Winter Training.

Barry, Porter and I hit the roads of Surry and Wilkes Counties for a gnarly spin Porter likes to call "The Beast of the Brushies."  He's referring to the Brushy Mountains, of course.  Read about them here.

Anyway, the summary is that winter training is upon us.  It's forecast to be a cold winter in NC, which means daddy needs some sweet new gloves and a balaclava. 

Barry, as usual, nailed the write-up and it's on his blog.  Check it!

http://www.vsporthealth.com/fallout-camp

We had a blast.  PERFECT training for America's Queen of the Classics.  We'll go back in the spring of 2011 for a little last minute torture prior to hitting 95 North...

Preview.

Climbing camp is definitely coming! 

Climbing camp is coming...

Coach and I are hosting a small cycling camp two weeks from now.  The location:  Meadows of Dan, in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. The goal:  Bring a few like-minded Battenphiles along to suffer, climb, and kick on the off-season training.  Sound strange?  It is.

As the Tour of the Battenkill is an early-season race, one really can't wait until February to start riding in earnest.  North Carolina has a relatively mild winter (usually, knock on wood), hence cycling is often possible through the Dark Months.  Barry, Porter and I are currently planning to demolish the Cat 4 field, but that is simply a plan at this time - the execution requires quite a bit of work.  Our first steps include building a training framework specific to our early season focus.

I'll be scouting roads for most of the morning tomorrow, along with my good buddy Bus.  Bus and his lovely wife Amy will support the camp as well, cooking for the riders and providing some SAG support.  All in all, this is shaping up to be a solid 'proof of concept' test for the larger camp we plan to offer other teams in the Spring of 2011. 

Preview pictures to come tomorrow...

CL.

Back on the bike tonight. 

The Cervelo has been back for a few days now, and reassembly took place hours after its return.  It was time to test it out.

Coach was hosting Book Club tonight at the house, which meant that it was time to make myself scarce.  Cisco "TA" Morales and Dr. Rob ponied up for a City Loop after work.  After a brisk 26 mph warm-up down Country Club (yipes), we settled in to a short CL before doing 5 repeats on the Buena Vista hill.  Needless to say, Cisco won every single repeat while Rob and I licked our wounds.

Jeez it hurt, but it feels good to be back.  Climbing Camp weekend is less than a month away...

What I've been up to.

I have to admit, it has been strange to be without my road bike for the past month.  Very strange.

At first, I had those recurring thoughts that spontaneously enter the mind of a habitual rider:  "When will I ride next?  Man, that last ride was hard!  Wonder if Mitch and Barry wanna ride on Saturday?  I better mow the lawn Friday evening since I'll be on the bike for 4 hours Saturday and will probably want a nap afterwards."

Within a week, the thoughts and feelings became more dramatic:  "I can feel my legs undergoing atrophy, I am definitely slower than person X now and person Y has been riding alot, too.  I wonder if I could borrow someone's bike."

Some thoughts bordered on the extreme:  "What if I just buy a new bike now, and sell the Cervelo when it gets back?!  Yeah, that's the ticket!"

I pushed through the madness with Barry's help.  I'm borrowing his 'cross bike and trying to ride once a week or so.  Rob also came through big when the CLM 100K rolled around.  He loaned me his Storck Fenomalist with Shimano Di2.  In a word, that system is seamless.  I still cramped up, however, so it's not perfect.

Despite all of this, I am still twitching and worrying that my form is evaporating.  Comforting words such as "it's almost the off-season anyway" will find no home here.  Beyond the physical aspect (I am well aware of my pack-fill amateur rider status...it's all relative), it has been so long since I've been off the bike that I've forgotten how much I rely on it for my mental health.

My ever-patient wife and Coach will tell you that I've been challenging at times.  When on the bike, just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do my best to lay it down.  However, leave me around the house with most tasks accomplished and chores completed, and I might get a bit grumpy.  Fortunately, Jill has sensed this flaw in me and kept us busy with fun stuff, visiting friends, and a wonderful trip to the fall festivals of the NC high country.  With a trip to Baltimore coming up later this week and plenty to do in preparation, I think I'll make it through ok.

The bike is currently at Calfee, and should be back by Halloween, give or take a few days.  Once that re-build is final, I might not post up for a while as you'll be more likely to find me out on the road.  Until then, I'll be thinking of this thing called 'cycling' and how it is far more than a physical activity and a means to hang out with friends.  More and more, I'm relating to the subtitle of Barry's blog:  interpretation through cycling.  I continue to see cycling as a metaphor representing many aspects of life, but even after 4 weeks, I almost feel like I'm seeing a story written by someone else instead of by me and that's not a bad thing.

After all, interpretation must be taken from more than one view, even if the landscape seen from the saddle seems the most meaningful at the time.

Out of Commission.

What you see here is the left seatstay on my R3.  Yep, cracked.  And no, I do not need to cut back on the Krispy Kreme doughnuts. 

Last night, I was making a left turn at a T-intersection when the car 90 degrees to my left pulled out.  I was mostly sure he was stopped and waiting for me to go by, until he lurched forward as I passed the front of his car.  Thankfully he just tagged the rear end of the bike and I didn't even go down.  He stopped (miraculous, and more on that in a second) to be sure I was okay and that my bike wasn't damaged.  Not only that, he handed over all of his information and asked me to call him if I found anything wrong with the bike. 

I rode home, and then began going over the Cerv.  To my surprise, I noticed the cracks in the seatstay.  There is even a bit of a bow to the stay, letting me know (for sure, I didn't really doubt it) that the structure is compromised.  So I call Steve (the guy who hit me) and let him know.  He literally says "I'm so glad to hear your voice, are you feeling ok?"  I am still stunned at his compassion.  We agree that I'll take the bike to a local shop for their opinion.

I visited Mock Orange, where Charles reminded me that Calfee repairs high-end carbon frames.  Hence, a call to Calfee yields critical info - seatstay repairs are 1/4 the cost of a new R3 frame, and repairs can be completed in as little as two weeks.

Now, the real story here is that Winston is possibly not the death-trap for cyclists that we've all been fearing lately.  While Steve and I were talking, another lady stopped to see if I was okay. My suggestions, having been through a close call here, are these:  Obey the traffic laws, use lights (I was), keep cool, and try not to piss drivers off.  You never know when this kind of thing might happen to you or someone you're with and who's watching or listening.   

A few more pics are below.  By the way, I stripped all the gear off the frame for shipping, and this thing is LIGHT.  Just had not idea as he's not been fully 'naked' since I've had him. 

I'll keep you posted as to the outcome of the Calfee send-off, but as the Cerv is my only set of wheels, I'm out of commission for a few weeks.