Still raining

It's been raining non-stop since yesterday. We got 1.6 inches of rain so far and another half to one inch forecast. Isn't the "formula" like 1 inch of rain = 10 inches of snow? Cold rain makes me feel yucky and lazy.

It's coming your way Detroit.

I'm one tired puppy.

Yesterday was glorious!

75 hilly miles. topped out at 60 degrees. 4.5 hours. 8 women. 1 very tired body. I haven't ridden that long or far since June.

I was so tired, all I did was take two steps in the door, slam a huge recovery drink, strip right there thinking I was headed to an epsom salt bath, but I had to lay on the floor for a while and let the recovery drink kick in enough to get enough energy back to take 10 more steps to the bathtub.

Had to icepack my neck too. I thought the shorter stem would take care of that.
Yeah. It was glorious.

Lance is racing Milan-San Remo tomorrow

I can't even THINK about riding 298 kilometers much less racing it.
I get tired DRIVING 185 miles.
I hope the winner doesn't celebrate too soon like Zabel did in 2004. Oops. Freire beat him.

BTW: Eddy Merckx won it 7 times. Wow.

What time is it?

AMSTERDAM:


DUBAI, UAE:


OMAN:


QATAR:


BAHRAIN:


LONDON:


MADISON:

Finally

Got a nice haircut today. All those short layers are finally gone!! Shew!! It's now time to think about a pony tail!! Very exciting.


Funny. Same sweater. Total coincidence.

Rode the Red Red Bike again today. In SHORTS!! Got it all muddy. Yay.

Spin To Win on Saturday at ACF Royal Oak

Another reminder that this Saturday is the *Michigan Youth Cycling/ Wolverine Junior Scholarship Spin To Win Event being held at American Cycle and Fitness in Royal Oak!

Juniors spin for free and can compete for over $350.00 in scholarship awards.

Just Added !!! All Adult Male and Female riders !!!! Come test your pre-season legs and give us your best 10 minute effort for a chance to win an I-Pod Shuffle! Stop by for details

Please come out and bring your kids between 10 am and 5 pm and show your support by spinning on a trainer. (Provided by AC&F) There will be food, music and a silent auction.

Once again there will be certified Muscle Activation Technique (MAT) specialists on hand to demonstrate a cutting edge approach to the assessment and correction of muscular imbalances in the human body. Come Check Them Out!

Also, Robert Linden from Tailwind Events and Joe Lekovish from MBRA will be around for a short time starting at 10 am to answer questions about the upcoming race season schedule for Road, Mountain Bike and Cyclocross!

Pimpalicious Red Red Bike is DONE!

A friend of Jay's - Chris Shaw, of Trek-VW Midwest Factory Team Manager fame - removed the several excess inches from the brake cables and Jay added the remaining pieces - chain and derailleur cables basically.
Dialed in the shifting.
And VOILA!!! A ride-able Red Red Bike!!!! (Yes, that wall paper is in the hallway.)

We took turns riding it back and forth down the hallway. Hee hee.

I'd say Jay did a pretty damn good job with the cable routing.
Stan's sealant is in the tires and they're ready to roll.
The shifters have a sweet reach adjustment. Super easy with infinite adjustability.

Yeah. I got talked into this one....

Red Red Bike Update

It's in the shop getting the hydraulic brake lines trimmed down. The rear cable was 8 inches too long.

I needed to order a part called an "olive". No joke on that. I got the two parts on the right except they're tiny.....duh.....they fit in the brake line. Compression fitting?

I got tires now!

Tubeless.


Funny thing is, to shorten the hydraulic brake cables, I need these parts called olives and banjos. Ha ha ha!!

Stop riding your bike so much!

Just got home from a very cool lecture on Bone Health in Cyclists.

Bottom line: Cycling does absolutely NOTHING to build bone mineral density (BMD). NOTHING. The studies show that if all you do is ride your bike your BMD decreases just like a sedentary person (that's couch potato for you Kroske).


Cycling is a poor bone building stimulus.

2/3 of masters cyclists studied had osteopenia or osteoporosis at spine and hips. TWO THIRDS!!!



Your bone mass peaks at about age 30-35. You never have more than that. Everyone has different amounts depending on their activities up to that point. (Which is very important to think about for coaching junior riders!) After 35, BMD decreases for everyone as a natural part of aging. So all we can do is slow the rate of decrease. How?

Building bone requires:
INTERNAL STRAIN
of High Magnitude (muscular force), High Rate (muscular contraction) and Irregular Distribution
or
EXTERNAL STRAIN
most importantly, GROUND REACTION FORCES like jumping, landing, running. (Shewee!)

Even if you do strength training in the off season, you need to keep it up ALL YEAR. Studies show that competitive cyclists BMD decreased during the racing season and never recovered during the off season. Sequential years of competitive cycling result in progressive bone loss.

DO STRENGTH TRAINING ALL YEAR LONG!! And don't forget about CALCIUM.
No, you'll never look like this.




I'm taking my own advice.

BTW:
BMD in Mountain bikers is greater than in Roadies.