Indoor season in a nutshell.

  I am 6 weeks into my indoor season. I have established a regular routine. I work out on the rollers Sunday through Thursday. The routine goes like this.

Every night I start out with 10 minute abs. I have finally been able to incorporate core exercises into my indoor training. In past years I have promised myself to do core exercises but I've always fallen short when it came time to do it. However, the last few weeks of the 2019-20 indoor season I became  pretty consistent about doing core exercises and I could really tell the difference when I started riding outside again. The benefit was so dramatic  I am very excited and motivated about doing core exercises. As a matter of fact I decided it's better to do core exercises then to ride on the rollers if I have to choose between one or the other. I basically do one form or the other of a plank or crunch for one minute up to 10 minutes. 

Tuesday and Thursday nights are strength nights. On strength nights I warm up and eventually get into my top gear. Basically I'm on my big chain ring in the front, on my smallest cog in the back. I do long and short intervals in and out of the saddle. I mix up the interval patterns so as not to become monotonous. I supplement my work out with isometric upper body exercises and dumbbell work.

On Sundays Mondays and Wednesdays I'm doing intervals where I'm going from a slow cadence to a high cadence and/or a high cadence to a slow cadence. Here again I mix up the interval patterns so it's not to become bored and unmotivated. For these intervals I'm on the big chain ring and in the middle of the cluster in back. I emphasize spinning fast and breathing hard during these workouts.

I am on the rollers for 40 minutes to an hour. The gist of the work out is to be intense not long. It's more exciting to do a short intense workout than to do long marathon sessions on the rollers. Excitement keeps me motivated, marathons drive me crazy. 

It's also motivating to remember I'm working on next outdoor season’s rides today.

Epic Scale: A Method to Evaluate a Bike Ride Intuitively

 The Epic Scale is a tool to associate a number value with intuitive thought and/or feeling.. Every ride Strava comes up with many measurable statistics. Mileage, average speed, power output and many more. Indeed these statistics are fun to keep track of; however, I also wanted a way of assigning a numerical value to what I thought of the ride and how it made me feel. Strava has a “How do you feel?” slider; which is a great idea, unfortunately does not work for me. I want something more personal. Hence I came up with the Epic Scale numbering system. 

The number system goes from 0 to 5. Zero being no ride at all. Five being a Tour de France stage winning performance. These are the two impossibilities built into the scale. You wouldn’t log a ride or give yourself zero if you didn’t go for a ride. And I don’t think I’ll be winning any Tour de France stages soon. The range is set. From impossibility to impossibly. The range is graduated like this : 

• A one is a very bad ride. Something like a crash, a broken part, a bent rim and/or a puncture that rips the tire and renders it unusable. All of these have happened to me at one time or another. 
• A two is a better ride than a one. It’s a ride where something went wrong, but not horribly wrong. Examples are being tired and forcing yourself to go for a ride. I don’t normally have a good ride when I do that. Getting caught in the rain and getting cold. That is rarely fun for me. The worst thing is I didn’t hit the record button on the Strava app. 
• A three is the middle of the scale. Most rides will be rated as a three. A ride that doesn’t stand out from the other rides. Fun but ordinary. Often ridden on a route I have been riding for years at relatively the same speed.  
• A four is a special ride. A ride that stands out from the other rides. A ride were you felt good all the way through everything was perfect. Your legs were good. You’re breathing hard but comfortable. The scenery was incredible. Your mileage was more than what it normally would be. Unusually fun. You achieve a goal that you worked hard to accomplish. A ride that when you think back on it bring a smile to your face.
• I am also graduating the major graduations to the one hundredths place. It allows for better accuracy. I can properly pin point my thoughts and feelings. 

Using the Epic Scale I will be looking for trends in mental attitude. It will be interesting to see the correlation between attitude and performance. Such questions as “Is it true I ride better when I feel better?”; and, “Do I rate my rides better when I feel better no matter what performance was given?”; or, “How many rides rated Three are between rides rated Four?”. All of this and more maybe discovered after crunching the data. At the end of the 2020 outdoors season I will go over the numbers see what transpires. Look for the follow up in the fall. 

May Climbing Challenge Update

I have earned myself the May 2020 Climbing Challenge Badge for my trophy case. It was fun to have a goal. Actually I had three goals for the month of May. One, earn the badge: Two, get my climbing legs and Three climb some hills I don't normally climb. 

All three goals were accomplished. To earn the badge I climbed over 24606ft in fourteen rides. I rode 406.15 miles in 25 hours, 28 minutes and 59 seconds. 

The legs are in great shape. This is the strongest they have been this early in the season in a long time. More importantly I am mentally prepared to climb. The confidence to attack hill climbs and know that I will survive the suffering is awesome. It's part of being road worthy.  I didn't achieve this level of road worthiness until well into June last year. Thus the motivation to do this challenge early this year and the strategy worked. 

I didn't get to all the hills I wanted to climb. Nonetheless, I am happy with the hills I did climb. Especially the hills I don't climb all that often. For example spyglass out at Bush Pt. where I sit 15th out of 22 on the Stava all time leader board. It's incredible to be one of only twenty two people to climb that monster. Another hill that I rarely climb is just up the road at Lagoon PT. Salmon ladder.  The last time I climbed this hill, according to Strava was back in 2013. I am currently 19th out of 30 on this hill. It's hard to believe that only thirty people have climbed this hill. I guest it's off the beaten path. 

That's enough patting myself on the back. See you on the road. 

My Favorite Whidbey Hill Climbs

My Favorite Whidbey Hill Climbs is a list of the hill climbs I enjoy most.


1. Swede Hill

        I am currantly the Strava "Local Legend" on this hill climb. Basically means that I have climbed this hill more than anyone else in the past 90 days. It's on my way home. I have good efforts and bad efforts on this hill. Sometimes it's my favorite climb and sometimes it's not my favorite. Because I climb this hill regularity It has become special.   





2. Heggness Hill




3. Campbell Road





4. Lancaster Road






5. North Bluff Road






6. Engle Road





7. West Beach Road Climb




8. Possession Point Climb




9. Mur de Bob




10. B. Galbraith Road

May Climbing Challenge Tour of Bush Point

The Tour Of Bush Point. 

I have been looking forward to riding out to Bush Point for most of the winter. Bush Point is scenic with the Olympic Mountains in the back ground and the shipping lanes in the for front. When the merchant ships go by Bush Point I am astounded by how big they are and how close they come to the shore. Another reason for wanting to go to Bush Point is for the last few years when I'm heading out Smuggler's Cove road I go by Bush Point on my way to Greenbank and beyond thinking to myself "I should go down to Bush Point one of these days." Neither of these reasons where my main focus when I set out on this ride. I was go to Bush Point to climb Spyglass Drive.

Before I recount climbing Spyglass Drive I must tell of two hills I climb more regularly on the way to Bush Point. The first of which is Sills Road. I may have mentioned Sills Road in another post. It goes to show that I climb Sills Road often. Anytime I want to head to Bayview and all points north Sills Road must be climbed. 

Here's another look at it.

The other climb is Lancaster Road. I climb Lancaster less than I have in the past. I make a point of climbing it a few time a season. Heading out to bush Point provided a perfect opportunity to do so.



When I reached Bush Point I had to go out to have a look at the light and lake or it wouldn't be a TOUR of Bush Point.

Then I worked my way to the other side of the point where the boat launch is located.

The boat launch is at the bottom of the hill I had come to Bush Point to climb, Spyglass Drive.

May Climbing Challenge First Week Review.

I'm behind of my blog posting so this post is going to be the week in review. You can read about Monday's Ride in my last blog post. The main idea to reiterate is that a Monday's Ride I was feeling good. The legs were pumping hard on the pedals like a couple of high performance pistons and my breathing was deep and comfortable. By contrast Tuesday's ride, Cinco de Mayo (Two Towns Clinton - Langley) was difficult. My legs didn't want to cooperate with each other and my energy level was off the charts low. Nonetheless, I was able to climb a few noteworthy hills. The first and one of my favorites is Campbell Road.



This is a killer hill going from Maxwelton road up to Cultus Bay road. It has scenery, switch backs and steep pitches. It is known by several cyclist I've meet from over town who come over just to train on Campbell road for an event they were riding later in the summer. Awesome climb.

The next one is tough one. Its steep and the pavement sucks. The jury is still out as to whether I put it on my favorites list. Some days are good on this climb and somedays are not so good. It's a climb that must be experienced to be one with the Whidbey hills.




At the end of the ride Swede Hill road. I climb this hill more times in a season than any other hill. It's how I get home.







After this ride I was exhausted and rest on Wednesday. I tested the waters with short ride on Thursday. Willy's Way.  I went into Langley via Maxwelton then Coles road. Once I got into Langley I was starting to get into it and decided I would head out of town on Wilkinson road. I made it out to the intersection of Wilkinson, Bob Galbreath and Surface road. I was feeling good but not good enough to climb Bob Galbreath road so I turned on Surface road. Surface road is a fun climb and it's part of the Tuesday Night Time Trail.





Another way home is Scatchet Head road. This hill is definitely not one of my favorite hill climbs. I'm not sure why. Most of the time when I'm on this hill I think to myself "Just get to the top and you're home. "  I don't care how well I'm doing or if I'll get a PR just get up the hill and get it over with.



I'm going to wrap this post up and write about Friday's ride in the next post. Friday's ride deserves it own post.

The official tally after three rides is   4750' / 24606'.

Monday Ride! May Climbing Challenge

Monday Ride is the first official ride of the May climbing challenge. I say first official ride because I did a ride on May Day but neglected to hit the record button on the Strava app. I'm done crying about my mistake. Snooze you lose.

Let's have a look at Monday Ride.  The weather was warm but was threatening to rain, fortunately;  I only felt a few sprinkles and the roads remained dry. I was comfortable on the bike and I had great legs. One of those rides were you know why you love to pedal bicycles.

The route is one I do often during the season. Basically I go into Langley via Bayview Road. Come out of Langley on the Langley Rd and cross the highway at Ken's Corner and then home on Cultus Bay Road. Because I was feeling so good and I'm doing the climbing challenge I added The Heggenes Loop.

Here are the climb along this route.

1. Sills Road. This hill would just about kill me when I started riding again. Now I just put in a decent effort and get up it.




2. Brook's Hill is a decent climb and I do well climbing most of the time. It also sets you up on the top of the descend into Langley.




3. Lang Road Hill. This hill climb is one I like to put in a good effort. Sometime I start out a little too hard and then suffer at the top. The other annoyance on this hill is the traffic coming out of Langley. It can be quite heavy certain times of the day.



4. Heggenes Hill is on my favorite hill climb list. The lower part of the hill reminds me of Switzerland. The meadow with the barn and horses and the way the hill is cut. Beautiful. 



5. Last but not lease Scatchet Head Road. This hill is not one of my favorites. It's necessary climb to get home. 




I ended up with 1657 feet of climbing on this route. I've convert the Stava goal of 7500 meters to feet 12606.3. So I only have 10949 feet to go.

Keep on climbing!

May Climbing Challenge

Happy May Day. I have joined the May Climbing Challenge on Strava. I am excited about the challenge. I’ve been anticipating participating in this climbing challenge all winter. I tailored my winter roller sessions to be ready for the May month of climbing. My goal is to get my climbing legs early this year. Another goal is to climb as many Whidbey Island hills as I can. That is to go out of my way to climb hills I don’t usually climb or climb a few I haven’t climbed before. One hill that I have been eyeballing is out at Bush Point.

10% grade, wow that intimidating.

Another hill that fits this category is in Coupeville.
This is another 10% grade and another hill I have yet to climb.

I don’t want to shy away from the toughest hills on the Island. These are my top three toughest climbs.

1.

2.


3.

 Finally my three favorite hill climbs.

1.

2.


3


What is your toughest and favorate Climb? Let me know in the comments below.

Bike Build: Components

Ever since I got into bikes I've been a Campagnolo fan. When I upgraded the components on the bike I currently ride I chose the Campagnolo Potenza 11 groupset. It was economical, it had great reviews on the Internet and of course it was Campagnolo. I have been very happy with this groupset. When choosing what components to use on this bike build I of course wanted a Campagnolo groupset; and, I high hopes to go with the Chorus or maybe even the Record group set. However, my bike build budget would not allow for these extravagant group sets. Thus, I have chosen the Potenza 11 groupset for this bike build.

I can't tell you how excited I was to unboxed these brand new components. It was like Christmas morning when I was a kid. Each component is like a work of art. Check out the crankset. 

After I got over admiring these components I was able to bolt them onto the frame. 

So this is the status of the bike build. Next step cable it up and adjust everything.

Bike Build: Wheels

The wheels for this bike I build last winter. It was a winter project. I didn’t know I would be building a bike this winter. I thought I would be using them on my Scott bike. My Scott bicycle has been my number one bike for several years. It is black with red trim, hence the black rims and red hubs. I’m going to use these wheels for this build to keep it all built by Steve. Besides the black rims go with the black seat post and the black components I will use for this build. The red hub look good with the green frame. Here’s what they look like:

I bought the rims, hubs and spokes from a store called BikeHubStore.
They are Kinlin XT31T rims with SL85/SL210 red hubs, CX Sprint spokes and of course a Campy 11speed freehub.

This the rear wheel with the Campagnolo Potenza 11 speed 11-29t cassette on it.

The front wheel.

As always if you have any opinions, suggestion, knowledge, grievances, criticisms, or want to share in any way, please do so in the comment section. I welcome any and all comments.

Bike Build: Frame

I've wanted to build a bicycle for myself for along time. I have been recently blessed with some wind fall money and I finally pulled the trigger and bought myself a carbon bicycle frame.

I bought it on eBay. SPcycle is the seller. Here is the specs. 

I've heard good and bad about these frames on the internet. Nevertheless it was affordable so I went with it. I have always been a big fan of Bianchi bicycles; when I seen the Celeste green color it was a knee jerk reaction to click the buy button.  

Here it is after is was unboxed. Everything seems to be in order. Super light. This is my first experience with a carbon frame. It is strange to me that its not some kind of metal. I'm sure I'll get used to it. 

Now I'm trying to choose the components for it and stay with in the limits of my wind fall budget.

If you have any opinions, suggestion, knowledge, grievances, criticisms, or want to share in any way, please do so in the comment section. I welcome any and all comments.