Long Time

Quality has definitely been a problem lately in terms of valuable blog info. I've gotten quite tired of blogging about the training as I'm sure reading about me sweating over my handlebars isn't exactly the most stirring thing to read with your morning coffee. Its not even that there hasn't been interesting things to blog about, I mean we're in the midst of the greatest (and often most controversial) cycling event of the year. The last few days have been heading towards the more hilly parts so it has gotten a whole lot more exciting. Very impressed with Team Colombia, their leadout train must be the wet dream of every sprinter competing for a stage win. They showed us in the Giro what their tactics were and have somehow perfected the final few kilometers.
Yesterdays epic stage was the fist of the serious climbing stages. I was at work and with no television in the office and none of the internet streams working I was forced back into the days of listening to the race through Eurosport. I must say I rather enjoyed it trying to picture the different riders grimacing as they crunched the gears. I highly recommend just listening to a stage or two. This moring I'll watch all the highlights so its not like I missed anything. I can just imagine now how Valverde, one of the race favourites and mine, dreams must have sunk faster than the titanic as the CSC machine got there groove on. Rest day today so I'll go for an extra long ride with my spare time.
I've also started building a pump track in the old vegetable garden. The soil is like clay so moulding the berms has been quite fun. Took me back to my childhood playing in the mud or damming up rivers when the rains had come.

Bike Jam

Could this be our future:

Psssssss

Distance: 41.7km
Duration: 01:50:24
Calories: 1416
Terrain: Dirt roads and Tarmac, more dirt than tar thankfully
June Mileage: 239.2km

That was the sound of my tire this morning going up the hill I decided to throw in for the day. I'm sure cyclists have nightmares about this high pitched whistling and I was no different this morning, especially as I had no spare tube and also no pump. It would have been a long walk home. I need to replace the rear tire as I've worn it down good a proper over the last few weeks doing so much riding on the tarmac. Its gotten to a point where I the knobs are really just hanging on a thread but just don't have the finances to get another one. Sure I can wait another week or two, fingers crossed.
Other than that the ride was pretty usual. My legs are not used to four days in a row and this morning they were reminding me that tomorrow would be a rest day. The Last four days also included some epic climbing and hard training. Glad I was able to manage putting the days together back to back. This morning was a wrestling match to get out of bed but as soon as I was out the door I felt much better. BSNYC also had a birthday over the weekend so don't forget to wish him happy blogday.

Swollen

The state of the ankle. Not sore or anything just all big and nasty. Decided to rest it up some more, partly becasue I need to rest the leg, partly due to puncture that I still haven't mended, partly because I forgot to pop into the shop yesterday to buy the tubeless setup stuff. I will go this evening to pick the stuff up. On the way home I was detoured by luck as a car was on fire just ahead of me. The accident apparently had just taken place and I was near a off ramp to get around unscathed. I took the long way home and thus completely forgot about the tires that needing fixing while I was watching the black smoke billowing from the carnage.
In other news seems like summer has brought about the need for ink. Renee and Big Ring have taken there passion for the sport to a whole new level by permanently branding themselves. I've thought about it for a long time but I change my mind so often that getting a tattoo would leave me looking like Mickey Mouse faster than you can say ouch. The needle also aren't exactly what I want to spend an afternoon worrying about.

What to do?

Distance: 29km
Duration: 1:17:40
Calories: 1063
Terrain: 100% Tarmac
May mileage: 360.6km

Its not often there's cycling on the telly and its not often that its one of the Grand Tours, especially my favorite. I mean we're talking once a year and unlike the Tour de Pooh where the ASO needs to jump on its high horse in Napoleon like tantrums, the Giro is just pure pain. I mean who in their right mind has two tough mountain stages followed up by a 26% time trial. The answer has to be those crazy Romans. The last few week has been amazing with attack's coming from every corner, little Sella making huge time cuts and taking his third victory today moving him into the top-5. Then there's the reigning champ, di Luca making a real fight of it yesterday to move within striking distance on the young guns only to completely fall apart today. The wild Rico making every journalists dream come true with his swash buckling statements only topped by his even braver riding. Lastly Contodor comes to the fore with his quite style of just turning the pedals and like the deadly assassin appearing from no where to take you out. I'm a mountain biker and have not had the pleasure of going out on a road bike but watching the ballet of road cycling leaves me drooling to taste the tarmac with the wind howling around my aero form stretched over the handlebars. This leads to my dilemma, as you can see my passion for watching cycling is on par with getting out there and tearing through the single track. Today would be a pivotal day for the GC but I slept in this morning and really wanted to get a ride in. The proactive choice won over I'm lucky to announce and I was even able to get back for the exciting part of the race. Now I ask you what would you do if faced with this dilemma? A critical day in the mountains that could decide the outcome of the race or hopping on the bike for your required practice.

Profesional answer

Kathy Sherwin gives an answer I asked about on tire pressure. Nice technical article for all you bike geeks. Go check it out.

Been on the down low

Distance: 42.2
Duration: 1:56:22
Calories: 1657
Terrain: 70% service roads, 30% tarmac
May Mileage: 295.1

As you can see by the time I'm back on track. Went out after work today for a spin up towards the northern border. Been wanting to check out if there was a way to get to the forests of Hanita only by the service roads so I wouldn't have to ride on the road. I found a way so I will be incorporating this little jaunt into my book of rides from now on, especially as it hits the two hour mark which is what I'm looking to spend on the bike. I didn't go up to the forest but back along the beach road. Was a brilliant afternoon although I started out a bit tired. Difficult coming home from work and then jumping on the bike after sitting on my lard all day staring at my flickering screen. My heart rate shot up really fast which was a further indicator that I was tired but I kept turning and about half an hour in I got into a rhythm, it may have been earlier but i noticed it at about this stage. So just pedaled along in Zone 2, at least high zone two range to get some work into these legs of mine. Went really well and this evening not feeling the Achilles at all. I'll ice them down just before bed time and the tomorrow its back with the group. Won't be doing anything hectic as Ofir has told me to work my way back up building my volume. So all in all a good bike day, as good as I've had since getting back from the trip. I'll try put in about two hours again tomorrow, it'll be hilly so another test of the tendons.

Pushing on

Distance: 37.6km
Duration: 1:40:25
Calories: 1246
Terrain: 50% Asphalt, 50% Service roads
May Mileage: 252.9km

This mornings ride was a great ride, the first in a long time that I was able to push it a bit. I went along the service roads around the fields so that I could get a little grit between the teeth and get the smell of dust in my nostrils. normally I would not be that keen but with my current situation i would probable bath in the stuff. Enough on my personal hygiene and back to the ride. The roads wind between banana and avocado fields with no real climbing just the occasional rise. I managed to keep my heart rate up there and the cadence pretty high. I've found that it helps to keep the cadence high rather than pushing the high gears, a could tip to anyone coming back from an Achilles injury. After getting to the asphalt along the beach where I was pedaling last week I pushed into tempo mode for about ten minutes and felt great. I met a friend along the way, which turned out to be a blessing as i cut back down on my pace and coasted along with him. Great start to the week and hopefully will be building some more as I go along.

Photo's from Mirit's first ride

Went for a ride last weekend with Mirit. Her first ride that we took and I hope there will be many more. Will need to look at getting her a descent bike cause this is a fixed gear and heavy as a tank.

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Single Track

Kilometers: 13.2km
Duration: 1:11:52
Calories: 967
Terrain: Single track in the hills, rocks&drops, bit of pumping. Very dry and packed. Either up or down no flats
May Mileage: 192km

Great to be back on a bit of single track. Been bit unmotivated lately and yesterday didn't go out for a ride. Two reasons for that, firstly the football game went into overtime and penalties and then I was just to lazy to get out in the afternoon. I hate myself afterwards when I don't go out but was pretty tired after not getting much sleep, I knew this becasue I get really grumpy when I'm tired and I was a real grouch in the afternoon.

Back to today's ride. Went out with Erez and Omri into Misgav, one of the top area's for cycling in Israel and the place of last years Championships. I can also add that this is our training ground so I loved getting back after been out of practice for over a month. So played around but I was very gentle on the Achilles and had to jealously watch as they were working on the technical pieces. As you can see we didn't do much but jst going out and playing around in the hills was great fun.

Coach returns

So Ofir, my coach, returned today from the European Champs that took over the weekend. He was there with the Israeli MTB champion, Rotem Ishai. I had a chat with him about the injury and where I can go from here with regards to the season and what I will need to do. Just a short one and I'll be speaking with him tomorrow when I go to team practice for the first time in about a month and a half. Looking forward to getting back onto some single track although I'll just be trundling through so keep my wheels turning. I mentioned I'd been doing hour and a half session's at just above recovery pace. He said this was the best thing to do so I don't loose any of that building, the little I've done this season. Being my first year I'm not sure what to expect after this injury or where I can go the rest of the season. I'll try update on this after I've have a proper talk with him. Today was a rest day and just sitting watching the carnage of the Giro. Man these boys seem to be riding on ice while the chase just put in attack after attack. Hope you enjoying the riding. Today will be a complete sport day for me becasue this evening the Champions League takes place in Moscow.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CHELSEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And down again....

If you read yesterday's post about my recovery, it looks like I jinxed myself. Woke up this morning and the Achilles were tight again... I reckon I will go along with Jason to the next sacrifice to the cycling gods or visit the Museo del Cyclismo.

Up we go

Todays things have gotten much better on the Achilles front. Went for my beach ride up towards the white cliff's of Rosh Ha'nikra. Had the wind in my face for the northern part but kept my cadence high and the heart rate down. I was feeling great all the way up without any pulling or pain so once I got to the turn around point I decided to up the ante. I had the wind on my back so geared up a gear or two and pushed the pedals a bit harder. I was on the lookout all the way back to check if anything was out of sorts but all the tendons were well behaved. Haven't had a ride like that in a while so to my surprise when I got to work I was feeling the legs. It was the first time that I was smirking at feeling the pain in my legs after training. So anothe easy week and I should be on my way back to getting into race shape. Thats a story for another day and right now its just concentrating on taking it easy and resting up. So I'm about to put my feet up, wrapped in ice and enjoy House. There's nothing like dark twisted comedy to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Museo del Ciclismo

If you haven't noticed the first grand tour is underway in Italy. The weather is often unpredictable and we have already been riddled with big crashes and early exists. These guys should have visited the shrine. I'm a keen reader of the Italian Cycling Journal and Angelo has posted some great pictures of his ride to the Madoona del Ghisallo. This is the patroness of cyclists, and actually got the nod from Pope Pius XII himself during the 1949 Giro d'Italia. So we do have someone looking out for us. Apparently the museum has old jersey's, bikes and plenty of pictures. Check out his site for some more pictures. Each photo will take you to the separate entries he has of his ride to the shrine and well worth a visit if you have any sort of passion for cycling:

All images are property of Angelo from Italian Cycling Journal

Short and Sweet

Can't say that I've been inspired to write about much lately since being off the bike. Seems the two go hand in hand so I'm hoping that I get back on the bike regularly before chasing you all off with to many boring stories about lying around waiting for the healing process to take full affect. From today I'm trying something new when I get home. Instead of flopping onto the couch and lazing my way through the evening reading I've decided to get flexible. I find in difficult to get home and do exercise, not sure why but I'm a morning person. So got a few back strengthening exercises and stretches becasue I had some problems in the beginning of the season. Pretty simple and only takes about half an hour so I don't feel like a sloth. Tomorrow I'm going to try for and hour and a half on the bike, and hour like Monday and then half an hour really easy just to get the legs used to the fact that I want them working for longer than an hour.

The trip is almost here

So our trip across the holy land is drawing near. Two more days and we'll be on our happy way. I can't wait for the simplicity of riding all day, every day for nine days. Also be quite interesting to see if we'll make it in nine days as the route is about 900km. We won't have any rest days due to afore mentioned tight schedule but sure we'll sleep like logs every evening. Also managed to fix the Giant that's thread had gone. A friends uncle took a look and re-threaded the hole and inserted a new bolt into the dérailleur. It may take some doing to undo the bolt now but hopefully won't be needing anything to serious for the next week or so. I'll be assembling the bike this afternoon to its previous grandeur and then taking it up to the LBS for cabling and a last once over from a pro to make sure all's well.
This week I only got on the bike for the first time today. Had an awesome ride with some friends. One of them bought a new Yeti Arc or something to that effect. This of course gave him an extra 10% in new-bike power that wasn't there before. Felt good to push it with him and we ended up having to wait for the rest to catch up. I wasn't idle yesterday as I played a bit of football in the kibbutz. I enjoy playing but yet again I came away with back pain. Every time I say I won't play but then I go down and its the same story. Will I ever learn? Probably not.

Week has only just begun...

And I'm already dead tired. Not sure if I didn't get enough sleep or simply over did it this weekend trying to get things organized and then still putting the rubber down for more than my normal time. Really not sure why I'm feeling so run down but hope I get over it sooner rather than later. felt really good over the weekend but I've somehow slumped yet again into this lethargic melancholy mood. I have started swimming to spice things up and to get my back a bit stronger. I haven't been feeling the back but I want to build it up now before I hurt it again. So I'm sitting here in a half dazed mindset wondering about our trip next week. Got off the phone with Ofir about our ride so we're trying to get some of the final things organized. So I'll sign off now and be back tomorrow with hopefully better news.

Society vs Bike Geek

Picking up from yesterday's post about our office co-workers who don't understand us I got into thinking why are we so different. I can't believe I have gotten to the stage where it's us and them yet slowly but surely I have transformed from weekend warrior into full on bike geek. There I've said it, the denial is over and I am now at your mercy. Although mercy is far from what I desire, after all my zen training on the bike, force my legs to grind up that last bit of the hill, mercy is definitely the last thing on my mind. What I would like to understand is how all this came about. One day I was a normal nine to five worker with want for nothing more than to finish work and then enjoy my free time. now I find myself writing on a daily basis about how my training is going, fiddling with my bike when I get home just to make sure she's tip top.... wait, reverse there for a second. Yes I just referred to my trusty steed in a personal form, as you can see this is not just a pass fad but rather a full blown affliction of how addictive and awesome bike riding can become. Sometime, OK, most days Mirit is quite worried that I may one day leave her and ride off into the sunset with Ami(that's the name Mirit has christened her with). So I give myself over fully to this new found joy. Many have tried to resist but now find themselves with that stupid happy smile on their faces on the weekend ride. I'm sure the thought in their mind is: "Why did I not start riding earlier?". Even Mirit who once looked at my spandex arse in dismay is now tempting to get on a bike for a Saturday ride... as long as there are no mountains!!! Need to start somewhere I guess so I'm building her an old beater from parts I've found around the Kibbutz. Not top of the range but by the end of the week she'll have something to ride on. From there I'm sure I'll let the geek virus take over and do its work.

Back on track

Finally end of the week and I was able to relax a bit. Been a bit rough the past few weeks so glad this weekend came around. Problem is that I have been far too busy at work to get riding. This does not equate to happy being, especially after eleven hours at work and then the two hour commute. Wanted to cycle yesterday but then went with Mirit and finished up some stuff that we've been meaning to do at the shops, retail therapy got the weekend off to a good start. For those of you wondering why I'm talking about Friday being a weekend well here in Israel we have the weekend a day early but that also means that we start the week on a Sunday. Bit weird in the beginning seeing as all the good sport is generally scheduled for the end of the weekend when everyone is chilling, here its the first day of the grind. So with that out the way I had today to do my shite. Well actually it was half n half, becasue went up to the LBS to take the BB off an old frame I found in the trash. The bike was in terrible condition with every exposed bit of metal rusted, well except the frame. So i took every thing off and now am converting it into a single speed for Mirit. She has hinted at wanting to start riding so decided i would take my old junker apart and put all the components on her new bike. The frame is all chrome and silver, looks pretty sweet even though it won't be top of the range. Its my first bike build so sure I'll have plenty of stories to tell. Pity I don't have a camera or i could post some pic's along the way. (Note to self: MUST get digital camera) We've been meaning to buy one after our other one was stolen but just haven't got around to doing anything about it. So that took up the morning as I used what tools I had to put the bike together, basically allen keys, a hammer and pliers. Still far from done as I need a headset, seatpost and probably a new BB. Also converting to a SS will be a bit easier as there are no gears to worry about. The bonus is that I will be get new tools along the way so my toolkit will be expanding in the next few weeks.
The second part of the day was even more interesting because this involved actually riding the bike and not tinkering. I must add though that I did enjoy taking the old Giant apart and putting the pieces onto the new bike. Went out for a sixty kilometer loop, took about three and a half hours. Two gels and a Nature Bar later I was back home and stoked that I went out for a long ride again. Got rid of all that rust and I finally did over three hours of riding non stop. I have done it before but not at the pace I was pushing today so it felt really good. Tomorrow will be an easy ride with Mirit's brother Omri. Should be good. Tired now so going to hit the hay. Have a fantastic weekend all.

What a week

So this crazy week has finally come to an end and also taken its toll. I arrived home early this morning to do some training that I've missed out on the whole week. i got in a good training ride in on monday and thats been it so I was really looking forward to getting out for two hours this afternoon. Arrived home buggered from another day in the wars at work, pressure from the project definitely putting people and myself on edge. I just couldn't get ampt for the ride and fell asleep on the couch for two hours. Sleep??? It was more like a coma. I'm not an insomniac but lately I've been waking up at four in the morning and not able to get back to sleep. So the tiredness has just built up more and more and today seemed like the breaking point. I can report though sitting here typing this I feel hundreds. The little power nap picked me up big time so I'll survive this weekend.

Speaking of which I have the mini-marathon Volvo Challenge this weekend. No training this week + longest race of the year = low expectations. Was expecting to win but I'll be pleasantly surprised if I finish in the top ten. Looking forward to the race becasue the race organizers normally put on a good event on the side and not just the race. So tomorrow may go for a little ride just to move the rust around and not go into the race completely unprepared.Also realized that this whole "Round Up" post's that I've been trying to work in are not what I want from my blog. I should need to round up someone else's post but just work them into my posts. Blogging is to me a personal path and not a news reel of what others are doing, although this is also not a bad way to do things. I mean if I can 't work them in then posting a link is simple enough without having to do it on a daily basis. So the idea died rather early in its conception, unless you find those posts interesting then I don't mind continuing with it. Some leave a comment if you want me to continue with my Daily Round Up.
I found a brilliant link to a cartoon strip today. Anyone who has a desk job understands that a little distraction during the day makes things much better. It's pretty new my the looks of it but hopefully we see Yehuda Moon having a bright future for us unfortunate droll soul's bound to their flickering monitors. Yet more distraction has can be found on the Bike Hacks site, they've been taking the piss on those unlucky enough to find themselves wiping out on video. Apparently You-Tube is full of the stuff. If you don't wince or at lest pull some funny faces watching these you are not normal. Some of that stuff has to hurt as I recently found out when I wanders of the track a bit and found a lonely rock needing a cuddle.
Another of my favorite blog's is Belgium Knee Warmers who always seem to come up with some form of entertaining post on a regular basis. Writing about Pro vs Amateur riders, particularly on how money affects the sport. He suggested getting rid of the money who rid the sport of its doping problems. He gives some counter points but I really don't thing that it would help in the development of the sport. I mean we live in a pretty capital world, there's no getting around it, so trying to cut something that is part of everyday life wouldn't do anything other than kill the sport.
This also got me thinking about how we are bombarded with marketing and advertising everyday. Our outlook on the world is surely through the media that we use to require it. So watching Fox, CNN or Sky news will probably give you a pretty bent outlook on life as they are surely directed by their financial backers, in other words the commercials. They also harp on about how they bring you a neutral pint of view. Hogwash!!! How can your point of view be neutral if you want to report on it. Without your point of view you would watch the news without having all the discussions about the report, which would also be a bit boring to tell the truth. Two good examples of this are the latest atrocities of China and the Elections in the States. Watching the various ways that the stations approach it just gives you an idea as to how people bring across their views. I reckon it would be great to find a news media where people on the street are writing the news report. I also don't want to constantly listen to the death and destruction of the world when surely there must be some good going on?!?!