Merry Christmas to all…

The children are momentarily satiated with the Walt Disney Christmas Parade (Did anyone else know that Menudo has reformed? Man, with this bike racing business I miss out on everything) so I have a moment to update all twelve of you who read (nine accidentally) my blog. Another (kinda) solid week of training – factoring in the multitude of holiday concerts to attend, presents to purchase, functions to make appearances at, Macbooks to replace, and desserts to eat…

The high point of this past week was the 65 miles that I did with four other TOA members on Saturday morning. Based on the advice of a local coach that we’re consulting it’s been recommended that we, meaning me, back down from the hammerfests that our team rides have been and rather use this time to extend and develop our base level cardio fitness. This will lay the foundation necessary for the more intense work that we plan to introduce as we get closer to the start of race season. It says something about the relativity of cold when you turn to someone else on a bike at 7:00 AM on an overcast Saturday and say, “For 35 degrees it doesn’t really feel that cold.” DvB (Organic’s resident ride master) took us through the Bronx, into Westchester and as far up as North Castle. We had a nice breakfast at the Thornwood Diner, admired the flurries coming down and returned home along the Hudson. A solid, low intensity ride if there ever was one. It’s an awful lot of fun to just get out and ride with friends and anytime that you can comfortably put together that kind of mileage in December is even better.

Sunday was a 30 minute roller session (and yes, I did stay on for more than four seconds this time – beat you to it) followed by the installation of the Powertap. I had the opportunity to collect some data during a ride back from the GWB yesterday. If anyone has any advice on how to integrate a Powertap with a Macbook please send it my way. I know of Golden Cheetah – an open source Mac program – but any other advice would be appreciated. Ah, Powermeters – how nice to now quanitify what I always suspected to be my genetic mediocrity.

Santa left a tandem bike under the Christmas tree for the family. I wonder if I can get a Powertap on it? I plan on loaning the tandem to Schmalz and with his awesome power he can whisk Marco around CPK to shoot some photos? A great gift from Santa for the family. I look forward to being, “You know, the guy who shaves his legs and rides around town on that bike with two seats.” Sure beats being, “You know, the guy who smokes Camels and had to be cut out of his house by the fire department because he couldn’t fit out the door.” Or in other words – A Powermeter is a lot less expensive than a cardiologist office visit…

The “Now You See It. Now You Don’t” award of the week goes to the Battenkill-Roubaix Cat. 4 registration. I believe that it sold out in about four hours. I was able to get in but many guys (non uber-nerds who aren’t umbilically tied to their computers) got shut out. I did that race last year (‘did’ being defined as ‘finished’) and really enjoyed the experience. The mile 8 hill is a little crazy, especially if it’s moist, but the course is a great venue and a good way to kick off the racing season.

Speaking of Roubaix, does anyone know of anyplace that will be showing the one-day classics live? Cycling.tv is painful to watch, OLN/Versus/Former Lance Channel has one hour of coverage and if have to watch one more second of Bob Roll I’m gonna sic BikeSnobNYC on him. DirecTV can show 100 hours of UFC so why can’t they make a deal with Eurovision to Pay-Per-View the major races. That would be a great thing – flip on Channel 154 – and enjoy the great coverage they have in Europe.

Lastly, if you’ve actually made it this far in my post you also have to check out

Katie Lambden’s China Blog

and

Mengoni’s Adventures in China

I’m writing about the merits of riding in Westchester and these guys are racing in China. How cool is that!

Cough….Engineer’s Gate – 7:00 AM – 1/1/08…Bear Mountain and Back…Spread The Word….Cough

Enough out of me…More Gingerbread cookies need to have their heads bitten off.

Have a great week everyone!