So, just as I was getting back into the swing of training after the holidays and feeling some fitness come back, my left knee is complaining again. After riding the trainer on Thursday I felt a familar burning and tightness on the inside of my left knee. Those few of you paying attention will recall that the achy-breaky left wheel first surfaced in late 2003 and played a big role in getting me back on the bike. Well, now the bike appears to be part of the problem, and that’s got me just a bit frustrated.
I think I know what triggered the current round of pain: isolated leg training, a fancy name for pedaling with one leg. This is a great technique for building cycling-specific strength but, since it’s done in a big gear at low cadence, it also puts a lot of force across the knee. My log shows that I hadn’t done ILT more than once a week before the new year, but I incorporated it into three training sessions last week and two sessions this week. In retrospect, that was probably a tad aggressive.
So, it’s back to the ice and Advil (aka “Vitamin A”) to get the symptoms under control. That shouldn’t take too long, judging from experience, but I’d like to find a way to cure the underlying biomechanical issue so I can just suffer athletically according to my whims. Right now, I’m motivated to get on with training, but I’m not physically ready to match my mental determination. As ridiculous as this may be for a recreational rider of my modest abilities, taking a weekend off has induced a little stress – it’s cold outside, but I’m ready to ride. However, I’d much rather get a slow start than be sidelined with this problem in June. So I will attempt to exercise some discretion for the next few days, though if we get enough snow tonight I’ll probably try to ski tomorrow. Now where did I leave that ice pack?

Really, I’m not much of a grouch. Cycling is human-powered technology, and I readily accept that technology advances rapidly even for a product as mature as the bicycle. However, it seems as though current product offerings are driven as much by fashion as by true technological advances.
Here’s what’s stuck in my craw right now: I’m trying to find parts to fit (in both a mechanical and aesthetic sense) a couple of older bikes. Neither one is truly antique, the older one dating from the end of the 1980s. And I’m not talking about a restoration project, either. I just want parts that look appropriate on bikes from that era. But it’s easier said than done. I find that polished (as opposed to anodized) box- or semi-aero-section rims have dwindled to an offering of one, the soon-to-be-unavailable Torelli Master. Ergo-bend handlebars (such as my original 1992 TTT Forma SL) can now be had only in black, apparently, which looks just plain wrong on a skinny-tubed steel bike. Quill stems, too, have gone. The European manufacturers have bailed, and apparently only Nitto continues to make a nice, forged aluminum quill stem.
I’m probably going to be able to find what I want, but that probably won’t be the case in another year or so. So, if you’re also in the hunt for “vintage” parts, and feeling old like I am right now, better stock up soon.

Overall I’m very pleased with my riding this year, especially considering this is my return to the sport after laying off the bike for nearly a decade. My mileage total for the year stands at 3628, not counting the spring trainer miles that I didn’t record. In that total are dozens of club rides and two centuries, including my first-ever sub-six-hour 100-mile ride.
I had a few low points – early-season equipment gremlins and crashing back in September were just plain embarassing, for instance, and in general my bike-handling skills aren’t where they need to be. But I’m looking forward to even better things in 2005. At this point I plan on doing the century distance to Mt. Wachusett, repeating at the Mt. Greylock century and maybe, if the stars align and my knees hold out, the Ride for the Roses in October.
For the coming weeks I’ll grind out some miles on the trainer and sneak some weekend rides when I can. Getting out on the skis has been fun and I hope to do that some more, but I probably won’t be consistent enough to build up much skill (snow being rather unpredictable around here). Spring isn’t that far off…right?

Had one more trainer session today and drew a little inspiration from Pro– Jamie Paolinetti’s documentary on the 2004 USPRO road championship – which I slid into the DVD player. I was still a little sore from skiing on Tuesday, and my heart rate was a little high for the effort I was putting out (doubtless related to the scratchy throat I’m carrying), but overall I felt pretty good. Of course, I’ve been off the bike for a week so I’m about as well-rested as I get.
Workout:
0:00 – 12:00 Spinup 60 – 120 RPM in 39×19
12:01 – 15:00 Recovery 60 RPM 39×19
15:00 – 19:00 Left ILT 55-60 RPM 53×19
19:01 – 20:00 Recovery
20:01 – 24:00 Right ILT 55-60 RPM 53×19
24:01 – 25:00 Recovery
25:01 – 28:00 Left ILT 50-55 RPM 53×17
28:00 – 29:00 Recovery
29:01 – 33:00 Right ILT 50-55 RPM 53×17
33:01 – 37:00 80-85 RPM 53×19
37:01 – 38:00 Recovery
38:01 – 42:00 80-85 RPM 53×19
42:01 – 44:00 Recovery
44:23 – 45:44 80-85 RPM 53×19 – didn’t have the gas to do another 4min TT
45:44 – 52:59 85-90 RPM 39×17
53:00 – 60:00 cooldown
I started the 4min TTs at ~150 BPM (approx 75% of max) and ended above 180 bpm (90% max) so I was working pretty hard.
Equipment: bottom bracket is still clicking so that’s probably headed for replacement soon.

Went out on the club ride this morning and had a good, ol’ fashioned two-bike crash with another rider. We had five riders total; I was leading the paceline with one rider to my left. We approached an intersection and we realized a bit late that this was where the route turns right. The rider to my left braked and started turning in; I knew he was coming across my line so I braked and started to turn in as well. That’s when the guy immediately behind me ran over me and sent me over the bars, our bikes making those “shopping cart noises” as they cartwheeled around us. Evidently he had his head turned as I started to brake and couldn’t get out of the way in time.
I’m told that it all looked pretty spectacular, but we were only lightly injured. I sustained some road rash on my right knee and chin, and a nice strawberry on my shoulder – but no clothing rips, and no damage to the bike beyond blips in both wheels that I need to true out. My clubmate fared pretty much the same, and we were able to complete the ride.
This seems like a rookie mistake; experienced riders don’t make any sudden, unannounced moves in the paceline. However, I’m not sure that missing the turn would have been a better option here. If I had done that, the guy on my left probably would have creamed into me as he crossed my line, expecting me to turn with him. Moral of the story: know your route and announce your turns.

Back in June, when I first heard my clubmate Sean describe the Mt. Greylock Century, I knew I was in trouble. In terms of single-day efforts, it was far beyond anything I’d ever done on a bike. Having spent most of my life in the relatively flat parts of the midwest, I’d never even climbed anything that could reasonably be described as a mountain before this year. I’d only started riding with any intensity in May, after a long winter and spring doing fairly short indoor rides on the trainer. I considered my mileage base barely adequate to even consider doing anything like Greylock, but I was hooked. I had to find out if I could handle the three major climbs and nearly 10,000 feet total climbing that MGC offered.

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For some lame humor, check out this rec.bicycles.racing thread on Bissell vacuum cleaners (a minor sponsor of the USPS team). See especially Stewart Fleming’s post on Vladimir Karpets, which is really the one I wish I’d thought of.
Karpets, in my opinion, has the best name in the peloton since Joop Zoetemelk.

Had a miserable four-hour ride in the rain last weekend. When I met the club at 6am, the air was thick enough to chew – 75°F and humid as can be. We chatted briefly about routes and return times while we eyed the bulging, leaden clouds uneasily. We rode for about half an hour before the first spatters appeared on our sunglasses. Those few drops rapidly became a shower as the sky unzipped and dumped its load.

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This past week on the bike hasn’t been everything I hoped it would be. With the club’s trip to Wachusett Mountain coming up next weekend, I scheduled a long ride for last Saturday as a final tuneup. Unfortunately, instead of getting a nice long ride in, I had an Educational Experience.

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This week, for the first time in nearly three years, I rode my bike to work. Back in May of 2001 when our offices were in the North End of Boston, I met a co-worker at his house in Dorchester and did the ride. The weather was miserable – steady rain and wind – and I was overweight and out of shape (no excuse, considering all the free time I remember having before becoming a dad). The distance was close to 15 miles one way, which is not a trivial ride. Fast forward to last Monday: my opportunities to commute by bike have shrunk to one day a week, when I don’t have to shuttle Andrew to day care. Our offices are now a couple miles closer to the house and my body is in much better condition. The weather, however, wasn’t so different. No good reason not to give it another shot.

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