Put a lid on it!

Keeping the lid on.

Like many families in Folsom, our household is dealing with a nasty bout of the flu. I was lucky enough to be able to race at Snelling over the weekend but since then I had to focus on taking care of family and work so the blog has been on the back burner for a couple of days. Not to mention that I know I have a lot to post about the race and all the events leading up to it and these will be longer and more involved posts. In the meantime I do have mention a disturbing trend I have seen the past few days of riding.  There have been a large number of what I would call "serious cyclists" riding along without helmets.

Yesterday I thought it was a fluke.  Since it was Sunday, there were a lot of people on the bike trail to begin with.  So the eight riders I saw going without helmets may have not been that many compared to the total number of riders.  Then I saw another five more cyclists (all geared up in riding gear) going without helmets today. Most had some sort of cycling cap on instead.  I find this hard to believe because anyone who is seriously into cycling know that freak accidents can happen to anyone at anytime.  It doesn't matter how long you have been riding, how skilled you are, or how careful you are; squirrels happen, unseen road hazards happen, rapid joggers happen. You can be the most experienced, observant cyclist out there and the road could rise up to meet in a way not meant be the friendly Irish blessing. We are all vulnerable and all of us has *someone* that would be hurt if we were injured with a cracked skull. I am not sure what is behind this trend but I wish it would stop because I have little desire to see someone's unprotected melon after it has met asphalt at any speed.  Be safe and keep that helmet strapped on.  

Next blog stop... The Road to Snelling....

THUD!!!

What's that sound? The sound of me (Dawn) falling off of the Livestrong.com tracking wagon. The past week for some reason I just have not been tracking like I should. Okay, I do know why; because I started messing up and going over my calorie goals. I think the break down came from unrealistic goals. I selected the "2 pounds per week" option and it had me at 1,334 calories per day. After about a week of that -in combination with my beloved 16 month old going back to his schedule of waking up every few hours during the night- I think my body went into crisis mode. Lack of sleep, lack of calories, baking all kinds of treats for a potluck and a birthday party and smelling all that awesome stuff I could not eat in combination with the return of winter cold just threw me into a tail-spin and I was adding 200 to 400 calories per day over what my goal was.

Watching the calorie bar go over the red a few days in a row is not pleasant in the least and so I have failed to log on for the past couple of days. I have by no means binged, I know I am staying well under 1,800 calories. My naughtiness being having an extra bowl of corn flakes and milk after I finished my calories for the day. I have re-adjusted the calorie goals to 1,550 and I am about to log in again today.

I am forcing myself out into the open with my mis-step to make myself accountable and to hopefully get back on track (and tracking). So, I'm dusting my tush off and getting it back in gear (hopefully not the granny one.)

At Least Bring Dessert: Sierra Nevada Race 3



 We try our best to support cycling in general and especially the up-and-coming generation of cyclists. Hence our support of the Folsom High Cycling Team and the Sierra Nevada High School Race Series. We try to make as many of the events as we can but it just isn't always possible with my own training, race schedule and a house full of kids that need a dad and that whole holding down a full-time job thing. 

At one point, the sun was actually shining!

  We had a lot of factors working against our attending the third of the Sierra Nevada High School Race Series: kid recovering from being sick all week, another kid celebrating a birthday that afternoon and trying to bring all the kids (including a small toddler) out on an day of incredibly cold and capricious weather. We were realists, there was no way we could attend the whole event, but we could at least bring dessert.

This pic says it all... F-U-N!!!

That morning my wife got up early to bake her famous cobbler and double chocolate brownies. We bundled all the kids in the car and proceeded to go shopping for party decorations and supplies and pick up the birthday cake. It took us forever to get four kids ten and under going and by the time we did everything we needed to do we were wondering if the races were still even going on. We contemplated just driving to the party and skipping the races... well.. okay... *I* contemplated skipping it but my wife glared at me with the giant platter of cobbler and brownies pieces on her lap and somehow we ended up at the Granite Bay park just in time to watch the end of the races.

The weather didn't seem to bother the racers.

It was cold but the sun was shining and we decided to let the kids play as we searched out the Folsom High camp to deliver our goodies and find out what was going on. We trekked around the site and found an impressive camp set up with burgers grilling and a pot of chili steaming. We delivered our goods and hung around as we watched the riders returning from the race; legs coated, faces splattered with mud.

  

The bitter winds kicked up and blew in a wall of clouds, the whole area went dark and there was a scramble to move food under the awnings as the rain began to fall. We realized that the event was well in hand and all we were doing was standing around taking up valuable awning space that was needed to house the racers and the folks who were actually getting stuff done.

So that was it for our "day" at the races; we didn't see much; we did even less but hey... we brought dessert!

Then the storm rolled in....

Shaky First Step



A rare pic of me, usually on the other side of the camera, at the BP Crit last weekend.



Watching my husband Chris racing has been a mixed blessing; both fun and frustrating. I never thought I would become a cycling groupie but when I went to his first race in an “official” capacity to take photographs I found myself unable to resist the overwhelming urge to scream my lungs out as he sped by. It was fun and exciting to see him realize a dream and show off all of his work. The second race I was very excited and restless, more photographing, more screaming. Then it all changed as I watched the women’s ride in the Bicycle’s Plus Criterium.

Women's race at last weekend's BP Crit.

Watching them speed by -thrusting powerful legs against the pedals, propelling themselves forward at speeds that the human body was not originally designed to go- I felt such a longing, even envy, and a deep, deep knowledge that I should have been out there with them.  The rest of the day my restlessness grew into crankiness. Everyone was having a blast out there and I wanted in!

I felt frustrated at my limitations and how slowly I was progressing because of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). I spent the rest of the week whining at my husband that I needed his help (childcare, etc.) to get my exercise opportunities increased. With Chronic Fatigue you need more sleep and rest than the average person and are supposed to reserve your energy. Having five kids (the youngest being Evil Kenevil reincarnated who is home with me all day and still likes to wake me up several times at night) and the sole cook and cleaning crew, it seems like I am always running on empty.

Today I had my oldest help watch the youngest while I finally scrubbed the bathrooms, baked, cooked and stored food for the week and a slew of other chores that desperately needed to be caught up with. After five hours of whirlwind cleaning, and a hasty shower to make myself presentable, my husband returns from his ride and invites me to hop on my bike and go for a ride with him. I was overjoyed when all the planets aligned and my oldest had some rare spare time to watch the toddler at the same time my husband had some spare time and energy. My initial surge of adrenaline from happiness wore off once I was finally geared up. I had already overdone my meager reserves and, for those who understand CFS, I should have stopped there and rested the remainder of the day. My exhaustion rose before me like a brick wall, but seeing my husband in his riding gear and having this rare moment in time where I had babysitting and a free husband I ignored it and stepped out into the garage. The second wall, instead of just rising in front of me, slammed me full in the face. The bitter cold.

For folks with CFS, no two people experience it the same. On the plus side I am not confined to a wheel chair or a feeding tube, on the minus side, I cannot bear the cold. It is not just that it is uncomfortable for me it is a full body reaction of pain, tremors and a sudden flare of all of my CFS symptoms. I stood stock still for several moments, trying to figure out how to tell my husband that I just couldn’t do it. The skies were fair and the sun was out but the bitter cold robbed me of any resolve I had to face and climb that first wall.

When I explained how painful the cold was to my husband, leading into telling him that I was going to skip the ride, he assured me that it was warming once I got into the sun. I had to at least give it a try to see if he was right. When the wind blew across my wet hair I knew I was in trouble. The look on my husband’s face was excited and hopeful, he so needed me to take this step and after whining all week about not getting the opportunity to work out I could not back out now.

I mounted the Rockhopper 29er (I really need to name that bike…) and clipped in, scared to death of how I would react to the cold and cursing my stupidity for riding in such chill temperatures with wet hair.  The feeling of a mountain bike is so different from that of a road bike that I was initially distracted as I pumped the pedals. I was surprised to find that I had built up quite a bit of speed and for the space of a minute I was flying down the road towards the trail and feeling great. After about a quarter of a mile my body gave up on me. My legs burned even though my lungs assured me that we were doing great and could go for miles. My arms felt like lead even as my heart pumped away with aplomb. It is a strange affliction, to be a strong woman with CFS; healthy yet weak, powerful potential with so little stamina to sustain it.

I ignored the signals my body was screaming at me to stop and rode on with my husband. We live in a very hilly area and I found great joy and speed in the downhills, leaving my husband behind only to know that for every downhill you had to conquer another uphill. The uphill treks were slow and I was terrified that I would stop on a hill, something I avoided with every fiber and cell in my being.  I stood on the pedals, my legs screaming and shaking and I just…. kept…going. Several hills it took to prove to myself that I had honored my husband’s effort to ride with me. Even my stupidity knows boundaries and I apologized to my husband while explaining that we had to start heading home. He was more than satisfied and as we slowly mounted the last couple of hills we talked about how strong I used to be.

We talked of how the last time I returned from the “Steve Pit” I had lived in a flat area and my initial rides were much easier and on a road bike. He talked to me about how impressed he had been at how I had a “quick first step” and that he had trouble catching up to me. Somehow, as he talked, my disappointment in my limitations turned to hope and resolve. His words made me feel stronger and although I was tired and felt that the first trip out was way too short, I felt good about what I did today.  My legs are still trembling and my arms at the keyboard still move like lead, but I took that first ride, my shaky first step.

-Dawn Grove

Cycle Folsom ride and bike update

Just stopped by Bicycles Plus on Thursday to strip parts off the cracked Tarmac frame.

I went on a local hill climbing jaunt with some fellow Cycle Folsom members early this morning.  Great group of riders!  They were very friendly and competitive and made me glad I finally got a chance to ride with them. (Thanks to Ross Del Duca for setting it up.)  We had a great time riding up Costco Hill, Beatty, Beals Point, and back.  I did okay riding the old Allez road bike, but it definitely doesn’t feel as fast or responsive when climbing.  It feels like I am in the gym riding an exercise bike; working hard but not really going anywhere.  Hard to believe that at one point, this bike felt light and spry.  It is easy to get spoiled by newer technologies. 

Speaking of riding my old bike… I am still waiting to find out more information on when I will get a replacement frame on my race bike.  It isn’t looking like I will have a bike back before my next race in Snelling.   However I got a bit of good news.  Matt, one of my Body Concepts teammates, has a good backup race bike that he is going to loan me for the race!  He wants to make sure I have the “best opportunity to do well.”  That is very nice of Matt to do, I am lucky to be a part of such a great team!

So, that’s it for now, despite this bad weather I have been doing a lot of training rides finding sucker holes where I can get them, leaving me only a little time with family and less time to blog.  But hey, I have been enjoying the chicken melts and encourage you to try them out, they really are awesome!

Lance's Retirement???

I am far from a Lance Armstrong expert but I have followed Lance through-out the years; I've read his book "It's Not About The Bike", I've watched his races and even bought a Livestrong helmet last week. After watching his career and his star rise I have to wonder what he is going to do now that he is "re-retired"? He says he wants to focus on his family and charities but he likes being in the spotlight and being in the spotlight is what fuels the interest for his charities.  He is only 39 and he is several years removed from his last tour win.  His star is fading fast.  I thought he would continue with domestic races, but maybe that isn't the case. Now that he is out of racing, how does he maintain his lifestyle and the public's interest in him?

Are there truths to the doping rumors and he figures it is better to get away from the sport? (Gads, I hope not. The last thing we need is another athelete-hero going down in flames for doipng his way to the top.) He made the statement that if he had been doping he would have been caught after so many years and I have to give him that point. Either he is clean of there has been a massive cover-up to protect the man who has done so much to help make cycling such a huge, lucratic mainstream industry this century.

It is ironic that at 39 he is retiring while at 37 I am just getting my racing career started. Well, folks, I guess it's my turn to wow the cycling world now.  ;)  Let's see what I can do at Snelling in about a week on my old Allez. (This outta be good....) 

GT Chicken Melt

What the GroveTribe had for dinner tonight. Pair it with a nice salad or favorite veggies.

So you may remember our recipe for "Hundred Ways Chicken", well we believe in providing continued customer support here at Tribe Tracks so we thought we would give you a recipe with which to utilize some of that tasty chicken you baked up for the week.

This recipe is our new favorite. I love it, Chris loves it, even the kids love it. (Wow, something EVERYONE will actually eat. Novel.) It is warm, crunchy and even creamy. It is a sinful tasting, looking, smelling and even feeling comfort food that will cook up fast, fill you up and only takes up 400 calories out of your daily allowance. So, if you are watching the calories to lose weight or wanting a protein packed sandwhich for a recovery meal, here is our offering to you. (Note: This recipe is for a single sandwhich. If kids need a slightly smaller sandwhich just weigh out three ounces of chicken breast instead of four. Or just eat part of their sandwhich. Heh.) Here are the nutrition stats for this recipe:

So take out some of that wonderful "Hundred Ways Chicken" (breast) you have stored in the fridge. (I have learned to pre-shred the chicken breast into a large ziploc bag while it has cooled but it is still warm so it is all ready to go when you want to use it.) I weigh out about four (4) ounces of the shredded chicken breast for each serving. If you want to guess then one very large baked chicken breast should get you almost eight (8) ounces or two adult sized sandwhiches.

Ingredients per Sandwhich
4 ounces of cooked chicken breast, shredded
2 slices of Earthgrains Cracked Wheat Bread (you can substitute other kinds and just recalculate calories yourself but you may want to give this bread a try.)
1 Slice of American Cheese
1/2 Tablespoon of Mayonnaise
1/4 Tablespoon of Butter

After you weigh out your desired amount of chicken toss it in a bowl with the 1/2 tablespoon of mayo. It may seem dry but just mix it up as well as you can. When that is ready, whisper some butter onto your warm pan and place your bread on the butter, stack on your slice of cheese (yes, while it is in the pan, just be careful) and place the chicken mixture onto the cheese and top with the second slice of bread.

Let this cook on medium-low heat, this is a thick, dense sandwhich and you want it warm all the way through with the cheese melted (hence the name). When the bottom is golden brown, remove the sandwhich, whisper a bit more butter onto the pan and then place the uncooked side of the sandwhich down to get nice and crisp. Be patient! Maybe slide the sandwhich around the pan a bit to get any stray traces of butter and let the other side get golden brown and crispy.

Serve hot! You can make four of these at once if you have a square griddle pan and have all the ingredients ready to go. Enjoy and please let us know if you try it and what your verdict was in the comments section below.

Everything Old...

Last century's Centurion

So when does your old bike become your new ride? When you take your “new” bike into the shop after an exciting race that weekend and get the news that makes your heart drop into your stomach. “Your frame is cracked in two places.” Not only where these words crushing to hear just a day after experiencing such an amazing day racing, but they were ironic as well. You see, this is not the first time I’ve heard these words.

Somewhere around 1999 I purchased a Specialized Allez aluminum bike.  That bike was a substantial upgrade over my old steel Centurion Dave Scott Iron Man Masters (although the Centurion has it beat on the length of the name).  The Allez felt so much lighter and quicker.  While I have many fond memories of riding the Centurion, it was quickly relegated to collecting dust in the garage in favor of its younger, faster successor. 



The younger and faster Allez fresh from riding the Sierra Tahoe Century



A few years into owning the Allez I sprinted hard from a dead stop at a stop light. (I enjoyed doing this to see how fast I could get up to and would do it at some point on every ride.)  Well, the frame wasn’t up to the task on this day; I heard a noise (I can’t even remember what it sounded like now) and the frame felt funny.  I eased up and took a look.  The frame was cracked on the side of the drive train.  I was a long way from home so I decided to see if I could limp back.  I made it back safely and took the bike back to where I had bought it to have the frame replaced by Specialized. It would take about a month to get the Allez back.

This left me with my old Centurion, dusted off and brought out of the stable for some more adventures.  The first few rides were awful but after a while I started to get used to it again.  It did always have flawless shifting that I haven’t had in any bike I have owned since.  However I have been forever spoiled by the integrated shifting of newer bikes I have owned.  Having to take my hands off the handlebars and reach down for the levers is a pain.  The frame flexed a lot and the bike didn’t feel as spry on the hills or sprints. The Centurion had served me well but his era was long gone and I longed for the effortlessness of the Allez.

I rode the Allez hard, including putting a couple of centuries on him, but time passed and he too became more of a relic than a ride.  When I had an amazing opportunity to purchase a used Specialized Tarmac, it became the Allez’s turn to go out to pasture.  History repeated itself and with far more painful thoroughness than I could have though possible.

It was on Sunday, the day after the Bicycles Plus Early Bird Criterium, that I took the Tarmac into Bicycles Plus to have a shifting issue looked at. I was in shock, and initially in disbelief, when they came back with some bad news, unrelated to the shifting.  My frame had two cracks in it.  I don’t know when it happened.  I may have been riding the bike like this for the past year. No matter when or how, the Tarmac was no longer a viable riding option and I was left desolate with several races registered for over the next few weeks.

The fate of the frame was unknown. We were not sure if we could get the paperwork to get the frame replaced by the manufacturer and I was left contemplating trying to go back to the Allez as my primary road bike. If we can’t solve the problem with the Tarmac, we just can’t afford to replace it.

So it is time to take the old Allez out, dust it off, and get it ready for action once again.  I had it out there today doing high-tension hill repeats.  The frame is too small (that is another story…), the ergonomics of the handle bars are awful compared to the Tarmac, and it doesn’t feel as responsive when sprinting or going up hills.  Essentially, the Allez is now what the Centurion was many years ago.

And so now I wait to see what can be done and my next race is in a little under two weeks.  At this point I don’t know what is going to happen with the Tarmac. I can only hope and pray that I can get some good news. In the meantime I have to prepare as if I am taking the old race horse out one last time. (To be continued...)

Serving It Up (Bicycles Plus Early Bird Crit)

Before I go into the gory details of how my second –ever- road race went, I wanted to say a few words about how the Bicycles Plus Early Bird Criterium was run. I would like to begin by thanking John and his “Crew” (sorry, pun was too easy but I have to get them in where I can). This was by far the most organized and enjoyable racing event that I have attended in quite a while. It was apparent that the two word (plus conjunction) mission statement of this even could have been “Fun & Safe”.




I'm thanking John Crews for a great event.

 The announcers did a great job keeping us informed as racers and spectators. They really knew a vast majority of the racers by name which was a nice touch. They spiced up the action by giving out great words of encouragement and advice when appropriate and their inclusion of the crowd with the “Crowd Primes” trivia challenges -with prizes- was a great added plus.

The officials, mentors, medics, the “pit crew”, the score-keepers and every other hidden but essential “gear” in this events machine were efficient and well-oiled. I want to thank all of those folks for their hard work and dedication. Bicycles Plus should be proud of the way they were represented.

I could go into enormous detail about how impressed we were with how this race was handled –my only constructive criticism would be to add more up-tempo, blood-pumping music selections- but I am eager to share with you how my race went so let’s pull our chairs up to the table and dig in.

Talking strategy before the race.

After finishing in the back of the pack at the Cal-Aggie Crit a few weeks ago, I was determined to serve up a Body Concepts “Grand Slam” breakfast to my competitors and make sure that our team finished in the front of the pack this week. We had worked out a plan earlier in the week that had me as the sprinter for the finish with Todd and Patrick pulling me.  Of course, plans can get blown up during the course of a race so that was no guarantee that I would be there. The one constant question I had in the back of my mind was: Could I pull it off?

The order of the races had my category riding first at 8 am.  The bad thing about riding first is that it was extremely cold!!!  I think Todd said that it was 41 degrees when we got there.  The nice thing about being first up is that we were able to ride the course to warm up.  That gave me about six more laps to get familiar with the course.  By the time the race started, I felt very comfortable riding the course and I had stopped shivering like a Chihuahua. The stove was lit and we are all fired up to start cooking.

Making sure we start off ahead of the pack.

 During the Body Concepts Skills Clinic a week ago, Rob stressed doing what you need to do to be at front of the line for the start of the race.  To make that happen I finished warm-up slightly early and as soon as I saw some riders gathering at the line for the start, I got up there.  Due to a car being parked on the course, the announcer suggested that everyone clear the road and ride another lap. There was no way we were risking losing our placement so instead of riding another lap, we just moved to the side of the road.  Besides, Linda was there watching us like a hawk and no one wanted to face her displeasure; safer for all of us to make sure we heeded Rob’s advice.  A good chef never leaves the kitchen just before the meal rush.

Linda of Body Concepts keeping a close eye on the race.

With this being an early bird crit, the mentors had everyone take a practice lap while they gave us instructions.  At the end of the practice lap I zeroed in on an opening at the front of the line and got back there.  Sticking to the recipe: we were happy, Linda was happy, everyone was happy. Throwing some butter in the pan.



As the race got started I had it as my mission to stay on Todd's wheel as much as I could.  He is the final lead-out for my sprint and the guy I was going to ask for help if I needed to chase any breakaway attempts down.  At times we would get separated but, unlike last week, I was aggressive about holding my position in the group.  A few times I needed to work my way back to his wheel and one other time it made more sense for me to over-shoot and then wait for him to work his way back up.  Over-all, I was able to stick to that part of the plan and we began whipping up some eggs.

Even the best of chefs can drop some eggshell into the mix and along those lines we had a bit of a miscommunication with Patrick.  We wanted to stay towards the front, but not in the first three riders, which is where Patrick was.  Patrick was too far ahead for me to call back and I didn't want to burn the energy to catch up and relay the message.  I do have to say that Patrick did an outstanding job holding the front -while not doing much pulling himself- and managed to stay towards the front until the final lap. I am sure that next time we will be better coordinated and he will be a valuable addition in our next race together. Okay, so no bacon in the omelet this time, no problem.

I was determined to make sure I spent more time in front this race and I think that paid off at least once.  I was in a situation where I was falling back towards the middle of the group and things were getting dicey.  A lot of riders were wobbling and there were a few close calls. (Riding in a Cat 5 category race is a bit like hanging out in a room of full of rocking chairs amidst a crowd of long-tailed cats.) I decided to charge back ahead towards the front in the hopes of finding a safer position.  Shortly after clearing the group and getting back towards the front I heard the sound of a rider going down not too far behind me. Whew! I survived, just missing the action and raced on.

 

As the laps were counting down -and my wife’s voice started to go hoarse from her screaming of encouragements- I made sure to stay as close as ever to Todd’s wheel. I was teflon and he was the pan and together we were determined to break a few of these eggs and make one hell of a victory omelet!

On the final lap, that paid off as we were in great position to start moving up to get me in on the final sprint.  The only issue is that we weren't sure where Patrick was, so that left a lot on Todd to get me there.  Todd pulled hard and got me close to the final turn but I sensed he was starting to run out of gas and we weren't making progress up the line anymore so I went around him on the outside (decided to go with Randy's suggestion of staying out of trouble by riding up the outside the turn). The eggs are cooking up fluffy and have flipped nicely. All was going well until, just as I was clearing the last turn, I heard the sound of another rider going down. 

Man down in the final sprint!

That second rider going down brings me to the big lesson I learned in this race.  DON’T GET DISTRACTED!!!  I was about to sprint, prepping to fold this omelet and add the cheese, when that rider went down.  That broke my focus and I took a brief glance to the side. Note to self: when cooking, never take your eyes from the pan. I quickly turned back ahead and tried to regain focus on the sprint but I didn't get my mind fully back into it.  A chunk of our perfect omelet broke off and fell onto the stove. SPLAT! Like any good chef who’s “serving it up” I recovered as quickly as I could and made my final presentation with a thrust of force that helped me salvage the meal and placed me sixth out of a field of fifty competitors. We may not get our own show on the Food Channel but I ended the race a bit wiser and a lot hungrier for a first place finish I see just within our reach.

Whether I am the Head Chef or the Sous for our next race, I feel good about what Team Body Concepts is serving up at the next race.

...and in the end, I got the girl...

Be sure to visit our full photo gallery of the BP Early Bird Crit!

It’s What I’m Not Telling You That Matters….

My lips are sealed.

So the whole idea of me writing this blog is to share information with my readers. I try to give as much detail as possible so that other folks who are just starting out, like I am, can perhaps learn from my triumphs and foibles. That was all well and good until I learned that the blog is read by the competition. (Honestly, I thought I was more shocked just to hear that ANYONE was reading Tribe Tracks at all!) So I will try to give you a good blog of our latest team skills clinic while trying to keep some of our team strategies under my Livestrong helmet.  

First, I am way stoked that our kits came in. Nothing fluffs a man’s pride nearly as much as when he comes home in uniform and his wife’s eyes sparkle even as her jaw drops. If nothing else, it was worth attending the Body Concepts team skills clinic for that alone. She then insisted on taking about thirty pictures of me from every angle so here are a couple shots for your viewing edification.

As you can see, they are pretty sharp and I like the new details of this year’s design. I am especially loving the vest and arm warmers.  The only real complaint is the fit of the shorts.  They are very awkward.  So far, the padding seems comfortable enough; it is the cut that is odd. 

At this clinic, one of our sponsors, Nike Vision, was there to get some pictures and to talk to last year’s riders about how Nike Vision’s products have performed.  I have heard nothing but rave reviews and look forward to trying a pair out soon.

Once we were done clutching at our loot, squinting one eye and growling, “Arrrrrr!” it was time to get training. Here is where I want to put in all kinds of neat stuff we learned but decide to pare it down so we can (hopefully) kick ass at the next criterium.

We had a classroom discussion about race finishing and how much effort and coordination goes into getting one guy in position to win.  (Or if you don’t have team mates, how to still get yourself in a position to win.) Then we went out and practiced finishes on the Folsom Bicycles Plus criterium loop.  I am not sure how many of us there were, but we must have had 20-30 riders out there. Of course, having us all in our new matching team kits made it interesting when we broke up into three teams. When everyone is in the same clothes, how do you keep track of who’s who?

I also lost track of how many practice finishes we did…  Sometimes the races were between 1 and 3 laps with various scenarios.  Sometimes we were pitted against each other, other times the team ran the course on their own, and we had a few free-for-alls as well.  The variation didn’t stop there…  One legged race, easiest gear race, and small chain ring only. It felt like we did it all.

The most memorable race was when I was the designated sprinter.  Before the race we had talked about my lead out order and when to attack.  Things didn’t quite go as planned.  Our train got splintered and I only had two guys in front of me.  Along with that there was a breakaway from the cat 3 team and we were stuck behind the rest of cat 3 and cat 4.  I was starting to feel a real sense of urgency because we were on the last lap.  As I scanned the field of riders it looked like there would be barely enough room for us to get by the pack on the inside.  I started yelling something like “Inside, GO GO GO GO Inside GO!!!!” to the two riders in front of me.  Todd, who was in front, did exactly what he needed to do and took off like a rocket on the inside.  As we cleared the group and headed to the final turn Rob, the rider in front of me, continued the surge.  At this point we were coming to the final turn hot!  I was a bit nervous about it and probably swung a little wider then I should. (Yep, still working on de-chickening my turns.)  After the turn I just had the cat 3 guy in front of me.  He was too far away to catch but I made a go of it anyway figuring you never know what might happen. 

Even though I came in second, that was a thrilling race!  I was especially pleased that we handled the set-back of our sub-team getting separated well and still mustered a strong finish.  Now I am really anxious to get out there for the next crit, which happens to be the Bicycles Plus Early Bird Criterium in Folsom.  If you want to see what I am not telling you in this blog, come out and watch.

The Dish on MyPlate

Almost a month ago I (Dawn) wrote that I had taken my father-in-law’s advice (from his guest blog on Tribe Tracks) and tried out the Livestrong.com’s “MyPlate” feature.  As of today, I have used MyPlate for just a hair over 6 weeks and I wanted to share what I have discovered for myself. Please note that my observations and non-professional recommendations (have I mentioned that I am neither a doctor nor a nutritionist?) are based on using this tool to help me lose weight. MyPlate can also be used to gain or maintain weight as well.

The first thing that got my attention was the price. It’s free. Dollar-wise you just can’t get any better than this. So now that you know that the price is right, let’s talk about the various tools at your disposal.

Setting up. Your first stop is the “Calorie Goals” tab where you will input your age, height, weight, weight goals (be they losing, gaining or maintaining your current weight) and your activity level. You click the magic calculate button and it tells you what your daily calorie goal is. WARNING! You can get in trouble with choosing the wrong activity level. I did this and I was stalled for a while, I went back and recalculated with an activity level one step lower and that is when I started seeing progress. If you are in doubt about your activity level choose the lower (less active) option. Yes, it’s going to give you fewer calories to work with but that is what you need if you wish to lose weight.

Using MyPlate Daily. You know that losing weight is about dedication. I am giving you permission to develop a new addiction: tracking your food intake. I want you to get shaky if you are more than two meals behind in tracking. I want you to convulse, sweat and curl up in a ball if you miss a whole day. The only way you can get the hit that you need is to go back and fill it all in and stay current. Does this sound like a pain in the ass? At first it may seem so, but after the first week or so you will become very adept at tracking and it will take so little time it is almost anticlimactic.

Harping on Honesty. I will restate the GroveTribe patriarch’s (aka Steve's) advice that you be honest. Time and time again over the last 6 weeks I have had his words of advice ring through my skull (thank goodness *something* is in there now!). I bought extra measuring cups and spoons and I use them faithfully.  We have a nifty and inexpensive food scale. (I used to laugh at my husband for weighing his food. Of course, his body is formed like that of a Greek god so maybe I should have associated that a lot earlier, but remember, before my father-in-law put his advice into my skull it was empty… empty… empty……  [echoing effect here]) Yet even when I had all the right tools I could still stray towards the dark side; I was tempted over and over to fudge the numbers, sneak just a tiny bit more or “forget” to log something but I resisted Darth Indulgence and instead was brutally honest with myself. Now that I see the results of such honesty, I am glad that I did.

I can hear those doubters saying to themselves that same things I used to. “What a pain.” “Life is hard enough; I have to find pleasure where I can.” “I don’t want to have to deny myself.”  My response is this; If you have to get your joy, your comfort, your consolation, your reward or even psychotherapy from food (as I once did) then you need to take a hard look at where you WANT to get your joy from. I would prefer to get my joy riding our bikes on the trail, playing with my kids and growing to a ripe old age walking hand-in-hand with my husband on the beach near where we got married. These things are worth having a little less food and making better choices. It sucks, it’s hard but as these habits evolve from “diet” to a “lifestyle” it will become second nature and if I can do it, you sure as hell can!

“But I’m so hungry!” It happens to me still and I have learned that there is a fine line that I have to walk to get enough nutrition for the calories I take in. There are at least three ways to help with this.

First, choose carefully the foods that give you your calories. Make sure that they are nutritious. I look to make sure that I am getting a reasonable amount of protein, fiber and carbs as well as vitamins and minerals. Look, no one here is stupid, you know what whole, nourishing food is. If you have 400 calories left for the day how will you use it to best serve your fine machine of a body? 

Second, give your stomach a little time and it will get used to smaller meals. Try hard to avoid a large “reward” or “catch-up” meal that will stretch your stomach out again making it that huge pit that wants to be filled with food. After a few weeks of my new discipline my stomach no longer wants a larger meal. For example I have a favorite burger and fries combo at In-N-Out (gasp! Yes, I still go to fast food joints!). I used to be able to eat the burger and a whole basket of fries without blinking. When I discovered that the burger I liked combined with half a basket of fries was only 550 calories and could fit in well with my calorie goals I started eating that amount. After a while, I found that if I tried to eat a whole basket of fries with the meal my stomach would protest. Even if I needed the calories, I would let that fullness be my guide and wait a couple of hours to catch up on calories rather than forcing them into my full stomach and stretching it out.  Yes, this old… dog…. has learned some new tricks.

Be conscious of what you eat. Put down the magazine. Turn off the TV. Put the damn car in park and sit and LOOK at your food. Make conscious note of every bite you put in your mouth and chew the stuff before you swallow it. In our fast-paced society it is too easy to inhale food and have it gone before you even know what happened. “Hey! Who ate the last cookie?” You probably did, without even realizing it. Okay, back to MyPlate…

Fitness Tracker. Here is where I run in to my unique challenges. I have to be very careful because of my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. My good old days of hitting the work-outs fast and furious are over. Although it has been extremely frustrating I have learned that if I am gentle with myself -and increase physical activity with tortuous slowness!- I end up much stronger and healthier.  For the last several weeks my work-outs thus far have been limited by the CFS and this cold winter to mostly yoga, tai chi and some gym ball.  With the days warming up now, I expect to hit the trails and ramp up the level of my work-outs. Now here is the rub, a nifty but treacherous feature of the fitness tracker is that it will automatically adjust your “calories remaining” to eat and give you more. If you are only doing mild to moderate exercise RESIST THE URGE to go by this adjustment. Try your best to stick to your calorie allotment for the day.

***BEGIN DISCLAIMER*** Have I done my, “seek the advice of a medical professional before beginning any diet or exercise routine” wheeze yet? Oh, well, be sure that you do. I did and my doctor  is very excited by my progress and what I have learned with MyPlate.  We did have to talk about my specific considerations with CFS but so far all lights are green. ***DISCLAIMER SECTIONS ENDS***

Tracking Food. My favorite feature is the food input field. You start typing something that you ate and this smart little white space on the screen opens up with lots of choices that are related to what you are typing. You can then select your option from the pull down menu (be sure to read the option that you select carefully to be sure its serving size is accurate to what you understand your serving size is) adjust the serving size and select when you ate it. Be patient as the searching feature can be a bit slow but this is a chance to take a deep breath into your belly. (Old Vedic wisdom says to fill your belly with one third food, one third water and one third air.) You will be amazed at how much is pre-programmed! As far as food tracking goes, I have yet to have to enter anything manually!

My Meals. I always have the same one of two breakfasts in the morning and when I learned that I could “pre-program” my meals once and it would plug the whole thing in I was in heaven! You can select your meal and then click on it to adjust an amount if needed. (Yes, one morning I HAD to have an extra half cup of milk.)

Feedback. The most fun of all of this is watching all the graphs, pie charts and logs evolve as you go. You can start to see the trends, track your water, track your fiber, protein, salt, carb and sugar intake. You start to learn your eating habits and it makes it so much easier to adjust them. I have been able to see where I get my calories and where to shave them off. So much of this is about educating yourself not just about eating habits but learning about YOUR eating habits.

WARNING!!!! One of the frustrating features is that nifty bar chart that shows how many calories you consumed over the past few days and today. I get a perverse sense of accomplishment when I see all those bars under the red line (that indicates your maximum calorie allowance for the day) But when you are a good little boy or girl and update that weight loss you were so happy about MyPlates recalculates your new calorie intake and THE RED BAR LOWERS RETROACTIVELY! Yep, I always turn into a preschooler and pout when that red line lowers and it looks as if I had been bad all that past week. It hurts but just ignore it, we both know we are doing great. (Stoopid red bar….)

So even though there are a few things that I could wish worked better this program is well worth the money… er… time investment. 6 weeks later I have lost 10 pounds. (Keep in mind that this is with my stringent restrictions on exercise because of CFS!) MyPlate can be a great tool to help you lose, maintain or gain weight. What it can’t do is make the right food choices for you and it can’t know if you are being honest with yourself.

With that said, watch out Lance! Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers are going to put a price on your head for muscling in on their territory with livestrong.com and MyPlate. However, I think you took it one step further because instead of telling me what to eat, you have helped me learn HOW to eat.

Next Up… I just became a “Gold Member” of livestrong.com’s MyPlate feature for $45 for a year. They promise that I will lose 25% more weight. I will try this for a while and let you folks know if the claims are true (for me at least).

Until next time, stop talking about it and just do it!

An Image Worth These 871 Words

You may recognize the picture above as one we just used for my blog about the Cal Aggie Criterium, my first road race. There is a reason why I am using it again for today’s blog: it’s because, for me, there is a story behind this picture.

A little over a year ago my wife and I started the journey to get me road racing.  It is something that I had always talked about, but there were always reasons not to do it.  I am not sure what possessed my wife to say it but she told me that I needed to stop talking about racing and get out and do it. 

With a new baby and four other kids, it wasn't easy to get started.  We got lucky along the way when a neighbor was looking to sell his "old" racing bike.  We scraped money together to buy the bike and then entered me into the spring TBF mountain bike series as an introduction to racing. We figured that it would be easier if I entered a race that didn't require team or drafting strategies.  That was a lot of fun but my older mountain bike needed a lot of work going into the race series and continues to need a lot of work.  I decided that I really wanted to focus on road racing and couldn't afford to get (and keep!) my mountain bike running at the same time, so I haven't entered another mountain bike race since.

During this time I was also ramping up my training hours and was looking for creative ways to squeeze the training in despite a full schedule at work and home.  My wife continued to support me and did everything she could to make sure that I could get out for the time I needed to ride.  She did an outstanding job taking care of our baby during this time and I worked hard to make sure that when I was home, I was totally available to help with the baby and kids.  One of the things sacrificed along the way was the TV. I used to have a lot of favorite shows but I found that I wasn't watching a lot of TV anymore. I am too busy living life to sit and watch it staged in my living room (though I must admit to still watching Chuck when I can scrape an hour together).

Later that spring I had an opportunity to ride with one of the local race teams but it involved riding at times that weren't always convenient and occasionally driving a ways to the start point of the ride.  Once again, my wife supported me and made sure that I could get out to the rides so that I could test out the team.  The guys I talked to on the team were cool, but after a few rides with them I realized that I had a ways to go to get into race shape.  Coming into a team after the cycling season is already underway isn't ideal when you aren't ready to race.  So I decided to hold off on joining a team until fall and to focus on training instead.

This fall a friend strongly recommended that I join the Body Concepts race team.  Budget wise, it would be difficult to pull off.  With kids going back to school (endless list of supplies) and Christmas around the corner, we would need to be creative to make it work.  My wife crunched the numbers hard.  She juggled things around and we sold stuff –lots of stuff- on Craigslist.  She pulled through and managed to get everything to work out.

Now, what does all this have to do with the picture I put at the top of the blog?  When I look at this picture it feels like more than just the two of us walking along talking about what happened in the race:  it is the two of us on a journey. A journey that couldn't happen without the love and support of my wife.  I was thinking back to all that we have done: making the tough financial choices and the chaotic juggling of time commitments to make that moment in the picture possible; that moment in time where I had finished my first road race and she was walking at my side, as she has for the last five years.

It would have been easy to quit so many times- to give in to the stresses and roadblocks in our way- but my wife can see how much I love the sport and how excited I get when I talk about a race.  So every time I ride, whether it is an official race or just battling it out with friends or other riders I meet along the trail, I feel very lucky to have such a caring and supportive wife who does so much to make it all possible.  Dawn - Thank you for all that you have done, all of your love, and all of your support.  I love you very much and I look forward to continuing our journey together.

(Special thanks to Robert Hunter for taking this great shot.)

My First Time (Racing) - Part 2 of 2

The race begins and the road grit flies! The Cal Aggie Criterium had plenty of racers and tight quarters.

As we got started off the line I had a slight delay as I missed my first attempt to click my left foot into the pedal.  I have never been good at the road pedals, dating back to when they first came out in the late 80’s (when they were a lot harder to get out of and I fell a lot more). Anyway…  I quickly recovered and caught up to Patrick.  Everything was going fine on that first lap until we hit the first big turn.  According to John, a fellow BC racer, that first left turn is 120 degrees followed by an immediate 90 degree right turn.  With the course being wet and oily, it was tricky to slam on the brakes and negotiate the turn while trying to spring out of the turns as fast as possible.  A mistake I would make more than once going into these turns is that I would forget to shift to an easier gear.  This left me trying to accelerate hard out of a turn while trying to push a gear that was too hard to pedal.  Still, I managed to get out of the turn fast enough to maintain my position behind Patrick, all was well. 




Pushing to rejoin the pack after the crash.

 On the second lap we came to the big left turn again.  Everything seemed to be going fine when a racer to the front left of Patrick went down.  Initially I didn’t think anything of it and thought we were going to miss him.  Then Patrick started to go down in front of me.  I didn’t want to do a big swerve because I didn’t know who was beside me so I did more of a subtle shift to the right and tried to pass as quickly as possible. I remember bracing myself, hoping that I could glide by without getting caught up in the crash. I eked by and found myself upright and my thoughts went back to the race.  I took a quick peripheral glance to my left to make sure I could proceed through the turn without running into anyone.  I saw some riders down, but I couldn’t make out the details.  All I knew was that the path was clear and I had to catch up.  After finishing the turns I got low on the bike, shifted to my fastest gear, and started cranking.  Shortly after passing the start/finish line I was back with the group. 

Now was the really frustrating part of the race.  How do I close back in on John and Randy?  With the slick roads slowing everyone down in the turns, the group wasn’t strung out yet.  During each straight, I would get within range of John and Randy and would back off thinking that I should conserve energy and I could slowly work my way up the last few bike lengths.  However, that backfired because every time we hit the big left turn, the group would bunch up and I would lose the progress I made coming out of the turns.  I tried the right side and then I tried the left side with the same results every time.  This was getting old and even more frustrating is that I thought it would be pretty obvious how many laps were left, but I could never find the person holding the sign.  Maybe I was suffering from “first race tunnel vision”? 

I also did not realize that the bell ringing indicated the primes or the final lap.  From dabbling in mountain bike racing a few times last year, where everyone was ringing some sort of bell on every lap, I just assumed that it was the crowd cheering on the racers.  Most of the final lap was uneventful because I didn’t know it was happening until we came out of the turns for the final straightaway.  All of the other racers jumped out of their saddles and started sprinting.  At this point, it was too late for me to try and counter with a sprint of my own so I just worked on maintaining my position within the group and bringing my first race to a safe finish. I was hit by the wall of anti-climax, my first race was over somehow and my body felt as if it had not yet even begun.



What? The race is over???

 I was left with mixed feelings.  I was happy to have participated in and finish my first race, better yet that I was still in one piece.  However I was also frustrated because, other than making up ground after the crash, I never worked hard during the race.  I had all that energy bundled up, ready to explode, but nothing happened.  If there was another category I could have raced in immediately after, I would have done it. As it was my racing was done for the day.


I did a cool down lap with John and Randy and we talked about the race for a bit.  Randy gave me some tips -I should work the middle more and to try and make up ground between the sets of turns.

My wife -in my big day-glo jacket- and I talk after the race.

At the end of the cool down lap I saw my wife with the camera.  I was happy to see her and pulled over to tell her about the race. As we walked she told me how she had been puzzled that I never looked as if I was attacking, she told me I looked as if I was just sitting back almost the entire race.  I explained the issues I encountered and she pointed out that I needed to trust my strength more. We agreed that next time I need to attack more and not worry about the possibility of burning out and getting left behind.  She could tell that I had not even touched my reserves of strength and stamina. She told me that I was absolutely buzzing with unspent energy.

Jax is not quite sure what to think of my new paint job. "Daddy? That you?"

 We rejoined the rest of the family and I rescued my 15 month old from the stroller only to have him give my road grime covered face a strange look. I think it took him a minute to even realize it was me under my new paint job. After spending a few more minutes with the family I met up with John to talk more about the race and we checked in with Patrick to see how he was doing after the crash.
 

Patrick showed off his war wound but when my wife asked him if he needed medical attention he shrugged it off, showing a lot more concern for any damage that may have been taken by his bike.  I am not sure where Randy went; last I saw he was talking to some other racers that he knew.

I packed up my family and we talked about the race all the way home and it has been our main topic of conversation ever since. My wife found that she enjoyed her day at the races and that she couldn’t be prouder of me for working so hard and finally making it to where I wanted to be.





In retrospect, I am happy I did the race and I can’t wait for the next one. I may have felt unsatisfied at first but now that I think about it, that one race taught me a lot. More than I ever could have learned from a book or from sitting around listening to someone else talk about it. Nope, I had finally stopped talking about racing. Now I am doing it!