StrengthEngine Test Team

Tapering

Today is the first day of our taper for the Cochise County Classic.
We've never really had to do this before. To be honest, it's really
weird. We're not allowed to train on our bikes very much, and when we
do, we have to ride really really slow and not go very far. We rode
up to the biosphere on Sunday, and it didn't take long for us to start
goofing off on our bikes. You get bored pretty quick when you're
don't have to focus very much for the ride.

We're racing out in Douglas, AZ next weekend, which is another first
for us. We've never raced outside of Tucson. I'm a little nervous
about having to travel for a race. I've never had to sleep in a
strange bed and get prepped in a hotel room I'm sharing with two other
dudes before a race. I'm used to having a bunch of familiar stuff
around me. We've also got to think about what we're gonna do for
breakfast that morning, and dinner the night before.

This is a really important race for us. Because of all the mechanical
issues we had at our last race, we really need to use this race as an
opportunity to get Platinum status for El Tour de Tucson, which has
been our main focus for the year. We'll have 4 hours and 15 minutes
to ride 92 miles, which is more than doable, as long as we stay
focused.

We're all really excited for the ride, but this is the worst part.
Just sitting here waiting for race day.

Numb.

   Mount lemon is a bitch! We kicked its ass on Saturday! I'm feeling very strong lately and am noticing serious gains in my stamina. Ride up mountains for hours and things like muscle fibers, tendons, and mind over body determination will all come together for you.
   SO I've been dealing with poor circulation on the LCD (long slow distance) rides lately which eventually leads to numb hands and feet and a very uncomfortable ride. While charging up the mountain this weekend I happened to fall in line with some very experienced riders for some time. I asked these gentlemen about my inconvenient situation and they preceded to tell me that numb feet is due to shoes that are too tight and numb hands are due to shitty gloves that I've been riding with for too long now.  These two things need to change! I will work on them.  Until then GO SETT

                                        Josher

"Guys, I'm gettin' my bod back!"

Hey to everyone out there in the Blogoshpere!  

I have been somewhat absent from here for a couple weeks.  I have been trying to get adjusted to being back in the States and school starting.  But nonetheless, I am very happy to be back with the team, be on my bike, and to be "gettin my bod back."

First, to explain the quotations above, the other day Jared, Josh, Phillip (Jared's brother and one of our roommates), and I were sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast after a ride.  Josh had been quite quiet for a while and seemed to be spaced out as he was starring at his breakfast.  Then, he looks up at the three of us and says "Guys, I'm gettin my bod back!"  After a month of traveling and a stint of sickness when he got back, he felt he was getting his body back in shape, his pre-summer bod. 

I too have been the same feeling.  After three months of being in Asia and not being able to train properly I feel that I am finally getting my bod back.  During my time abroad I lost about 12-15 lbs and felt like I could see every pound absent from my legs (that used to be moderately buff :]).  We have been hitting the bikes hard lately, a lot harder than we were before summer, and after 3.5 weeks I feel that I have seen an improvement in my riding to near the same level as I was at before summer.  

We have a race coming up in less than a month, October 9th, that I am very very excited for!  We are going to do awesome!  Go SETT.

New Bikes; Big Mountains

Recently, I started working at Fairwheel Bike shop in Tucson. I only
work there a few hours a week, and help out in the shipping room. In
return, I get hooked up with cycling product at cost, which is a lot
cheaper than I'd be paying for it normally. When I started cycling a
couple of years ago, I noticed a Cervélo Soloist frame hanging on the
wall at Fairwheel. At the time, it was way outside my price range,
and I wasn't cycling seriously enough for that type of investment in a
bike. But now that I'm on a competitive team, and the frame got much
cheaper, I decided to get it. After getting the frame, the mechanics
at Fairwheel showed me how to build up a bike. I spent the next two
days building the bike up (pictures attached).

After the bike was done, I took it out for some hill repeats out new
Gates Pass. The repeats were hard, about 10 minutes long, 2 miles
from bottom to top, and the bike handled really well. I was still
getting used to it though, the geometry is a lot different from my old
bike. It's a lot lighter, and way more responsive. So then I took it
out the next day to do about 40 miles on flat ground and just see how
it rode. The aero seat tube is a quite a bit stiffer than I'm used
to, but the bike handled really well.

So on Saturday I decided to put it to the test. We rode out to Mt.
Lemmon, and up it to Summerhaven. Mt. Lemmon is a 6000ft ascent over
27 miles. It's a long, tough ride to the top. It took Bill and I
about 3 hours to get from the base to the summit. The bike did great
climbing. The power transfer from pedals to gears seemed really
smooth, the bottom bracket was nice and stiff while I was really
hammering the pedals. On the way down it did even better. The
Cervélo Soloist has a massively oversized bottom bracket shell, which
really lowers the center of gravity for the bike. We probably
averaged 45mph on the descent, and the bike felt like it was glued to
the road, even during tight cornering.

I can't even begin to explain how exciting it is to be on a
professional level bike now. Hopefully it'll help us with our racing
goals too!

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fighting! Riding! Condescending!

 I'm in week five! It's been an intense five weeks of serious weight training and cycling. I've made some substantial gains in all areas thanks to strengthengine's gym program and my motivating teammates. Mondays ride was very productive not do to the ride but do to the team meeting which followed. Similar to any team setting in which a group of men are striving to achieve a common goal, there will be disagreements. COMMUNICATION is KEY! This was exactly the focus of our meeting.  We discussed our individual goals and team goals in the upcoming races and months to come. We also covered how we expect to be treated by one another on a day to day basis and how we can be motivating as apposed to condescending. These meetings are extremely important in order to keep everyone from bottling up any disagreements which eventually become a cancer within the team. We will all keep working very hard to create a carbon fiber bond (aluminum in J-rads case) which is immune to any kind of CANCER or EROSION! GO SETT!

Puke Hill

Every Wednesday we go out and do hill repeats. It's a fairly simple
concept, go find a hill, then ride up it as fast as you can, as many
times as you can before your legs give out. The fun part is going
around town and checking out different hills every week.

Last week I heard about a hill in town called "Puke Hill". This
seemed like a direct challenge... a hill so tough it's supposed to
make everyone who rides it puke. Woke up on Wednesday morning, had
the usual bowl of oatmeal and cup of coffee before heading out, got on
the bike and started pedalin'. Josh got a flat pretty quick in the
ride, so Bill and I kept going on to the hill. Took some time to find
it, but we did eventually. As we pulled up to the beginning of it my
first thought was "Oh shit... that's steep." It's not too long, about
a quarter of a mile, but it's really, really steep. MapMyRide.com
says the beginning and end of the climb are both 20%+ grades. Bill
and I both hit it four times. On the second time through bill rolls
up alongside me, not looking so great. "I think this is it" he says.
"What, are you done with repeats for the day?" I asked. He replies,
"No... I'm pretty sure I'm gonna puke". He managed to hold it in, and
so did I, but on the fourth repeat it was a real big struggle.

I think next week I'll go without the oatmeal and coffee before the ride.

Here's a map, if anyone is curious where it is:
http://runkeeper.com/user/jaredonline/activity/14924589

SETT Mountain Biking in the Alps

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Hi all, as I had hoped my travels in Japan brought me to the mountainous region of the Japanese Alps.  I travelled to a very small town called Hakuba, that is primarily a winter ski town full of lodges and ski lifts in every direction.  I stayed in Hakuba for 5 days, two of which I spent in the saddle...finally!!

My first day on the bike was exciting if for no other reason than it was the first time I had ridden a proper bike in nearly three months.  I got my bearings straight and made myself aware of some of the "rickety-ness" of a heavily used, under maintained rental bike.  To be quite honest, I didn't really care what was wrong with the bike I was just ecstatic to be pushing some pedals.  I decided to ride to the first of a chain of three nearby lakes and just  go exploring the beautiful area.

I lost my way off of the supposedly marked path to the lake, but used he opportunity to explore every hill on the way that looked steep.  As it turns out, I didn't have to try very hard to wear myself out after being off of a proper bike for so long.  I eventually used the highway signs to make my way to the lake, rode around it and continued on to the second lake, again riding up then down every hill on or near my path.

The second lake was small, so the ride around was quite quick.  I turned back, headed to the first (much bigger) lake to where I had found a small dock that was not being used and went for a swim!  These lakes were the clearest and cleanest I had ever seen, the temperature was perfect and the weather was beautiful.  I spent a good half hour precariously stacking things to set my camera on, setting the photo timer, then finally running and jumping off the end of the dock at just the right moment to snap a photo of myself.  None really came out, but I will post some of them and a few of me on the bike when I get back to Taiwan and can retrieve them off of the camera.

After I had dried off, while siting on the dock enjoying every morsel of scenery, I headed back towards the hostel.  A quick decent on a backwoods gravel mountain road, and I very abruptly came to the realization the something was off, something didn't feel right on the bike.... I came to a sharp turn and grabbed the brakes to slow myself.  Naturally —or what I thought should have been after 20 years of riding a two wheeled bike as we know them today— I grabbed and squeezed the right side brake lever just a little harder than the left.  For for those of you not familiar with a bike, the right side brake lever, at least on every bike I had ridden up until this point, operates the rear brake whilst the left operates the front.  It seems that either the brakes were hooked up improperly on this bike or that this is just the way things are done here in this left hand driving country.  Nevertheless, I almost flipped over the front of the bike when the front tire locked up and began to skid (because I was unknowingly squeezing the front brake harder than I thought).  I figured it out real quick and managed to stay upright on two wheels errr...well at least one wheel.  The rest of the ride home I kept forgetting that the brakes were backwards and stayed a little confused.  I guess it was easier during the first portion of the ride to unconsciously adapt to the situation, rather than knowing about it.

All in all, mountain biking in the Japanese Alps was one of the highlights of my trip to Japan, and visiting the area was decidedly one of the best choices I made as to how to spend my time here.

Pictures will be posted soon, tomorrow possibly.

Cheers!

I'm Back!

      So I just got back from a month long backpacking trip through central America and holy shit I'm out of shape! I've come to the conclusion that a steady diet of greasy tacos, burritos, beer, long bus rides, and late nights is not a productive training method for winning a bicycle race. None the less I did the research, I'm back in Tucson, and hitting it hard. My teammate J-rad has been pushing me like a monster! The first week of my return I came down with what I thought was malaria! This was not fun! FEVER and diarrhea every day for 5 straight days... I finally kicked that shit though and now I'm back on the saddle! We've been on an incredible schedule, hitting the gym hard (on the strength engine program) 3 days, riding 4, and eating as much power food as we can possibly fit into our bodies . That leaves us one amazing Sunday to veg out and move as little as possible all day. My body has never felt so destroyed and energized at the same time. I'm loving every minute of it! GO SETT!!
                                                     JOSHER

Back in the Heat

So I arrived back in town a couple of weeks ago; I was *not* ready for
the heat! The cool cloudy weather of San Diego was a horrible primer
for the searing heat of the summer desert sun. We've been having to
get up at as early as 3am to make sure we're out and back before it
gets too hot.

There's been a lot to adjust to, other than the heat. We've decided
that we have a legitimate shot at winning this year's Tour de Tucson,
so we've been training really hard to make that goal. Three days in
the gym, and four on the bike. Our new on the bike regiment is a lot
of fun, we ride a different "type" of ride everyday. One day we go on
a technique ride (where we do lots of different pedal drills), one day
is a hill day (usually sprint repeats up a hill), one day is a sprint
day (flat ground sprints with a small group), and one day is an LSD
day (not the drug =p, "LSD" stands for Long Slow Distance). It's a
lot of physical activity. In four to six weeks we'll stop going to
the gym and up our bike time to six days a week. The goal is to get
our muscles (with the help of StrengthEngine) ready to be hammered for
about eight solid weeks before the race.

Hopefully things will cool off around here and we'll get a chance to
sleep in someday [=

Bonjour or Konnichiwa?

Hi all, I am sure that some of you avid readers may have grown weary of another post from me riddled with exciting tales of how to make a workout on a stationary bike enjoyable.  I assure you the feeling is mutual ;).  The last couple weeks have been more of the same stuff with some exciting prospects!  The first being the Tour de France, and the second being mountain biking in the Japanese Alps/ Mt. Fuji.

The beginning of July is always an exciting time for cycling fans around the world as it is the beginning of arguably the biggest, most famed, and most televised classic race, the Tour de France.  For any of you who don't know, this is a three week stage race through/around France with many stages snaking their way into neighboring countries and through the Pyrenees (a big big mountain range).  My somewhat lax schedule at the university in Taiwan and the time difference between Taiwan and Europe made it possible for me watch many of the stages until now.  It is the first year that I have been able to watch so much of the race, and at a time that I am so into cycling makes it all the more exciting.  If I wasn't already aching with excitement about being able to ride my bike when I get home, watching the Tour definitely brought me there.  I have been watching as the riders move around in the peleton and taking notes on their general prowess as well as when/where/why/how they move.  The more skilled classics riders often sit in the middle of the group thus not using as much energy as those on the sides or front.  I watch and learn, at least try to.

The second much more exciting tidbit is that my travels have brought me to Japan!  One of my two weeks here here will be spent at the base of the Japanese Alps and Mt. Fuji!  I am planning on renting a mountain bike a least a few times for day trips into the higher elevations.  I will keep everyone updated as to how amazingly fun it was!