Ride Before the Storm

I guess, I was being a little closed minded in my last post. I somehow forget that I live in Wisconsin. (If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes and it'll change), or in my case, wait about 30 hours and it will change for the better.
I got out of bed this morning thinking I really want to go for a ride, but I kept thinking about Thursday's ride. Finally, I jumped online to look at the weather because it looked nice out. To my satisfaction, weather.com showed 21 degrees and 2 mph winds... Not bad at all. Excited to get out again, I started cooking some good 'ol pancakes and getting stuff together, got dressed and off I went.
The weather was great! I knew there was a snow storm on its way so the plan was to go past the hill on Silver Spring Dr. and turn back. On the way out I was amazed. I stayed warm and didn't get the feeling of fluid in the lungs like last time. I hit Silver Spring and then the long hill just a little further. As I hit the hill I could feel my body starting to struggle a little, but I kept at it and worked to keep my breathing slow and steady. As I reached the top, I realized I am still at a good fitness level, given I have not been on the bike much and have not raced in... almost two months.
I went a little further up the road and turned back. I realized all to quickly that the wind was mostly to my back the whole way out, so it took a little effort to get moving. As I came back through Silver Spring the snow began to fall and the winds picked up. Thankfully the snow did not get worse until the last five minutes of the ride. As I look out my window now I am quite happy to get out this morning. Over the last hour the snow has really started to fall.
Here we see the progression of snowfall between 12:10 PM and about 1:20 PM. Again I say, I am happy that I got out this morning.

The End of the Outdoor Season?

Well today may just be the end of the outdoor season for me this year. Temps have plummeted and the winds have picked up making rides outdoors difficult. The one nice thing is that the winds changed directions, so now I have a slight tailwind on the way back from a ride. With that said, I hope the weather cooperates for a few more rides; but it is almost December, so I may be breaking out the trainer. Of course this also brings me to another point... I need to find a quiet way to use a cycleops trainer on the 3rd floor of an older apartment building.

Taking a Stand for the Environment

Water is essential to life. Clean water is also important. Many of us choose to stay healthy by drinking purified water, which normally comes in easy to carry half-liter bottles. I drink about 4 of these bottles daily, and the same is true for many others too. Little do we know, while trying to stay healthy by drinking bottled water, we are actually depleting natural resources and hurting the environment. According to filterforgood.com, "Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year. However, the U.S.'s recycling rate for plastic is only 23 percent, which means 38 billion water bottles - more than $1 billion worth of plastic - are wasted each year." This is just one of the many facts about using bottled water. Even if the bottles are being recycled, plastic bottles waste the limited resources we have.

The bottom line is that you and I do not have to be part of the statistics. I am making pledge to stop (or at least limit) my consumption of bottled water as part of the Filter for Good Campaign found on www.filterforgood.com.

Here is how it works:
Buy a reusable water bottle and a filter for at home. Simply filter the tap water that comes to your house and fill up your bottle. Now you can enjoy clean, refreshing water with a lower impact on the environment. I have been doing this for a couple days, and even Milwaukee water tastes great when it is filtered. Personally, I bought a new "Filter for Good" Nalgene Bottle, dusted off the one I currently own (for a backup), and bought a Brita Filter. All I do is fill up my bottles in the morning, refill the filter, and put it back in the fridge for later.

I really think this is a great way to stay healthy and to help the environment. Who knows, maybe I'll use these filters at the races for my bottles so I don't need to bring as much water along!

If you want to know more, check out the website at: www.filterforgood.com and take the pledge.

Reason #5280 to Ride a Bike: No Parking Tickets

Well, I knew it would happen eventually. Especially with the number of "parking checkers" in the area. Everyday I watch as the little Euro Jeeps run around ticketing for anything from parking to close to a driveway to expired meters. Last night I decided to drive to campus and park on the street as usual. I plugged money into the meter and was off. I learned last night that the police check parking until 9:00 PM not 8:00 PM as I had originally thought.
As I walked back to my car at 9:20 PM, I saw it. A cute little envelope sticking out of the hood of my car. The paper said, "City of Milwaukee Parking Violation." I think the moral of the story should go something like... "Always pay until 9:00, not 8:00 PM"... More realistically it might say... "Ride a Bike to avoid $20 parking tickets."

Lesson Learned.

Wind: Good for Some...

As the afternoon came, so did some warmer temps. So I decided to get out and put in a few more miles. As usual I headed North on Lake Dr. and turned around at the lions to head back south. The weather reports I read before I left said 3 MPH Winds... Yeah Right. Nothing like a pure headwind to greet the return journey. I knew that this happens every time so I just bit the bullet, hit the drops, and hammered. It was nice to see all of the other cyclists gliding along with the wind as I pushed as hard as I could up the hills. If anything the wind has helped me with some strength training. I have been pretty surprised what regular riding can do for the legs. As I came back into town, I took a turn through Lake Park and Down to Lincoln Memorial Dr. As I took the right turn onto Lincoln Memorial, it was like someone put the blowers on full. The wind coming from the lake was intense. About a mile down the road there is a beach and out on the water were five or six sails way up in the air.
As I neared the beach, I could see wind boarders (Or whatever it is called) out on the lake. The wind may suck for me but for them it was perfect.
So I pulled into the parking lot and decided to take a quick break and a few photos. It is really amazing to look at how much air these guys get. One by one, they took turns blasting towards the shore and catching some huge air. From where I was it looked as some of these guys were getting 3-5 feet out of the water.
So after I get sick of riding (Yeah Right!) I will take up wind boarding!

A Nice Day for a Ride

Today, in an attempt to keep on the bike, I got out for a beautiful 22.2 mile ride on Lake Dr and Lincoln Memorial Dr right off of Lake Michigan. The sun was out and shining, the wind was calm, and the temp was a little cool at 61, but that is perfect riding weather in my book. The legs are feeling really good. I think the break after Sheboygan was just enough to let my body recover. I am sure not having a strong head/side wind helped too, but I think it is mostly the recovery. For the ride itself I headed down Lake Dr to the lions and then back in towards the apartment, but I felt really good, so I headed in through the Lake Park entrance and cut down onto Lincoln Memorial Dr. That was probably the best move I have made yet. There was a bit of a wind from the lake, but otherwise the sun was shining bright and the view was awesome! So, I rode around a little bit and headed back home.

Hopefully, I can get another ride in on thursday too, the forcast looks a lot like today's and the week is looking to be a lot less stressful than last week. No Midterms and only One Paper due!

2007 is in the books (Officially)

This Saturday was the WORS Banquet, the official end to the season. Heather and I headed up to Steven's Point to the fine Sentry World Golf and Conference Center for a buffet style dinner, awards galore, and of course the huge raffle! A bunch of the guys from the team showed up for a good time and good eats. We had a good number of top overall places in both the marathon series and the cross-country series as well. The team ended up second in the team points and competition this year, but now it is on for next season. Also a huge shout out to Mr. Devroy taking an overall in his first year of racing!

Busy with school but still on the bike

School has been pretty crazy since Sheboygan, but alas I had some time today for a short ride and to get around to updating the blog. I guess I should mention the last race of the WORS season...

Sheboygan went pretty well. I went in with about 100 miles of training and feeling decent other than feeling a little sick. I found out just a little bit ago that the Banquet Pot Pies were recalled for salmonella, so I am putting two and two together and linking my nausea to the little pies that I ate that weekend.















At the start line I was feeling pretty good, as usual I was surrounded by day racers and the top 3 guys in my age class decided to hang out too... At the Goooooooo! I was to the front half of the group and stayed about there to let the others battle it out for the 20, 10, and 5. As we came through more of the course my predictions were correct, most of the guys killed themselves, and I mean Killed themselves. As I passed a few more riders I caught a glimpse of what could be my chance at a podium for the first time in sport... one of the top riders, had dropped out of the race with a technical. and a little ways ahead were the other two I was worried about. So I grabbed a wheel and hung on pretty easily. I could tell right away that I was in great shape for this race, and if there was a chance of getting on the podium this year, this was it. The equilizer did its magic on the first time around. I was set to climb it, but everyone else was not, so I took the bike and ran it. I got back on the bike and caught back up with one of the guys in my class. The second lap went pretty well, caught plenty of guys and was still feeling great. Came up on the equilizer this time and got most of the way, but just could'nt find that extra push I needed so I hopped off and ran again. Going into lap three, I was still feeling great. I was still right behind one of the guys in my class, but I was starting to get the feeling that I could be doing a lot more. I held off for a little while and then up ahead was a good opprotunity to try and put him behind me. I got set and looked for just enough room in the single track and put it in high gear. I came around from the back and passed 5 guys like nothing even happened and took off as quickly as possible. I shot through the creek crossing and came around the sharp turn and then I catch a glimpse of the guy I was trying to loose. As we left the single track he was gone. I was feeling a little tired from that last attack, but I pushed hard and caught another wheel. As we neared the equilizer I knew I would have to really push it to get ahead in this last leg. I gave whatever I had and hammered up to the equilizer. I sped about halfway up the equilizer and ran. At the top I did one of my best running mounts ever and struggled to get back in the race. To my disappointment I saw that another 19-24 guy was just in front of me. The race was on. I heard the Fat Cats guy yelling 4 minutes to go and I knew it was now or never. I gave it everything I had left and held onto to the wheel in front of me all the way through the finish line.
Final race results show that I was 9th place in my age group, only 6:45 behind the winners (about 3 day racers). I am definetly happy with the result though. I think with a few better move I would have done a little better, but that is for next year.

As far as overalls I am locked in at 7th place which is pretty awesome, especially given my schedule this year.

After Sheboygan things got pretty nuts for school. Suddenly I was facing a two-day midterm, 5 papers to turn in for various classes, and a calculus exam too. Needless to say I got on the bike for the first time today since the race (about 1.5 weeks if you were counting).

The ride was a nice and needed break from studies. Yesterday was the momentary end to my stress. Today was a little rainy at first but the weather got really nice just in time for me to head out. I was aiming for a short ride so I went out on Lake Dr. and turned around at the Lions (which mark the end of Lake Dr.). Heading back I found that the wind had shifted, giving me a full on headwind. The gusts were so powerful I thought I was coming off the bike a few times. I managed to keep the rubber side down and got back to the apartment which made for about 19 miles, so not bad at all.

Now It is back to work and waiting for the drive to Stevens Point, Saturday for the WORS Banquet.

Getting There...

Yesterday was pretty rainy, and this morning the fog was pretty bad, but it got a little better this afternoon, so I thought I would get a ride in. Pretty straight forward normally right. Well today my tire seems to have shed some fibers which punctured my innertube, so I got that done using my spare. Now I have learned that it is ALWAYS a good idea to have that extra tube, so I headed down to one of the shops to pick up a couple tubes (for my pack and another spare for the apt). Apparently... Long stem tubes run more expensive than standard stem tubes. Two Dollars more to be exact! Expecting to pay $6 a tube I brought $14 with me. Well they guy at the shop told me that these long stem tubes are more $$$. Deciding not to argue, I pay the $8 for One 48mm Presta Valve Tube. And set out for the ride.

The fog from the morning decided to stay and the temp was a little chilly, especially near the lake, but still tolerable. I decided to head north on Lake Dr. again and try to do the Concordia loop again, with some 30/30 intervals on the way. On the way out everything was really nice and things went by pretty quickly. As I hit Mequon Rd. I was starting to feel my legs and decided to start back south. Suddenly, I realized why it was so nice and easy to get this far out... the wind was mostly to my back. I don't have wind altering powers so I just bit the bullet and finished my last few sets of intervals and made the best of what I had. Luckily I had plenty of food to get me back feeling good. As I hit Silver Spring Dr. I found my second wind and hammered back home.
Not a bad ride overall though, about 31 more miles bringing my cumulative total to about 100 for the last three rides. I think I am going to do a bit of a recovery ride Thursday afternoon and then on to Sheboygan for the Biggest Race of the Season!

Back in De Pere

This weekend I headed home to run some errands, get my hair cut, to see my girlfriend (obviously), and to get in some training up on Scray's Hill.

I had no major goals other than doing some power intervals.
The first little bit is pretty easy rolling, winding through some houses and then a steady downhill towards the golf course. I started to notice early on that the wind was pretty strong, I think The Weather Channel was estimating 25 mph. Nice. Moving along pretty well I closed in on my second hill (substantially bigger than the last). Suddenly I wanted to be on the golf course instead of climbing this thing (In the distance).
At first climbing this thing was a beast, but as I neared the top, I was quite impressed with my self. (Especially looking back down from the top.
Thus concludes... my warm up. After a little over 6 miles in I headed over towards Hwy X and Sportsman road to do a few power laps among the giants themselves.

After the about the fourth lap I was out of food and the wind was getting old so I headed back in. Not too bad of a day though, I logged another 32 Miles keeping an average of about 17 mph.
Now onto school and a little recovery.

Today, I decided to get out and begin preparing for the last WORS race of 2007. This morning I was a little worried as it was raining quite a bit. Luckily, after lunch the roads looked pretty good and I set out for about 40 miles taking a route I was shown the other week, Heading up Lake Dr, doing a little zig-zag on Port Washington, and ending up on N. Lake Shore Dr spitting me out near Concordia University (Just North of Mequon Road if you know the area). (The Route is in red on the map)

This was the first time on the bike since the weekend so I was a little stiff, but I managed to keep the cadence around 85 and an average speed of 19.2 mph.

I did learn I big lesson today though... It is always good to make sure that you will not have to make a ...ahem... stop along the way. I reached the halfway mark just past Concordia and realized I would not make it back. Lesson part 2, if you are on populated roads, you cannot stop and go in the woods. So the dilemma is obvious, but I had to go. I rode around a little bit and then I saw this little trail heading away from the road. Lots of gravel and still pretty open but I was desperate. Long story short I looked twice and took a "nature break" to spend lots of time looking at birds, the trees swaying in the wind, and the house about 100 feet from where I was and more the street that was more like 20 feet away.

With the nature break out of the way, I headed on back. I felt good for most of the way, but about 8 miles from home I was out of food and my cadence was dropping, so it was time to push all the way home. Thankfully I recovered a little and made it home without and issue.

Overall, a pretty good ride. I think this weekend I am going to head back to green bay to do some power intervals on Scray's Hill. I'll be sure to post how that goes.
~Andy

The Beginning

Cycling has grown to be a passion of mine over the last 7 or so years. It all started when I was young, and looking for things to do. The obvious thing was to take my bike out for a spin. Unlike most kids who hardly rode, I was on my bike as much as I could be. Pavement was OK to ride on, but I found much more enjoyment riding in places "I wasn't supposed to be." I found my first real call to mountain biking while working on the high adventure staff at Bear Paw Scout Camp in Mountain, Wisconsin. There I found some "real" mountain biking trails. So I loved to ride my bike, but what else is there to do? I found the answer I needed at the local bike shop, when I saw their bike team pictures. But for the next two years, I would be too late to sign up for the team. My break came in an unlikely way. I met this guy named Shawn in high school filming football games. As I got to know Shawn, I found that he was active with a team based out of another shop. I told him I was interested and then I have a team. In 2004, I raced in the Phillips Dirtfighter Classic (Part of the WORS Series) for Team 2 Racing, taking 4th place right away. That flipped the switch to high gear and I was hooked. Four years later I am racing for Stadium Bike, and have recently adopted road riding. The bike culture has grown on me enough that I have 4 bikes now (Mountain Bike, Road Bike, Hybrid, Fixed Gear). If I can keep this blog up-to-date, I hope to give people a glimpse into the training, riding, and racing I do.