OK, a quick update and prediction:

Thursday, thanks to some personal issues (good ones, not bad) my schedule got thrown out of whack and I pushed the workout (a quick body-weight conditioning set) to Friday where I did it along with Graeme’s prescribed Fix the Back: Strength workout.  All in all, not too bad: my right knee was a little gimpy (still is, I hope it’s not going to be a problem), so half of my lateral lunges were less than stellar (well all of them were if you account for poor flexibility), and I failed pretty hard at maintaining the crow pose for any more than three seconds at a time without tipping over to one side or the other.  But I made it through the rest of the workout without any major issues other than needing to pause the video for a few seconds here and there to let me finish up my current set.

Well, there’s the body pike, but we don’t talk about such things in polite company…

Anyway, so far I’m getting all of my workouts in, even though I had to double up on a couple of them.  My nutrition, while not stellar, has also been back getting back on track.  I know I’m down a  bit in weight, but my official weigh-ins aren’t until Monday mornings, so we’ll see if I survived the weekend on that note.

As for my quick prediction: my prediction is that I’ll be skipping today’s outside riding workout and doing it tomorrow.  We had a big snowstorm here the other day (largest in DFW history, if I’ve heard correctly) and it’s still in the process of melting off.  The roads ought to be plenty clear tomorrow, so I’ll do it then.  Tune in Monday to find out for sure.

Well, day 3 is down, and thankfully it was a less humbling day.  Today’s workout primarily consisted of some one leg pedaling drills and a few bouts of extremely high cadence pedaling surrounded by some soft pedaling for warm-up, recovery, and cool-down.  Due to the nature of the workout, I was able to take care of it on my commute home (I did the one leg drills on the loop by my house, so I wouldn’t have to worry about wobbling into traffic), meaning a nice relaxing evening at home.  Which is nice, since my quads are still on fire from those damn, dirty Hindu squats yesterday.

So, now that the recap is done, I suppose I should address why exactly I’m doing the 90 Day Fitness Blaster in my efforts to get ready for the Tour du Rouge?  Well, there are two main reasons.

For one thing it was put together by Graeme Street and was built on his Cyclo-CLUB/Cyclo-CORE principles, ad those are the principles that got me through last year’s Lone Star Ride, and are the principles I’ll be turning to to perform even better in this year’s edition.  So there’s trust there.  I believe that the Cyclo-CLUB principles are sound, and I firmly believe that if I follow the plan to the best of my ability, I will be a stronger more ready rider in time for the tour.

But in addition to that, of all the programs Graeme and Cyclo-CLUB offer, this one seems to be the best suited for this particular ride.  The TdR is a long, but flat ride that will be rolling out at a moderate pace (likely averaging 15 MPH including the stops).  I won’t need to worry about climbing (last years reports indicate that the biggest climb on the entire ride was a bridge — hardly Ventoux), I don’t need to reach any particularly high speeds, and power for race style accelerations is right out.  What I need is to be able to stay in the saddle for long stretches and maintain a constant moderately high cadence at low power for six days.  And that’s just what this plan provides.  It starts by building an aerobic base and the neuromuscular ability to maintain high cadence pedaling, and addressing core and functional strength. Then it reenforces that base throughout the program, while building upon it by working in first pedaling strength for endurance in the big rings at speed, and finally by working in some anaerobic endurance (so I can get across that bridge when I find it).  By the end of this program, I ought to have a much stronger core, with better flexibility, allowing me to stay in the saddle for six long days, and I ought to have the long-term endurance to keep up to the expected speed for the duration.  It’s just what I need.

And, of course, it doesn’t hurt that since I started this week it will end just in time for the Tour du Rouge to start.  So the timing works out too!

So I started the Cyclo-CLUB 90 Day Fitness Blaster today.  I was actually supposed to start yesterday, but a clogged sink put the kibosh on that and I combined yesterday’s and today’s workouts into one.  How did it go?  In one word: Ow!

Yesterday’s workout part wasn’t too bad.  Basically it’s just an easy intro to high cadence pedaling and trying to build an aerobic endurance base.  Other than the fact that my saddle position is off by just a bit and caused a bit of discomfort, I didn’t have any trouble outside of boredom (trainers are hell compared to riding outside).  But the second day, a bit of body weight conditioning… oi.

For one thing, I have a lot more body weight than your average cyclist.  After a way lazy winter filled with business travel and holidays, I packed on a whopping 25 pounds since the end of September, and this was really felt (along with my lack of conditioning) during this portion of the training.  Far and away, the worst part was the Hindu squats which went from feeling like a breeze to feeling a bit rough, to feeling like Kali herself was destroying my quads and lungs in the span of about eight squats.  Ugh.

How bad was it?  After working out, I went to shower and took our dog Jasper (who was badly in need of a bath) in with me.  I squatted down at one point to shampoo him, and when I had finished and rinsed him, I was barely able to get back up again; my quads were that fried.

Jasper survived his shower experience, even if I was touch and go for a while...

So at the very least, I know I did something today, and I’m guessing I’ll really know about it tomorrow. Sounds like fun, eh?  Well, this is what you have to do if you want to get into good riding shape.  On the plus side, there’s only 88 more days to go.

So late last year I signed up to take part in a little bike ride called the Tour du Rouge. It’s nothing really, just a tiny little bike ride is all. Just a tiny little six-day, 535-mile bike ride from Houston to New Orleans. That’s all, just 535 measly little miles.

OK, so maybe this isn’t just some tiny little local t-shirt ride that I’m setting out on. This one is serious; and in a couple of different ways. Not only do I have to get myself trained and ready for the physical aspect if the ride, but I’ve also committed to raising $2500 in donations to the American Red Cross chapters that lie along the route so that they can continue to provide the kind of relief services that they doled out in the wakes of hurricanes Ike and Gustav less than two years ago, and for many more less publicized personal disaters since.

Given the serious nature of this ride, I’ve decided to use this website to help me launch an attack on both of my goals for this ride and beyond.

On the training end of things I am breaking out the Cyclo-CLUB 90 Day Fitness Blaster offseason training plan, kicking off tonight and ending just as I’m loading up the car to head to Houston for the ride. I’ll be yammering about my training results and experiences here, so the world can watch as I whip this booty into full-on riding shape. Tune in tonight for a recap of the first workout and my discussion of why I think the 90DFB is the perfect training plan for this ride

And on the second front, I am looking to use this website as a vehicle for raising donations both from getting the word out to the public and for offering businesses some advertising space in exchange for a modest donation to the American Red Cross supporting my ride.  If you’re a regular ol’ person who would like to make a donation to support me and the ARC, you can do so by visiting the donation page that was set up for me for the ride; it’s fast easy and secure, and I can’t thank you enough for helping out with this worthy cause.  And if you own or run a business and are interested in donating and securing some ad space on the Bramble, I’ll be posting details shortly.  In the meantime, feel free to leave me any questions in the comment area and I’ll get back to you in a jiffy.

I truly hope that I am able to succeed on both fronts for this ride, because while it would mean so much to me, personally, to complete this ride, the funds that I raise will mean so much more to the people who see thase funds as relief services or food and shelter after their lives hove been turned upside down by some disaster great or small.  I’m priding for myself, but I’m also riding for them.  Won’t you please help us out?

The good folk over at Pedallas tuned me in to a nifty looking cycling site, Biking In Dallas, today by linking to a recent article of theirs, Go Get a Newspaper. See the World on a Bike

In one sense, it’s a pretty good article, encouraging others to get out and ride their bike and enjoy the world around them as they ride.  However, there’s something in the tone of the article that just put me off to the point that I felt the need to comment on it, and that tone starts right away on the article:

I do a lot of my bike riding at White Rock Lake, or in that general area. I see a lot of people out there that are wearing spandex, and strange shoes, and riding very expensive, very fast bikes. They seem to be quite focused on their ride. But I always wonder: do they ever just get on their bike and go to the grocery store? Do they commute to work? Do they ever accomplish anything with their ride other than some intense workout?

I read this a couple of hours ago and my first thought was, “Well… have you ever bothered to ask them?” You can often see this type of cyclist getting ready for or cooling down from one of their training rides either up at the north end of the lake or in and around the many parking lots around the lake.  Why not stop and talk to one of them? Or why not  show up at one of the group rides in the area before it begins to ask the riders if they commute, run errands, or otherwise just toodle about on their bikes?  They are, after all, just people, despite all the lycra and carbon.

The author then goes on to talk about all the wildlife he’s seen and experienced around the lake, and marvels at how the others never seem to slow down or look at the world around them.  Now, if you’ve spent any time hanging around cycling forums or other websites, you’re probably aware that this is a pretty common argument/complaint/discussion (often borne of comments such as “Stupid roadies never wave hello, who do they think they are?” or “So I totally dropped this Fred on my last ride”).  And you just as likely are aware of the discussion that follows, so I don’t want to spend much time on that.  However, it is important to reiterate that if youare actually training on your bike, you shouldn’t be focusing on (or even paying attention to) to the things, like wildlife, around you; you should be focused on your training. Wondering why someone working on a time trial isn’t drinking in the world around them is a bit like wondering why someone at work isn’t drinking beer and watching TV.  What’s more, if you see someone not drinking or watching TV at work, it’s not likely that you’d wonder if they ever did that sort of thing, would you?

And that sort of brings me to the main point of this post, and the other thought that came to mind as I was reading the Go Get a Paper article: Why does the cycling world seem to be so Balkanized? Why doesn’t the author know any “roadies” to ask if they ever just take a slow enjoyment ride?  Why do roadies look down on “commuters” and “utility cyclists” for their heavy gear, fat tires, and slow, plodding pace? Why do commuters deride “fixie kids” as damn dirty hipsters?  And why do the urban cyclists mock the “Lance wannabes”  in their spandex and cleats?

I suppose that technically, I’m a roadie, as all of my bikes are road bikes (Although I am building up a cross bike slowly.  Real slowly.  At my current pace I could order a Vanilla and get it before I expect to finish this thing), but I’ve never raced (at least not against anyone who knew I was racing them), and I don’t train nearly as often as I should.  Really, most of my time spent on the bike is in my commute to and from work.  Of course, I like to do a lot of long charity rides too, like the Lone Star Ride and (if I can raise enough funds), I’ll be doing the Tour du Rouge this May.  And I’m trying to run more of my errands by bike this year too.  Hell, just yesterday I worked out a route from the office to home via the liquor store so I could cut those occasional booze runs out of my driving trips. And frankly, if I had the disposable cash right now, I’d love to add an Xtracycle to my collection, as well as a fixie, ’cause damn if those things don’t look like fun.

The bottom line is, when I see someone on their bike, I don’t judge them by the gear they’re wearing, their riding style, or the kind of bike they’re riding.  I’m just glad that there’s another rider out there on the road.  I know that there are others who feel the same way, but sometimes it just seems like we’re outnumbered.  Maybe that wouldn’t be the case if more people stopped wondering and started interacting and expanding their horizons.

By the way, I don’t want this to sound like I’m attacking Mr. Hubbard, or accusing him of being a bicycle bigot.  In fact, I fully agree with his core point that everyone who rides should really try riding in all sorts of ways.  But that also goes for Mr. Hubbard, to whom I might say, put down that paper and try a time trial. The world will still be there when you’re done.

So, last month I posted about trying to cut back on the amount of driving I do starting with my average over the previous 10 months, and shaving about 10 percent off of that per month until I get down to roughly 50% of what I’d been averaging the year before.

It’s a noble plan, to be sure, but kind of a useless one if I don’t actually put it into effect. So, have I?

Sadly, the answer is, “not so much”. In the month from Dec 13, 2009 to Jan 12, 2010, I put 562 miles on my car, a slight increase over my monthly average (sadly I wasn’t keeping records until February 2009, so I don’t know how it compares to the same time period last year.

Now I’ve got a few reasons why I did so poorly in my first month. Some are just excuses, but there are a couple of valid ones in there as well. Two trips to the airport and back added 124 miles to the tally; that’s 22% of my total. And recovery from an illness lead to a full week of driving, rather than riding into work, adding another 70 miles (12.5%) to the total. Each of those items added more to my tally than I was hoping to cut off.

Of course, while the illness was unexpected, the trips to the airport weren’t, and I really could have planned around them a bit better. I’ll just toss that one into the lessons learned category.

Anyway, sitting where I am now, I’m adjusting my goals that will take me into February. Instead of shaving 10% off of my total this month, I’m looking to shave off 15, to get me closer to being back on track to my year-long goal. That means I’m looking to put on no more than 468 miles this month. Can I do it? Well, 10 days into the month, I’ve got just 130 miles on the car, and that includes three days of driving commutes and two side trips that really could have been avoided (or at least shortened). So I’m well ahead of my nominal pace,  and even ahead of my original goal of 440 miles in the month. In other words, so far, so good.

Nothing too important to see here folks. Just that in the light if the recent case involving Dr. Christopher Thompson, who might not have been convicted had other cyclists not documented his previous aggressive behavior towards cyclists, I’m just cataloging here an incident that happened this morning in the extremely unlikely event that it can be used to help out a fellow cyclist down the road.

This morning at approx. 7:45 a.m., heading south on Shiloh Rd, between 14th St. and Plano Parkway, I was passed within approximately two feet by someone driving a white pickup truck from Welch Air Conditioning with Texas license plate number 430LC3 (note, that may be an ‘O’, not a zero). The driver also hit the horn just as he overtook me, something that all cyclists (and seeminly no drivers) know is foolish and dangerous.

I’ll be sending a letter to Welch Air tomorrow so the event is registered with them as well.  I’m not looking for them to punish the employee (and I’ll be stressing this in the letter) because, for all I know, the guy might have been having a horrible day and decided to take it out on an easy target without knowing the potential consequences of his actions.  Lord knows I’ve done stupid things on the road when angry or distracted and I can understand when it happens to others.  However, I would hope that the owner or manager of the business will be able to impress upon the employee that driving like that will not be tolerated in the future both because it reflects poorly on the company and, hopefully, because it’s the wrong thing to do.  We’ll see.

Anyway congratulations to whomever was driving that truck this morning. You’re my first recorded assjack. Perhaps I should prepare a plaque for you, if you’d like to claim it.

Since 11 Feb 09, I’ve put 5620 miles on my car.  On average, that’s about 18 mile per day, 130 miles per week, 550 miles per month, and 6725 per year.

I’d like to think that that’s not too bad, especially since I’m averaging about 16,000 miles/year on that car since I purchased it.  And in fact, I do seem to be doing a little bit better than the average American: According to Brighter Planet, my auto-based carbon footprint is 12% below the national average.  Now I’m not a particularly “green”guy, so I don’t really know how much that means, but I’m pretty sure it means I’m not making like the Road Warrior and living in my car as it rolls down the highway.  However, I still think I can do better.

As I said above, I’m not a particularly green kind of guy, so I’m not trying to save the planet or anything, but I am a bicycle guy, and I am always looking for ways to get more riding in.  Plus, my belly is learning new and effective strategies in my ongoing battle with banishing it from my body, so more exercise is always a good thing (at the very least I can eat more pie without getting too much fatter).  And so I’ve decided to try to ride more and drive less in the upcoming year.  So I’m setting a goal to reduce my monthly driving mileage by 50% by the end of the year.

Now, as with anything,there are always some caveats.  I don’t plan on reducing my driving that much straight-away.  For one thing, it’s December, and it’s starting to get friggin’ cold out there.  I do ride in the winter, but I don’t have as much winter gear  as I would like to ride all the time in the winter (plus none of my bikes are set up for riding in any snow or ice, so on the rare occasions that happens here in the Metroplex, I’ll be hopping back in the car), plus I’m not really set up yet for larger trips to the store — all I have are my messenger bag and a rack that’s calling out for a basket.  Throughout the year, I’ll be working on getting more utility gear so more and more of my shopping trips (like those to Costco) can be done by bike as well.

And so, my plan is to try to shave another 10% per month off of my total mileage, so that by the end of May I’m down to about 250-275 miles per month by car.  I suppose that I should also add the caveat that this doesn’t include miles driven for work purposes (not commuting, but things like business trips).  I’ve recently developed a full-blown fear of flying (which I would love to get over, but I don’t see that happening any time soon), so all of my travel for work is going to involve a rental car or a train.  And since one round-trip to Iowa would eat up seven months of my driving allowance, I simply can’t count those miles towards my total.

Anyway, I’ll be checking in here regularly, updating y’all on my progress towards my goals and maybe even sharing spiffy graphs or pics of poorly assembled bike trailers that nearly cause me to tumble over into traffic.

So my boss saw that I rode my bike in to work this morning (22 degrees with light winds) and while expressing his amazement let me know I was a freak for riding in this cold. I can’t exactly argue with the guy.

While it’s really not all that cold once you get going, there are just enough annoyances associated with cold weather biking to make you wonder if it’s worth it: your toes are never quite warm, even with the double socks and wind covers; your fingers are still cold, despite the thick windproof gloves; and don’t get me started on the mix of glasses, cold air, hot breath, and a balaclava…

But despite all of that, I still find the simple act of riding my bike so fun and worthwhile that I’m willing to bundle up like Randy Parker and voluntarily head out into the frost with no windshield, no roof, and no heater beyond my own body, while the rest of DFW zips by in their cars, thinking I’m a freak.

They’re probably right.

OK, I plan on officially kicking off this incarnation of the Bramble sometime later this month However, since I’m stuck in Iowa, and trying to get over the heap of dumbassery that I’ve already encountered here, that I thought I’d try out the iPhone WP app and see what posting/updating from the road is like, as one of the main reasons for reviving the Bramble is going to involve a lot of road posting. Wait for the initial kickoff to see what that is.

Until then I need to get back to work. You know, the work that I could be doing just fine back in Texas.