dj whitebread
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Two Things
There are two things I would rather be doing this weekend that are both cycling related: the first is the Cheaha Challenge in Alabama and the second are the races around Houston this weekend. Alas, work must be done, and in all honesty, since there are so many of us here working, it isn't too bad. I just wish some of these other people were actually working on my paper, then it would be a lot more fun.
10:52 AM |
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Cheaha
Sadly, because of work reasons, it really looks like I will not be able to make it to the Cheaha challenge this year. There is a big conference deadline just a few days afterwards, and traveling three states over that close to a deadline is a bad idea. It looks like my goals for the Spring will be the MS150 and the collegiate conference championships.
Ha, of course, I actually have to ride my bike to do either of those... yikes.
Labels: Cheaha, MS150, out of shape
12:15 AM |
Monday, May 14, 2007
Assault the mountain
And the mountain assaulted us back.
The day started out well. After a little bit of Johnny Cash on the way out there, we got ready, and headed out when they blew the horn. Once we got onto the main road, David asked if we wanted to try to bridge up to the groups further up the road as the group we were with was going way slow. I was okay with this for several reasons: 1) we had a tailwind, 2) this was the easy part of the ride, we might as well go faster while we can, and 3) David is strong and could pull us up there. ;)
We cleared the first 22 miles or so pretty quickly thanks to David. We finally caught up to a group that was going the speed we wanted to go right before things got serious, real serious.
So we turn left and there is the first climb. I start up it and I feel great. David and Jeff both pull off from me (well, David was already ahead of us actually) but I'm spinning up the hill and I keep expecting it to get worse. I remembered this from last year... but it never did. We got to the rest stop, grabbed a quick banana and kept up the hill. We hit the camera stop at 1:20 into the ride. So we've done the first major climb and I'm feeling fantastic. I'm thinking this is going to be a good ride.
The stupid steep stuff starts on your way up to rest stop 3, which had a very amusing Tour de France theme complete with podium girls and a guy dressed up as the devil. All in all, the climb hurt, but I was still feeling good. We started the descent and then made it up and over a few of the really steep climbs. They're so steep when you see them as you are descending to the bottom you just think there is no way you are going to be able to actually go forward on that. Luckily, it is your visual perception messing with you, but still. They're hard.
We got over the step parts and then started the several mile trek up Mt. Cheaha itself. Jeff and I were both excited to see the rest stop at the top as it was time for some food.
After a food break, we headed down the descent. I love descending this thing. Perfect roads and 40-50 mph riding. Pretty amazing. David and I got to the turnaround and at this point the sun had come out. I wasn't really very happy about this as it was a sign of increasing temperatures... which honestly, we didn't need. But what are you going to do, it's the weather. Jeff made it up to the turnaround and we took a break to chill for a second.
It was at this point I really started to feel bad as David was really holding back and keeping himself slow to hang with us (and still kicking our butts on the climbs). I was looking forward to the climb back up Cheaha as it is really gradual and smooth; you can really get into a good rhythm and move up. I had forgotten about the two bastard steep hills before you actually get to the mountain. These two took it out of me. This was really the first time in the ride where I really started to feel not good. But, Jeff and I got up them, and we entered the shade of the trees on Cheaha and started the climb. I started spinning up it and started to feel really good. Jeff told me he was stopping because he was started to cramp, and I told him I would see him on the top as I wanted take advantage of the climbing rhythm I was feeling. He said cool and I headed up the hill. I felt great, just rolling my pace and passing people as I went.
I got to the top, and David was chilling. I kept expecting to see Jeff, and I kept not seeing him. After a while, David and I started to get a little worried. I was hoping he hadn't completely cramped up. Finally I see him coming up, and I figure all is well. However, his heart rate didn't have the same thing on its mind. Dehydration had started to set in. Jeff needed a long hydration break and I took the opportunity to start massaging my quads. They didn't feel tired, they actually hurt. After me working my thumb into them for a while, they felt a lot better and Jeff eventually felt better and got his heart rate down. We then headed off.
The descent of Cheaha on the way back is actually my favorite descent in the whole ride. It's steep at times, it's really curvy, and the roads are still smooth as butter. David and I tore down the road, leapfrogging each other occasionally and blasting through the turns. Awesome. But then we hit the climbing again, and I had to part ways with my cousin.
Got through several of the steep ones, and I had convinced myself that there was only one steep climb left to get to the TdF rest stop. After that, while there is still climbing, you don't have to do anything as steep. So I hit the last steep climb and just dig for anything to get myself up it. There was no spinning, this was pure mashing, and my knees were getting quite unhappy. I crest the climb and I don't see the rest stop. I mildly start to freak out, but we turn a corner and I notice a short little climb and I can hear voices, and then I realize I'm there. Thank goodness.
I get up to rest stop, and shortly after Jeff pulls in. At this point there is really no chance of me eating anything sweet... my body is craving salt. So I start shoving Dorito's in my mouth. After some food, the three of us head out.
The only notable thing about this next part of the ride was I got a flat. And in the process of trying to get on my bike I fell over. As Jeff said, "I earned serious cool points for that." Lovely. Anyway, we climb the last real climb, take a break to look out at the observation deck, and then start descending down to Rest Stop 2, our last break before the finish.
We ate some more Dorritos, I got some water and we headed out. The next major segment of the ride isn't hard from a terrain point of view. However, it is hard from a, "messes with your head," point of view. It's about 22 miles. There was a slight headwind. And it goes on forever.
David took several monster long pulls to get us back home as quickly as we could. He kind of finished me off in the process. By the time we finally rolled into Piedmont, I was completely done. My legs had one speed, really slowly. We passed on the food there and decided to get back to the hotel as quickly as possible (with two short stops for water and french fries... I really needed some hot food).
We took showers, and headed over to the Longhorn Steakhouse for some steak. It was delicious. Of course, it may have been swill... it wouldn't have necessarily mattered. Then we finished off the evening enjoying our cold beer and keeping our legs propped up.
The next day started early, and consisted of me being in the car for a very long time. Different cars actually. But the trip back was uneventful, and I even made it back with some of the best boudin I've ever eaten.
It was a great trip. And I think Jeff said it best, "What makes me really crazy is that if you ask me to come back next year, I will." It may have hurt, but I still have the desire to conquer it faster next year.
Labels: Cheaha
12:05 PM |
Friday, May 11, 2007
The journey to Cheaha
Special people abound in this world. This post is really about encountering special people.
Around 8am on Saturday I gave Jeff a call to see where they were. He answered by saying that he was running late and he was on his way pick up David. I was kind of disappointed, and then he laughed and said that they were almost to Prarieville to get me. Funny. Actually, it was pretty funny. ;)
They showed up, we loaded up my stuff, Carrie gave me the bag of Best Rice Krispy Treats Ever Made, Jeff handed me my latte they had so graciously picked up, and off we went.
I knew conversation would never be dull, as all three of us like to talk, and luckily David likes to listen as well. ;)
At some point in Mississippi we were all hungry, so we rolled into a Subway. This is where the special people show up.
I decided to use the restroom. I am doing what I need to do when I hear a jiggle on the door and somebody asks, "Anybody in there or is it locked?" I politely say, "I'm in here." I continue to go about my business. Then I start to hear, "Uhhh." "Uhhhhhh" "UHHHHHH!" At this point I'm starting to get a little worried and start to hurry up so I can get the hell out of Dodge. As I'm washing my hands I hear a scream, "I can't hold my pee!!!" I quickly open the door with out drying my hands off and in storms this elderly man, who is quite rotund. I actually have to let him get in the bathroom to get out. Glad to no longer be between him and the urinal, I go order my sandwich.
And for the record, I have never had this much mustard on a sandwich in my life. It was quite ridiculous.
On the way out to the car we notice a total beater pickup truck parked outside with four bearded guys with gimme caps sitting inside. Some of them complete with overalls. Adorning this fine vehicle are bumper stickers that proclaim their love of the Rebel flag and other lovely sayings. That's right, cue the banjos.
Well, he head out and make the long haul up to Anniston/Oxford, Alabama. We check in the hotel, and head to the grocery to pick up a few items and most importantly, beer. They do not sell beer on Sundays up there, so we had to make sure we had our post-ride beer. After leaving the grocery we head to the races downtown. It was hear that we encounter special people of two types.
The first type is the racers. The 2/3 race was really fast. The pro-race was just silly. I am always impressed when I watch a race of this quality... what these guys can do is just amazing. And to think these guys were getting beat by the pro-tour guys a few weeks before. Impressive.
The next special person I should mention is the announcer for the crits. This guy was a toolshed and a half. Not only did he do a bad job of explaining the sport of cycling to the crowd, he used some of the dumbest metaphors I have ever heard. By the end Jeff was trying to figure out if he could hit the guy with his water bottle. It was slowly driving all of us insane. "Rolling Thunder!!!"
After the race was over, we headed to the hotel to get some sleep before Sunday's early morning wakeup. We all knew what we were waking up to... it was time to tackle the ride.
Labels: banjos, Cheaha, special people
11:38 AM |
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Cheaha Prelude
The trip to Cheaha was a lot of fun. I decided to break the whole thing down into a few blog posts, in attempt to not give everybody another monster post.
So Baton Rouge. We were really only going to be there two days. We got in way late on Wednesday night and headed straight to sleep. Thursday, after sleeping late we had some sandwiches and I got ready to head out to the River Road training race. I showed up, got ready to go, and we headed out. David hung back with me in the B group. I was feeling really good, and we started rotating around. The funny thing, as I soon realized, was that in Baton Rouge the slow people are still fast. They're just a little bit slower (and apparently there is less attacking) than the fast group.
Anyway, I got left out front by somebody who didn't want to rotate properly and then a poorly timed acceleration left me struggling to hold on. I tried to time trial back on the group but to no avail. I stayed with some guys for awhile, but eventually I realized I wasn't going to be able to do the entire length of the ride at this speed. I turned around in an effort to catch David on the way back.
Amusingly enough, I hit the split right as he did. We rolled along at a conversational 20 mph for a while until we got caught from behind. At some point David and I had a gap and then we got caught. Near the end David decided to kick it up a little and I fought hard to just stay on his wheel. I eventually had to drop off, but it turns out it really wasn't very far to the end... I should have tried to hold on a little bit longer.
All in all it was fun and a good workout. I went home and ate two plates of pork loin and rice and gravy.
Friday I got up and switched out my cassette on the bike to put my "climbing cassette" on. I also cleaned/relubed the bike to get it ready for Sunday. After some yummy crawfish stew for lunch and showers, Carrie and I headed out to see my grandparents. We headed out from there to David's pre-Cheaha pizza party.
Ryan is hilarious... he talks so much! It was great to see everybody and spend some time with family.
We left finalizing the plans for Saturday morning's trip to Alabama. Time to get some sleep, Alabama awaited!
Labels: Cheaha, family, training
2:24 PM |
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
We're back
We got back late last night. It was a long day in a couple cars for me. But, we had a great trip. I will get into more details tomorrow.
Labels: Cheaha
11:06 PM |
Sunday, April 22, 2007
No posts...
I hate it when I don't post for an entire week.
So what happened with Harrick? I realized that I hadn't actually put that up on my blog. Apologies for anybody who was looking for it. The basic story is that he has asked for another year extension to his leave, and we have no reason to think the University won't give it to him. So what does this mean for me?
While I wish that he was coming back now, we had a good, long meeting and came up with several concrete things to help the distance issue and to help progress occur. I'm happy with the overall outcome, even though it would obviously be better if he were here.
As for the rest of the week, got a few rides in, played some WoW, got my butt kicked at the Thursday night crits. I hung on for several laps, and we weren't necessarily going slowly.
On Friday Anna and Jeff came in from Houston. Jeff and I suited up and headed out to start our little Cheaha mini-camp. On the menu for Friday was a 50 mile jaunt out west into the hill country. Let me put it this way, Jeff has definitely been on his bike a good bit. When we started climbing out from the river he rode away from me like it was nothing. I felt odd the whole ride. Some hills I felt really strong and could power up them, other hills I felt like my legs were rubber. We had some decent headwind going up most of the tougher hills, but that's not a valid excuse. Both times we stopped my stomach started cramping up on me. By the time we were riding down Shoal Creek and almost home I felt like I was going to throw up, and just felt exhausted all over.
Long story short, I don't think I had enough calories and I think I let myself get dehydrated. After supper (and lots of water) I felt remarkably better.
Saturday we headed out again for a much shorter ride, what I like to call my local Ride O'Pain. It's just a 17 mile loop, but it climbs up three nasty little hills all within the local neighborhoods. Mt. Bonnel, Mesa Dr.(which is technically Cat Mountain), and Ladera Norte. I had taken Jeff on this ride I think last August or September and he has wanted to come back and try it again ever since. Ladera Norte is really the one that hurts... it gets really steep. It's also the longest. Well, we made it up all three. Ladera Norte got a little rough for me towards the end; I will definitely be changing out cassettes to the 12/25 for Cheaha.
After a lazy afternoon yesterday after Jeff and Anna departed, Carrie and I headed over to my friend Jeff's to eat fajitas with him and Harry and Meg. We then headed over to the Alamo Village to catch Blades of Glory. I laughed a lot, but it's Will Ferrell, so I'm not really an objective judge.
Today I decided to come into work since I didn't really get anything done on Friday. Time to code... yay coding. However, I'm still in the stage where I'm just laying down lots of foundation code... so it's still kind of mundane. Pretty soon, I'll start getting into the meat of things.
Labels: Cheaha, funny, hills, pain, school, training
12:38 PM |
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Confusingly fast
That's how this week has progressed. It's already Thursday? What?
I was able to get some hill work in on Tuesday. That was good. However, my recovery ride plans for yesterday didn't happen, nor or is any riding going to happen today. I need to get something turned in to Harrick tonight before I go to sleep (whenever that may be) so I plan on getting in a decently long ride tomorrow. Maybe I'll do 50+ out west... I'm feeling ambitious. I know that may sound lame, but with the distances I've been riding lately, it'd be ambitious. Cheaha is a'comin' and I need to have mileage (and hills, lots of hills) in my legs before then.
Had a fun guy night last night with Chad in town. We met for dinner with Jerry and then headed back to Carrie and I's condo and played a little WoW with Richard and Wayne. Good times.
Carrie is doing a half-marathon that looks to be tough this weekend. I'm going down there with her and her friend Merri Su (also running) with my bike and hope to get a good ride in. They are pretty much running the course from the Texas State road race. Yeah, the one with the big hill. Other than that it shouldn't be too bad. I need to figure out where to ride as they probably won't like me riding on the half-marathon course.
Okay, I need to get to writing. Have a good Thursday.
Labels: Cheaha, cycling, work, WoW
8:33 AM |
Monday, February 05, 2007
Cheaha
So I registered for it today. 102 miles up and over and up and over again. I'm shooting to break 6.5 hours this year. On the subject of climbing (and my current inability to do it) my compact crankset is in Austin. The DHL guy attempted to deliver today but we weren't there. So I'll either just sign the slip and have him leave it or stay around until 10:00 am or so to be there when he comes. Hopefully I can get it put on in time for the races in two weeks.
Labels: Cheaha, climbing, training
2:43 PM |
