One of the advantages to being unemployed is that I can now spend a ridiculous amount of time on the bike.
The disadvantages, of course, are numerous, although as long as I don’t spend too much time on the bike--meaning more than six or seven hours a day--I’m hoping to keep those disadvantages to a minimum by finding another fantastic job as soon as humanly possible.
And while I haven’t been unemployed long (was laid off last week, so it’s only been a few days, to be honest), the shift from an eight or nine-hour work day to a zero-hour work day means I can’t easily double the amount of weekday riding I had been doing. Now, instead of riding between sixty and ninety minutes a day during the week, I can now spend at least two hours a day riding, perhaps even three hours.
What all of this time one the bike is going to amount to, I have no idea. Stronger riding? It better amount to stronger riding although I’m still a bit ambivalent about the NYVelocity training program. I could be wrong, but I just get the feeling I’m not where I was mid-summer last year in terms of power. Riding around with my heart rate in either my endurance zone (134 to 146 BPM) or my tempo zone (147 to 154 BPM) for a few hours doesn’t make me feel as if I’m really making progress. Sure, I throw in a few sub-threshold (155 to 165 BPM) intervals here or there, but man, I just don’t know.
And the good thing about being an unemployed cyclist is that it doesn’t cost me anything to throw a leg over the bike and hit the road. Sure, there’s the cost of the food needed while out for a while--bananas, almonds, Clif Bars, muffins, etc.--but these are minimal costs. If these costs are going to have a serious effect one one’s bank account while unemployed, I think it’d be safe to say that the hours dedicated to riding should probably be spent on a job search.
Fortunately, I’m not in that position. Despite the current economic climate (a term I’ve come to loathe over the past several months), there are still jobs in the advertising industry and I can still afford to bring Clif Bars out on rides. Granted, there are less of them compared to this time a year ago, but they are out there, and finding one will only be a matter of time (hopefully less time than more time).
So how about that Tom Boonen taking his third Paris-Roubaix title? Granted, the guy did get a bit lucky when everyone behind him managed to crash, but god almighty, Boonen is one bad-ass motherf#cker. Hincapie is too, but that poor bastard can’t catch a break in that race. Would have been nice to see an American pull off the win, but to the victor go the spoils, no?
Wednesday, April 15
Thursday, April 9
I'm Back!
Three months of no written communication. That’s a long time, no? It’s a long time for one person to be as lazy as they can be when it comes to keeping the online world abreast of what’s new in my life as it relates to cycling. And when I say lazy, god, I mean that in every freaking sense of the world.
Regardless, there’s been a fair amount happening in this so-called life of mine. Nothing terribly exciting, mind you, but then again, when was the last time someone called you with a piece of news so terribly exciting that you found yourself thinking, “For the love of christ, that IS exciting news!”
Not that I’m making excuses, but to be honest, there are times--like the past several months, for example--when writing is a lot like going to the gym. Once you’re finally at the gym and exercising, it doesn’t seem so bad. It’s getting to the gym that causes so much procrastination, and that’s exactly what happens with me when it comes to updating certain blogs. Once I actually sit down to write the damn thing, I feel fine. It’s just a matter of opening Word and making the actual effort the gets me flustered.
But here I am, once again baring my cycling soul to the world. (Not really, but it sounds good, doesn’t it?)
Let’s start where I left off, which was late-November, I believe. The only incident of note that happened between late-November and the end of the year was a trip to the in-laws mini-mansion in a golf country club in south Florida. I mention this as, now that I’m married, I figured, “I’m going to be down here at least once or twice a year for the foreseeable future, so I’ve got choices. I can (a) rent a bike every time I come down, (b) buy an inexpensive bike to keep down here, or (c) I can upgrade from the Jamis, ship the new bike to New York, and then ship the Jamis down to Florida.
Needless to say, I pursued option C and, as a result, I’m not the proud owner of a new Scott. Not a bad looking bike, right?
So that happened and, upon returning to NYC, I boxed up the Jamis and shipped that bitch down to the in-laws. And then, on my first ride out on the Scott, a goddam taxi driver hit me.
Can you believe that shit? The good news is that I’m fine, as was the bike with the exception of the rear wheel. It was a low-speed incident in that this dumb fuck tried making a right from the left lane and hit me dead center (at all of 5 MPH, mind you, hence the fact that no real damage was done).
What happened to the wheel? It had managed to wedge itself beneath the car’s front bumper and, as the driver crept forward (assumably looking over his left shoulder to check for oncoming traffic and not bothering to look where he was going which just happened to be straight into a very important local cyclist . . . me), it was somewhat tweaked. See below:
So that happened.
What else?
Training began in earnest in mid-January after a lactate threshold test at Cadence Cycling Center.
I bought a new trainer as the Blackburn crapped out on me. Picked up a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine fluid trainer and this thing is worlds better than the Blackburn. Even comes with a lifetime warranty.
Signed up for the 6-week bike repair course at Bicycle Habitat downtown. After almost three years of riding, I feel I’m pretty fluid with wrenching on bikes, but I figured I’d take the course anyway as I’ve been tossing around the idea of eventually getting out of advertising and possibly opening up a little bike repair shop. I enjoy working with my hands and I certainly enjoy bikes, so why not marry the two?
Got dropped in my first CRCA race of the season and by my own goddam teammates. I don’t know what these two guys--David Anthony and Mitch Jacaruso--did during the off-season--but considering how fast they’ve been hauling ass uphill, I’d say they’re going to be ready to an upgrade to the B field my mid-season. Like I said, it was the first club race of the season, March 28th, and everything was fine the first lap. We (the NYVelocity guys) were mostly at the front of the field, keeping things under control, and then, once we hit Harlem Hill on the second lap, David and Mitch went by me (and I was either second or third from the front of the peloton) as if we were standing still. Try as I might to keep up, once my heart rate hit 192 and it didn’t look like things were going to relax any time soon, I sat up and called it a morning.
Apparently, I still have a long way to go.
Next race, this Sunday morning, but it’s not a CRCA race. It’s some sort of Spring Racing Series and it’s only two or three laps in Central Park. Teammates who have entered some of the series previous events have warned, “Stay near the front! A lot of those guys can’t ride for shit.”
Why do I do this to myself? Why?
Finally, I don’t know if anyone’s tried climbing that last climb on River Road lately but I can tell you from firsthand experience that the potholes are ten times worse than they were this time last year. Just a head’s up.
Regardless, there’s been a fair amount happening in this so-called life of mine. Nothing terribly exciting, mind you, but then again, when was the last time someone called you with a piece of news so terribly exciting that you found yourself thinking, “For the love of christ, that IS exciting news!”
Not that I’m making excuses, but to be honest, there are times--like the past several months, for example--when writing is a lot like going to the gym. Once you’re finally at the gym and exercising, it doesn’t seem so bad. It’s getting to the gym that causes so much procrastination, and that’s exactly what happens with me when it comes to updating certain blogs. Once I actually sit down to write the damn thing, I feel fine. It’s just a matter of opening Word and making the actual effort the gets me flustered.
But here I am, once again baring my cycling soul to the world. (Not really, but it sounds good, doesn’t it?)
Let’s start where I left off, which was late-November, I believe. The only incident of note that happened between late-November and the end of the year was a trip to the in-laws mini-mansion in a golf country club in south Florida. I mention this as, now that I’m married, I figured, “I’m going to be down here at least once or twice a year for the foreseeable future, so I’ve got choices. I can (a) rent a bike every time I come down, (b) buy an inexpensive bike to keep down here, or (c) I can upgrade from the Jamis, ship the new bike to New York, and then ship the Jamis down to Florida.
Needless to say, I pursued option C and, as a result, I’m not the proud owner of a new Scott. Not a bad looking bike, right?
So that happened and, upon returning to NYC, I boxed up the Jamis and shipped that bitch down to the in-laws. And then, on my first ride out on the Scott, a goddam taxi driver hit me.
Can you believe that shit? The good news is that I’m fine, as was the bike with the exception of the rear wheel. It was a low-speed incident in that this dumb fuck tried making a right from the left lane and hit me dead center (at all of 5 MPH, mind you, hence the fact that no real damage was done).
What happened to the wheel? It had managed to wedge itself beneath the car’s front bumper and, as the driver crept forward (assumably looking over his left shoulder to check for oncoming traffic and not bothering to look where he was going which just happened to be straight into a very important local cyclist . . . me), it was somewhat tweaked. See below:
So that happened.
What else?
Training began in earnest in mid-January after a lactate threshold test at Cadence Cycling Center.
I bought a new trainer as the Blackburn crapped out on me. Picked up a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine fluid trainer and this thing is worlds better than the Blackburn. Even comes with a lifetime warranty.
Signed up for the 6-week bike repair course at Bicycle Habitat downtown. After almost three years of riding, I feel I’m pretty fluid with wrenching on bikes, but I figured I’d take the course anyway as I’ve been tossing around the idea of eventually getting out of advertising and possibly opening up a little bike repair shop. I enjoy working with my hands and I certainly enjoy bikes, so why not marry the two?
Got dropped in my first CRCA race of the season and by my own goddam teammates. I don’t know what these two guys--David Anthony and Mitch Jacaruso--did during the off-season--but considering how fast they’ve been hauling ass uphill, I’d say they’re going to be ready to an upgrade to the B field my mid-season. Like I said, it was the first club race of the season, March 28th, and everything was fine the first lap. We (the NYVelocity guys) were mostly at the front of the field, keeping things under control, and then, once we hit Harlem Hill on the second lap, David and Mitch went by me (and I was either second or third from the front of the peloton) as if we were standing still. Try as I might to keep up, once my heart rate hit 192 and it didn’t look like things were going to relax any time soon, I sat up and called it a morning.
Apparently, I still have a long way to go.
Next race, this Sunday morning, but it’s not a CRCA race. It’s some sort of Spring Racing Series and it’s only two or three laps in Central Park. Teammates who have entered some of the series previous events have warned, “Stay near the front! A lot of those guys can’t ride for shit.”
Why do I do this to myself? Why?
Finally, I don’t know if anyone’s tried climbing that last climb on River Road lately but I can tell you from firsthand experience that the potholes are ten times worse than they were this time last year. Just a head’s up.
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