Not much going on here huh ? I originally started this blog to talk about biking and racing and training and other outdoor adventures. But since I don't train or race seriously anymore, general adventure stuff can just go in my other blog. So as a parting shot, here's my conclusions and analyses from this year.
Well let me just say that it was quite enjoyable not spending any time on intervals this year ! They had their time and place, and for about 4 years I got into it, meticulously recording my times and results, wearing a heart-rate monitor at all times, and even masochistically enjoying the pain they inflicted. So this year it was such a relief to just go out and ride ! Spent more time on the mountain bike too.
But I can also say that intervals do make you faster, just not in the way I expected. Since I mostly did them on flat or slightly inclined roads, I figured they must make me faster in mountain bike races that have little elevation gain - wrong ! The first few races I did this year did not have much climbing (Chainbreaker, Picketts), and whaddya know, with no training, I was still getting about the same results as the last few years with tons of training. Well, me thinks, training is for chumps ! But then came the races with lots of climbing, like Falls City and Jedi, and on these I was way behind what I could usually muster in previous years. I even used to think I was a 'natural climber' since I always kicked ass on climbs but never trained for it specifically. So yeah the conclusion is (without a *lot* of data I admit), that those flat-land hard intervals make you a better climber.
Let's see, in other biking-related news, man there's a lot of idiots out on the trails who have no clue about etiquette. If there's one rule that's easy to remember, even with limited brain-capacity, it's that 'uphill riders have the right of way'. You're riding down, someone is riding up, you're on narrow singletrack, you stop and pull over. No you do not try and squeeze by, just stop your bike and pull over. I've been hit twice this year by dorks who barely slow down and try to go around me. I think I will start keeping my elbows up, hopefully a good clean shot to the trachea will put them out of commission for a while and make them learn some manners. Yee-hah!
Oh, one last thing, I 'invented' this cool routine to prevent 'going to the gym' boredom. In past years, I've done gym work during the winter to get ready for biking season - like lift weights and do machine work - but I always got real tired of it after a few months, and was glad to abandon it once the weather was good enough to get back on the bike. This year I decided to keep going to the gym once a week even in the summer, just to use different muscles. Sometimes it was only once every ten days... and then I was going to drop it altogether as it grew tiresome. But then I decided to try something totally different : do as many different exercises as I could in less than 1 hour, maximum 2 sets per exercise, 12-15 reps, and alternate leg-work with upper body work. In the middle of the 2 sets, you go and setup for the next exercise, so you're never just sitting around. Then every week or so, you swap out 1 or more exercises for different ones, so you never get bored. It's kind of in between circuit training and regular weight training. Anyways, works for me - been doing it for about 4 months, about 3 times per week. What's it good for ? Not really sure yet....
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
MRT - ation
We're talking today with Cajun Mountain Bike Man, who recently moved up here from the Southern Bayou tribal areas.
So Cajun Man, I understand you've been doing quite a bit of biking around here, and yesterday you did the MRT (Mackenzie River Trail). That's quite a long trail...did you get an early start ? How was the drive over there ?
"Frustration"
Why, what caused that ?
"Defecation imposition"
Ah, I see, a call of nature while you were driving there. So did you pull over at a rest-stop?
"Construction, renovation!"
Oh they were doing some work on the rest-stop so it was closed...how long did you have to wait until the next one ?
"Destination"
Not until you got there, huh. Well I guess it was finally good to get that out of your system.
"Putrification, satisfaction"
Yes those porta-potties can be stinky.
Well, tell us about the trail - did you shuttle it and ride from the top ?
"Repetition"
Wow you did an out-of-back, impressive. How did you feel afterwards ?
"Regurgitation, hallucination"
Tired, huh. Well how was the drive back, more comfortable this time ?
"Exasperation"
Again ? What happened this time ?
"Pollution, procrastination"
Let me guess, you got stuck behind slow-moving trucks and other slow drivers. Well how do you deal with that ?
"Assassination!"
C'mon Cajun Man, you can't be serious...?
"Fabrication..."
Ok well you had me worried there for a second. What did you do when you got home ?
"Inebriation"
Sounds typical. Good talking to you Cajun Man, looking forward to your next adventure.
"Sensation! Confrontation! Miscalculation..."
Yes I'm sure it will be exciting...
So Cajun Man, I understand you've been doing quite a bit of biking around here, and yesterday you did the MRT (Mackenzie River Trail). That's quite a long trail...did you get an early start ? How was the drive over there ?
"Frustration"
Why, what caused that ?
"Defecation imposition"
Ah, I see, a call of nature while you were driving there. So did you pull over at a rest-stop?
"Construction, renovation!"
Oh they were doing some work on the rest-stop so it was closed...how long did you have to wait until the next one ?
"Destination"
Not until you got there, huh. Well I guess it was finally good to get that out of your system.
"Putrification, satisfaction"
Yes those porta-potties can be stinky.
Well, tell us about the trail - did you shuttle it and ride from the top ?
"Repetition"
Wow you did an out-of-back, impressive. How did you feel afterwards ?
"Regurgitation, hallucination"
Tired, huh. Well how was the drive back, more comfortable this time ?
"Exasperation"
Again ? What happened this time ?
"Pollution, procrastination"
Let me guess, you got stuck behind slow-moving trucks and other slow drivers. Well how do you deal with that ?
"Assassination!"
C'mon Cajun Man, you can't be serious...?
"Fabrication..."
Ok well you had me worried there for a second. What did you do when you got home ?
"Inebriation"
Sounds typical. Good talking to you Cajun Man, looking forward to your next adventure.
"Sensation! Confrontation! Miscalculation..."
Yes I'm sure it will be exciting...
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Raging against machines
Interesting ongoing article about bikes vs cars road rage :
http://www.velonews.com/article/83093/legally-speaking-with-bob-mionske---more-rage
Incidents are often triggered by one party trying to teach the other a lesson to pay for their transgression. For example a car buzzing a cyclist after the driver perceived the cyclist breaking some road rule. Previously, I would confront the driver aggressively, give them the finger, etc. But this usually only serves to continue the cycle of violence, escalating the aggression of the disturbed individual, and perhaps causing them to act even more violently against other cyclists. This type of response could be deemed selfish then, in that it makes you feel better for letting off steam, but endangers other cyclists in the long run. But then is a completely passive response the best option for society as a whole ? Won't the sick freak persist in endangering others, and therefore might it be somehow your duty to mitigate the dangers of this behaviour ? Well it's not your job to provide psychiatric treatment, so inaction is possibly the best thing, in that it is better for cyclists as a whole. Just hope the cops will nail the person for some other act which they commit due to the dark evil processes swirling around in their diseased brain. But now how to you dissipate that feeling that someone has 'gotten the better of you', if in fact you choose the selfless response of inaction ? Well the article describes how not letting the dark side take hold of you and escalating the conflict with a violent response, is in fact a victory. Here's some quotes :
My goal is to stay in control of my emotions. When a bad driver cuts me off because he is not paying attention or checking his mirrors, I am able to stay cool. Let someone else ‘teach him a lesson’-whatever I have to tell myself to get through those first critical moments without reacting. In those cases where it seems the bad and dangerous driving was intentionally directed at me-it is very difficult for me to control my knee jerk response to retaliate immediately. It feels like I am ‘giving in’ or in some other way ‘losing’. In order to change my reaction I had to change my perspective. If I lose my temper and escalate an antagonistic situation- what I am really doing is losing control. I try to equate losing my temper with being defeated, with ‘losing’. For me this is often enough to deter my dark side from emerging.
This kind of reframing of our interpretation and reaction to another is exactly what Dr. James recommends as a way of escaping the road rage trap—a trap that begins when we are endangered by another person, particularly when that endangerment is followed by an insult. At that moment, we are vulnerable to what Dr. James refers to as an “emotional hijacking,” with our rational mind being overwhelmed by our emotional limbic brain. The trick to be learned is to reduce your anger by reappraising the situation:
“Despite the seductive persuasiveness of self-righteous justification, you can compel yourself to reframe the anger-provoking event. Emotional intelligence provides you with an understanding of how anger escalates, how venting keeps it going, and how to deflate it through rational counterarguments. Negative emotions slowly dissipate as you force yourself to think positively and expect positive outcomes. The power of positive thinking lies in its ability to attract positive emotions such as empathy and forgiveness. These interpersonal and cooperative emotions in turn facilitate reappraisal of the anger-provoking event.”
Although there are immediate personal benefits to be gained by cultivating one’s “emotional intelligence”—a reduced likelihood of road rage escalation—there are other, long-term gains, both personal and social that are perhaps even more important. At the personal level, anger sustained over long periods has severe deleterious effects on our health; cultivating emotional intelligence helps us to let go of that anger, and thus, to avoid the negative impacts it would otherwise have on our health. At the social level, the gains are nothing less than the transformation of our driving culture—and with it, our cycling environment—, one driver at a time, from one that is anti-social (aggressive driving) and negative (defensive driving) to one that is pro-social, cooperative, and supportive.
http://www.velonews.com/article/83093/legally-speaking-with-bob-mionske---more-rage
Incidents are often triggered by one party trying to teach the other a lesson to pay for their transgression. For example a car buzzing a cyclist after the driver perceived the cyclist breaking some road rule. Previously, I would confront the driver aggressively, give them the finger, etc. But this usually only serves to continue the cycle of violence, escalating the aggression of the disturbed individual, and perhaps causing them to act even more violently against other cyclists. This type of response could be deemed selfish then, in that it makes you feel better for letting off steam, but endangers other cyclists in the long run. But then is a completely passive response the best option for society as a whole ? Won't the sick freak persist in endangering others, and therefore might it be somehow your duty to mitigate the dangers of this behaviour ? Well it's not your job to provide psychiatric treatment, so inaction is possibly the best thing, in that it is better for cyclists as a whole. Just hope the cops will nail the person for some other act which they commit due to the dark evil processes swirling around in their diseased brain. But now how to you dissipate that feeling that someone has 'gotten the better of you', if in fact you choose the selfless response of inaction ? Well the article describes how not letting the dark side take hold of you and escalating the conflict with a violent response, is in fact a victory. Here's some quotes :
My goal is to stay in control of my emotions. When a bad driver cuts me off because he is not paying attention or checking his mirrors, I am able to stay cool. Let someone else ‘teach him a lesson’-whatever I have to tell myself to get through those first critical moments without reacting. In those cases where it seems the bad and dangerous driving was intentionally directed at me-it is very difficult for me to control my knee jerk response to retaliate immediately. It feels like I am ‘giving in’ or in some other way ‘losing’. In order to change my reaction I had to change my perspective. If I lose my temper and escalate an antagonistic situation- what I am really doing is losing control. I try to equate losing my temper with being defeated, with ‘losing’. For me this is often enough to deter my dark side from emerging.
This kind of reframing of our interpretation and reaction to another is exactly what Dr. James recommends as a way of escaping the road rage trap—a trap that begins when we are endangered by another person, particularly when that endangerment is followed by an insult. At that moment, we are vulnerable to what Dr. James refers to as an “emotional hijacking,” with our rational mind being overwhelmed by our emotional limbic brain. The trick to be learned is to reduce your anger by reappraising the situation:
“Despite the seductive persuasiveness of self-righteous justification, you can compel yourself to reframe the anger-provoking event. Emotional intelligence provides you with an understanding of how anger escalates, how venting keeps it going, and how to deflate it through rational counterarguments. Negative emotions slowly dissipate as you force yourself to think positively and expect positive outcomes. The power of positive thinking lies in its ability to attract positive emotions such as empathy and forgiveness. These interpersonal and cooperative emotions in turn facilitate reappraisal of the anger-provoking event.”
Although there are immediate personal benefits to be gained by cultivating one’s “emotional intelligence”—a reduced likelihood of road rage escalation—there are other, long-term gains, both personal and social that are perhaps even more important. At the personal level, anger sustained over long periods has severe deleterious effects on our health; cultivating emotional intelligence helps us to let go of that anger, and thus, to avoid the negative impacts it would otherwise have on our health. At the social level, the gains are nothing less than the transformation of our driving culture—and with it, our cycling environment—, one driver at a time, from one that is anti-social (aggressive driving) and negative (defensive driving) to one that is pro-social, cooperative, and supportive.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Team ride
We rode our road bikes from Rob's house to Mount Bachelor - I had no idea there was 2700 vf of climbing involved, over 20 miles ! After 8 days of almost no exercise, it felt great to burn up the road - but I was feeling somewhat loopy at the top. There was the Big Yellow Bus Taxi waiting for us, with our mountain bikes inside - also inside were mountain bikers without road bikes.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Chasing the Ghost
A summer evening's solo ride, and in the shadows of the twisty descent, a flicker of light did catch my eye. Somewhere on the trail ahead, amongst the silent stalking pines, a flash of white then quickly gone. A trick of the light, a peripheral aberration ? But no, I'd seen this ethereal presence before, no stranger to me this shadow - with mocking lightness he effortlessly appears and flits away, and dares me to follow. Still I denied it, and returned to the dull singular purpose of driving forward, all-focused on speed and reaction and tunnel vision. But then again I see it - no longer any doubt - the Ghost shows himself once more. The Spectre has appeared oft of late, and now I know his name : Fleeting Youth - yes the wellspring of ageless denial is now starting to run dry. No longer can I ignore the signs - the Ghost prances away carelessly, and my dry attempts at pursuit no longer bear fruit. He eludes me frequently now, this vision of eternal energy. Yet there's something in this admission, some wisdom in the acknowledgement...perhaps letting go is the path to enlightenment. We shall see...
Monday, July 28, 2008
Oakridge Boys
We slogged up the Alpine access road for 15 miles and 6000 vertical feet, while shuttlers droned past us, probably taking as much time to arrange their vehicles as it did for us to climb. For most of the ascent a dense fog was draped upon us, with only occasional bursts of heatlamp sunshine.
Now, drenched with sweat and clouds, it was time for the glorious descent.
First came slow rolling grades and fields of bunchgrass
Then sustained, twisting, hand-fatigueing high-speed singletrack. Scant time for photo breaks here...
When it was done, a relaxing lunch-break, and then a seemingly endless discussion about how to properly finish the day. Some argued for shuttling a different downhill, others for calling it good and stuffing our faces with Foot-long's. Finally we settled on a short ride at Flat Creek, which the map showed was a 2.5 mile climb to good views, with an elevation gain of 1250 feet, which my tired brain calculated incorrectly as a moderate 5% grade. But of course it was really closer to 10%, and the steady steep climb in heat of the day nearly finished everyone off. The swooping downhill on the return leg re-energized us somewhat, and after that it was off to face-stuffing.
Now, drenched with sweat and clouds, it was time for the glorious descent.
First came slow rolling grades and fields of bunchgrass
Then sustained, twisting, hand-fatigueing high-speed singletrack. Scant time for photo breaks here...
When it was done, a relaxing lunch-break, and then a seemingly endless discussion about how to properly finish the day. Some argued for shuttling a different downhill, others for calling it good and stuffing our faces with Foot-long's. Finally we settled on a short ride at Flat Creek, which the map showed was a 2.5 mile climb to good views, with an elevation gain of 1250 feet, which my tired brain calculated incorrectly as a moderate 5% grade. But of course it was really closer to 10%, and the steady steep climb in heat of the day nearly finished everyone off. The swooping downhill on the return leg re-energized us somewhat, and after that it was off to face-stuffing.
Friday, July 25, 2008
14 hours of Umpqua
14.25 hours to be precise : that's how long it took us to ride the North Umpqua Trail in 1 day. It could have been shorter, but the notorious Sorensen Tire Jinx reared its ugly head yet again. In any case, victory was ours, and we accomplished the goal that was tossed around the campfire after our 2 day ride of the Umpqua last year.
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