March Roars Out Like a Lion

Last week's rain just about drove me up a wall. Neither the kids or I could get outside much. This led to the determination I am not wired to live in a place like Seattle. No offense to Seattle, but I need the sun too much to live somewhere it rains as much as it does in the Northwest.

Adding to the pressure of not getting to exercise, was the fact I got laid off from the agency where I was working. I got added to North Carolina's ten plus percent unemployment rate. "At least you'll have more time to train," said a cyclist friend of mine. "Yeah, but I don't get paid to train on my bike," was my response. My prospects looked better by the end of the week, so I'm hopeful this is temporary.

There were good things that happened last week on the cycling front. First, Oakley came in as a sponsor, which was a great endorsement. I've been an Oakley fan back before the days of the M-Frame. I've owned several pairs over the years including a recent pair of Flak Jackets that gave their life to save part of my face and eyes in a crash in January. In that specific crash, I learned sneezing while hitting a pothole can catapult you over the handlebar. I wouldn't recommend it.

I got an education from the team at Oakley about lens selection. It is a lot more complicated than I ever thought. My Oakley Radar Path glasses came with Fire and VR 28 Polarized lenses. I now have two great selections depending on the conditions. Unfortunately I had to wait a day before I could road test the Fire lens. I'll be writing a review/overview of lenses in a coming post.

The next day something mysterious twice punctured my front tube. The first time I thought it was a fluke, so I changed the tube, pumped it up and took off. I didn't notice the tire had gone nearly flat as a took a 90 degree right turn on a slightly wet road about a mile from my house. The bike slid to the left and out from under me. I landed on the pavement and bounced on my head before coming to a stop. One more reminder why cyclists wear helmets. I was fine and my bib tights saved me from getting road rash other than a small patch on my right knee. I've had far worse.

Through some meticulous detective work, I found small nick on the inside of my rim that obviously connected with tubes when they were pumped up beyond a certain point or hit a large bump. A little filing and it was gone-mystery solved.

The next day I finally got to ride a decent distance. I had been taking 1st Endurance Optygen for a few days and I had some Pre-Race added to EFS Lemon Lime drink before the ride. Holy cats as Bob Roll might say, what a ride! I was very comfortable and flying.

I know without question I've moved the bars on my VO2Max and my lactic threshold after the Optygen loading period (1 week). Pre-Race and EFS drink seem to amplify things another level entirely. I'm sure training has had something to do with my form, but the only thing without question that changed over the week was 1st Endurance products. I'm going to write in more detail about that and hopefully talk to one of the guys there to get some more perspective.

I passed the 1,000 mile ridden milestone Sunday the 28th. That's the earliest in the year that I have ever passed that mark. I feel great about it and look forward to rolling the next 1,000 even faster now the sun has returned from its winter hiatus.

Within the last 10 days or so my weight also headed in the right direction. A little discipline and some more saddle time pushed me from bouncing between 174-176 to bouncing between 169.5 and 172.5. Not a lot to crow about, but the direction is right for a change. Only 10-12 more pounds to go before I get to my first weight goal!

This week is supposed to be fantastic with sun and warmer temperature. I hope I can get sunny news on the job front and get some good training time.