Fatman Training

Birthday Ride

28-Apr-09

So yesterday was my birthday!! Yipee, yet another point to reflect how much time i have left to live, and to contemplate if i’ve been using my time on earth to its fullest. These questions may be answered in another post at another time. Though thought provoking, it did motivate me to get on the bike.

It was late in the day, after a flurry of conference calls and emails, I saddled up, and started out. Now i’ve only been out a few times this year, perhaps it was the frustration of the day, perhaps it was the frustration, of being as far away from my peak fitness as ever perhaps it was something else…

But i had planned on hitting some hills to take out the day’s frustrations. However as i headed down the hill from the ole homestead, and out 462, i noticed that i was moving, the thought did occur to me that there was a tail wind, but i was buffeted by a cross wind, and in reflection i didn’t remember any noticeable wind on the hill, and the leaves really weren’t being moved.

It was then were I though maybe i could break my record across the bridge, it is my own personal TimeTrail route, and so far this year i’ve only been able to manage a paltry 17mph avg speed across it. So since i only had limited time, i chugged some gatoraide and dropped the hammer.

My previous best time was 8.59 miles in 25.41 min which is an avg speed of 20.28 mph
Yesterday turning myself inside out i did the 8.59 miles in 23.29 which gave me an avg speed of 22.04 mph.

It occurred then that i had to have a tail wind, but still, beating my best time by a full two minutes?? Perhaps it helped, but given that my heart rate was peaked out, i figured i should take most of the credit.

After that i headed south along the river, and enjoyed the hot april day. Felt more like late july than late April. The sprint and the heat did take their pound of flesh, but somehow sprinting like that gives me hope that maybe there is something left in the tank for the season ahead.

BloglinesDiggdel.icio.usFacebookNewsVineRedditStumbleUponTechnorati

Filed in cycling | | Comments (0) »

Wellness Ride

28-Apr-09

After suffering for over a week with what i hope wasn’t swine flu.. No No it wasn’t, just a nasty cold, that me and the family and certain bike building friends had, i decided i was well enough to get on the bike.

Thus Will, came over for an after work loop, to get the last of the phlegm out and continue to get some legs under me for the season.

For what ever reason we headed into York City and did a modified MNR ride. The Opera was flawless as usual and surprisingly my legs felt pretty good. My chest and head on the other hand felt like they were under 5 fathoms of water..

Here are the details:

BloglinesDiggdel.icio.usFacebookNewsVineRedditStumbleUponTechnorati

Filed in Uncategorized | | Comments (0) »

Colango Dream = Success

20-Apr-09

After spending the bulk of a Wednesday evening in Will’s garage building up the Dream. It became apparent that i would need to put it through some trials. Sure i could have taken’ it out to one of the local parks, and wound it around some simple trails, or i could put it on the roof, and head to my in-laws for Easter. Then i would take it out and ride it to my dads, and get a good balanced feel for her, some road and some dirt.

I figured i would couple this ride, with meeting a couple of my gentleman friends at my fathers, for some traditional target shooting and bbq. Perfect, I’m motivated to get out of bed, I’m motivated to ride, and i’m motivated to get there, ah the trifecta.

I got out of bed to see that the rain from the evening before had subsided and it was midly overcast, and cool. After managing several hugs from my daughter, and watching my son crawl in earnest for the first time, i set out.

Descending the hill, the thought of my sanity was questioned. this wasn’t cool, it was down right cold, the bike really hadn’t been tested, and yet i was heading south where cellular coverage ebbed away, and would leave me at the mercy of Susquehanna County’s finest. Not a comforting thought, given they typical person drives an F350 superduty, with a 3 inch lift. However I had faith in the builder, figured it was only about 20+ miles, and that at a minimum i could limp it to my fathers, in the event of a system failure.

The first thing i noticed was how well the bike descended, even as my teeth chattered, the dream felt like a thoroughbred begging to be run out.

The roads turned out to what i expected them to be as i entered PA. Horrible! It was here that i found my first mistake of the morning, other than even getting on the bike, and that was that i forgot to inflate the tires to the max PSI. That made the climbing far harder than expected.

The first major climb was a 2 mile ascent, that when i told my father the way in which i had come, he looked at me as though crazy, and said. “hell even the fire company’s new 400 hp truck hates that hill” Yeah, and now so do i.

However like after any good ascent there is generally a good decent, this bike dropped of the top of the hill faster than Jessica Simpson dropped out of an advanced placement class.

Without pushing the bike hit a paltry 46 mph, and was as smooth doing it as my Masi Grand Criterium. I was then thinking just how solid a bike we had built. I climbed the rest of the way into Friendsville, where i had planned to enter stage 2 Dirt…

I came up to the dirt road, which on one end was fairly unadventurous, smooth, servicing several homes, but i new from hunting that the road turned into more of a traditional fire road rutted, muddy, rocky, and full of surprise.

I took a swig from the old canteen and headed in. The road was a gradual decent that allowed the speed to push 40 mph, about when i realized that it turned from a groomed road, into a trail. I thought to myself, should i slow, or … yeah it was or. I kept the hammer down, and pounded it through to the bottom of the trail. Yeah get some i thought, nothing like a high speed decent over baby head sized rocks, rutts and mud and slime. Yeah it was awesome.

Of course then i had to climb and do this twice more, but the bike handled it with ease. The only issue came on the second decent where it was even more rough. I had my hand on the hoods, and after a severe rough patch, it felt that that bars had broke, and come away from the bike. ( they only rotated down) that being said, I abondadende the hoods for the top of the bars, and the PAUL brake levers. Yeah those kick ass too!

I rolled in to my dad’s at the prescribed time, with a smile of satisfaction, that there is yet one more quality ride hanging in my garage.

BloglinesDiggdel.icio.usFacebookNewsVineRedditStumbleUponTechnorati

Filed in Uncategorized, cycling | | Comments (0) »

Welcome to the Stable.

14-Apr-09

Last week, my mechanic built up a little cross frame i found on Ebay. Nothing to exotic, just a Colnago Dream frame. I mean just because it has a hand painted frame from denoted as the AD4 scheme, and is more of a work of art than a bike. What the paint job hide of course is the reenforced gusset and deceiving large chain stays this bike looks every part the sexy bad ass it is.

The build is pretty simple:

Frame - Colnago Dream
Wheels - Mavic Aksium Race
Crank - FSA Gossmer (Single Ring, with Salsa Bash Guard)
Rear Derailur- Shimano 105
Additional Brake Lever (Paul Comp)

Weight = 20.93 lbs (With Pedals)

On the Assembly Stand

It is now high time to see if i have any of my MTB handling skills left, or if this beauty will shed me like water of a ducks back.

BloglinesDiggdel.icio.usFacebookNewsVineRedditStumbleUponTechnorati

Filed in Gear, Product Review, Uncategorized | | Comments (1) »

Is spring here yet?

17-Feb-09

It has been quite a while since i’ve posted. I’m not sure why, just seems i needed a break, and with the new job, and a new baby boy, well it seems that it was well deserved.

So what has been going on, i anxiously await spring, I’ve been out on the bike a couple of times already, slow but out. I’ve been spinning on the Masi as the Opera has just returned from Spectrum where they fixed the dents, and chiped paint. They did a quality job on the frame and now i have my master builder reassembling it. To be honest i can’t wait to get it back and put back on the pavement.

I’ve got some pretty doable goals for the year, i’ll share those later, the first however is to get moving, get excersing, and be ready for warm weather!.

I hope everyone has had a great fall and winter, and i’m glad to be back!
FM

BloglinesDiggdel.icio.usFacebookNewsVineRedditStumbleUponTechnorati

Filed in cycling | Tagged where the hell have i been? | Comments (0) »

TDP 2008 Day 1 Telemetry

09-Oct-08

BloglinesDiggdel.icio.usFacebookNewsVineRedditStumbleUponTechnorati

Filed in Uncategorized | | Comments (2) »

TDP 2008 Day 1 Summary

08-Oct-08

The morning arrived far to quickly. Could have been because the AC in the room was cranking and I was frozen solid. Could have been the anticipation of the 85 mile ride that would be staring me in the face when i slipped on my jersey. Could have been the anticipation of seeing all my friends clip on their bikes for a charity that does more than we can ever know. What ever the reason it was a short night, and not a lot of sleeping.

Will and I had a crap together that morning, and rolled down to the lobby where we were greeted by a fantastic breakfast. They had the all essential feast of BACON. ( hey i’m cycling 220+ miles, so bacon for breakfast is ok)

The first leg of the days journey was a short jaunt from the Hershey lodge to Chocolate World. Where we would be greeted by Hershey, and sent off on miles of asphalt. They had another contential breakfast there, and more importantly coffee. So most people grazed on the food mingled, and joked about how sore their asses would be when they got to King of Prussia.

Fatmans Delight

We were corralled outside to hear executives from both Hershey and the YSC, talk about the significane of this event. Hershey ponied up with a check for 300k, and indicated that the riders have raised at that point close to 450k! Nice job, (Still I found myself short of the minimum donation so if your reading this click the link to the right and help me finish strong. )

listening at Hershey

We assembled outside of Chocolate world for some last minute instructions, cautions about some decents, and then with the blast of the horn we were off.

Lock and Load

One of Will’s close friends were there with her kids, and mother. How great was that. To drive up to Hershey on a cold windy morning.. Thanks!

We were off. People cheering, and me again wondering about the condition of that fork. There were some sweet descents so i knew that sooner or later fate would take hold and either keep me up right or have me laid out in a hospital bed..

It is interesting when cycling in a group like this, your first day always seems to bring your A game. I was beginning to worry, as we rolled out my heart rate monitor was continously beeping at me, a sure sign of a lack of preparation and training. I figured I would have to keep in the red untill lunch to keep D in sight. But how much would that take out of me. I started to plan the bonk… Hell i was only 5 or 6 miles into the ride.

That was about when we hit our first decent climb. Will took off like car thief, and Deirdre systematically walked away from me on the climb. Already?? Fortunate for me, for as slow as i can go up the hill, its as fast as i can go down them. I crested the hill with them out of sight. (i never did see Will after that) So after pouring the coals on I hit the descent as Will would say like a dump truck of the empire state building.

With it spooled up, I got down and tucked with my chin on the bars and forgot about the fork, and all other thoughts. I knew i was screaming down the hill when the bike temporarily left the asphalt as i hit a dip. Deirdre reappeared then dissappeared.

Day 1 was challenging. (profile to be added later) As we headed south to King of Prussia, it is mostly rolling hills, so if your in shape you can get into a grove and rythym, but if your like me. that is easier said than done.

At one point during the day, D and i hit a series of hills. She again hit the hills for the climb and promptly dropped me. I didn’t really care, i was like oh well i lost……. I lost to an young older woman…. that doesn’t set well, humm, many thoughts rolled through my mind. But at that point the hill was my focus and my padentic pace allowed her to drop easily a 3/4 to a mile on me. by the time i reached the top, i had choked down a power bar, drank 1/2 a bottle of fluids, and figured if it stayed moderately flat, i could catch her. I mean i wasn’t going to let her roll into the rest stop with the established 3 minute lead to claim victory. The only flaw and I knew it were the hills, if the course had more good sized climbs, there would have been no way to salvage her break.

Fortunately for me. There were no big climbs, and after hammering some of the down hills, and keeping a high cadence and steady speed on the flats, i did manage to reel her back in.. Thank goodness cause I’m not sure my ego would have been able to take it.

We rolled in for lunch, ego intact, and enjoyed the best subway subs ever! Man they are a tasty treat.

We were warned that the last 6 miles would provide significant hills and that people should reserve some energy for the last couple of miles. That advise was spot on. Climbing through Valley Forge Park was no small task. However it was at the end and with the Sheraton Hotel within sight, we came in very strong.

more to follow

BloglinesDiggdel.icio.usFacebookNewsVineRedditStumbleUponTechnorati

Filed in Residual Self Image, Uncategorized | | Comments (0) »

2008 TDP Summary Part 1 .

07-Oct-08

Where to begin?? Okay I suppose I should start at the beginning.

Wednesday

I was interviewed by the local news paper, covering the event. Kinda funny, but it was your typical interview, why are you riding, how long is the ride, yada yada yada. Though the main purpose of the article was the same as the ride. Getting the word out about this event, and the YSC.

Then they want to send out a Photographer. Humm I thought, won’t that add 20 pounds? The Hershey Rep sent me T-shirt and a Hat for the photo shoot, and I figured i’d just try to suck in the gut.

They photographer came out, during a down pour on Wed, and she was like okay, lets just do the shot in your garage. WHAT!!! the garage is nothing short of a disaster, after all i just finished painting the house…. She assured me that it would be out of focus for the shot…. Yeah okay.. Sure..

Well Click Here for the article

I finished Wednesday by cleaning the ole Pinerallo Opera. All the while looking at the MASI hanging in on the wall, and thought to myself.. Humm, just an odd feeling, but some how, i felt i would be riding that bike for this years tour….

Thursday.

So there With everything packed. I set the Opera on top of the car. Headed inside to get some items and was ready to leave. When i went back out and looked at the car, I had sick feeling before i figured out what was wrong. I’m like where is my bike??? It isn’t ontop of the car…. OH SHIT!! It has fallen…… I never locked down the rack, as i was going to put the bra on the bike… I figured it had smashed the sun roof.. So i grabbed it and looked it all over.. Then there was the impending damage to the fork. The dropout was bent. SOB I’m like this sucks, so with the nausa in the stomach I called Will, (who was patiently waiting for me to pick him up) and indicated that I would need some time to prep the MASI. Of which hadn’t been ridden all season.

Before the fall

I pulled down the MASI, and was debating on what to do first. When Will called me back. He indicated he had another fork, and to bring both bikes. So I threw the MASI on the roof rack, the Pinerallo in the back, and headed to Lancaster.

The good news is the fork on the Opera, is for lack of a better term stout. The machined aluminum dropouts were bent but not cracked or other wise damaged. So between Will and myself we muscled the drop out back into place. After throughly inspecting the allignment of the front wheel, we were satisfied that it was fine..

Okay so with some nagging thoughts that the Carbon Fiber was fatigued we hit the road. The whole way there Will assured me that fork was fine and to put it behind me. Okay i thought.. He knows more about bikes then most.

We arrived later than we wanted in Hershey, and some how everyone already knew about the day hiccup. (Thanks Will)

The bonus for Thursday was that Beth brought the kids up

us, and met up with me, Will and Deirdre. I think my wife and Deirdre hit it off, and made some kind of deal to have Deirdre run my fat ass in the ground. I’m not sure i don’t have proof yet, but i’m convinced that they conspired.

After seeing Beth off, the three of us headed back to Chocolate world where we enjoyed the opening of the event, Good food, and got re-acquainted with old friends and starting making new ones.

Getting details on Start of ride

Since we had a long day a head of us, I headed to get the gear ready and organized so that at least I could be somewhat efficient in the morning.

The highlight of any of these rides is teh Jersey, Will it fit, will it accentuate my gut or hide it. These Jerseys were sweet! Love the colors, fit, and the full zip.

Jersey

The evening ended at the Bar when Deirdre laid down the gauntlet that she could drop me. So we ran a little wager that if either of us could drop the other by lunch the first day, the loser would donate to the winner…..

It was on..

BloglinesDiggdel.icio.usFacebookNewsVineRedditStumbleUponTechnorati