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Friday, January 30, 2009

BHPB Team Training & Instruction Class

Mark Your Calender ! We are all getting together! Its one thing to support MS, but its another to get hurt while doing it! Every year I see a number of unfortunate riders in the back of SAG trucks or sitting by the side of the road with bruises and bumps - some a little more serious!
We need to understand limitations of ourselves, our bikes, the road........and in some cases the people we ride with.
Join with us on Sunday February 22nd 2009 to MEET your fellow Team mates and get some insight on how to acheive this ride and other biking events safely.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Sat 31st and Sunday 1st Feb

This Weekend Dave Hill and I are doing our usual 4 Park Combo on Saturday morning starting at 0700 at the parking lot under the Toll Plaza (Beltway 8 & HWY 10) Terry Hershey Entrance.
All are Wellcome!!!

Sunday we are doing the organised "MS150" reccomended ride

Ride the Rescue - Tom Bass Park (Beltway 8 and Wwy 288) - Start Time 0800 (30, 50 = 65 Mile Routes) We will have the team flag flying:


This is supporting Animal Shelters

Sunday, January 25, 2009

The "Frostbike Ride" starts with a thaw.

Saturday - This weekend was a great one!! First of all we were joined by two new and keen cyclists in the form of Erin and Allie (I hope I got the spelling right) who joined Louis (who is starting to look like a pro now) and David Hill and myself on our usual Quadruple park Combo.


Its always great talking to new riders to see what motivates them and share in their enthusiasm for getting out on the road. After all it was a bit nippy on Saturday and I am sure the lure of a nice warm "sleep in" is very tempting to most.


The ride went well except for a few punctures on the way for Louis and Erin but we still managed a respectable 45.5 miles.

Sunday - Saw the first official training ride of the season for the MS150 and there was a reasonable turn out on a Chilly Morning at CY - Fair College Campus of about 500 riders. Dave Hill and I were joined by Rene to make up the BHPB contingent, and we all agreed to push for the maximum course distance of 55 Miles.

We started with a fast pace to try and get clear of the slower riders and quickly found ourselves stuck in an "erratic" paceline of 20+ riders. The pace kept on fluctuating between 19 - 22 mph and it was difficult to get a good cadence going with alot of "stop start" action.

Finally it got too much and on one corner Dave and I hit the top gear and raced ahead to form our own paceline joining with two other riders for the remaider of the ride.

Although the advertised ride indicated 55 Miles both our guages gave us 51, so not to be out done by our target of 100 miles for the weekend we looped through a couple of neighborhoods to get the extra miles in.
It was a great start for our first Official ride, and unlike our jaunts through the parks we were able to get a good guage of our average on the road which turned out to be a respectable 2o mph for the 55 Mile circuit.
After a few High Fives and great enthusiasm about our average we are both looking forward to a week of hard training and some more personal time trials next weekend to push that average up.


Friday, January 23, 2009

Weekend Training Plan 24th & 25th January

This Saturday Dave Hill & I will be leading a BHPB cycle team ride from the begining of Terry Hershey Park (Beltway 8 /1-10, Near Boheme St Car Park under Beltway) starting at 0700 sharp, All are welcome.

The ride will be a combination ride of Terry Hershey - Bush Park - Cullen Park - Bear Creek. This will include mileages of 12 miles through 62 depending upon your level of fitness.


On Sunday, Dave and I will be doing the Frostbike Ride and we are encouraging anyone to join us in a 18 + mph Peleton.


The Aussie Flag with the boxing Kangaroo will mark the BHPB rallying point at the Frostbike ride start.


Have a great weekend of cycling

Sunday 18th Weekly Report

Weekly outside Mileage - 165 Miles
Weekly Spin - 0
Weekly Weight loss - 3 lbs
Yearly mileage - 200 Miles
Yearly Spin - 5
Yearly weight loss - 3lbs

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Cyclists best friend....The Massage table

Another Saturday in January and with half of Houston's joggers readying themselves for the marathon Dave Hill and I had a relatively light traffic for our ride. The morning was threatening to be cold but when the sun finally broke through it did so with a splendor typically reserved for Spring.

The ride was fantastic, I am just not sure who decided between the two of us that we would extend yesterdays total to an adventurous 62 Miles.

"lets take it easy" I kept on telling Dave, but in Texas A & M vernacular that translates to "Go as fast as you can and see if you can shake the old guy behind you".

Still we made it! A little sore but certainly pleased we pushed ourselves. Of course there were those who said they were coming and didn't who will probably wish they did when that North West wind blows in April.

Dave went home promising another 62 tomorrow but I had other plans!!!

One thing I have found about cycling is that a good massage on a regular basis helps immensely with a heavy training regime and after two hours where I felt like a piece of dough at a Pretzel Store I am ready for tomorrow.


Friday, January 16, 2009

Montivideo "Misery Bug"

Feeling crook for three days now Dave Hill convinced me? Or did I convince him that we need to get 150 miles under our belts this weekend. After lying in bed all morning with a box of tissues I finally decided I need to do something proactive to "Combat" this flu I have..........something more than just taking the yellow pills and nasty cough syrup the Doctor gave me.



It tasted awful when I was a child and not much has changed!!!! Now they try and get smart and disguise the taste with bizare flavors like pina colada !!!!!!

It would be much more convincing if the prescription came with a twizzle stick and a minature umbrella.

Still later in the Afternoon Dave Hill and I did the Hershey/Bush Loop!...... all 37 .03 miles of it.

I say this......as that type of distance is normally a breeze but today it seemed to take on Everest like proportions as I vainly tried to keep pace with Dave.
The faster he went the more I coughed, which was certainly not the type of cadence setting sound either of us is used to.

I am convinced Dave must have had spinach for lunch and had seen Mr Balboa on TV last night because he was in a monstrous mood and kept asking me if I wanted to do 60+

The final hill home I found a sudden burst of pace which I directly attribute to the thought of the 60 sheep I would soon be counting as I prepare for another ride tommorow, hopefully feeling better .


Watch out Dave......Tommorows another day!!!

Training Rides - 17th & 18th January 2009

This Saturday & Sunday Dave Hill and myself will be riding the
Terry Hershey, Bush Park, Cullen Park, Bear Creek Loop joined hopefully by our trusty partner Andy, who is still a bit nervous from his encounter with Jack Frost last week .
Remember the Wx on the day can be as cold or warm or wet as it is in training, and its important as a cyclist to feel comfortable in all different types of weather environments.
With just over three months to go its important to get the miles in early and get ready to RUMBLE!!!!!
I will be at the parking lot @0700 on both mornings.... and hope to have a good turn out.

Stretching....a warm up we tend to ignore

Up until a few weeks ago the extent of my pre ride stretching was limited to stretching my arm out to collect my delicious "Triple Latte" from the "Starbucks Drive Through". This is my typical jump start cycle potion for the ride ahead

This year however unlike the last few years where my training regime has been mostly physical I decided to engage some brain power and extend my knowledge on both bike maintenance and care and the fundamentals of serious "Bike Training". This brings me to the topic of stretching .

Cyclists are not known for their flexibility. In sporting terms were probably as far away from ballet dancers as you can get. Nevetheless, stretching is an essential part of injury prevention and recovery strategy. (See my web page on Stretches for Cycling under "The Warm up" on training 101)

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Montevideo..... Bikes & Graf Spee

Ive decided to make the most of the many buisness trips I go on by either


  • taking my bike with me

  • renting a bike

  • or at the very least vcommenting on the bike culture in the country I am visiting.

This first trip was a short one so breaking down my bike and placing it into my new shiney (Xmas present) bike carrying case was temporarily put on hold.

For those of you dont know where Montivideo is it is located in South America, boarded just North of the River Plate that Borders with Argentina on the East Coast.


Cycling is very poular especially on Sunday Afternoons where you will see a number of enthusiastic cyclists hit the "ramblas" or waterfront Highways that stretch North and South of the Uruguay Capital.





For those really keen riders there is a the inaugual edition of the Vuelta Sudamericana (On July 26th, 2009), Cyclists participating depart Rio and travel the Costa Verde, a series of beaches and islands along the southern Brazilian coast. Turning inland, the course heads for Iguazu Falls. This system of 275 waterfalls marks the borders of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. From the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion, the route meanders through the agricultural lands of Las Pampas until it arrives in Montevideo.


A trip to Montivideo would not be the same without commenting upon a big influence on my life, that being Maritime History, and Montivideo has a fantastic story to tell!!!!
The Admiral Graf Spee was one of the most famous German naval warships of World War 11, along with the Bismark. Her size was limited to that of a cruiser by the Treaty of Versailles but she was as heavily armed as a battleship due to innovative weight-saving techniques employed in her construction.


She was sent to the Atlantic Ocean as a commerce raider in 1939, where she sank nine Allied merchant ships. Numerous British hunting groups were assigned to find her, with three British ships finally tracking her down in December 1939. The Battle of the River Plate ensued, during which the Graf Spee was damaged. She docked for repairs in the neutral port of Montevideo, but was forced by international law to leave within 72 hours. Faced with what he believed to be overwhelming odds, the captain scuttled his ship rather than risk the lives of his crew.


















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Monday, January 5, 2009

1000 Miles....but whose counting?

2009 has finally arrived and with it a mad dash for all of us to get in some resemblance of bike fitness.

This weekend saw a flurry of activity with two rides:

Saturday
Was a nice 35 Mile Warm up with Dave Hill, which consisted of the Terry Hershey/George Bush Combo in which we both realized our hearts were willing but our legs were pleading for mercy. Still we laboured on to get the first one under our belts and get our training schedule started.

Sunday
Presented a nice surprise with Andy & Renee joing Dave and myself for a more challenging distance of 42 miles in the Terry Hershey-George Bush-Cullen Park - Bear Creek Combo.
I finally broke through the 1,000 mile barrier for my new bike which has been a a loyal and "very fast steed since September of last year.

Its back to work tommorow and with it my usual early morning Spining routine (More to come on this later)