You know you're a cyclist when...

On the train today I was talking to the conductor about his beloved New England Patriots. He wasn't too optimistic - Welker is out, the Ravens are tough, they should have beaten the Texans so they could draw the Jets first, etc...

So we are getting off the train and he says "What do you think about this thing where they are talking about legalizing dope???". My eyes popped wide open - what! The NFL is just going to open the doors wide open on steroids! Holy Pantani!

He said - "Yeah, there's a guy over there with a petition, they're going to try and put it on the ballot!"

I looked over and saw a guy with a sandwich board saying "LEGALIZE MARIJUANA NOW"

Not DFL at San Bruno

The results are in

29 0 John Murphy SAN FRANCISCO,CA 00:23:32.00 196340 123 Webcor/alto Velo

4 guys even less fit than me decided to enter. Had I done the smart thing and entered the 4's, I would have been 21/22, unless I managed to outsprint the guy who finished in 23:30.

Amusingly, my thought is that I went out "too fast", something I would not have thought was possible. When the pack started at a pace that wasn't completely leaving me behind, I moved up quickly to try to suss out a reasonable wheel to get on for the flatter section. Then I immediately cracked - before it got flat. Several riders passed me, and when it got flat the 2nd group was just 15 yards in front of me, but I couldn't close the gap (and provided a good bridge for someone who was on my wheel). If I had just settled in and calmly got to the flat section with the third group I might have gotten a better ride to the top, as it was I rode alone for a lot of the flat section and then got a ride from the guy who finished 27th (who put a minute into me on Radio Road).

The steep section of Radio Road showed my current weight level. 10 pounds lighter (and probably stronger) I would really muscle through that section, as it was I really suffered and they had to urge me to sprint through the line as I was being caught by one of the later groups. It was rough. But I got out there, and like I said, not DFL.

I celebrated with a nice present which I'll discuss next...

A little encouragement now and then is good...

From: Daniel Hobe
To: Michael Gaiman, John Murphy

I equaled my best time on the Bayway supersprint. Today it was behind
Murph the whole way so I think we are tied as the leaders for that
section :)

http://strava.com/rides/55443/segment_efforts/450767

Mt San Bruno Hillclimb

The Mt San Bruno Hillclimb is January 1, I actually re-upped my USCF license and entered the race. I made a minor error in entering the Masters 35's which will include Chris Phipps, instead of the Open 4's which will not, but I guess it only matters if I would have placed, given it's a mass start. I'm not in the best shape despite getting a few more rides in as Liam has been sleeping better and we've established a rhythm where my wife takes the middle of the night shifts, and I wake up with Liam, which is often 5:30 AM, I deal with him until ~6:30 and then slip off to get a bit of a ride in if I can.

I've always wanted to do this race, but Jan 1 is never the best time. We'll see.

Tues Sept 22

Breakfast 350 - scrambled eggs with a little parmesan, small smoothie.
2 fricking cokes - 240 (sorry Dan but it's less than 2 plus a kerns).
Lunch - 500 - "Gourmet vegetarian Mac and Cheese" from the nVidia cafe. Bringing lunch is going to be a must even if just for measurement's sake. It wasn't very cheesy at least.
Snack - 2 bananas. 200.
Dinner - 700 Mushroom Spinach Enchiladas
Beer 210 (Sierra Nevada Torpedo.

That's 2200. I didn't ride today. Of course, that's a sort of wack statement given that "not riding" means I just rode to and from the train stations to home and work, which actually ends up being ~20 miles. So on the whole, I was in a decent deficit for the day, probably more than 500 calories.

This exposed a little problem Weds AM. While I may want X amount of calories per day which is basically BMR + Exercise Cals - 500. But the timing is also important. Specifically it might be reasonable to eat the "Exercise Cals" a day ahead of time. This can be a problem if external factors torpedo your century ride after you've gone to Olive Garden's all you can eat Pasta.

Not "pre-eating" those calories when y ou do need them is a bigger problem. I got up, had a bowl of cereal, and went to the Google Ride. I expected a bit of dutch tempo, instead it was a fast tempo with several crazy surges on Tunnel, at SFO, Coyote Point, etc... Underfed, I was struggling with the surges, but by Palo Alto I was in a serious problem. I limped to Sunnyvale and stopped for food. The workout was probably less effective than it could have been and was definitely less fun with my stomach trying to eat itself.

Monday Sept 21

I'm going to try and shame myself a bit by posting training diary info.

My BMR is 2050. The goal is to go -500 Cals a day to shoot for -1 lb per week.

Mon - Sept 21. 90 min ride with Google people from Millbrae to PA. 1000 Cals.

Breakfast - Smoothie with Muesli. 260 Cal (60 Yogurt, 100 banana, 100 Muesli)
Kerns Juice - 210 Cal (!)
Lunch 2 burritos - 680 cal - 170x2 Tortillas(!), 100 Black beans, 100 Cheddar. 140 Coke.
Afternoon Coke 140 cal - I am weak and I need to bring fruit to snack on - 140.
Dinner 1/2 Boboli Pizza 825 - 425 crust, 300 Mozzarella, 100 sauce/veggies
Lemonade - 100
2215 Calories. Probably about right, It will be interesting, when I did this before I controlled everything very strictly, now I come home and my wife says "here's dinner", who knows if she dumped 1/2 cup of olive oil on the pizza. But we'll try.

I'm weighing in at 210. I need to get to 190 to hit 20 minutes probably. 210 isn't great but after 7 months of fatherhood and just getting off of 2 weeks on the road with no exercise, I'll take it.

Not exactly at sub 20 OLH but a nice ride nonetheless...

From sf2g mailing list...

From: Scott Crosby
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 12:47:37 -0700
Subject: wed. 9/2 SRLB bayway 07:00 RRR "drop to 4" format
hello favorable conditions!

- 70-81F
- 13mph wind out of WNW, aka perfect tailwind


"drop to 4" TTT format, 22-28mph, no attacks/sprints, smooth
pacelines/transitions, short pulls, max sustainable speed of
4th-fastest rider (whomever that may be).


while not a record attempt per se, the conditions should be right.
however, personally I am fat, out of shape, and lacking anything like
vim or vigor, so I will likely be dropped like a canada goose turd.


depart 7am sharp, arrive in time for breakfast.


-sc

7 AM! Now yer talking. Got the dog walked, helped feed the kid, the bike set up and off we go.

From: Scott Crosby
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2009 10:55:31 -0700
Subject: Re: wed. 9/2 SRLB bayway 07:00 RRR "drop to 4" format

au contraire monsieur Alténdeürf.


yes the pickin's did look slim at Ritual about 6:55 as M. Gaiman,
Eric, Hobinator, and yours truly sat slurping our macchiatos in grim
silence. but then, as if by magic carpet, the mighty septuagenerian
One-Kit Murph appeared as a green, threadbare apparition, and
announced his readiness to attack the much-feared Bayway Record. at
7:08, the TTT commenced.


it was then noted that all bikes present were raw titanium, aluminum,
or carbon, and paint was decreed bourgeois.


so there were 5, so one was in danger of eventual dropitude, but the
miracles did not cease, and we were immediately joined on valencia by
the powerful Mark and his associate Baris, who rode a blue(!) Fuji.
now up to 3 could be dropped in the name of Speed.


it was then agreed that discipline and short, acceleration-free pulls
in the 24-26mph range would be observed. ahh, it was a thing of
beauty. 7 riders in egoless paceline rotation, all pulls under 2
minutes almost without exception. only once did Mark's excessive
power and iron legs get the better of him, and he had to be reminded
that his teammates could not sustain 28mph for long.


arriving at Sun, Adam the Pole-Slayer was encountered, and his head
appeared unharmed. just afterward, Steve and Dan were subsumed, and
Steve on his sexy, gleaming white BMC cyclocross rig joined the team
for a couple-mile chat.


the group of 7 nearly arrived intact, but a looming black Escalade on
University shaved the hapless Eric off the back like a whisker, while
simultaneously Hobe's pedal spring gave up the ghost and he was forced
to limp home unclipped on one side.


Mark then reminded us this was no laughing matter, and drilled it on
Bayshore, maintaining a 26+ mph average for the entire length, with
brief assistance by the team. It was then that the average crept over
the golden average of 21.7mph, and all that remained was a strong
finish to Rengstorff.


final stats:


- 7 riders started, 4 finished in the lead group
- 1:56:51 elapsed rolling time (-27 seconds vs. previous record)
- 42.52 miles
- 21.8mph rolling avg speed


and despite having only one functioning pedal from EPA, Hobe still
broke 2 hours, with a 1:59 something. nice.


-sc


ps - pics are foggy due to completely sweat-soaked jersey obscuring
iphone camera lens. backback is also fully sweated-thru, a first.