This is....

how your supporters or your handlers make you look really stupid? Joe? Joe?



Oh well, we're all Joe the Plumbers - YEE HAW!!!

I wanna ride my bicycle.....

It's been a long week. I so enjoyed my ride Sunday, but haven't been able to ride since. Working until 5pm this week. Been to the gym twice, so that's a good fill in, but nothing is the same as fat tires on dirt. SIGH. Is it Friday yet?

50mile ride review

I've been looking forward to trying this again for a long time. With all the races I tried this summer, the time I've spent on my mountain bike, my travels, my job and call schedule; it has been difficult to find the right time. What better day than a year out from my first attempt? I watched the weather forecast all week hoping it wouldn't rain, that it wouldn't be windy and that it wouldn't been too cold. I got a pretty good day. It was beautiful out today! I left my house around 930 to meet Tim at 10. I thought I was going to be overdressed: undershirt, jersey, arm warmers, shorts, knee warmers, shoe covers and my yellow Gore windstopper jacket. I was rather colorful too, but at least I was warm. Seems like I chose my clothes wisely - I only removed the jacket during the ride. At times, I wish I had left it on. The shadey parts were cool as was the brief headwind.

Strange encounters weren't unusual on this ride either. About 1.5 miles from my house, a squirrel ran from the right side of the road, under my bike just behind my front wheel. Once I arrived at the statue at Hanging Rock, I enjoyed a nice conversation with a non-local about the Battlefield trail and encouraged him to go see it as he seemed interested in the historical signs around the statue. As Tim and I headed out Bradshaw, this kid on some sort of old mini-bike came zipping past us. Tim took off after him and ended up catching him. He would say later on that the kid freaked out and started to slow down when he realized Tim had caught him. It was funny to sit back and watch this. Later on on Bradshaw, I dropped my Hammer Gel and had to stop for it. Then I got distracted looking at something off to my right, rode right off the road into the grass. I managed to keep the bike under control and was quickly back onto the pavement. Tim laughed and reminded me that I wasn't mountain biking, but did credit my save to my mtb skills. We saw some pretty houses along Bradshaw - there are at least 3 or 4 log cabin like houses being built. They are pretty sweet looking! In the Glenvar area, there were some people who looked to be setting up to sell stuff out of their car. There was a kid, I hope, that was dressed up like a cow - udders and all. After arriving back in Salem, we decided to ride down Main Street. Around the area of Advance Auto there was a truck stopped in the road with it's axle broken. A few blocks up near Member One, there had been a wreck so there were police and fire vehicles. Since the "Punkin Festival," was planned for the Farmer's Market; we did get to see several tykes dressed up. I guess that was the end of the oddities.

Tim and I split up near Longwood Park since we live on opposite sides of town. I headed up Kessler Mill Road. I was getting tired and now riding alone was going to be more difficult. I did alright going up Kessler Mill though hunger had started to set it. I kept chugging along and had decided to forego Loch Haven Road as I wasn't sure I'd make it up the two climbs. I headed down Cove to Wood Haven to Valley Pointe. There is a gradual incline on Wood Haven that I sort of had forgotten about. This is where my back started to spasm (OW). I stood and stretched as I continued on. Arriving at Peters Creek Road, I had to stop for the light so I stretched while waiting for a break in traffic then headed across to Thirlane to make my "Airport Loop." They've paved most of this road now, so it's pretty good to ride on. My concrete laden quads were not happy with me, nor was I happy with them. I really had to cheer myself on to get around the road. I reached the 50 mile mark right before I got Valley View Blvd (3:20ish). At this point, I decided to ride the rest of the way home at a cool down pace. I was so excited to have accomplished this goal. I am glad that I got to achieve it with Tim. He's been an awesome friend for so many years. I hope to do another 50 mile ride - we'll see if I can do it in 2008.

New goal: Metric Century - 100km; 63 miles. The last 8 miles were torture yesterday with the back spasms and aching quads, so if I continue to work on strengthening and longer rides off and on road then I should be able to manage this goal. I know we kept the ride slow and mangeable yesterday, but I've decided that steady is the way to go for me. I'm not too good at this fast/slow, up tempo/low tempo stuff right now. I guess that means interval training over the winter months. Anyway, going to the gym Monday, taking Tuesday off this week, gym Wednesday then hopefully I can ride Thursday after work.

Meanwhile, HAPPY FALL YA'LL!

Pictures can be found here. The ride route here.

Distance 52.15 miles

Time 3:32:55

Avg Speed 14.7 mph (max 33.8 mph)

Avg HR 142 bpm (max 167 bpm)

YAY!!! I did it!!! 50 miles on the road bike!!! =)

I'm so excited!!! I'll definitely blog about this ride, but it will be a bit later before I have time to type it all. Here's proof:

My ramblings about colder weather.

It's getting colder, but all is well though peeps. I've reformatted my iPod and have now added some workouts that I found online that I can use with a Spin cycle at the gym. I can't wait to try one - maybe tomorrow, but probably next week since I'm hoping to do the 50 miler on Sunday. Here's the website: Cardio Coach. I'm listening to one of them as I type. Sounds like good intervals to me. I also have to rearrange my basement once it's too cold for the road bike outside and stick it back in the trainer so that I have access to my Spinervals and Carmichael Training Systems DVD's. I'm hoping that over the colder months to continue to ride my mountain bike two maybe three times a week - one or two shorter rides after work and on Mill Mountain or with the group at Explore Park. The other perhaps a long ride on the weekends at Carvins Cove, Bedford or Lynchburg. I'll definitely spend a lot of time focusing on core strengthening, weight training and cardio at the gym.

In terms of racing, I'm done for 2008. I had originally thought I'd race the Rowdy Dawg on Sunday, but honestly I'm not at all motivated to do that. I'm ready to just have some fun while riding. I think you have to have the right attitude to go race, and I just don't have it right now. I know that Kenny is going to have a mountaincross race series in the Bedford parks next February, so that will likely go on my calendar as something to try. I will assess some more 2009 racing goals after the first of the year.

Ok, it's bedtime. Have a fun weekend everyone!

Nuttin'

Not much going on this week other than work, which is driving us all crazy. Stupid rules have now been established - first they banned Crocs because of the holes in them, and now we're not allowed to have drinks or food in our work area. This really sucks as most days if we get time to eat it's like 10 minutes. Typically we eat while we work. If we want a drink of water or a snack we have to go to our break room which amounts to little more than a walk in closet. Whatever! We have figured out a nice hiding spot for our drinks, but you still feel like an adolescent sneaking off to drink alcohol. HA!

Other than work, I've been to the gym twice this week - both times were very rewarding and reinforced to me how much I really enjoy going. I did ride twice this week. Both times on Mill Mountain. Monday was an unexpected surprise as I had the day off to run errands post PA-trip. My errands included the DMV for a new license. This was the shock of the day as I got in and out of there in 15 minutes. I then rode Tuesday after work, but that ride got cut short because I got cold in the wind. BRRRRR. The weather really took a change huh? Oh well, I'll adjust to it soon enough - I have now located my cooler weather bike clothes and I have a new pair of Gore Windstopper gloves to try. Not sure they are entirely needed yet.

I'm glad tomorrow is Friday. Even with that, I've got a ton of stuff to do here still. I'm not sure what I'll be doing Saturday as they are calling for 2 inches of rain between Friday night and Saturday. I was planning to go campaign for Obama some more, and probably will. Especially since there is a new satellite office near my house. Sunday, I'm hoping to go for a long ride ride with my buddy Tim. 50 miles is the goal and I think the plan is to ride out Bradshaw Rd. If I ride from home and meet up with him at Hanging Rock, I could end up with nearly 60 miles. I believe this weekend is the anniversary of my first attempt at 50 miles last year. I know it was the same weekend as the Folklife Festival at Ferrum College.

Anyway, I plan to take my camera along for the ride Sunday to document some of the scenery. Not sure I'll blog again until after that, so you'll have to enjoy this post for now. Have fun everyone! Good luck to those who are racing the Rowdy Dawg on Sunday. I'm just done with racing this year. Don't have the competitive spirit to go race, hence the leisurely road ride. =)

Pictures from Gettysburg

SNL funnies...

In Pennsylvania...

Beautiful weather - getting colder. I brought two bikes - rode the SS around the campground a bit but got stuck in some pea gravel and gave up. Tomorrow, I hope to go for a road ride. It's gonna be chilly. Glad I brought some tights. Other than that, I've eaten, shopped, eaten, shopped... Well you get the point. I'll have to buckle down when I get home and hammer away at the gym and when possible on bike. I heard it poured rain today at home, so I'm glad I'm not there. I'm disappointed that I missed Barack! It was funny to see the Roanoke Civic Center on the local news here and on CNN. GO BARACK!!! Ok, time to fix my bed and go to sleep. =)

Continuing the story...

Ok so I got downtown to the Market area around 315. I decided to park in the Elmwood Park garage for simplicity's sake. I walked down to the Market area and had to weave my way around sidewalk and road closures to get to my reporting place. Once there, I got my volunteer tag and met Ryan, my captain. Ryan, myself and three others were responsible for the ADA visitors to the Rally. First we had to mark their rows so that no one would take their seats. Then we had to monitor our line for those without obvious disability and shuttle those folks across the street to the regular line. We were told not to let anyone in our line who didn't have a cane, a walker or wheelchair. Soon our line would be full and we could take no one else. After a while, we were able to escort the guests to their seats and make sure that they were situated. Another volunteer was a runner and went back and forth from Cornerstone restaurant with a water pitcher and water for the guests.

Before the event started we had to keep a 4 foot aisle between the ADA guests and the standing people. I suppose this is some sort of ADA regulation. I asked folks around me to back up and most obliged without complaint. The one person who seemed bothered by our request to move was a city councilman. His name shall remain absent from this blog. I got my head bit off by another voluteer who was felt ultraspecial I guess because he was helping said councilman. Whatever, I love how people are really important when it's convenient for them. Anyway, I quickly forgot about Councilman Twit and went back to talking to the ordinary people who were in attendance. I ended up going to get a roll of police tape and tied it from the fence to a trash can to remind people to keep the aisle open. For the most part it worked quite well. Not sure why no one else thought to do this.

People were generally receptive to what we asked them to do, and they were all very excited at the prospects of seeing President Clinton up close and personal. I took gobs of pictures on my camera and at times took some for a guest who was shorter than I. I pretty much had an unobstructed view the entire event. I think the funniest part was when Ryan came around to say that the standing visitors would be leaving first then the ADA folks. Once the President finished speaking and descended from the stage to meet the crowd, the organization of the event went to hell quickly. People pushed forward to meet him. The folks who stayed in the ADA section or waited it out just a bit got to meet him as well because before he left he doubled back down to their section. I must admit I stood on some chairs taking the pictures you see then I walked across a row so that I could have a chance to shake his hand. Which I did get to do. He was very cool and spoke to everyone as he went down the line. He had one of his secret service agents take his picture with one lady. I thought that was rather funny.

It was so cool to see him and even cooler to shake his hand! President Clinton does seem to enjoy speaking to crowds and seems to enjoy meeting people even more. I could care less about his personal indiscretions while he was in office. What is important to me and makes him a special person to me is that he helped this country tremendously. The economy was in a whole lot better shape under him. Unemployment rates were low. Programs like Welfare to Work encouraged people to get jobs in order to receive government assistance. College was affordable and made more so by the Hope Scholarship program that he started. He started initiatives to ensure children had access to healthcare and educational opportunities. The government seemed more responsible, more approachabl,e and we weren't fighting wars. His ability to communicate articulately is awesome. You didn't dread hearing him give a speech, you didn't dread knowing that he was interacting with leaders of foreign nations. There was hope with Clinton in office. Right now there is dispair with Bush. Yes I sound like a political ad, but that's because I'm tired of the 8 years of crap under W. I'm voting for Obama - I feel like he's got better ideas and he's got the energy and intelligence to make our country great again.

I'll step off my soapbox now. This blog will resume being a biking blog soon.

Crazy Weekend

As you've probably gathered from my previous two posts, I had a very interesting weekend. Saturday, I knew I had to get stuff done for my trip and just done in general. I got up and gave a half hearted attempt to clean up the house. I was to be at the MLK Jr Statue downtown at 3pm to go door-to-door for the Obama campaign. When I arrived, I met a couple of guys who have been working for the campaign here for 4 months. Neither were from Roanoke originally, so they seemed excited to meet local people. I also got to meet one of the advance press people for the campaign. It seems her job is to be on site a day or two ahead of speakers such as President Clinton, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden etc. She's kind of the liason between the campaign and the local organizers and planners. She mentioned that they needed volunteers to help with the Clinton Event that was upcoming on Sunday. I had already thought about trying to get downtown to see him, but volunteering to work the event would guarantee me at least entry into the event if not more. So I agreed to be at HQ at 7pm for a meeting of volunteers.

I went door-to-door for 2.5 hours meeting people or leaving literature at their homes about the candidates (Obama, Warner and Rasoul). After I walked like 6 or 7 blocks, all I had left were some apartments. I elected not to go there by myself and returned to the MLK Statue where I met up with the campaign staffers again. I shared my experiences and my tally sheet with them and told them I'd try to be back by 7. I had to go meet my Mom and get supplies from Walmart for our trip. I blew through Walmart like my feet were on fire. At 655, I left Bonsack to get back to Campbell Ave. I arrived there around 710 for the organizational meeting. During the meeting, volunteers were split up into teams. I volunteered for the ADA team. Since I'm used to working with patients, I figured it wouldn't be so bad to help them at this event.

I wanted to stay longer, but remembered as my stomach was growling that I hadn't eaten all day plus I still had some other errands to run. So I left and headed home. I picked up my Mom and we headed out again. This time to look for something at the Salem Walmart that the other didn't have and to drop by a Walgreens. I did finally get to eat then to both stores. I think we got home around 10pm.

So on Sunday, the trainers from the gym were hosting a picnic at 1pm for us, "trainees." I wanted to ride my bike as well. I headed out on my Single Speed for a ride around the neighborhood streets. After riding for 7 miles or so, I was at Preston Park, so I headed over the empty basketball courts to practice some "slow drills" as I call them. I do a few things.

1. Ride as slow as you can down the sidelines. Try to keep a wheel on the sideline.
2. Track stands at the foul line or in the midcourt circle.
3. Practice riding in a circle in the midcourt circle.

I can track stand on my SS for about 10 seconds (standing, less sitting). Slow riding is a challenge, but I'm getting better at it. And riding in circles in the circles should help me with switchbacks. I can ride more times going to the left than the right (15-8). I ride as many times as I can before getting too dizzy. My goal is to not ride outside of the circle. It's fun, try it.

Anyway, after my ride, I headed home to fix some baked mac&cheese for the picnic. For some reason it didn't want to cook right and I wound up being 10 minutes late to the picnic. HA! Oh well, this turned out to be a fun time. I hung out with some other chickys from the gym and my trainer of course. We all had a great time. I left the picnic at 250p because I was cold and wanted to get a jacket before heading to the Clinton Event. I had to be there at 345p.

I drove by my house, grabbed a jacket and then went downtown. TO BE CONTINUED... I need to do some other things.

Pictures from Sunday's Clinton Rally for Obama

Busy Weekend...

Topped off by getting to shake President Clinton's hand!!! I'll have to blog more later. Here's a picture from this evening's rally!!! I promise to put more on line as soon as I have time.

OW. My legs hurt.

Let's see when last we met, I was mulling over having cleaned my bikes. Yay! What's the rest of the week been like? Well, work has been so annoying. I feel like I work in a prison this week. We've got every cabinet, door etc locked. It's been worse than anything I've ever seen. State and Federal inspections are so much fun. Drives me up the wall. I've been calling myself Prisoner#97321973 all week. I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday, I don't think I could take another frickin day of it.

So you see, it's been a weird week. Tuesday, I did a patrol ride on Mill Mountain right after work. It was fun enough, but I would like to have ridden longer and with other people. My legs were still tired from PoMo. I could feel it when I was climbing. There is a new trail being built on MM, it's going to be a nice addition to the system. It's called Virginia Pine. I helped with it a few weeks ago (the day the world was introduced to Sarah Palin, yikes!). Anyway the trail now has this neat section of turns that I look forward to riding. I just felt tired and lacked the oomph factor. Regardless, I still rode 8 miles or so.

Wednesday was back to the gym. We've got several goals now. 1. Increase Cardio, 2. Do a perfect squat (I have issues w/ form - I can lift a bunch of weight, but my knees buckle, 3. Continue strengthening the core and upper body. My torture Wednesday was legs. Let's see I did squats on this one machine - 100lbs. Supersetted those with walking lunges and jumping jacks. Then we moved on to some other stuff that kicked up the cardio a notch. We did some leg flexion stuff with weight (70lbs) supersetting with another variation on squats. The we did some UFC Squats which were dreadfully hurtful. Of course there were some other exercises tossed in among all of that. The result today is two very, very sore and stiff legs...what to do????

Of course, I'm on call tonight so leaving to ride a bike isn't a good idea. Instead, I went straight to the gym after work and used one of the cycling class bikes to do a 45 minute workout. I wasn't as disciplined as the last time, so I didn't really have a routine to share. I was sweating like a pig, so if that's any indication of progress, I did really good. It was very hard to ride today - soreness eased up some, but man did it hurt to do the harder settings. OUCH!

Tomorrow, my dad is taking my car for some work. He's dropping me and my road bike off at work so I can ride home. I'd ride it to work except I'd have to leave home at 6:15 or so and it's too dark for my liking at that hour. Riding home should be fun!!! Of course, I have the gym at 7pm. HA HA HA. My legs are going to die! Will be walking quite a bit on Saturday and hopefully will find time to ride Sunday morning.

All of this and I still need to plan for my trip out of town. YIKES! Gotta go, laundry needs shifting. =)

Workin' at the Bike Wash...

I've been saying that I need to wash my bikes. I decided around 2pm while retrieving yet another patient from the ER that a good way to spend this gorgeous, warm afternoon would be to wash my bikes. The next time I decide to wash 3 bikes at one time, I hope someone saves me from myself. 1.5 hrs after drawing the first bucket of water, I was finished and put them all away in their respective sleeping spots. I will stir one of them from their slumber tomorrow after work for a nice leisurely ride. My legs were still screaming this afternoon as I walked to the 4th floor of the garage to head home. You would think I rode up a mountain or something yesterday. Oh wait, I did. =) YAY! Stay tuned for the story of the Screaming MiMi. HA!

SNL Funny (again...)

VA Derailer Series Race #6 - The Poor Mountain Hill Climb

YAY!!! 6 races started, 6 races finished. 7/7 if you count that one in Greensboro. The Derailer is done for 2008. I ended up finishing 4th out of 4 today, but I did finish this race 9 minutes faster than last year. Can you believe that? 9 minutes!!! I'm so friggin excited about that it's not even funny! I could care less about being last in the group today. I did catch Kristin and passed her near the finish, but the young'un had enough spunk left to blow me away as we got to the finish line. She's a good rider, I'm proud of her and I'm glad we've become friends.

My goal today was to finish and finish in a better time than last year. Just finishing the race gave me enough points to win Sport Women 18-35 this year. Out of the three of us (Gina aka Sting and Kristin), I was the only one to start and finish every race. Kristin missed Bedford due to school and of course, Gina had to DNF two weeks ago at Candlers because of that bee sting. I raced with a great bunch of people this year and have formed more friendships due to the Derailer Series than I ever imagined.

Let's see, what can I tell you about the race. It is of course, almost a road time trial. I think Poor Mountain is the tallest mountain in this area, and the road that goes up it is fairly steep at times. The course last year had more, larger loose rocks than this year. This year was more gravel and hardpack similar to the 1000' at Carvins Cove. It was easier to negotiate this year for sure. This year seemed easier for me as well. Funny thing is I climbed over 5.5 miles in the middle chain ring. On the lower portion, I only had to stop once and that was because I dropped my Gatorade while try to put it back in the cage. Two or three times, I shifted into a harder gear and stood up to pedal (I had worked on standing and pedalling this past week on Mill Mtn.) I didn't really use my Granny gear until shortly before the right hand turn onto Honeysuckle Rd. Even Granny couldn't help too much on that crazy hill.

After the turn, the road gets really steep. I ended up having to walk twice. Oh well, I managed pretty good on this part. I actually caught Kristen and passed her, but like I said before she was able to blow right past me to take 3rd. She's a good egg, so that's cool with me. I swear it seemed like the section on Honeysuckle too forever. I guess because it's so steep and you really can't see the finish line until you're right at it.

A few things to mention:
Dave Tompkins - Pimpin' the waterstop. FUNNY GUY!
The Green Van - sucked that they let cars come on up, but this one stayed right behind me too long, so I finally stopped and waved her by with a dirty look.
Washboard - the top near the finish is like a washboard - didn't notice it as much until the ride down. UGH!
Downhill - an idea for the future - don't let cars go down until all riders have departed the top - the dust was horrible to ride through
WRECK - one of the young male riders, maybe Daniel Buttram(?) wrecked on the descent and wound up cut up pretty bad, maybe broke some teeth and broke his arm.

The PoMo was definitely better organized this year and much more enjoyable for me personally. I scored $10 for 4th place then scored $60 more for winning the series. SWEET! Money is always a good thing! I'm glad the races are done. I'm debating the Rowdy Dog - haven't ridden there on this bike before so, who knows. Just depends on how much I ride between now and then. I hear that there will be a mountain cross series in February so I may try to do some of that?!? Otherwise it's going to be riding for fun.

Ok gotta go - The Amazing Race is on - love this show. =) Before I go, my time was 1:20... =)))

HA HA HA HA HA HA part deux

Creator unknown to me...

Added for those who aren't on the Roanoke Cycling Listserve...

HA HA HA HA HA HA

Jim Morin/The Miami Herald - also ran in The Roanoke Times on 10/2