Jason

End of the line...

Well my time as a blogger for CycleOps has come to end.  

I rode my final TT of the year, and of the year with the PowerTap.  Long time readers (Hi Ma!) know that I started the year with an eight minute TT power of 220, or as I like to call it, "The Assassin's Mark*."  

My final TT Power number of the year?  It was...(cut to commercial).

And we're back.  For the final Time Trial of the year, I pushed 254!  I'm way, way thrilled with this number.  Every since my first TT, I've held that 250 is a big boy number.  I have no idea why, and I'm not even saying that it is, it was just an arbitrary number bigger than 220 that seemed like a solid number to aspire to.  It's not like the SATs where a certain numbers mean you can go to certain colleges.  But since there was no SAT equivalent, and since I have no problem attaching huge significance to arbitrary concepts, in high school I spent many hours of my life arguing that Phil Collins was, in fact, AWESOME, and that Michael Bolton, did, in fact, blow (I was half right). At first, I found the Cozy Beehive site that gives the Category to Power/Weight Ratio to give my efforts meaning in the non-race season, but then, being the homer that I am, I discovered that Saris also has a site to give meaning to my life, to be the inspiration.  So at 254 and at 160 pounds I have a powert/weight ratio of...3.5!  That makes me about a Cat 4 racer.  So clearly, 250 is not the mythical beast I've made it out to be, but it was a goal, and it was more than 10% greater than where I started.  By the way, Katie's power to weight ratio puts her in the Domestic Professional range, I can't even keep up with her in the "Pretend Cycling World."  I'd get a shirt that says, "I suck my girlfriend's wheel" but that sounds dirty.

Here's the chart from the big Time Trial.

And while it looks like an elevation graph, that's my power for the TT.  My single biggest "thing" in racing is that I start out too fast.  I can't help it, I'm an optimist.  I feel good at first, I think, "YEAH!  I can do this!" and get going.  Then about half way the lactic acid army comes and pops my balloon and I think, "Wait a sec, what was I THINKING?  I'm in trouble here..." and then begins the slog.  I fully get that my power tap graph should look exactly the opposite as it does, but I'm just scared that I'm going to have too much in the tank at the end (is there such thing as a fearful optimist?) and that I won't put in my best effort.  I've got to figure this out, I bet I could have TT'd a 260 if I had the right strategy.

So my goal for this year is to jump a group on the Saris Chart.  That means either pushing 295 or losing 5 pounds and pushing 275.  I like the Power/Weight goal because, one it gives me two ways to win and I like to stack the odds in my favor, and two, because its the realest feeling of the abstract meanings.  By linking power and weight I have anchors for both in the final goal.  I'll be motivated for both nutrition and exercise, which is important because I live the "I can eat what I want because I exercise like a freak" mantra.

As for my time with the PowerTap?  I think its an amazing tool.  I'm am definitely faster on my bike than I've ever been.  I can ride harder and faster and I don't get dropped by people nearly as much (Katie still beats me like a rented mule though, I think I need to hide her PowerTap) and my favorite part of every ride is after the ride when I sit down with my smoothie and download and review the data.  I have a pretty lofty race goal this year, Qualify for Duathlon Worlds, and my PowerTap will be a huge part of the effort.

Also, after a year with the PowerTap, I'd like to offer a few suggestions for further modifications.  One, I would love it if it had an altimeter feature.  Seeing elevation gain/loss numbers on my rides would be very interesting.  Also, and this is minor, grade info.  Cyclists cite climbing grades like Playboy Model measurements, I'd like to know the specs of my favorite rides.  Honestly, that's all I'd add, well that and a grappling hook button so I can keep up with Katie.

To everyone at CycleOps/Saris, thank you very much for the opportunity to share my year, and a huge thank you for the PowerTap meter and hub.  I had a great time this year, learned a lot about myself through the blogs, and grew into a better rider thanks to your technology.  It was a great pleasure and huge honor.

Thank you.

*I call it that because I watched a movie or TV show once and the cop said that Mob Assassins like to use a .22 to the head.  I'm weird so that stuck with me.

Now See Hear

Been doing a lot of indoor training these days.  I'm not quite at the "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" stage, but I'm getting close.

Here's something interesting I've noticed though.  In my garage, I put my Blackberry on the treadmill's display tray and rock Pandora, giving me sound but only the garage door to look at.  At the gym, I have the TV's to look at but, since I keep forgetting to bring my headphones, I have no sound.  As you can see, I have the basis for an interesting experiment, "Which passes the time quicker?  Sound but no visuals, or visuals but no sound?"

For me, having music but nothing to look at passes the time much faster than the muted TV screen (Quick aside, why don't gyms just keep the Closed Captioning going at all times, I mean, doesn't that make the most sense for everyone involved?).  Anyway, just looking at people on TV but not being able to follow along is really boring.  The good news is now I finallyI understand why dogs can sleep at a party.  When you have no idea what's going on, sleep is about all you can do.  But music?  Music in just about any setting, including running on a treadmill next to my car in a cold garage, can take you places. Maybe a song sparks a memory, maybe an emotion, maybe a thought, or maybe it just allows your mind to wander, in any case, time actually moves along pretty fast when I'm cranking my Bon Jovi channel*.

So I'm wondering, is this just me?  What do you think readers who I assume number not lower than one (Hi Katie!) but not greater than five?

Finally, a note to ESPN.  I've noticed on my silent stalker watching days, that you show a lot of radio shows on TV.  What gives?  Why are you heading backwards along the technological trail?  What's next, having the fuzzy black-and-white hour?  Describing the days sports highlights using shadow puppets?  Using silhouette drawings for athlete pictures?  Sure E! pulled it off with Howard Stern but that was because everyone wanted to see Porn Stars.  I'm sorry but one really cares what Mike and Mike look like.  Bottom line?  If you have to use TV time to show radio shows, maybe, just maybe, you have too many channels and not enough programming, and I say this because watching a radio show on TV with no sounds in time passage death.

*That's right, I have a Bon Jovi channel in my Pandora.  I play it loud and proud.

The Year Without an Off-Season*

Mr. Cold Miser is in full force today.

It wasn't quite 40 below, but Sander and I went skiing.  Today was important because it was the day of Sander's first decent of an Aspen Mountain Black Diamond, the Northstar run.  He's been eying this run since the start of the season, and with the fresh snow, today was the day.  He was a little nervous looking down the run, but before I could say a single word of encouragement, he said, "Oh well, lets go dad!" and took off.  And he legit skied it.  It's funny, not one thing I do in sports makes me as excited as watching him get excited about hitting his goals, not one.  But while it wasn't 40 below, it was close, so we celebrated the run with some hot chocolate at the base and called it a day.

For me, I ran this morning, skied in the afternoon, and have PowerTap class tonight.  This off-season is shaping up like one I had years ago where I had a marathon in January (the Gasparilla Marathon), which is to say, there won't be one.  I have another January marathon this year, Disney (actually, I'm doing the "Goofy Marathon-and-a-Half" where I'm running a half-marathon on Saturday and the Marathon on Sunday), and Sander is running the 5K and Katie's running the 5K and half-marathon (we're raising money for the American Stroke Association-I had a stroke in 2006, not something I recommend).  Combine that race with the Duathlon Nationals in April, and there's not much chance of getting any rest this winter.  I have to admit, I forgot how incredibly boring long runs are on a treadmill set up in my garage.  I tell myself that mind-numbing boredom must be good mental training for long running, but my mind, which knows me pretty well by now, knows I'm pulling that out of my kouli**.

The worst part is that being winter, I can't even go with the "At least I'll look good in my board shorts" motivator because all you wear this time of year are big ol' winter clothes.  In fact, its worse because I don't have my usual winter blubber to keep me warm so I suffer even more on the mountain, or on those few days I try to man-up and run outside.

On a completely unrelated note, I found this message on my water bill.

 
This is a great example of copying a trend you cant pull off.  My water department is the 55 year old man at the club with the "I'm in Green Day" get-up.  Sure, Facebook and Twitter are all the rage these days, but really, who want's to be a "fan" of their water department?  Seriously, what is my water company thinking?  Maybe that after writing my check I feel so good about the whole situation that I want to become a fan?  Or that having them hit me once a month for cash isn't quite enough communication so I want to follow their goin's on a more regular basis?  Isn't this like being a fan of the IRS?  What's next, wardens asking inmates to "friend" them, or follow his musings on Twitter.  Yes, companies use Facebook and Twitter to reach their customers.  No, the water utility can't pull that off.  And you, old guy at the night club, ditch the eye-liner and 17 rings, it's not working.  Sorry.

*Obviously a riff on "A Year Without A Santa-Claus."  I think this is one of the more underrated Christmas movies from my childhood.  Rudolph and Charlie Brown steal all the glory, but the "I'm Mr. Snow Miser" song is far and away the catchiest song of the stop motion season. 

**Greek for "buttocks."  Reading the Power2people/Jason blog is fun and educational!

Movember Mo-over

So another Movember has come and gone.  My company raised $1850 for the cause and the mustache review was a blast.  The best part, I now have the most bad assitasious picture of me ever.   I love that picture, I'm 5'7", weigh 160 pounds after eating a full pumpkin pie and am generally on the geeky side, but in that pic I look borderline intimidating.  I had to find a way to immortalize that shot, so I ordered a new PADI diving card and made that look my new profile picture.  I tried to talk Katie into getting it inked as a portrait tattoo, but she passed.  I even offered to pay for it as part of her Christmas gift!  I guess the boundary of love stops just shy of tough-guy tattoo of your boyfriend on your thigh.

I'm in Dallas this week so no riding.  Which is kind of a bummer as I've been crushing my bike work-outs lately.  In other news, I've been really struggling on my runs.  I'm hoping that its because I'm doing hard PowerTap classes again on Tuesday and Thursday which is maybe killing my legs for the quality run work-outs.  When I ran yesterday instead of PowerTap, it was a solid run, so there's some evidence that that's what's happening.  It's just a little discouraging because the run is my strong discipline, and I'm afraid that if I lose leg speed, then my goal of qualifying for the Duathlon Worlds in Scotland takes a hit.  Long time readers (Hi Mas!) know that my strategy is to gain time on the first run, hold on for dear life but lose time on the bike, then try to make it back up on the final run.  Maybe getting better on the bike takes some away from the run, which evens out the three legs making for a better race.  OK, sure, that sounds great on paper, but psychologically, I'm not sure I can handle that.  I'm old and change scares me.