Belgium Day

Belgium Ride. That is what my brother and I use to call rides done in terrible weather. Kind of like Belgium classics when it is cold, rainy, sleet, cloudy and/or foggy. For anyone who got on the bike yesterday, probably had themselves a Belgium ride. As for me, I called my teammate Tim and asked if he was up for a bad weather fixed gear ride...he was not. So my back up was a Belgium run with my brother James.

To set this up, keep in mind I have not run since sometime in July or August. So I met James and his friend Mark at Noland Park in Newport News. For those that have never been there, this is an excellent running route. It is off road, but very nice maintained trails (sorry, no bikes allowed). It is a five mile loop with rolling hills (just big enough to hurt.) I think there is something like 18 bridges to cross.

So, cold weather, no running in a while, running with two guys who do run regularly, and on an off road rolling hills course. Needless to say I hurt a little. We went what would normally be an easy pace for me (8 minute mile), but I hurt, especially the final 2 miles.

Doesn't matter how much I hurt during the Belgium Run, I felt good the rest of the day. I always do. When you can get out and train on days that most people don't want to even look out the windows, it adds a little edge to your mental toughness. And for those that don't care about Belgium Rides or Runs, I will be posting another Tour De Garage soon.

Happy New Years.

American Flyers

Last night I rode a hill workout on the trainer while watching American Flyers. It has been a long time since I have seen this movie. I remembered why I liked it so much. My brother and I have raced since we were kids. My dad's bike commuting life got us hooked on the sport. For the first year we were on the same team, but raced a different category. After that we were always on different teams. I don't know why that was, but it always worked out that way. After he joined the Air Force and moved away, we stopped racing and riding together. Last year he moved back to Hampton Roads and took up the sport. Only this time he joined the Virginia Beach Wheelmen. Last year was the first year we have ridden together in the same uniform since I was 13 and he was 15.

Watching that movie last night reminding me of this. Especially the part where Marcus was asking David to race the Hell of the West with him. That they were brothers and may never get a chance to race together again. I am glad we both got back into the sport and the time has finally come for us to race as teammates and brothers. This is why I like this picture so much. Its a long time coming.
By the way. For those that don't know James, watch out for him. Last year was his coming back year but its not what he focused on. 2008 is a year that he is using the first half of the season to get in the best shape of his life for an Ironman competition in September. Back in the day he was a very powerful racer...watch for that form to return.

The Christmas Poo.

Anyone a fan of Southpark? For those that have seen Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo make his appearance on Southpark, you were probably just as confused as me as to what a poo has to do with Christmas. I am no longer confused. Let me explain.

Christmas Eve. 4 pm Church service, nice, short and kid orientated. After church we went over to my in-laws house for a big dinner. Crackers, cheese log, white chili, chicken pasta, and truffle cake.
Christmas Morning. My house, the whole family came over for breakfast. Eggs, sausage, potatoes, fruit, cookies, cake and other stuff.
Christmas Evening. My parents house, big Christmas dinner. Turkey, potatoes, veggies, bread and pumpkin pie.

The point is this. Mr. Hanky the Christmas poo does not come around every December 25th, he comes around every December 26th. Now I got to go...the coffee is working.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I hope everyone gained as much weight as I did in a two day period. Time to get on the bike.

Merry Christmas

What did you get this year? Any cycling stuff? My Christmas is broken into three distinct parts. The first part is the family (wife and kids) Christmas first thing in the morning. Kids (5 and 3) were excited and had a blast this year. My wife got me golf lessons and driving range time from Lynnhaven Golf Park I don't play golf, but I have always wanted to be just good enough to go out and play with friends. So I'm excited about starting that. I won't let myself get too involved, all I need is another hobby/sport to take away more of my spare time.

Part 2 of Christmas is about to happen. My wifes family comes over to my house and we have breakfast and another round of presents opening.

Part 3 of Christmas starts at about 2:30. We leave the family at my house and travel to Smithfield for my half of the family. There we have another round of presents and end with dinner. It is a long day, but we have a good time. And the girls get a lot of presents.

I'll keep everyone posted if I get any bike parts. Just remember I accept regifting of any bike stuff you don't want.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve 2007, Here we come!

The Virginia Beach Wheelmen will be out on a FUN, easy, cross ride on Christmas Eve. We are leaving from my house at 9 am. I think a ride down Damn Neck, trails, General Booth, Oceanfront, to Seashore. Should be a good time. We will be done by noon for family time.

Everyone ready for Santa? I have to get on my roof tomorrow to put Reindeer food up there. My five year old daughter asked "how will the reindeer get the food if we put it in the yard and they land on the roof?" So, I'll be making a trip up my ladder. Other than that I am ready.

Enjoy the holiday.

Track Racing Anyone?

I don't like to watch other racers crash, but this is an amazing crash. Its amazing because no one was seriously hurt. These are junior racers.

I got back on the bike today. I had ridden once this week to work on my fixed gear, but today was my first workout on the bike since my Disney trip. It was windy and I wasn't feeling great. I ate something last night at the Cheesecake Factory that didn't agree with me. My stomach was messed up during the ride.

I'm actually really looking forward to logging some good miles in the next couple of weeks. See you out there.

Fire SUV

This is funny. Especially since Fire SUVs are driven by chiefs.

Congrats to Cross Nationals racers

I have read the emails and the blogs of those who have gone to Kansas to race in the cross nationals. This was my first year cross racing and every race this year was done in shorts and short sleeve. So the conditions at Nationals sounds terrible. The local racers represented well I think.

Mike Hosang (AKA Crazy) wrote this about his race:

My race...I had a 2nd row start, the gun goes off, I'm hitting the first corner around 5th or 6th spot, and had a great warm up. A few in the front go down and so begins the pileup, putting be back in a matter of seconds to 30th or 40th......back on the bike to try to make up spots, and after 2 laps, I was inching back toward the top 20 with 2 laps to go, and a piece of ripped caution tape that was hanging on to a stake got blown into my cassette. It got all wrapped up in it before I had a clue it was even there. Since I can't run as most of you know, and I did not have a pit bike anyway, I had to spend the next 2 minutes spinning the wheel this way and that to get the tape out. Back on the bike to muster out a 32nd place finish. Quite disappointed, but that's cross.

Kevin Horvath post his adventures on his blog.

Although neither one of those guys seemed happy about their performance, they did well just going and braving the conditions. And both of them did a hell of lot better than I would have done. I thought I also heard Sean Yeager did well in the B race.

Mike and Kevin got back to town just as it was time for Velocity training. Needless to say they skipped this week. Here's what they missed (this was at the end of the workout, the last 15 minutes after some leg speed, ladder work and hip motion drills.)

25 pull ups
50 Deadlifts
50 Wipers
50 Clean and press
50 push ups
50 box jumps
25 pull ups

My body feels worked after that workout.

Tour De Garage-Hill climb

This workout is designed to increase our power, especially while going uphill. We don't have the luxury here in Virginia Beach to train on actual hills, so we have to get creative. I use to be a pretty good climber, but that was when I lived in Hawaii and weight only 150 lbs (as opposed to my 185 racing weight now). Mt. Haleakala, located on Maui climbed 10,023 feet in 38 miles. The race up it was a time trial called Cycle to the Sun. I did it once, that was enough.

We will start with my typical warm up. Or you can chose a warm up that you are comfortable with. Actually, I give a second warm up that I use often here.

Warm up
Pedal 5:00 (small ring/15) with cadence around 90 rpm.
(small ring/15) one legged pedal for one minute switch legs (repeat 3 times per leg)
After 2:00 soft pedal shift to Big ring/15.
20 seconds standing followed by 20 seconds seated. Repeat for 3 cycles.
2:00 soft pedal

Workout
This first set will have you accelerate up the hill.
(Big ring/13) 3:00 interval. Accelerate every minute (example: first minute is at 60 rpm, second is 70 rpm, and last is 80 rpm). 3:00 easy pedal and repeat.

This second set is increasing slope.
(Big ring/18) 5:00 interval. Shift one gear harder every 1 minute while trying to keep cadence above 70 rpm. 5:00 easy pedal and repeat. On second interval start at least on gear harder.

This last set is responding to a hill attack.
(Big ring/15) 5:00 interval. Start at steady pace (cadence around 70 maybe). After 30 seconds, someone attacks. Stand and accelerate for 30 seconds, sit and keep high pace for 30 seconds. Return to steady pace for 30 seconds. This will repeat for at least 3 cycles (more if you want).

Cool Down
Pedal easy for 5-10 minutes. This is a good time to put it in an easy gear and spin for the first 5 minutes before pedaling easy for the last 5 minutes. This will help put some speed in you legs after a low cadence workout.

Enjoy. Let me know how you like it.

Christmas Wish List

I am back from Disney. We had a blast. It was hard to be away from my computer and blog for 6 days. Maybe I need to invest in a Mac Book so I could always have access during these trips. Regardless the family had a blast. The girls were good and didn't want to leave. Unfortunately for us, we were all still sick or just getting sick. So we had a lot of runny noses and sinus headaches.
Now that I'm back, I have to start thinking about Christmas. Since a trip like this is not cheap, our Christmas is going to be cut back a little this year. My wife and I have set a limit as to what we can spend on each other. That means, probably no bike parts for me this year. So I figure I will give my Christmas wish list out to all my readers, potential sponsors and maybe even Santa himself.

Dear Santa (friends, readers, sponsors, people with too much money),

I have been good this year. I have a list of bike parts that I would love to find under my tree this year. This list is not complete. I will take (and write about) nearly anything. I am not greedy, however I do like bike parts, accessories and swag. Here is my list of things that I have been really wanting:

1. Wheelset. I bought a set of the FlashPoints FP60 last year. I love them (especially for the price) I have always wanted to tryout FSA's three flange hub, and I really like the Fulcrum wheels. My wheels I use for training are getting old, plus I would like to also get a set of wheels to race on in next years cross season.
2. Power Meter. Everyone is using one and I feel left out. I am sure it is a great training tool. I even like the idea of the iBike, because I could use it with any wheels.
3. Lights. I could use a kick as light set to do some serious night riding this winter.
4. Sunglasses. I like glasses and am always excited to receive a pair.
5. Gloves. My hands get pretty cold during the winter. Gloves would get me out the door a lot more.
6. Bootie covers. Again, keeping my toes warm will get me out in cold weather a lot more.
7. Helmet. I'm not crazy about the way my helmet fits. I don't know what kind I want, but I do want to get a good helmet this year.
8. Saddle. I am always willing to try out new saddles. I think I definitely want a time trial saddle this year.
9. Cranks. I am using compact on my road bike and standard on my TT bike. I could replace either one. I have had carbon before and would like to go back to it.
10. Handlebars. On my road bike I had carbon handlebars, but I crashed and broke them, not cool. I would like carbon wing bars. Also carbon aero bars for the TT bike.

I think that is good for now. I could make this list longer, but I don't want to sound greedy. Thanks for taking the time to read.

Joshua Goyet.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Pre Vacation Horror

It all started Wednesday morning when my wife and I walked into the guest room and discovered a broken window. Cause: BB. Although I am sure I piss a lot of people off, I believe this was just kids being careless. Nonetheless, I was a little pissed and filed a police report anyway, just in case we found out who it was, we could get them to pay for it. Not that big of deal. It only went through the storm window. It could wait for after vacation. (That being said, does anyone know if a window company sponsors any local cycling teams? I usually try to use supporters of the sport first.)
Then of course the few days leading up to D-day (Disney day), the whole family gets sick. But today everyone is pretty good and most of it is out of our systems. Good.

James, my brother, was coming from Suffolk to Virginia Beach to meet us for Brunch today. He was going to lend us a video camera and a spare card for our digital camera. At about 11 o'clock he told us he was running late, was going to wait for his wife to get off work. We still had some errands to run so we headed north on Independence. 4 cars in front of us some guy was carrying pallets on his roof and they came off. You can image the squealing of brakes and skidding this caused. We stopped in time, the car behind us did not. My wife was pissed. We have only had this car for 5 months.
A little rear end damage. He attempted to avoid us by changing lanes but didn't quite make it. Not bad right?

I don't think that wheel is supposed to be that close to the fender. Looks like bent axle. Man did it make a terrible noise driving it home. By the way, the other guy only had is car since Saturday.

So I called my brother and told him to take his time. We went home, changed cars, called the insurance company. We were starving by this time. James called, he was on his way. We left. James and his wife Amanda were having a conversation about our wreck. She asked, "How do you even make an insurance claim? I've never had to do it before" Just as he got off of 264...crash. They were about to find out how to make an insurance claim. So we got the call from him and drove to his accident. It was about a half mile from my accident. His 2007 Honda had a few scratches and dents. Not too bad right?
Air bags deployed and seat belts locked. The car is not drivable.

So we finally made it to Silver Diner and then went home and put away the car keys. I am know writing this while drinking a Yuengling.

Enjoy.

No ride for me :(

This week was supposed to be a hard week of training. I thought I had time, and knowing I would spend the next week in Disney, I wanted to get some miles in this week. It started good with a good Velocity training, good Tour De Garage session, and gym workout at Gold's. But then it happened. The whole family started to get sick, along with me. I have been popping those Airborne stuff to try and fight this off. I think it has worked, but the last thing I thought I needed was a cold morning ride. Don't get me wrong, I really wanted to ride this morning, and yesterday, but I just don't want to spend the next week feeling crappy. When I get back, its time for base mile training.

I just wanted to say good luck to my teammates and friends who are racing cross tomorrow in C'ville. Good luck to Tripower on taking the team standings lead. I think it will be cool to have a 757 team win the cross series. Of course I'm still rooting for the Virginia Beach Wheelmen to knock you out of a couple of top spots.

Let me leave you with this:

You know how important teamwork is to the being successful in cycling. Tripower, show up in force and give it everything you have. If you fail, at least you failed as a team.

Good Luck guys.

Vacation Time is Here!!!

I am packing up the family and flying to Disney World on Sunday. I started my vacation a little early because I knew I would be useless at work today. Its probably a good thing, I feel like I'm getting a cold. Everyone at work has been sick, Jenni has been sick, and now me. I think I can fight this quickly, thanks to Airborne. One week at Disney with the family, it doesn't matter if I am sick or not, I am going to enjoy this.

I don't know how many of you tried my one legged interval training session, but it was hard. It was the first one legged workout I had done this winter and I could tell I needed the work. On the second set in the aero position, my circles felt more like squares. What did you guys think? Those of you who did it that is. K-dogg says he can't get himself to ride a trainer...doesn't he know he is less likely to crash? Sorry man I couldn't help it.

The Redskins won last night. I am not a Skins fan, and I picked Chicago in my football pool. Oh well. I am doing the FM99 football pool. There are a couple thousand people in it and I am currently in 44th place. I am only 6 wins off of first. The last couple of weeks I picked the Skins and they lost. So for you Skins fans, I'll let you know when I pick them to lose (their probably win then).

Who's your Santa?

I know what I want for Christmas.

Tour de Garage- one legged drills

Here is another workout from my Tour de Garage series. I want to explain the background of this workout first. I am sorry if I lose you but I will try to keep it simple. Why do we do one legged drills? To improve our pedal stroke, right? Well if we don't know what makes up our pedal stroke, we can't improve it. Think about this for a minute. When you do one legged drills, is it easier for your the more you sit up, or can you do them just as well on your tops as you can in the aero position?

The pedal stroke can be broken into four phases. TDC is the top dead center, 90 degrees is the 3 o'clock position, 180 at 6 0'clock, 270 at 9 o'clock, back to TDC. Here is the list of muscles (or groups) working during each phase.

From TDC to 90 degrees: Quadriceps and gluteus maximus (butt).
From 90 degrees to 180 degrees: Gastrocnemius (calve), and hamstrings
From 180 degrees to 270 degrees: hamstrings, dorsiflexors (raises your toes up), and gastrocnemius (calve)
From 270 degrees to TDC: Rectus Femoris (front of the thigh) and tibialis anterior (shin)

That being said, think about the last time you did one legged intervals. What part hurt? Can you concentrate on contracting your quads and butt, then your calves and hamstring, then the front of your thigh and shin? When we bring our leg up from 270 degrees to TDC we want to use our hip flexors. However, the further bent down we are, the less they have the ability to work. The Rectus Femoris is a hip flexor, although not the primary one. So we have to get good and using all the muscles possible and not count on just momentum to bring our leg up. That is why this drill will have you in different positions on the bike. We are going to force our muscles to work how they should. If this workout is hard, you probably need it. So here we go.

Warm up
(small ring/15) Start cadence at 80 rpm. Increase by 10 rpm every minute for a total of 5 minutes (120 rpm)

Rest 1 minute

(big ring/15) 30 seconds at a 90% effort, 30 seconds recovery for 3 sets

Rest 2 minutes

One legged drill module
(big ring/18) Start with your left leg clipped in and your right leg behind your trainer. Pedal in a fluid pedal stoke with your left leg for one minute. Your hands should be on the tops of the bars.

Easy pedal for 1 minute both legs, then do it for your right leg. Easy pedal again for 1 minute. Change to your left leg again for 1 minute but move your hands to your hoods. Keep repeating the cycle of:
left leg 1 minute
both legs 1 minute
right leg 1 minute
both legs 1 minute.

For each cycle you will move you hand and body position:
tops of bars
hoods
drops
aero position
aero position
drops
hoods
tops of bars

Cool down:
(small ring/15) Start cadence at 120 rpm. Decrease by 10 rpm every 1 minute for 5 minutes.
Continue to soft pedal for another 2-5 minutes.
Stretch.

Remember to concentrate on getting those muscle to work. If they burn, you need this workout. If you are having particular problems with a segment of the pedal stroke (and this drill will tell you where you are weak), work on that segment. Start your stroke at the beginning of the segment and quickly contract those muscles needed to get through the rest of the stroke. Stop and repeat.

Hope you like the workout. Hope it wasn't too much tech talk, just wanted to make sure you had the background. Comment me if you have questions.

Bring on the cold!

Last year I had a good pair of tights but the zipper on the leg broke. So like an idiot I threw them away instead of getting them fixed. That left me with just a very thin pair. So I made a trip to All About Bikes yesterday and picked up a pair of these.

They have the wind barrier even on the bib section. I still need to get a better pair of gloves and some better bootie covers (all I have are toe covers). But this will be a big help to get me outside when the temperature drops.

On a side note. The burn training at work is over for now. After 2 months of burning 4 days a week, we are done...What am I going to do now?...."I'm going to Disney World!"
I leave 1 week from today. December 9-15. Jenni won't let me bring my bike.