out of that but soon realized that the kid has experience with crashing and getting back on his bike and if he can't do it now, this one must really hurt. So we packed up, loaded his bike back on the car, withdrew him from the event (too bad you don't get your money back!) and left to come home. On the way home, I had a brilliant idea - we should stop and get a treat to help him get his mind off his injuries. I asked him if he wanted a piece of pie to help cheer him up. He said "you bet! I'm having a pie emergency!" so we found a diner and stopped. When we got inside, Dale told the waitress that he had just wrecked his bike and was having a pie emergency. She said she didn't know exactly what a pie emergency was but she knew how to cure it. She then asked Dad if it was ok to go straight to the pie and by-pass lunch. I told her that's what we came in here for - let's get to it! They had just what we needed , Dalezilla got a piece of Chocolate Cream Pie and I got some Lemon Marangue. It was delicious.

As Dale was cleaning up the last few crumbs from his plate he told me that his arm was still sore and that he thought he might need a second piece of pie. At this point I'm beginning to think that I'm being played for a sucker by a 7 year old kid. But, in the end, Dale ended up with a piece of apple pie and ice cream - which he proceeded to devour. We got back in the car and drove home. He was trying to play with his Nintendo DS but was having trouble - this is when you know things are bad. 2 days later (tonight), things haven't gotten any better. He is still complaining, he has a knot on arm but no other swelling or bruising. I decided it was time to take him to urgent care to get it checked out so off we went. The doctor examined him and ordered some routine x-rays. The technician checked them out and said it looked like a bad ouwie! When the doctor took a look he said it was broken - but only the way a 7 year old can break and arm. Instead of a fracture, you could see where the bone had bent and was slightly out of alignment. There was a bulge in the bone right where the deviation occurred. It is much the same effect if you bend a live twig, it bends instead of breaking and where it bends the twig folds and bulges. Hence the term 'green-stick fracture'. The nurse put a splint and sling on his arm and sent him home. We will go to see an orthopedic sports doctor over the next 2-3 days where Dale will get his permanent cast. I'll post more then and hopefully I'll get some pictures out of this I can post too. Dale is really excited about getting a real cast so all of his friends can sign it.

4th Annual Mt. Hamilton Challenge

Saturday, April 12, 2008



The Peloton

1. Bill 'Sledge Hammer' Nowlin (MVV) - defending champ
2. Jon 'Feel Good' Simms (MVV)
3. Bruce 'Hot Shoes' Overby (unattached)
4. Ann 'Kamikazi' Togasaki (unattached)
5. Tom 'Aruba Dude' Rooze (unattached)
6. Markus 'The Keizer' Brockmann (MVV)
7. Graham 'GrahamFast' Koetz (MVV)
8. Jim 'Flip' Pravitz (MVV) - Up to Lick and back
9. Paul 'Clank' Hartrey (MVV)
10. Mark 'Switch' Jongsma (MVV)
11. Marc 'The Cannibal' Moisson (MVV)
12. Bruce 'SpaceDude' Gardner (MVV)
13. Steve 'HammerSchlagen' Stewart (LGBRC) - bar stage only
14. Dan 'Houdek' Houdek (unattached)
15. Alin 'Gonzo' Cincu (MVV)
16. Ted 'Bullet' Jaworski (Alto Velo)
17. Janet "Hot Legs" Gahagen (MVV)
18. Bruce 'SkyHigh' Ryhti (unattached)


The Ride Report:

What a gorgeous day for a bike ride! But what a painful ride to look forward to. As we rolled out of the parking lot at Park Victoria and Landess, you know that you have a 2 hour climb up to the top of Mt. Hamilton. 2 hours of back breaking climbing - it's a good thing the temperature is still pretty cool.... it is going to get much hotter today with the thermometer approaching 94F!!!

Check out the Video:





Ride Statistics:

105 miles
8,200 ft of vertical ascent

The BMX Great Northwest Nationals

April 6-7, 2008 at Redmond, Oregon.

The best way to sum this one up is "Dale put on quite a show but walked away empty handed".

Sometimes it was due to tactical errors and sometimes it was mistakes by his pit crew that cost him but one thing was for sure... Dale was one of the fastest riders out of the gate and even gave Wyatt Larsen a run for his money. I couldn't have been prouder of my boy than when I was watching him put it all out there. For once, I watched him race where his heart was really into it. You gotta high five that kind of attitude. My guess is with a little track work, he is going to kick some serious ass in the upcoming nationals competition.

Even Dad made a tactical error that cost Dale a chance to compete in the 7-8 mixed open main event but missing a moto change and getting my son to the staging area too late. I felt horrible because I knew he was faster than almost everyone in his moto. Next time I'll be more careful. I promise!

The following clip is an example of Dale's ability to control the field....

March 8, 2008: The Solvang Century

The Peloton

1. Jon "Feel Good" Simms - MVV
2. Markus "The Keiser" Brockmann - MVV
3. Marc "The Cannibal" Moisson - MVV
4. Paul "Clank" Hartrey - MVV
5. Bill "Sledge Hammer" Nowlin - MVV
6. Mark "Switch" Jongsma - MVV
7. Steve "HammerSchlagen" Stewart - LGBRC
8. Phil "Choo-Choo" Alne - LGBRC
9. Marius "The Viking" Evenson - LGBRC
10. Mike "Wooly Alpaca" Whitlatch - LGBRC
11. Mark "Fletch" Fisher - unattached
12. Ann "Kamakazi" Togasaki - unattahced
13. Bruce "Hot Shoes" Overby - unattached
14. Tom "Aruba Dude" Rooze - unattached
15. Dan "Houdek" Houdek - unattached
16. Paul "Yetiman" Desmet - unattached

Ride Statistics

1. Disatance: 105.39 miles
2. Elevation Gain: 8,450 ft
   
3. Ride Time: 6:16
   
4. Ave. Speed: 16.8 mph
   
5. Max. Speed: 44.8 mph
6. Calories burned: 6395 calories
7. Ave. HR: 148 bpm
8. Max. HR: 188 bpm

The Finishing Photo:




The Awards Ceremony at Yetiman and Shari's House

Dazilla Takes 2nd Place at BMX Nationals !!!

The apple never falls far from the tree....

My son, Dale Simms (aka Dalezilla), is a pretty avid BMX racer at the Santa Clara PAL BMX track. Dale has qualified for some of the tougher competitions in his meager 7 months of racing - including the Redline Cup Western Championships in Ontario, CA (which he did not go to because of a boy scout trip he wanted to go to instead) and the ABA Silver Dollar Nationals in Reno, NV just a few weeks ago.

I decide to take Dale to Reno just to see how he would do against the more competitive crowd than what we find at the local track. We stayed at the Grand Sierra just 5 miles from the Reno Event Center where the races were being held. The Event Center has an indoor auditorium where the laid down the track and an indoor (but unheated) practice facility next door that is connected by a covered shute. It is a good thing the race was indoors because there was snow on the ground in Reno that weekend and it was cold! This was our chance to see what the real competition would look like. Dale was entered in the 7 Mixed Open (7 year old boys and girls of all skill levels) and the 7 Novice.

The competition started on Friday night with a pre-race trophy dash. 155 motos altogether. Dale looked pretty miserable at first - finish last in all of his practice sessions. But as the night wore he began to comfortable and started picking up some speed. He was also practicing his balance at the starting gate and getting better with every gate! He never qualified for the Mixed Open main event but in his 2nd attempt in his age catagory, he blasted out of the gate like I've never seen before and led start to finish to move into the main event. In the main event he came out of the gate slow but started picking the riders off by the time they were in the first turn. He just couldn't catch them fast enough and ended up in 4th place. Not bad! I can be super proud of that! But tomorrow, when Nationals start, it will be much tougher because the field size will almost triple.

On Day 1 of the Silver Dollar Nationals, Dalezilla showed up with his game face on and it was hard to stop him. He breezed through his qualifiers and and landed the semi-finals for both the Mixed Opens and Catagory. In the Mixed Open Main, Dale finish at the back of the pack due to a poor gate but still got a trophy for his efforts. In his catagory race, he was stunning. He came out of the gate hard and landed himself in 3rd. He swapped paint with the boy in 2nd for a little bit and then passed him coming out of the last turn to land a 2nd place finish after all.

Way to go Dalezilla!!!

Christmas Eve Crash and a Broken Thumb :-(

Sometimes, no matter how careful you think you are being, shit happens!

It's Christmas Eve morning and Switch and I head out on our normal ride over the usual route. The temp was cold and the roads were wet but it wasn't raining at the time. We head up the hill to get some climbing in. As we turned off Altamont and start down Page Mill, Mark yelled at me "I'll see you at the bottom - Rhonda told me I can't hurt myself today since it is the day before Christmas". Within 3 seconds after that statement was made, I was on the pavement in a freak, slow motion crash!

As I headed around the first lefty, I noticed water and mud on the road. I slowed WAY down to avoid and accident but the minute I hit the mud, I felt my back tire coming around on my right. I tried to recover but it was too late. Next thing I know I'm on the pavement, sliding along in slow motion and looking around. When I came to a stop I stood up, brushed myself off and took inventory. The bike looks OK except to staighten the left break lever a little bit. However, my left thumb is killing me - something is messed up big time. But, like a good boy, I got back on my bike and we headed off. I actually di the last 20 miles that remained on our ride but the whole time I kept telling Switch was I just couldn't find a comfortable spot on my handlebars for my left hand. In fact, I left my left glove off so that my hand would freeze and I didn't have to deal with the pain and swelling. We stopped at Peets Coffee after the ride, had our morning inspiration and headed home.

At home I got cleaned up but decided there was no way I was going to spend Christmas Eve at the Stanford emergency room. I put my arm in a sling, stuffed a pair of rolled socks in my left hand and packed my hand in ice. Since there are no less that 4 doctors in our family, I got lots of attention on Christmas Day when we all got together. The verdict was unanimous that I need to get to Urgent Care as soon as possible! Of course, by this time my left hand looks like someone had inflated a purple latex glove. What a lovely color!

On Wednesday morning I head to PAMF Urgent Care. When it was my turn, the doctor listened to my story, looked at my hand and sent me to X-ray to 'find out what was broken and how bad'. After reading the X-rays the doctor sent me to an Orthopedic hand surgeon. I have this theory about the prognosis when you have to see anyone that has 'surgeon' in their job title. Sure enough the hand guy takes a look at the X-rays and the next thing I know I have an appointment scheduled for Friday for my hand surgery (my theory holds true again!) to get my thumb set, clamped and pinned. Yippee!

I wore my cast and pins until the 2nd week of February when they were finally removed. During this time, the best I could do was to sit in the garage on my stationary trainer with my arm in sling that was hanging from the rafters of the garage so that I didn't get the cast too sweaty :-) The good news is that I got my cast changed about every 2 weeks so it never got too bad inside. When it came time to remove the pins, the doctor walked into a small examining room where I was camped out. He pulled a package out of his docterly pocket, ripped it open and pulled out a pair of.... CRESCENT PLIERS? Come on now! You need to have something more sophisticated that that!!! He walks over to me, twirls the pins a bit with his fingers to make sure the are loose from the bone and then reaches down with the pliers, grabs the end of the first pin and starts to pull it out. Wait a second! Don't you have to put me to sleep or something before you do that???!!!! As he pulled the pin out I felt a very deep ache in my left hand as the fluids moved into the cavity that was vacated by the pin. It didn't hurt but the doctor warned me it would be uncomfortable - that's the best explanation of the feeling - uncomfortable! Then he pulled the 2nd pin out and I was done!!! He gave me the name of the physical therapist that he recommended since my hand was pretty much useless and had zero strength or mobility. The hard part was just beginning....

The Winter Solstice Century

Date: Saturday, Dec 15, 2007

Well, the last long ride I did was the Death Ride in July. I've been pretty much off the bike about 3 months of the time and the last 2 months I've been struggling to get my miles in. I lost my mojo somewhere and I'm lookin to get it back. Damned if I didn't pick the coldest freaking day of winter to go do a century I wasn't prepared for. But hey... you have to do the rides to do the rides so here goes...

I hope you like my new format of ride reports, I'm going to try doing this for a while and see how it turns out. Hope you like it.





Ride Stats:

• Distance...........107.34 miles
• Elevation........: 4,800 ft.
• Ave Speed........17.6 mph
• Max Speed........42 mph
• Ave HR............150 bpm
• Max HR............190 bpm
• Calories...........3,700 cals
• Temp..............Freakin Cold!

Motion Based Route:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4605889

Now That's Accelleration !!!

Folks,

In addition to my love of cycling, I'm also into fast cars - as you can tell from some of my earlier blogs Anyway, here was something that someone sent to me that I just couldn't resist sharing. My wife was not impressed but I ask "How can anybody not think this is SO COOL"?

ACCELERATION PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE

One Top Fuel 500 cubic-inch Hemi dragster engine makes more horsepower (8,000 HP) than the first 4 rows of NASCAR cars at the Daytona 500.

• Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
• A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to merely drive the dragster's supercharger.
• With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
• At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.
• Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.
• Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
• Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.
• If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.
• Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this sentence.
• In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's.
• Top Fuel engines turn approximately 5400 revolutions from light to light!
• Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 9000 revolutions under load.
• The redline is actually quite high at 9500 RPM.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, for once, nothing blows, each run costs an estimated $1,000 per second.

Some other facts:

• 0 to 100 MPH in 0.8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run)
  
• 0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)
  
• 6 G forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)
  
• 6 negative G forces upon deployment of twin parachutes at 300 MPH.

An NHRA Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth, quicker than a jet fighter plane.............quicker than the space shuttle.

The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.4 seconds for the quarter-mile (2004, Doug Kalitta). The top speed record is 337.58 MPH as measured over the last 66' of the run (2005, Tony Schumacher).

Putting this all into perspective:

You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged & ready to launch down a quarter-mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a 200 mph flying start. You run the 'Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment.

The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3 seconds the dragster catches & passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter-mile away from where you just passed him. Think about it from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 MPH & not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race.

Now that you've heard the just how powerful and fast these cars really are, take a look at this link and you can see it up close and in slow motion!



NOW, THAT'S ACCELERATION ! ! !

July 14, 2007: The Markleeville Death Ride

I did it!!! 5 mountain passes, 130 miles and 15,133 ft of vertical.





A Few Facts:

1. The ride goes over Monitor Pass twice, Ebbitts Pass twice and up to the top of Carson Pass and back down.
2. Altitudes for the ride ranged from 6,000 ft to 8,900 ft.
3. Of the 8 hrs and 50 minutes of riding, 7 hrs and 45 mins were spent going uphill and 1 hr and 5 minutes were spent going downhill.
4. The temperatures reached over 90F that day!
5. I drank 27 bottles of Cytomax and water to prevent dehydration.
6. The last climb, up Carson Pass, is directly into a headwind. What a bummer!!! While it is not steep, the wind in your face just makes it that much tougher.

Ride Stats:

• Total Time: 10 hrs 12 min
• Ride Time: 8 hrs 56 min
• Ave Speed: 14 mph
• Max Speed: 59 mph
• Ave HR: Not Available
• Max HR: Not Available
• Calories 8,632 kcals
• Ave Cadence 58 rpm

MotionBased Link:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3304002

June 16, 2007: Boulder Creek & Big Basin

Mark and I decided on a training mission for the death ride. Let's go over to the other side of the Santa Cruz Mountains and kick around!

The Route included the following:

• Redwood Gulch
• Hwy 9 to Saratoga Gap
• Hwy 9 to Boulder Creek
• Hwy 9 to Ben Lohman
• Alba
• Empire Grade
• Jamison Creek
• 236 to Big Basin
• 236 to Hwy 9
• Hwy 9 to Saratoga Gap
• Hwy 9
• Pierce
  
• Mt Eden
• Peets
  

The video below is Mark and I coming up Hwy 236 and entering Big Basin Park. The weather was perfect and the sun was shinning. Take a look...







This ride had some real butt kickers in it including Alba. I'm not sure I'd compare it to the back side of Mt. Ham but it is close. Steep and endless...


Ride Stats for the day:

• Distance: 85 miles
• Ascent: 9,600 ft
• Ride Time: 5:29:20
• Ave Speed: 15.2 mph
• Max Speed: 52 mph
• Ave HR: 142 bpm
• Max HR: 190 bpm
• Cadence: 61 rpm

Look on Motion Based:

• http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3037096

Lots of climbing - good day of training for the death ride...

New Addition To My Garage

I know this has nothing to do with cycling but I couldn't resist showing off my latest beauty! Isn't she sweet? It's a 2007 Porsche Cayman S and it goes from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds with a top speed of 175 mph (not that I'll ever go that fast)

I've been wanting to replace my 1999 Porsche Boxster for something a little more practical (ie. can put bike racks on top of without spending 5 hours assembling the Boxster RTS). When I saw this car being introduced over a year ago into the US, I took Switch down to Carlsen Porsche and check out the Cayman S during an open house they had. What a beauty it was and I knew right then and there I was going to own one of those some day soon. For the last year, Switch has been listening to me on our morning rides talk about by savings goals and how much closer I was to buying my Cayman S. Thank heavens he hung with me for the last 15 months over this - most normal people would have ridden off and left me to daydream on my own. Anyway, someplace around the middle of May I decided that the time was right and this is what I ended up with.

Stop by sometime and I'll give you a ride :-)

PS. I'll be posting more pictures on my photo gallery on the front page. If you want to see more, check there.

Talking To God - Training For The Death Ride

Ride Route:

Start @ Montague & Park Victoria, Ride over Mt Hamilton to the Junction, have lunch, turn around and ride back over Mt Hamilton.


Ride Stats:

Distance ______________ 84 miles
Total Ascent ___________ 9,200 ft.
Total Time ____________ 6 hrs 39 min
Ride Time _____________ 5 hrs 34 min
Ave HR _______________ 155 bpm
Max HR _______________ 195 bpm
Ave Speed _____________ 15 mph
Max Speed _____________ 38 mph
Calories _______________ 5,500 kcals
Cadence _______________ 60 rpm

MotionBased Link:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2906185

May 19, 2007: The Mt Hamilton Challenge

yes, I owe you a race report for this one too :-)



Check out the peloton as they descend down Mines Road...





Ride Stats:

Distance__________106 miles
Ascent___________9,000 ft of climbing
Ave Speed________17 mph
Max Speed________42 mph
Calories__________7,200 kcals
Ave HR__________141 bpm
Max HR__________189 bpm
Total Time________9 hrs 2 min
Rolling Time_______6 hrs 11 min
Ave Cadence______71 rpm


MotionBased Link:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2774784

Heaven and Hell

Heaven is where....

• The Chefs are French
• The Police are British
• The Mechanics are German
• The Lovers are Italian
• and the whole thing is organized by the Swiss

Hell is where...

• The Chefs are British
• The Police are German
• The Mechanics are French
• The Lovers are Swiss
• and the whole thing is organized by the Italians.

April 22, 2007: The Chico Wildflower Century

The last time I did the Chico Wildflower Century was in 1993 right after I moved down to the bay area from Oregon. I didn't have the fitness that year and, as a result, did not finish the century. I got about 40 miles into it and gave up. This year I hope to do way better

I drove to Chico on Saturday afternoon and took both bikes because I didn't know what the weather was suppose to be like - actually I did, every weather forecast said it was an 80% chance of rain... not showers but rain! Most likely, I'd ride my Specialized so that I could keep my Madone out of the road grime that comes with wet riding.

When I got to Chico, I picked up my daughter Megan from the dorms and we drove a few errands around town. She showed me the apartments that she would be renting next year for school - they were really nice and the apt itself, looked like a 2 story condo. Megan is really excited and introduced me to her two roomates she would be living with next year. The whole time we are driving around, it is pouring down rain. Tomorrow looks like it is going to be wet :-) We picked up my college roommate, Ric Olsen, who works as a pharmacist at the Chico Hospital. He has been living in Chico for a 15 years now and really likes it (except the heat of summer :-) Megan, Ric and Diane (Ric's SO) and I went out to dinner at Frankie's - it is a very good Italian restaurant in town. As I sat in inside and ate, I was watching it rain buckets out the window. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. We dropped Megan off at the dorms and I spent the night at Ric's house.

The next morning it was still sprinkling but not too bad and I thought this was OK to start the Chico century but I'm make sure I took a raincoat just in case. I ate breakfast, said thank you and good bye to Ric and took off for the fairgrounds. Once there I dawned my bike gear, loaded up my back pockets with food slipped on my raincoat, got my Specialized Tarmac down off the car, set the computer and took off for the start of the ride.

I rolled out around 7:50am Sunday morning.

more coming soon.....

March 10, 2007: The Solvang Century

Coming Soon.... http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2222859

March 4, 2007: The Dumbarten Challenge

This ride report brought to you by HammerSchlagen of BayAreaRider.com fame.

The Dunbarton/Calaveras Challenge is a ride Thor originated a few years ago. An 88-mile mountainous route, it starts from his house in Palo Alto and goes over the Dunbarton bridge, up Niles Canyon, up over Palomares Rd out to 580, then east to Foothill Blvd, south to Sunol, then southwest over Calaveras Road and ending back at Thor's house for some post-ride (race) festivities. The ride is considered a climbing ride since it is mostly over hilly terrain. In fact, Palomares and Calaveras are the two major climbs on the day, each regarded as significant climbs. They aren't terribly tough climbs but riding them with this group is brutal!

The previous year's race (I mean RIDE), was won by Switch with a brutal attack on the final pitch of the Calaveras climb. HammerSchlagen took second with Feel Good a close third. In five attempts on this climb, last year's event was the only one that Feel Good had been beaten on the final climb. Needless to say, Feel Good is like an elephant when it comes to getting hammered by his buds.

Anyway, the ride rolled-off around 8:30 AM with the following notable riders on the start list:

1. John Larsen (Thor) - MVV
2. Mark Fischer (Fletch) - Unattached
3. Mike Jessen (Spike) - LGBRC
4. Mike Whitlatch (BroSchlagen :) - LGBRC
5. Darrel Brokeshoulder (BigGear) - LGBRC
6. Bill Nowlin (Lurch or TurboHammer :) - MVV
7. Steve Stewart (HammerSchlagen) - LGBRC
8. Chris Daugherty (CD) - LGBRC
9. Mark Jongsma (Switch) - MVV
10. Jon Simms (Feel Good) - MVV


The peloton rolled out at a good clip from Palo Alto and had a pretty uneventful trip out to the bridge and over. Feel Good led the charge over the bridge climb and most riders took a nature break at the park on the other side while Fletch continued up the road. He's known for his headstarts and Yetiman-like tactics but this was a bit too early, even for him. A small chase group formed to collect Fletch and bring him back to the field. The peloton continued out through Fremont and maintained a good pace up to Niles Canyon for a pit stop at the usual 7-11 and another nature break. With Palomares looming, everyone seemed content to stay together and enjoy the beautiful calm weather before the coming storm of pain.

As the field made the turn off of Niles Canyon onto Palomares, the usual climber suspects went to the front with Feel Good leading the way. Feel Good actually opened up a good gap in front of a chase group consisting of BigGear, CD, Switch, TurboHammer, and HammerSchlagen. The peloton remained close as the tempo and subsequent pain increased. Feel Good didn't appear to be trying hard to escape so Switch turned the screws up a bit and pulled the chase group onto Feel Good's wheel in no time. Of course, about half way up the steep and relentless climb, the pace was quickening and the effort getting more painful with several of the riders taking a turn on the front of the break.

It was mostly Feel Good and BigGear pushing the pace early but everyone (except the wiser HammerSchlagen) took a shot at the front. With about two miles to go, TurboHammer launched a brutal attack on a pretty steep section of road. The other riders looked pretty shocked by the explosiveness of the attack. It was pretty amazing to see the big man accelerate like that (he's about 6'5" and close to 200 lbs!). Last year it was Feel Good launching early attacks with Switch taking the final sprint to the top.

The other riders could do nothing to counter and were barely able to grab TurboHammer's wheel and hang on for dear life. With a few of the riders in serious difficulty, TurboHammer took a breather and spared the demise of some--for the moment (including HammerSchlagen, he would later say). The expectation was that a counter-attack would go next. But it was--again--TurboHammer launching yet another attack. Fauck! This guy was defying the laws of everything--let alone gravity!

TurboHammer launched another two or three attacks that were exceptionally long and on the steeper portions of the climb (it is largely believed that the MVV team recon'd this one like they do Solvang). TurboHammer was sure doing some serious damage leading up to the final steep pitch at the top. The other riders were clearly on the ropes and it appeared that TurboHammer was going to shatter the group and take the most vicious KOM victory ever witnessed on this mountain.

Either TurboHammer cracked right before the final corner or it was just the team tactic to wear everyone down so Switch or Feel Good could take the KOM. Whatever the case, HammerSchlagen was on TurboHammer's wheel when he slowed just before the final corner and went ahead at the perfect moment. With riders to his left and right and very close on his wheel, HammerSchlagen wound up for the sprint to the finish marker. HammerSchlagen would comment later that he was pretty surprised to be in the front at that point. "I was shocked that I rounded the corner first. I knew the top was close so I just put the hammer down and started my acceleration to the only marker I could see near the top. I knew Feel Good was half-wheeling me as we approached the marker but he wasn't coming by and I took the first KOM of the day."

Feel Good was a close second with Switch taking the final podium spot. Of course, Feel Good was not happy about missing out on the first KOM points. He filed a protest that the sign wasn't exactly at the top of the climb. However, the UCI ruled in favor of HammerShlagen since it was the only sign/marker on the hill. Feel Good mumbled something under his breath as he acknowledged the decision and admitted defeat. :)

A NOTE FROM FEEL GOOD: Folks, first of all, the UCI did not vote on the decision - only HammerSchlagen! I did not admit defeat - I never admit defeat :-) Winning a KOM usually means winning to the top of the climb not just the last sign post where you were leading at before you got passed! Let the record show that Steve led up to the left hand turn sign that was actually pointing to the top of the hill (aka: the KOM is just up ahead!). I passed him at that point and led at the summit. You decide - who do you think actually won the KOM?

"I still don't know how I managed to take that particular KOM.", said HammerSchlagen. "I rarely hammer the first climb on a ride but TurboHammer's attacks were so fast that there was actually a decent draft behind him. I think getting the best part of his draft saved me from getting dropped and left me with enough in the tank to make the sprint. Plus, I knew that might be my only shot at some points on the day."

Anyway, the peloton regrouped at the top and looked forward to the bonsai fast descent down to Dublin Canyon Rd. Spike railed the first half mile or so then a group formed and rocketed away. The peloton split for the first time here and again on the climb over Dublin Canyon Rd. but regrouped at Foothill Blvd for the cool roller-coaster ride over to Sunol and the only sprint points of the day.

It was, as always, a great paceline going into Sunol. The whole group shared the work and everyone took good long pulls at the front, getting them to Sunol in no time. The sprint in Sunol is usually a very close one with nearly everyone together going into the final twist and turns and then fighting for position coming into the final sharp right turn before the finish straight.

Switch was at the front setting the pace up to about a 1/4 mile before the finish. Then HammerSchlagen made a move to the front and starting winding up for the finish. Of course, everyone was in tow and waiting for the final corner to launch themselves toward the line. Hamerschlagen made it into the final corner with the good inside line but there was what looked like a speed bump right in the middle of the corner. As HammerSchlagen hit the apex of the corner, him and his rig flew up over the bump and well over the double-yellow and into the oncoming lane. The bump pretty much hosed Feel Good's shot at the sprint because he hit the bump even harder and had to make a much wider corner taking him out of the final sprint by a good margin. HammerSchlagen handily got to the line first and pocketed the only sprint points of the day.

"I didn't really know who was behind me, I just went as fast as I could go around the final corner and hoped for the best. Lucky for me, the bump was bigger on the outside line and the other riders lost momentum as they fought to stay on the road and make the corner. It was an easy victory, but could have just as easily been a disaster," said HammerSchlagen.

The field came in seconds later and the group refueled and hydrated for the final stage up Calaveras. There would be two KOM's on Calaveras. And, of course, the overall winner of the race (Oops, sorry--Ride) would be decided over the summit of Calaveras Rd.

It's always a nice stretch of road going from Sunol over Niles Canyon Rd to the base of the Calaveras climb. The peloton was all together and everyone was enjoying the great weather and easy pedaling. Thor was feeling strong and did most of the work over to Calaveras. From there, Feel Good and HammerSchlagen went to the front and stepped up the pace as the field headed into Calaveras canyon and the upcoming final climb.

As in previous years, Fletch launched a flyer about a mile before the climb really starts. Always hopeful that his aggressive moves will pay off, he stayed out front until the field caught him just before the first pitch of the climb. Feel Good, as always, took over the work of setting
the pace and started ratcheting up the speed (and pain). The same suspects that contested the Palomares climb, were all together again as the pace quickened and the lactate acid begin to flow again. Feel Good continued at a feverish pace with CD, Switch, HammerSchlagen, BigGear, and TurboHammer in tow. Nobody seemed interested in going to the front so the lead group just stayed on Feel Good's wheel for the first couple of miles. With the first KOM point just 300 meters or so away, TurboHammer rockets his way to the front and leaves the group helpless to counter the tremendous attack. TurboHammer crossed the KOM line and was turned around before even Feel Good got there.

TurboHammer had mistakenly assumed a regroup would occur at the KOM marker, but Feel Good and the rest of the break just blew over the hill and continued on. Certainly, the turn-around and subsequent bridge by TurboHammer was costly. The group continued with Feel Good again setting the torrid pace. A short while later, Switch made a move towards the front and turned the screws up a bit more. It was a little while later when the lead group split. BigGear and TurboHammer went off the back succumbing to agony but certainly happy their job was done for the day.

The pace got even quicker as Switch and Feel Good swapped attacks trying to put the LGBRC boys, CD and HammerSchlagen, into difficulty. At one point, things looked like they might go LGBRC's way when Feel Good over-cooked a slight downhill corner and almost ended up in the bushes. The rest of the break thought for sure the bridge would be too much for him to overcome but he caught back on quickly and went to the front as if nothing had happened. The attacks continued as the two MVV riders seemed to battled each other as well as the LGBRC riders. With about two miles to go to the summit, HammerSchlagen had had enough and popped off the back also. Leaving his teammate CD to the unmerciful duo of Feel Good and Switch. CD would later say, "It was the most pain and suffering I'd ever endured on a bike ride." With a teammate up the road and ensured a podium spot, HammerSchlagen could only watch as the group of three riders continued the epic battle up to the summit.

With nobody to work with, HammerSchlagen continued as fast as he could go, but continued to lose time on the trio of riders battling for the final KOM and possible overall. All he could do was watch as they got up the road into the distance.

In the end, the MVV pair could not drop the LGBRC rider and the trio rounded the final bend in the road and sprinted for the KOM marker. Feel Good easily took the victory with Switch close behind and CD just behind Switch. It was an epic battle right down to the wire. Our camera on the peloton quit working but the finish over the final summit looked something like this:

1. Feel Good
2. Switch
3. CD
4. HammerSchlagen
5. TurboHammer
6. BigGear
7. BroSchlagen
8. Fletch
9. Thor
10. Spike
    

The time gaps were not huge as in previous years. Clearly the field was in good form throughout and all riders made the time-cut with ease.

The final stage of roughly 25-miles of flat straight roads to Palo Alto was uncontested as Feel Good took the overall and HammerSchlagen taken the second podium spot by virtue of the Palomares KOM and the Sunol sprint points.


Provisional GC standings:

1. Jon Simms (Feel Good) - MVV
2. Steve Stewart (HammerSchlagen) - LGBRC
3. Mark Jongsma (Switch) - MVV
4. Chris Daugherty (CD) - LGBRC
5. Bill Nowlin (TurboHammer) - MVV
6. Darrel Brokeshoulder (BigGear) - LGBRC
7. Mike Whitlatch (BroSchlagen) - LGBRC
8. Mark Fischer (Fletch) - Unattached
9. John Larsen (Thor) - MVV
10. Mike Jessen (Spike) - LGBRC

Fastest descent: Spike at 48+ on Palomares.

There was plenty of action that this reporter didn't capture due to being a typical media wanker and only following the action of the lead groups. However, surely others have some stories to tell about the tactics in the main field and the other battles that took place on the day.

Feel Good was clearly the strong man taking second on the first KOM and in the sprint. Switch rode a brilliant ride and nearly captured the final KOM. CD amazed everyone with a killer final stage on Calaveras, hanging with the pair of MVV hammers all the way to the final throws of the climb, a very nice ride!

TurboHammer was faucking unbelievable! Other than BigMig (Mike Egan), we have never seen such a big dude rocket up a steep hill like this man can! I think the industry may need a bigger wattage scale to keep track of this faucker's power -- shiet!

Did anybody notice? BigGear did the whole ride with a couple of Clif bars and a small water bottle -- maybe we should call him "The Camelman." He also gets the Most Aggressive Riders jersey for being in the front the most! (Feel Good will protest this. :)


Another notable effort was BroSchlagen. He's only been road riding for a year and he has a training schedule worse than Yetiman! He clicked this ride off with a very respectable overall finish and loved every minute of it.

All in all, the Solvang peloton looks very strong. Everyone put in a great ride and I'm sure we're going to have a blast at Solvang. I have never seen Thor ride so well and Fletch is clearly gaining long-haul form.

Feel Good's Stats:

* Distance..........................91 miles
* Total Ascent.....................4,600 ft.
* Rolling Time.....................5 hrs 02 min
* Ave Speed.......................18 mph
* Max Speed.......................50 mph
* Ave HR...........................141 bpm
* Max HR...........................191 bpm
* Calories..........................6,500 cals.

Feb 11, 2007: Alpe d'Huez Revisited...

A new personal best on Alpe d'Huez!!!

I guess the last 47 min and 40 sec of punishment were just not enough and I decided I had to try it again tonight. Besides, I ate to much at the Chinese buffet and and needed to work off the extra calories. So I mounted my trustee steed, the 1984 DeRosa Pro I have mounted on my trainer and started my warm-up. After about 10 minutes, I made my first attempt at an ascent up Alpe d'Huez but the program froze in the first left hander at the bottom and I had to abort and restart my attempt. The 2nd time the program froze again and had to be restarted. The 3rd time it worked like a charm and away I went up the long grueling climb up the 21 switch backs to the top.

This time I rode in bigger gear at a slower rpm to see if I could make better time. It seems to have worked, here are my stats for this attempt! A new personal best!!!

Total Distance: 10.5 miles
Total Time: 42 min 45 sec
Ave Speed: 14.7 mph
Total Ascent: 2,000 ft
Max HR: 172 bpm
Ave HR: 164 bpm
Max Power: 980 watts
Ave Power: 475 watts

This is significantly better than the first time I rode this course. I know the finish much better and we able to keep from blowing up when I got there. The 350watt rider was nearly 3/4 of a mile behind me this time.

Sweetness!

Well, after 8 weeks, my new Trek Madone SSL finally arrived!!! Nice bike, eh? The saga is that on an MVV club ride in early December, I broke the frame on my old Madone 5.9. I cracked right at the point that the bottom bracket and Seat tube butt together. I took it back to Palo Alto bikes and the rest is too ugly to talk about. Suffice to say, it took Trek and Palo Alto Bikes (I hold them both responsible) about 8 weeks to get a warranty exchange to take place. In the process, I asked how much an upgrade from the Madone 5.9 to an SSL would cost and was told $250 so I said "Go for it"!! Well, yesterday, the saga came to closure when I got the call and the bike was finally in. While the color was not what I wanted from looking at the webpage, I have to say it is a hot looking bike now that I have it in front of me. Especially with the American Classic 420s on it. Sweetness! I can't wait to take it out on the club ride tomorrow morning. I hope it is not raining.