My hero (Stupid Roller Tricks)

New Blog, Come Visit

I started another blog for, well, just go look.

http://spin-cycling.blogspot.com

New Music Needed

I have a little bit of everything in my musc library but it seems its never enough. Between just looking for new stuff for no good reason and needing to put spin class workouts together, I am in need of some inspiration.

Here is an example of a 45 minute set for me:

Garbage - Stupid Girl

Lenny Kravitz - Where Are We Running

Dinosaur Jr. - Feel the Pain

Seether - Rise Above This

Gnarles Barkely - Crazy

Foo Fighters - All My Life

Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire

Good Charolette - Dance Floor Anthem

Pearl Jam - Evenflow

The Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin' Beats

U2 - Its a Beautiful Day

I welcome all suggestions in comments.

First Post

The idea of this blog is a to create an archive of the spin workouts I have created, to blog about spinning and its pros and cons, and to shamelessly self-promote the classes I teach.

...in which I make the rollers my bitch.

http://www.nencycling.org/..._which_i_make_rollers_my_b!tch

I can almost taste the burrito

The "diet-for-food" contest between Joe Savoie and I continues, as does the SmaackDown(ey) biggest loser contest on www.nencycling.org

Well, a milestone has been reached: I weighed in at 197.8 this morning.

I'll take a burrito, with guac, and a Modelo, please. Hold the chips: I'm on a diet.

Commentary - Lance Armstrong, Twitter, and Doping Controls

A little background to start with: Lance Armstrong is, well, LA. He was the Great Driving Force behind Cycling in the last 10 years. Now he is back and being very open about his life via Twitter. Twitter, for those out of the loop, is a micro-blogging platform which makes blogging as simple as sending a text message. (If you can't send a text - how'd you manage get here?) The kicker with Twitter is that not only does that little blog snippet get posted to your Twitter page but gets forwarded to all the folks who are following you.

In Lance's case, that is 8,629 people who most likely receive every random thought that Lance Twitters. He also Twitters photos, like the most recent one of his view of the press corps http://twitpic.com/q61k

Not only does Lance Twitter about the press, he Twitters about training, his kids, about Chris Horner being a redneck, and anything else that comes up. He is a BlackBerry addict so this, if he is anything like the rest of us CrackBerry addicts, helps feed the addiction.

Which leads us to the last topic: Doping controls. Armstrong's comeback platform was that he was returning to cycling to promote cancer research. In doing so, he would be completely transparent posting information about his training and life, and doing his own doping controls which would be made public. This was all in an effort to prove he is clean now and to quash any rumors of his possible doping in the past.

The UCI also does their own doping controls, travelling to wherever an athlete is, unannounced, to get a blood sample for testing in and out of season. So far, according to Armstrong's Twitters, he has had eight blood tests since he returned to training.

Understandably, Armstrong gets a little frustrated by these. But, he is also quick to point out that he has no reason to dodge them, and welcomes them as a means to promote his good intentions and his clean training.

Are eight tests in the last couple months excessive? Maybe. But, if Armstrong can pass each and every test with flying colors, he may be the savior of cycling. To many Lance WAS cycling and, like it or not, cycling lost some of its popularity when he retired. With Lance back, using Twitter, getting tested, we can all have a figure to follow again. Someone we all WANT to like and trust, and believe in. Heck, Nike has even resurrected its cycling shoe division to support him.

If he doesn't let us down, Lance may bring cycling back to what it should be: Clean, healthy, exciting, and competitive. And, hopefully, marketable again. It was hard to market cycling as a sport when things started going south with doping scandals but when Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis were caught, cycling in the US almost died on the side of the road.

Hopefully Lance can breathe some life into cycling again and drag our sport out of the mud.

 

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Happy Birthday Mitch!

Wade & I Halloween 95
Originally uploaded by mitchyd_2000

My brother (on the left) is celebrating his birthday today. Not sure what he was celebrating here...

Happy birthday bro!

And, I'm Free

I started this post to reference the sling I was wearing to torture, and have some image of a torture device to compare the sling to.

But when I started looking for one, I was reminded that some places still use actual torture. Not funny at all.

So, simply put - its been nearly eight weeks of limited mobility. But now I'm free.

Yay!

3 Days, 20 Hours, 57 Minutes

Time ticks on....

Not like I'm counting tho.

And the Countdown Begins...

Anyone who knows me, reads my blog, looks at my Facebook page, or has anything to do with me knows that I am VERY anxious to get rid of the shoulder immobilizer and pillow and get on with therapy.

Well, the days til that happens are in the single digits now - 8 days. Hallelujah.

It is ON !!!

Joe Savoie and I have a competition going on as Joe describes it on www.nencycling.org - Jon and I set up a little bet to help encourage each other to loose weight in the off season. His goal is to weigh 190 by 1 March... Mine is to loose go from 185 by 1 March. For both of us, it is about 15 lbs. Whoever gets there to their goal first or is the closest by 1 March gets a free Dinner.

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Website Extreme Makeover and Twitter!

The Elkhorn Valley Cycling Club www.nencycling.org has been given an extreme makeover, hopefully making better use of space while displaying tons of useful information. The new page displays the same calendar, blogs, and stories and now has local news and a wiki.

For those who use Twitter, Elkhorn Valley Cycling now has a Twitter feed - add nencycling or team@nencycling.org to your Twitter account for updates! In the near future, catch racing updates, last minute ride notifications, and other tidbits on local cycling via Twitter updates to your cell phone or email inbox.

Don't use Twitter? Check it out today, it is a great way to keep up  on updates on such things as Nebraska Cycling News, Velo News, Rock Racing, and even Lance Armstrong. Even Dan and Jon have Twitters.

Stop by and check it out.

 

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Ok, now what?

After surgery, I thought recovery was going to last forever. I visited the therapsit a couple days after surgery and was given some rudimentary exercises that were supposed to take me six weeks to do at full range of motion.

Wednesday I went back to the therapist, one week after surgery. I went through my exercises for the therapist. Huh, you are at the four week level. Can I do more? No.

Really?

No.

So, its more of the same - going through the motions. But - its only 4 1/2 weeks now.

Getting Back Into Things

Slowly returning back to the world. Cautiously. And optimistically.

Sugery. Tomorrow. Noon.

Pretty much tells it all. Except for the part about wearing a shoulder immobilizer for the next 6 weeks.Then 6 weeks of therapy.

So, look out January: Here I come.

Be Brave

No Broken Bones But My Season Is Officially Over

Raced the Branched Oak Psycowpath today. Legs, check. Feeling good? Check. Bike working as well as an old NRS can? Check. Shoulder pads? Oops, knew I forgot something.

Things were going well. I boogied up the one mile gravel road climb, in site of the leaders and about mid-pack. Into the singletrack no problem. Wow, was that the first (of four) lap I just finished? Cool. I'm right where I want to be. Lap two, still going ok.

Lap three I relaxed. I was keeping my pace, cruising. About halfway though, there is this blind right hander, with a snow fence catch to keep folks from doing a header into the trees and/or lake. Someone (Kevin Murray but who keeps track?) had hit that earlier and tore it partway down, so I was used to just crusing through the corner with the orange fence on the ground. This time, someone had dutifully put the fence back, Wow, I can blow through here and....

Down I went. Hard. On my right shoulder. Sounded like I crushed a bunch of peanut shells under me. Got up, off the trail, and realized my shoulder was dislocated. Moved it around a little and it slipped back in. So, I found my dislodge speedometer and, after half a jilion people went by, including Dan "Animal" Ertz, I got going again. I can finish this.

And I did, cautiously. Not too bad until I tried to climb up the rocky sections. That hurt.

When I finished I stopped to chat a bit with Jerry S, Dan Ertz, and Rich Anderson. I said hey, I crashed. My shoulder pops when I do this, and this. Then it went out again.

Almost couldn't get it back in that time. I looked up and Dan's eyes looked a bit wide, and he asked me politely to not do that again.

Went home, got it x-rayed. No bones broken but I have this really cool sling to wear until I can see the orthopod.

Congrats to Dan, Taira, Rich, and Kevin the new kid. I haven't heard how Tim did but I am sure it went well for him.

Was it really this hard?

Trying to create a slide show like I have seen on Sean's site. Only took me forever to figure it out.

In hind sight it was OK

My trip to Spearfish didn't turn out quite like I planned but I am committed to doing it again.

I know I can ride better knowing what to expect. And hopefully my jeep won't blow on the way home again (to the tune of $1600)

d

Dakota Five-0 coming!

My year-long goal of the Dakota Five-0 is nearly here. Leaving Saturday, racing Sunday, drive home Monday.

Can't wait!
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