Dirty Is Fun

I have spent several hours trying to get my wheels on my single speed set up tubeless, I would say somewhere between 6-8 hrs. I have a Haro Mary with WTB Laser Disc wheels, not the lightest wheelset but hey it's what I got. I had originally purchased the Stan's conversion kit made specially for that wheel and it didn't work, talk about being pissed ($50+ that I can't get back). Every time that I tried to get the wheel set up I kept leaking air around the valve stem and out around the nipples, have you ever leaked air out of your nipples? It kinda tickles!!! This told me that I wasn't getting a good seal up to the edge of the rim on both sides. I had tried the ghetto version and did not have any luck...the first time. I did some more reading and watched a couple videos on youtube to see how these guys did the ghetto version. When I worked on the wheels prior I would get so frustrated that I would have to just walk away from it and let myself calm down....sometimes for weeks. The first time I tried the ghetto version I tried to trim the cut tube before I put the wheel on, I found out later that the excess tube doesn't get trimmed until after the tire is mounted on the tire and it is holding air. I am very happy to say that I finally got Mary's wheels set up tubeless, I spent about an hour and a half trimming the excess tube material from both sides of both tires. I haven't ridden the tires yet, I am anxious to do so. I really wanted to get Mary set up prior to Lumberjack, if I had to run tubes I would have but I wanted to be able to run lower pressure that only tubeless set ups let you do.

Pull Me Away

Somebody pull me away from the food, oh my gosh I am eating like crazy. I need to get my caloric intake up but not this much, plus I should be eating the right stuff and not.....um, everything I see!!! I'm feeling fluffy right now that is for sure. I was off today and then I go back to work tomorrow and work thru Thursday, I am taking next Friday off to travel to and hang out in Emporia, KS for the Dirty Kanza 200 on Saturday June 4th. I really would have liked to gone for a ride today or even trimmed trail but I was still not feeling 100%, I have to get this taken care of as I don't need to deal with this next week. I have to work thru Monday for sure because of the holiday weekend and we have inventory on Memorial Day...I leave that alone. I am at least coughing stuff up a little bit so it is productive. My throat is still sore and another issue that I will leave unlisted!!! I have been doing pretty good about drinking water, I have been getting 80-90 oz per day but the past couple days have been tough because drinking water sucks when your throat hurts. Anyway I can't stress over it because that won't help anything, I think I have been stressing a bit and that is one reason I am eating so much...that and just sitting around the house. I did get my yard mowed today so that is good since we have some more rain in the forecast.

Are You Serious?

I'm dealing with a bit of a scratchy throat and a slight cough right now, it's never a good time to deal with that especially with a big race coming up. I am doing what I can to take care of it although I did go out and ride my bike today, I have to remind my legs they are on "light" duty and not "off" duty!!! Anyway the not feeling quite 100% isn't the reason for this post, it is just leading up to it.

I don't take a lot of medicine, I'm not opposed to taking it but it seems that too often there are more natural ways to get healthy. Last night I was really wanting something to soothe my throat so I went looking through our medicine cabinet and the only cough syrup we had was "Children's" cough syrup. I figured if it was good enough for them it would have to be of some benefit to me. I started reading the back of the bottle (since there wasn't any pictures to look at) and one of the things it said was "Avoid alcoholic beverages"....are you serious? This is medicine for kids. I can just picture it now, "Sorry son I'm going have to cut you off at that 6 pack because it's time for you to take your cough medicine".

Finally

I finally got to get in a high intensity ride last night, it wasn't the biggest leg ripper ever but it was pretty good and just what I needed. The group ride went to Chula and James led the way out of town and he gradually built up the pace so it was nice that we didn't just start hammering. I was panting pretty good early and continued to do so most of the way up.

The ride back started the same way, nice steady pace that gradually built until we were pushing pretty hard but not too hard and then the stretch back to town was much faster (or at least it seemed faster). I was trying to be fairly aggressive on hills, not because I was wanting to drop anyone but I was wanting to get some good climbing intervals in. I had to tuck back in on the final descent as I was hurting pretty good, I did have enough left to attack the last climb and when we got over the bridge I was officially spent. James, Denny, and myself made it to the street just over the bridge first and we stopped to wait on the rest of the group. You know it was a pretty good effort because all three of us were shaking in at least one place on our bodies. My hands and legs were trembling but it was a good feeling, the noodles I had ate prior that were trying to work their way back up was not a good feeling!!!

Another Phase

Well it's time to taper off the riding with DK less than 2 weeks away, I will still ride just not nearly as far and not at a high pace (well if we ride tomorrow night I will try to hang with the big boys for that one). I can tell that the race is getting closer because I am having a hard time trying to get deep breaths. That happens to me on races I get nervous about, the first time I was afraid I was getting sick but turns out it was just a bit of anxiety. It is affecting me early in rides as I am totally winded but after about 10 minutes I must seem to settle into a groove and forget about it and then am fine. I am needing to get my water intake at about 90 oz per day which I am short of right now so I really need to focus on that. I also need to get better at eating the right foods and not a bunch of empty calories, although a few extra fat stores in the upcoming 10 days will probably be a good thing. I like to eat but the extra calories right now along with the shorter and less often rides make me feel "fluffy", but I know it needs to be done.

I have to keep telling myself that the DK 200 is a long ride and that I am riding against myself. It is too easy to get sucked into racing early in this ride but going out too hard too fast usually doesn't work out too well. I had such a good finish last year that of course I would like to finish that well or better but just finishing is the goal, plus there are double the racers this year so that can change things dramatically.

Every time I read about someones training for DK I get worked up and start getting concerned that I haven't trained enough, but looking at my mileage that I have logged so far this year I have the base. The lack of interval training really doesn't concern me too much in the race due to the long distance of this event.

I put my bike back up on the stand the other day and got the shifting better, not nearly as good as Cale did but it is better. Then I put some tape on the barrel adjuster because I am concerned that it is a bad adjuster and could be letting slack back into the cable. After taping the adjuster I took my cross bike back out and rode the loop and it did much better, the chain never did jump down to the lower cogs when I applied more torque. I need to ride it some more to make sure that the problem doesn't happen again, I am sure hoping that this problem is not going to come back and affect my riding.

Okay it's about 3:00, must be time to eat again!!!

Pre Race Big One

My normal pre race "Big One" usually involves getting to my bibs and a port-a-pot but I am referring this time to my final big ride before Dirty Kanza. I have gotten 2 really good long road rides accomplished in the past month or so but this time I wanted to ride gravel. Mainly because after changing out my drive train I was having some shifting issues and I had finally gotten my bike up to Cale to check it out. He made some minor adjustments and then realized that my hanger was slightly bent, after fixing that the bike was shifting perfectly on the stand and was ready to be tested on the road. I took off out of town and I could not believe how well the bike was working, I don't think it ever had worked this well before. About 20 miles into my ride I had did 2 monster climbs and then was on a moderate climb when it felt like something popped, I could feel it through the cranks. Shortly after that the shifting went to pot. I made a minor barrel adjustment and the shifting was better, not perfect but better. The more I rode the shifting would return to it's not so good function. On flat sections where I could really hammer I wasn't able to because as I would shift to smaller cogs the chain would just jump down all by itself. To say that I was frustrated is an understatement.



I continued on my ride and came across some sections of road that a maintainer had been, it was a lovely site. Other sections of road had fresh heavily laid gravel and it was very slow moving.



I came back to the house at mile 76 and took a couple hour break, I really needed something to eat and my rear was really enjoying the break from the saddle. Normally when my rear is hurting I stand and ride for a while but due to the shifting issues this was not an option as everytime I stood up it was not a good situation with my gears.

I went back out later and got in another 32 miles, this put my total just over 108 miles. It was a tough ride due to the distance, and the bike issues as they were making me very frustrated and angry. I have been preparing for this race since January and to have bike issues is making this tough, I am still working on it and I will get it figured out.

On my earlier ride I came across what looked like might be some trouble but it just turned out to be some jackass' and a horse's ass!!!

Back In The Day

This is what we used to rock out before bicycles in Amish country. Still living the lie, courtesy of Jan Pyrtle.



Thanks Jan!!!

Hey, What's The Big Stink???

It's a stinking mystery, who farted???



I think someone looks guilty!!!

Still Around

I haven't been very consistent on posting on here lately but here I am. When it comes to racing I think we all have felt like we were lacking at some point in time, right now I am trying to get my mind wrapped around Dirty Kanza. I have to get my mind right for the pain that is close at hand, if you continue to push on at every checkpoint you can't escape the pain. I think back to last year and two legs in particular I had really good rides, the other 2 weren't bad just a little more pain than one would care to remember. In fact the mind is an amazing thing, it doesn't forget all pain but it does let some of the memories of intense pain fade. Last year at RIM I was in the most pain I have ever been in on a bike, when I sunk into that chair after the race I was so trashed that I wasn't even sure what to do. Now I remember it hurt, I remember I had the opportunity to go back out and take 3rd place and I just couldn't do it but I can't truly remember all the pain....but I know it was there.

I have got some solid base miles in this year but I feel like I am lacking in the intensity aspect with a lack of interval training. I plan to finish at Dirty Kanza, I probably shouldn't even show up if I felt otherwise, but I don't know if my performance will mimic last year. I had a handful of races under my belt before DK last year and most of them were marathon class races that were 3+ hrs. This year I only have one race but at least it was a 6 hr 30 min effort for me. The lack of interval work doesn't concern me as much for DK as it does for Lumberjack which is only 2 weeks after DK. Lumberjack is a whole different ball game this year since I will be riding a single speed, I have no idea what to expect from myself.

I look at some of the riders signed up for DK and there is some very stout competition, very fast Men and very fast Women (fast as in quick...not easy!!!). I know of several of these riders that have a ton of miles on their legs and lots of racing too. I have to remember to not go out too fast at the start, I have to tell myself that at every endurance race (I don't always listen). Last year I was able to hold back for at least 3 or 4 miles and then I just couldn't take it anymore, I really started to feel it at about mile 30. I was smart enough to know that when that fatigue started in to back off and settle into a recovery pace for a bit. I am amazed at the speed that the lead riders take off at, I don't know if I could go 25 miles at that pace. I can't think about what other riders are doing, I should look at it as I am racing against myself. Do I think about winning that race? Sure I dream about that, I would like to win at least one race some day!!!

Dirty Kanza is 3 weeks from tomorrow and it is almost time to start tapering off on the riding efforts. I didn't get around to changing the drive train on my cross bike until recently and I am trying to get some bugs worked out of it...that is stressing me out big time which is a performance inhibitor. I am almost wishing I hadn't changed the drive train now but Cale is going to look at it for me and we will see what he can do. I was getting really excited for the race but since the hiccups with the bike that has faded back a bit but I am sure that Cale can help me out and I will be back on track.