brighter brights

Man I feel good today, I guess after 5 days of the worst physical sickness I have ever had anything feels good. I am still pretty much on a liquid/soft diet due to the sores in my mouth but I am feeling better and was even able to get out for a ride today. Did not have the power but man what a great ride. Have not been able to brush my teeth yet, maybe tomorrow. I have not been out ofthe canyon in a week now, a new record for me. I am excited to go back to work tomorrow and get back to normal. Hope to be somewhat ready for Sundance this weekend.
You gotta come try out the new pavement on the oaks road, good stuff.

Sir Isaac Lime vs Poncho Punch

I will be the first to admit I don't do well being sick, at least this time around I feel so bad, getting up and doing something is not an option. Yesterday I was gassed walking down the driveway. This is my third day of laying around and I now get a sense for how fox spends his days- watching MTV.

Because of the sores in my mouth my diet consists of otter pops, I think Sir Isaac lime is my favorite so far. I figure if my basal metabolic rate is around 1800 cal and my very limited activity probably only adds another couple hundred calories then I need to consume somewhere around 80/day to stay out of a caloric deficit, that's going to be tough.

When we built our home Rosie sat in the garden tube and had it moved up and down so it would be installed at the optimal height to enjoy the mountain view, until now I have not used it much but the last few days it has been my highlight! Also, the last couple days a young bull moose has been hanging around the house and Eva wants to chase him, I should try to get some pics.

From what I understand about the coxsackievirus A16 it may take a bit of time to return to normal and the last thing I want is it to morph into a case of viral meningitis. I may have to revise my racing plans a little and build myself back into shape after this ordeal.

I am bummed to miss the draper race. I think the last time I raced in draper was on July 17th (my birthday) and we started down the draper days parade route. I had a good battle with Gabriel Blanco but came out on top, you never forget the wins on your birthday.
Time for another mouth numbing otter pop, have a great weekend!

horizontal

I am laying on the floor at home just passing time in a dazed stupor.

Little Eva has been suffering all week with coxsackievirus which is a member of the enterovirus family and often referred to as hand foot and mouth disease. It is a viral infection that is common in children and very contagious. She had a bad fever and then developed sores all over her mouth which has made eating and sleeping nearly impossible. We found out that one of Eva's little cousins had it after they had been playing together, the damage was done. Once you develop the antibodies you are protected for life, like chicken pox. Most adults have the antibodies and thus it is uncommon for adults to become symptomatic.

I have felt kinda weird for a few days but with no real symptoms, today I feel like death with fever, chills, aches, sore throat, and visibly swollen lymph nodes in my neck. I went to the Sundance weeknight race last night to put some confidence back together and test out my return to regular cleat positioning. I did not have good legs and I really started to notice my swollen lymph nodes but the cleat position felt good and I was able to spin away from big ring Fox and Alex on some steep switchbacks for my first Sundance win in a while, although after the race I new things were headed south.

Sundance is where it all started for me and I actually built allot of the trails we ride on today while working there in the summer while in high school. I also think that's were I first met fox in the summer of 1989.

Back in my old shoes with only the minor change of moving my cleats a little behind the MTP joint feels good but I will need a little more time on it before I feel perfect. I think with my experiemnt I underestimated all the years of muscle memory and physiological changes.

Anyway, back to the plague. I was not able to make it into work today and have been sleeping on and off all day. At this point things don't look good for racing this weekend but I will just have to take it day to day. I am a little bummed because I think my fitness is pretty good I just have not been able to put it all together this year, I guess I can't complain as last weekend I can only blame my own botched experiment. I guess if racing was easy we wouldn't do it, maybe we would be golfers. Speaking of which Kyle is coming to today for week.

Sorry for all the rambling text but I have nothing else to do at the moment. Also, I would stay away from the Emigration Oaks loop on the road bike for about a week as they are stripping the bad chip seal and will be repaving next week, can't wait for smooth asphalt.

i got learned/waxed

I think this is the first time ever I have sucked in a race and am not that disappointed, actually I kind of expected it after a week in Cali, a trial cleat position, and a sick little girl that has not slept for a couple nights. After the first lap I new I did not have any power so I turned off the gas and just cruised around to continue the testing. Today I learned allot and accomplished exactly what I set out to do.

Here is what I learned:
- The midfoot cleat position works well on smooth long sustained climbs and flats, possibly over long distances. Decreased power is a huge disadvantage in short events. Cross, short tracks, and MTB are out of the question. May be good for RAAM type events or sustained hillclimbs/TT's.
- Midfoot cleat does not accelerate or generate enough peak power when seated or standing to work well for general MTB racing, unable to maintain momentum on rollers.
-Midfoot cleat provides less shock absorption on rough terrain and does not accommodate terrain changes as well.
-Muscle use is very different and would possibly require allot of time to approach the efficiency and power of a normal position.
-For me the position places allot of strain on the low back.
-You can gain some improved stability by moving the cleats slightly behind the MTP without the negatives of the mid foot.
- I have now made a few small tweaks to my old position and am feeling good about it, I should be ready to go for Draper.

Although I never like to ride around a race course without putting forth a race effort I would not have been able to learn what I did without giving it a go, now I know and knowing is half the battle. I never want to be afraid to try new things.

Unfortunately we had to jet after the race because Eva was still having a hard time, we wanted to hit up the Sherwin's after party. Hope everyone had a good time.

cheers

AM sun

Got home Thursday night and got a little ride in on the MTB. Sure appreciate Utah after a little time in Cali. Still working with the position, back to a flat bar with the lower seat, not 100% confident yet but will give it a go tomorrow anyway. Racing is the ultimate test. Little Eva has had a fever from a couple monster teeth coming in, hope to get more sleep tonight. I was puttering around on the freeze creek trail by my house tonight and stacked it good, its always when you least expect it. A couple years ago I broke 3 ribs just putzing around, this time I was lucky.

LBC

Quick update from Long Beach, no snoop yet. This place is gray. I bet 30 yrs ago it was not always foggy in the am, this is man made fog. Moisture atracted to the particulate matter in the air. My butt is gettng flat. I can't wait to ride when I get home, a forced break from the bike is good but I am getting the itch. People sure get defensive about a simple thing like cleat position, I just want to keep an open mind and give it try, don't worry no one will make you try it.
Gotta get back to sitting

mid foot

I opted out of racing this weekend so I could do some work on my bike position. I have been thinking about this change for a while but after the poor sensations I had a 5 mile pass I decided to give it a try. It all started years ago when I was treating a guy who had ruptured his Achilles tendon and had it surgically repaired. He was a cyclist and the first active thing he was able to to do was ride a bike with his heel on the pedal. I have also seen a few cyclists with Achilles tendonitis/tendonosis which baffles me. The propulsive muscles for cycling are the big 3- quads, glutes, and hams so why is the calf musculature failing. The foot is a long lever that is solely controlled by the small calf muscle with a very small lever arm, thus the calf is constantly firing to keep the foot in a rigid position and it fails, and if it does not than it is at least sapping energy that could be used for propulsion. Why do cyclists mount cleats over the metetarsal heads? Tradition? I don't know and either do the experts or researchers. While researching this topic I have come across quit a bit of data supporting a change in cleat position from the metatarsal heads to the tarsal metatarsal joint (TMT). I am not going to go into the biomechanics of it here but you can read about it or I am happy to share what I know. Done right it should decrease the peak torque needed to generate a certain output.

Cyclingnews, Steve Hogg, Joe Friel, and Gotz Heine of Biomac have spoke allot about this change and the biomechanics make sense to me but I wonder why no else is trying this?

So I took the plunge and modified some old shimano road shoes to accommodate midfoot cleat position. It is weird at first and took a little while to sort out how much I need to lower my seat but I think I am getting it dialed in. I only have a few rides on the MTB with this set up and have yet to race but I think I am convinced this is superior to ball of foot cleat position. At first I though technical riding and the DH would suffer but so far I have found the opposite, the TMT joint is very stable and requires much less muscle contraction to maintain balance when not pedaling. Anyway, I am rambling now but am very excited to see where this change takes me.

My plan is to race it this weekend at soldier hollow, the bad part is I leave for Long Beach (home of snoop) tomorrow for a bionics certification a will not be on the bike all week. The time off the bike will be good but I wish I had more time on this set up.

Eva and little Richard enjoying lunch

happy mothers day

no dust

I don't really have anything to creative to say about the 5 mile pass race yesterday. I rolled off the front a couple minutes into a cold and windy 3 hour tour of some of Utah's best moto'ed up dirt roads. Without much technical terrain I had a hard time staying focused and found myself pondering the upcoming Jazz game. Without the wind 4 laps takes about 2:45, with the wind 2:59. I should have rode with the group for 3 laps and then put in a 1 lap TT, that would have been more stimulating, but then I could have gone to antelope islands for that.

I was a little disappointed about how my legs felt and found myself standing on the rollers and short climbs, this is a very inefficient way to ride and gives my SI joint trouble. Fresh legs= seated climbing=no back pain=more power for longer duration. I guess that's the goal.

Good to see Art, Daryl, RicO, and AliG out in the dirt.

Enjoyed the Jazz game with Fox last night, Miller's paddin his pockets with 4 more home games.

Afternoon road ride to east canyon today with Fox, Norm, and Spencer. I was psyched to ride with other people but those clowns want to ride all day so I ended up by myself anyway. At least I got home for plenty of play time with Eva. For me their comes a point where time on the bike only adds to fatigue and not to fitness, after a mountain bike race that point comes pretty quick. No for some rest days.

a few days early?

For some reason the VA celebrated cinco de mayo today, it's May 2nd? I passed on the taco's for my PBJ!

It's about time to race again. It has been almost a month without racing which is a long time for me this time of year. I hope to have some good energy although I know I have some work to do before I get that motorcycle like feeling. To bad we won't have our cool new Mona Vie kits for a while, maybe I will race in a golf shirt.

Basement foundation covered under the deck, another project down...


On to the next... pathway to the new flagstone patio and fire pit.




yeaaaa!