A Bicycle Racer Considers 40

Last night was the annual Daddy Daughter dance in Brighton. My daughters and I have gone the last seven years. It always feels like time-laps photography: like I can see the last seven years unfolding right in front of me. When they were very young, we would dance all night, well, little girls don't dance so much as they jump around and twirl in a slow descending funk. It is special. Last night as I am taring up the rug with Allie (8), Em (11) says: "DAD!", which means I am embarrassing her in front of her friends and to stop it this second. I do enjoy embarrassing her but I let them go off with their friends and watch from the sidelines.

I quietly watched everyone at the dance; then it dawns on me that all the other dads are old. Sure my driver's license says I'm 42 but in my delusional perception of reality, I am still young. That would go a long way to explain why they all showed up to the dance in BMWs and Cadillacs and I drive a crappy truck. They are old and I'm not. But maybe I am.

What if I am getting old. It is possible. How many more years can I ride a mountain bike? There is a wide range of people I do group rides with. Group rides kind of break up into smaller groups of people with similar abilities. Sometimes I end up riding with two 50-something riders, Burnie or Dan. They are both faster than me; not only are they strong but they are very fast on technical single track. Once I was following Burnie and he clocked a tree so hard it actually knocked the inner tube out of his tire. It didn't flat, it just popped out leaving the tire on the rim. As he was still sliding to a stop, I was scoping out the best place for a helicopter to land from the U of M hospital to cart off Burnie. He gets up, knocks the dust off his butt, and, examining the tube now wrapped around his front hub, says: "you don't see that everyday." I wait for him to put the tube back where it goes. Some of the guys from our group pass us. Burnie finishes putting the front wheel on and we take off after those younger riders, like brooms chasing cockroaches. Catch them on a long up hill, pass them on a very tight, steep section, crush their self confidence, and go on ahead.

I don't talk to Dan or Burnie all that much, just pleasant chit chat after the ride, but they inspire me. If they can hammer that hard at 50, maybe I don't have to be delusional about getting old.

Losing Weight Part II

I lost 7 lbs in two weeks. I am ahead of schedule to be down to my racing weight before I start my serious training in a few weeks.

I have not really dieted since trying to make my weight class in wrestling 25 years ago. Last weekend I was miserable; I was hungry, board, and sick of eggs, fish, chicken, and raw veggies. Cin made chocolate chip cookies. The whole house smelt like fresh cookies and I knew there were two gallons of milk in the fridge that were going to go to waste since I stopped consuming dairy products as part of this diet. I couldn't stop thinking about these stupid cookies. I wondered if this was what heroine withdraws felt like. I was immediately embarrassed by this ridiculous thought. There are people really suffering and I am quietly whining to myself about giving up milk and cookies? And really, my weight is the only part of this hare-brained scheme that I have control over; everything else is just given to me to deal with the best I can. The tinsel strength of my bicycle chain, my schedule, my DNA...everything was put in motion by someone else.

I don’t mean to get all Ayn Rand or anything but the more I thought about it, my weight is really the only thing I control in my life. With this new perspective I stopped whining. Next week I will start reintroducing normal foods back into my diet: wholegrain pasta, dairy, and, most importantly, coffee. I can have milk and cookies next month.

Lifetime Fitness

Yesterday was my second attempt to take Allie to Lifetime Fitness after we dropped Emilie off at dance practice. Like last week, the plan was to leave Allie in childcare while I rode for an hour then take her swimming. When we got there I realized they do not have family swimming on Wednesdays, which is silly because the pool was empty and the rest of the club was filled beyond capacity. I asked Allison if she was OK with going to childcare even though we couldn’t swim afterwards. She said “sure.”

I dropped her off at childcare and felt like I was leaving a puppy at a dog kennel. I almost went back and got her and called this whole thing off. I didn’t go to the spinning class because I didn’t want to leave Allie in there for a whole hour. I rode a stationary bike in the cardio area. Lifetime Fitness is huge and it was packed. I was in the middle of a sea of sweating bodies. Disgusting. I checked on Allie after 30 minutes. If she was having fun I was going to ride for another 30 minutes but she was ready to leave. After I signed her out I asked Allie how it was. She said “OK” but her expressionless look said she realized I dumped her off in childcare as if she was just an inconvenience. This is not worth an extra hour of riding every week.

I need to figure how to squeeze 10 hrs of riding in a week. Taking Allie to Lifetime clearly is not a well thought out plan. I need to be a little cleverer than this.

Inglis Single Speed

I like bicycles, I always have. I was the only kid on the block with Phil Wood hubs on his BMX bike. I get so excited when I get a Colorado Cyclist bicycle parts catalog in the mail that I have to tell my wife I get it for the articles. I carefully look at each page: Campagnolo Heritage Thermo jacket, Titus ML-1 frame, Shimano 9-speed cassette. I would never actually spend $280 on a rear cassette, that would be irresponsible.

A couple years ago I was in San Diego for business and, as is my normal process, I went to a bike shop as soon as I landed to find a bike to rent for the week. That week I rented a bike shop mechanic’s single speed. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. As soon as I got back to Michigan I built a single speed with left over parts in my garage and a $19 conversion kit. I started using the single speed as much as my cross country bike. This winter I decided to get a new single speed frame instead of using my cheap cobbled up geared frame. This was while Congress was raking the domestic auto industry over the coals about building irrelevant cars. I realized that all the frames I was looking at were made in China; don’t get me wrong, I have nothing but admiration for China manufacturing but if I am that concerned about the domestic industry and didn’t even consider an American built frame, I am just hypocritical.

I have always been a fan of Curt Inglis. http://ingliscycles.com/ He is a frame builder in Northern California. His frames are pieces of art with tig welds so beautiful they will bring a tear to your eye. The problem is, the frames start out at about $1200. To put that in perspective, that is about six times what my complete single speed was worth.

My decision to buy an Inglis was an emotional decision, not an analytical one. I am so damn happy.

I Should Be Fast

I have done so many races that I can predict with alarming accuracy what my time will be and what place I will finish. With the outcome already predecided I sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t make more since to stay home and cut the grass instead of going across the State to do a race. And with no chance of winning an Expert race, the option of cutting the grass seems that much more reasonable. I guess I have perseverance. Sure, anyone can line up at a race when they have a chance of placing; it takes a certain type of person to line up when that isn’t an option, week after week. Last year I started dropping down to Sport Single Speed for unimportant races just so I could try for the win. Sport Single Speed…that is my back up option if I don’t do well at Yankee Springs in April…I will just quietly delete this blog before any of my friends read it.

Stationary Bike

I rode the stationary this morning. Getting up 30 minutes early to ride wasn’t a big deal but I don’t get a lot of sleep as it is so I need to be careful that I don’t cause one problem by trying to solve another.

I don’t hate riding the stationary bike. This shouldn’t be confused with actually enjoying it. I enjoy riding outside in good weather; I will be in a meeting at work discussing some work related thing but I keep thinking about single-track. I don’t feel too guilty about letting my mind wonder at work because I think about work a lot when I ride. Riding offers clarity. Maybe it is because there are less distractions riding than during the rest of my day. Maybe it is the flood of endorphins. Maybe if everyone at GM rode we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now.

I am passionate about GM; it is more than a job to me. I don’t think I could be passionate about designing appliances. I turned down a position at Nuke Proof to work at GM. Cars are more than transportation despite what congress thinks. I was watching TV with Cin the other day. There was a commercial for the new VW van. In the commercial, Brook Shields is a reporter that is overly concerned that women are having children just so they can experience German engineering. Cin says “that’s a nice minivan.” I am a quiet person that doesn’t get worked up about much but I yelled out “it’s just a damn Chrysler!” Chrysler makes the VW minivan on the same assembly line that it makes its own minivans. Don’t get me wrong, Chrysler does a great job (kudos to the engineers in Auburn Hills) but still the VW is just a Chrysler with a VW emblem. The thought of women falling over on their backs with their feet in the air just so they can drive a van with a VW emblem bothers me to no end. This convoluted perception of cars is what is going to sink the domestic auto industry.

So Far So Good

My training isn't going horrible but I do need to kick it up a gear. I am riding hard one day a week as planned (indicated in red on the chart) but I only rode 5 days a week; I really need to ride 6 days a week. Something always comes up during the week that prevents me from riding. These distractions are so consistent that I need to plan for them. Starting Monday I will ride 30 minutes every morning. 30 minutes isn't much but riding before I eat will help me train my body to burn stored energy and it will give me an extra 2 1/2 hrs a week. I use to ride 1 hr. everyday before work but it isn't all that fun. If I am miserable training then I kind of lost sight of why I do this; still, I need to get in more hours.

The other problem is I usually only ride 1 hr after work. Riding on the stationary for more than a hour is tough. I need to dig a little deeper and ride for 90 minutes. I will post my training chart in February and I expect to see a lot more hours.