Nice

Productivity

I've had a pretty good week this week. Lotta miles and hours, Muscle Tension Intervals on Mon. ,then 30 min run PM. A good hard group ride on Tues let me get some solid threshold work in. Recovery ride on Wed AM, 40 min run PM. Got up this morning feeling a little worse for wear but once I got riding felt strong. Then I proceeded to drive myself into the ground. Did 1 min. intervals- all out, everything I had. Then I spun easy for 6 min. Then a min. all out, rest for 5 min, then 4,3,2 ,and on down to 1 min on, 1 min off. After that it was all I could do to stay on my bike and make it home. It will be worth it in a few weeks.

On another note, I had an epiphany yesterday. I realized why everyone is so aggro when they are driving around. What I figured out is that everyone is angry because they got ripped off when buying their cars. I bought my van in North Carolina. I payed the same price as one that was purchased here. Mine however came with a rearview mirror and turn signals. Cars purchased in South Carolina cost the same but apparently don't come with these items. This leads to animosity between drivers with a complete vehicle and those that have been ripped off. I feel sorry for these people, they need to do something to remedy this situation. Later- DH

Weekend Update

I've been really busy this week so here's a quick update.
Fri: Drove to Charlotte for Sat. MTB race. Stayed at Arleigh's- thanks for the hospitality!
Sat: MTB race- Smoked everyone on the running LeMans style start, got the holeshot and rolled it. Got caught at the end of the 1st lap. Got passed and was down 45 sec or so by the 3rd lap. Came back. 1 lap to go, I'm 15 sec back and closing. Got the leader in my sights when we hit lapped traffic. The leader squeezed around a group of women before the singletrack and I couldn't. That was the race right there. After I got around I drilled it as hard as I could but couldn't make the time back up. Anyways- A good race, I felt great and rode very well.
Sat afternoon I met up with Liza and her side of the family for her grandmother's 90th birthday party. That was a good time as well. Drove over to Brevard for a late dinner w/ Chris and Kent. Chris just returned from the World Cup Finals in Slovenia and was exhausted as was I so we called it a night and went home.
Sun: Loaded up the trailer with motorcycles and as much furniture as I could hold in the morning. Went on a nice mellow ride @ DuPont with Chris, Wes, and Horse Jockey. Great day and a fun ride. Much better than the 4 1/2 hrs back to Charleston that followed. Alex and I unloaded the trailer and van and hit the sack for some much needed sleep. DH out.

A Little Slice of Justice

Rarely do I ever see anything that involves automobiles while I am riding that makes me happy. However, today was a special day. I was riding along minding my own business out on County Line Rd. this morning about 9:00. I was cruising at 24-25 mph, straight road with no traffic. A white budget car (Kia or Hundai or some junk) buzzed by me so close I could feel the side mirror brush the hair on my arm. No traffic anywhere and plenty of room. I signaled to him how I felt about this ( not a great idea- It'll get you in trouble sometimes but a kneejerk reaction nonetheless). Then ( the good part ) a huge red dually pickup cruises by me ( giving me plenty of room ) and guns it to catch up with the car. He passes the other car rediculously ( and deliberately close ) mainly in the right hand lane, and cuts back in too soon running the other car off the road. He then slams on the brakes until the other car gets back on the road , drives really slow and won't get out of his way. I was a safe distance back watching this go on for a few miles. Yeah- how do you like that! I don't know who was driving that truck but that made my day. Later- DH

Bluetooth Equipped

I'm really glad to be back in the bike shop. However, I am constantly surprised at the rudeness of humanity. If another customer comes in here talking with a headset cell phone on I am going to flip out. There are only three acceptable scenarios for this: 1. You are an air traffic controller and are at the present time landing a plane. (1b. you are flying the plane) 2. you are in the Space Shuttle or either in FL or TX talking to the Space Shuttle. 3. You are directing an air strike on an enemy position. I have seen no evidence of any of these conditions existing so I will continue to do everything in my power to reciprocate this rudeness upon these aforementioned individuals. DH

Progress

Went out on the group run from the shop yesterday. We had 8 people show up to run in the rain so we headed out into the neighborhoods behind the shop. The greenway was muddy so we ran pavement. I was pleased that it was much less painful to run than on Monday, even though I was on pavement yesterday. I was also pleased that I was not breathing as hard as some of the others out there. I feel much better today also. Got a good ( foggy ) ride in this morning with Jay- rolled out @ 7 am into the fog. By 9 the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. Now it's gonna rain again. Hopefully It'll be over in the morning in time to ride again. Later- DH

Charleston Pics.

Here are some assorted photos from rides and places in Charleston.

Specificity

With cross seson coming up I decided I need to do more running this fall to prepare. This is always my weakness in a cross race so I'll address this and work on it. Got some cool new running shoes and planned everything out. Ran for 20 mins. on the greenway last night. Took off from the shop. Everything started off alright even after leaving the running shorts at home and having to run in cut-off Dickies and no shirt. Felt like an escaped convict running down the road. Anyways- this will take some getting use to- I can race my bike flat out for 12 hrs. or more but after 20 mins. of running I feel like the victim of an assault and simultaneous car accident. Back to the bike tonight, then more running tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. DH

I can see the form way out there... But it is getting closer!

Another great week of riding is over. 20 + hours in, 370 miles. Lots of solid mileage, rode hard on Tues, then had a productive weekend 4-5 hrs each on Fri and Sat. Good group ride on Sat then a trip to the beach with Alex in the PM. Getting my tan back and slowly losing weight. I'm really looking forward to cross season now as I should get rolling somewhere near the end of October. Gonna start running tomorrow so the next couple of weeks will be tough with that going down. Watched some good football games yesterday too, the good Tech won, bad Tech got crushed, and Georgia lost to SC. I wish GA/SC could have both lost but it don't work that way when they play each other. Anyways- looking forward to another solid week, gonna be up at my summer estate in the mountains next weekend, then kick back with a rest week after that. By the way- Carbon Race wheels for sale- CHEAP! any takers- lemme know, I need to get up some $ to get through cross season. Later- DH

Go Time

Did the Tues. night group ride tonight. Fast as usual, felt pretty good- Felt out of shape but my Power Tap said otherwise when I downloaded it. I haven't had too much of a reason to ride hard this year with being hurt or sick for so long .. but that changed tonight. There are some new guys ( very fast guys ) that are riding against me specifically- attacking right after I take a pull and whatnot. Some typical Roadie stuff that needs to be dealt with. So yeah, me and D.L. are all kinds of fired up now and ready to cut heads. Guess we'll all have to get faster. Give me a couple of weeks and it'll be - as they say in wrasslin' ON!

Other than that everything is going well- lots of riding, a couple of 4 1/2 hr days back to back this weekend were good- feeling better than I have all year. Probably better than a couple of years. Back pain is gone and my leg speed is starting to come around. Leg injury sustained last weekend got pretty ugly after a couple hundred miles in the rain this week and required some minor bathroom surgery to look like something human again. Gotta keep that thing clean. I'll post later to keep everyone informed on how the warpath is going. Later- DH