53X11 Coffee For Cyclist - The Chain Breaker

Being that 53X11 coffee is a gamjams.net sponsor, I just had to try it. Coffee is one of my many addictions. Trying to get a two year old and a 7 month old ready for daycare at 6:00AM I need all the caffeine I can take. 53X11 seems to do just that. I got the Chain Breaker Blend and that's just what it does. Truthfully though I haven't broken any chains but I did bend my small chainring riding down at Fountain Head yesterday. Does that count???

But here is a little clip that best describes just that feeling I get when I drink "THE CHAIN BREAKER"

Training update

Training has been going well. Still lifting Mondays and Fridays. I'm on the second phase of the winter weightlifting workouts. I'm definitely feeling the benefits of it. Next week is the 3rd phase which means less reps more weight. I have to thank my buddy Matt for the whole lifting phase. It's always easier to make lifting workouts when you have someone waiting for you.

On the cycling end I'm getting about 3-5 rides a week. Matt and I have been riding the fixies for about the last month. If I had to get rid of all my bikes and only choose one, it would be my fixie. I feel completely wasted after 2 or 3 hours on it. Its a good kind of wasted though.

Running wise I've actually increased my mileage to about 25-30 miles a week. The weightlifting has been super beneficial to my running. I feel solid on my long runs.

It seems like a lot of training when I put it in writing, but it doesn't feel like that. I'm not hammering on the bike and my runs have been slightly below tempo. To be honest I'm not sure how much racing I'll do next year. You'd think with this schedule I'm setting some goals for next year. The reality is I'm not. I feel this schedule has been keeping my mind clear and allowed me to keep the daily stresses at a minimum.

In the end, IT FEELS GOOD TO FEEL GOOD.

thanks for reading.

Who needs DayCare????

Report: Many U.S. Parents Outsourcing Child Care Overseas

Weekend Recap

Due to the intensity of the weight training I decided to take Saturday completely off from any running or cycling. Instead I made the wife happy by accompanying her on all the morning shopping by going to costco/target/wegmans. The first two stops were rough because my little girl was crying and Christian was being a complete pain in the arse. Not my idea of a day off from training. Anyhow, by the time we got to Wegmans the dust had settled and little Matea slept through it all. We even managed some down time for some pumpkin muffins which Christian tore up. The rest of the afternoon was spent inside the house relaxing. I gave Christian a home hair cut which came out pretty nice. That night the Jennings came over for pizza and beer. More like Mike's Hard Lemonade. Wade and myself polished off a 12 pack of it. Not a good idea when you got a 3 hour training ride the next day.

To my surprise Mike's Hard Lemonade doesn't give you the same hangover beer does. I actually felt OK. As I was getting ready to head off for the ride I noticed the temps where in the mid 20's that morning. Why in the f#$*k would I want to leave a warm bed for a 3 hour ride in the cold. It's just stupid but I know there are equally stupid people waiting for me.

About thirty minutes into the ride I was having shoe trouble. After we got through the gate at Ft. Belvoir I stopped to fix it. There was a total of 10 riders that morning and no one bothered to wait except my teammate Matt. I guess I couldn't complain because Matt and I spent all summer and fall pounding those biatches into the pavement. Matt and I then went into 2 man time trial mode. We ended up catching them about 3 miles after the turn around point. Chumps!!! I won't lie, it friggin hurt. The rest of the ride felt super easy after giving that chase effort.

I'm not looking forward to Monday morning. It's another hard ass day in the weight room.

In the words of Eric the Midget, "BYE FOR NOW"

TGIF MothaLovas

The Shiiite don't get better than this.

High end Crit Racing

I'm heavily into watching MotoGp and AMA racing. I'm a big motorcycle enthusiast. My favorite being old school bobber bikes and high end track bikes. The video is almost like bicycle crit racing but on steroids.

Training update

Training has been going well. I'm managing 2 days in the weight room. 2 days is just about right because the weight workouts have been a killer.

On the bike, I've been managing 3 days at the pt. I haven't been riding with the group only because I've been concentrating on doing just nice even tempo. I may join the group once a week only to work on some of the higher intensity stuff, but it's only November so I'm in no hurry.

On the weekends, I've been doing long 8-12 mile runs on Saturday. Sunday I either join the Sunday ride out of Old Town or do my own thing. Weekend rides last no longer than 3hours right now. That's really it on the training end. Nothing exciting to report.

Oh yeah, its been butt ass cold here the last couple days. I've pussed out the last two days on the Buell Motorcycle commuting in. I have my winter gear but it takes me flippin 20 minutes to slap all that shit on. I'd rather sit in my truck and listen to Howard Stern on Sirius.

All for now.

Best Car Chase Ever

I've always been into old school 70's movies that have anything to do with Clint Eastwood aka "Dirty Harry" or Steve McQueen in Bullit. I came across this video which has got to be one of the best car chase scenes ever. I remember watching this with my Dad when I was kid. Good times.

The New Ride

For Christians Birthday, I got him one of those cool Specialized Hot Walkers. It is a bike with no pedals They use their feet to chug along eventually picking up enough speed to coast. It teaches them balance so when they upgrade to the big boy bike they don't need the training wheels. At least that's what I've heard. Enjoy

Christian is turning the BIG "2"

This weekend is Christian's B-Party. He has officially entered the terrible twos, although he really hit that stage about 3 months ago. He wants to be ahead of schedule. I can't believe it has already been two years since the little guy came into this world. I almost hate watching him grow. I kind of want that little 6 month old back. BUT at the same time I love watching him learn new things and even holding conversations with me, even though they are mostly about Dora the explorer and Diego the animal rescuer. Have a great weekend.

Pictures from Backyard Burn Run at Wakefield Park

Pictures courtesy of Will Ramos

Racing Again!!!!

I finally made it to a race I signed up for this past Sunday. Its not what you think though. This was a running race. YES, a running race. There is a fall/winter series that is put on by www.ex2adventures.com. It is the Backyardburn series run. These are all trail runs of either 5 miles or 10 miles. I'm talking very technical trail runs where if you miss a step you might either brake an ankle or fall face first.

Looking for a challenge, I signed up for the 10 mile run. It's been a while since I ran that far. Most of my runs lately consist of no more than 6 miles. I figured with all the cycling and consistent runs I've been doing I should have enough fitness to maintain a decent pace for the 10 miles.

The run went well. I just missed the podium by 6 seconds. The podium went 5 deep and I came in 6th. My time was 1 hr 6 min. The winning time was 1hr 3 min. I was pleased despite the course being technical. I'm pretty sore right now. I may have to increase my running mileage during the week.

There are 3 more races in the series. Unfortunately I didn't sign up in time for race #2 and #3. They are already full. I got in to race #4 though which is not until Dec. 7th. The race courses get harder. The first one was the easiest. You're basically running on Mountain Bike Courses in some of these races. Race #2 is right in my backyard down in Fountain Head Park. I'm upset I didn't get in but oh well.

There was a photographer at the race so I'll put up pics once I have them.

Polar Gadgets

About a month ago I purchased the Polar RS200 with the foot pod. It's a watch/heart rate monitor/time&distance all in one. I've never been one for training gadgets. I strictly train on what my heart rate tells me. I'm not into power meters, hell I don't even use a bike computer. Like I said, I monitor time and heart rate.

So instead of sitting in my office for lunch, I decided to use my Polar RS200 w/ foot pod on my Iwo Jima loop. The loop itself starts from the Golds Gym in Rosslyn. It heads out to the GW Bike Path/MT. Vernon trail then across the 14th street bridge to the tidal basin by the Jefferson Memorial then along Ohio Drive to the Lincoln Memorial then across Memorial Bridge. From Memorial Bridge you go straight up by the entrance to the Arlington Cemetery then down along the perimeter of the Arlington Cemetery up the hill to Iwo Jima then back into Rosslyn.

Here is what my Polar RS200 recorded.

Total Time 43 min 47 seconds

Distance: 6.61 miles

Avg mile pace was 6:37
Max Heart Rate: 200 bpm

Avg Heart Rate: 155 bpm

Total Calories Burned 935

It's pretty damn accurate. I think the actual loop is pretty close to the distance recorded. My pace was pretty good despite the windy conditions and the climb up to Iwo Jima from the GW Parkway. I have to say it's a good piece of running equipment. I find that it pushes me to maintain or better my avg mile pace during the run.

Oh yeah I have to say that every now and then it so cool to realize that you're running along some of our Nation's greatest history. I think sometimes I take it for granted until I do this run. My favorite monument has to be Iwo Jima.

Take care all. Wish Erin luck this weekend.

Mama's Big Race

Mama's two biggest Fans

Erin has been getting ready for her duathlon coming up this weekend, Sept. 28th. She is very excited. duathlon is a first for her. She's no stranger to running though. She has done the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, the Army 10 miler and ran the Baltimore half marathon. I refer to her as SUPER MOM. All that and handling two kids????? You decide.

So the distance of the race is a 1.5 mile run, 14 mile bike and then a 3.5 mile run for the last leg. I'm excited for her as well. I decided to sit this one out to give her my full support. Me and Christian will be rooting for her at the race while little Matea hangs out at Grandma's house.

My season has officially been over for some time now. I've been hitting the Mountain Biking hard for I'm already in off season training. I'm running 3-4 times a week. I plan on starting a weight training schedule soon. I want to get more serious about my racing next year. I'm also going to mix in some multi sport and maybe to 12hour MTB race as well.

Its been hard racing this year with the addition of our little one. I was happy to take most of the season off to help Mama with kids and around the house. Priorities first.

I will be Erin's official photographer this weekend so stay tuned for some pics.

Later

Severe Case of Dragging Ass

Thank God It's Friday

Friday couldn't have come any sooner. I just couldn't get my ass moving this morning. I did my usual run with Roxy in the morning but then afterwards everything just slowed down. I finally got my ass in gear and made it to work. The ride on the Buell always wakes me up.

I headed right for the Starbucks in front of my building for the usual large coffee. For some reason I always end up with some douche bag yuppie in front of me. I mean seriously dude, take off the tampon and order a regular coffee.

You'll have to excuse me folks, but its Friday and I'm tired. I think I'll feel much better after the noon training ride. Have a great weekend.

Solid training weekend

With the 3 day weekend come and gone I got in 2/5 days of solid training. Saturday morning the plan was to go mountain bike in Wakefield Park for 2 hours. It was a wishful plan, but Murphy's law intervened. I flatted twice in the span of 30 minutes. Being out of spare tubs and Co2 cartridges we had to turn around in order to get back before my tire was completely flat. I was friggin pissed. It ruined my morning. By the time I got home I just shrugged it off and went with Erin and the kids to the pool.

Sunday morning I completely made up for Sat. I got up early and went on a 6 mile run with Roxy. Afterwards I went and did my regular 2.5hr Sunday morning hammer ride from Old Towne @ 8:30am. The early morning run really loosened up my legs for the ride. Between myself, my teammate Matt, Team ABRT's Art Brown, and Team Nissan's Chris we absolutely hammered the ride. We dropped the entire group within the first 30 minutes. We kept going and never looked back. I felt kind of bad for the rest of the group, but that's how it goes. I think we made it back to the coffee shop in record time. The rest of the group straggled in maybe 10-15 minutes later. Sorry guys. When I got home Erin the kids and I went to Party World to look for costumes for Christian's B-Day party coming up soon in Oct. We also went to Old Navy to find a bathing suit for Erin. Christian starts swimming lessons next Sunday. Matea and I will be checking out mommy and Big C in the water doing their thing.

Monday was the hardest training day of them all. We did and epic 3.5 hours on the Mountain Bikes. I was completely hammered at the end. I started bonking the last 20 minutes. The ride consisted of Matt, Wade and myself. We started from Wade's house out the fire roads, then headed to Fountain Head State Park. Fountain Head really tests your fitness and your technical skills. I went down twice and landed on my elbow the first time. Its a little swollen this morning but I still have full range of motion with it. It was just intense. You feel cleansed after a ride like that. You don't have a choice but to give it your all otherwise you may never make it out of Fountain Head. When I got home Erin, the kids, Roxy and I went for a walk to the playground to watch Christian go up and down the slides. Matea just chilled in her stroller. Later that evening we went and had dinner at Pane Vino with the Jennings and the Anderssons. It was a nice way to end the day. Thanks for reading.

Everyone needs a good running buddy!!!!

Every year around the end of August I start my daily morning runs and I mean early morning runs between 5:00 and 5:30am. This is my second straight week doing it. I can't take all the credit for waking up early though.

Everybody needs a good running partner. Someone that you know will always be there. This running partner never says its to cold, to wet, to windy or to early. This is the most dependable running buddy I've ever had.

See, this morning I almost bagged the run. I woke up looked outside and it was pouring rain. Shit I ain't running today. BUT without delay my running buddy comes calling as usual. I said you're friggin kidding me right?? At that point my running buddy gave me the most disgusted look as if to say I was some kind of pansy. At this point you've probably figured out my running buddy is Roxy the Dog.

Roxy has run with me through it all, the rain, snow, cold windy days, etc.. This morning was no different for her. She loves a run in the rain. So I said alright, got my gear together and out we went for our 6 mile run. Ahhh man we got completely soaked. There's something peaceful about running in the rain. Old girl didn't mess a step. In fact, she set the pace early in the run. It wasn't your run of the mill moderate run. She had me hurting a few times. My recovery was when she stopped to take a DUMP. Amen for that.

If I haven't said it before, thanks Roxy for the motivation.

Thanks for reading.

Good times

So I promised a nice family weekend and I delivered. Stayed completely off my bike Saturday. Erin the kids and I went to Costco for our routine monthly purchase of diapers, baby whipes and formula. That shit is expensive. We spent some serious dollars in one day. We buy it in bulk so that's probably why. Later that evening we went to Burke lake so that Erin could do her running workout. She took Christian in the jogger while I walked with Matea in the baby carrier. Roxy the dog came along as well. Erin is getting ready for a Duathlon at the end of September. She's pretty pumped about it. I'm still on the fence about doing it. I think I'd rather be a spectator with the kids and cheer for Mama.

Sunday morning I went on my normal sunday ride and felt pretty good. I had strong legs the entire ride. After the ride I went home and got our stuff together for our picnic that Erin planned. We went back to Burke Lake and had a nice lunch then took the kids on a small choo choo train that goes around part of the lake. It was a good time. I'll post some pics later.

Update Time!!!

Got my MTB back from the shop. Its has a SRAM X9 drive train. I love it. Been hitting the trails hard since I got it back. I even went ENDO (over the bars) on yesterdays ride. I managed not to jack myself up if you believe that.

So I decided not to do the MABRA Road Race Championships next weekend. I have great form to race right now but I just can't justify going out there for a whole day away from my wife and kids. I don't have that racing motivation right now. The kids along with my wife have been up at the beach with my in-laws since saturday and I missing them a whole bunch right now. At least I have Roxy the dog to keep me company. I decided that next weekend will be a family weekend instead.

I have been taking full advantage of sleeping since my wife and kids have been gone. Going to bed at 8:30-9:00 pm and waking up at 6:15am. It has been a long long long long time since I slept through the night. I guess its a recovery week. A recovery from the kids :) I'd rather have them home though. I miss them.

What I've been up to!!!

I suck at blogging. It's almost like another thing I have to get motivated for. So last entry I said I got a new Single Speed MTB. Right now I have it at my local bike shop. I'm converting it to a 9spd drive train. The frame is a rigid steel with no suspension. Since I got it, I have been on four rides. I live out by some fire roads which are pretty much single track trails around Fairfax County. With no suspension you can imagine I get beat to hell. I love it though. I feel like I just put in 2 hours in the weightroom. I've had one crash already but nothing bad.

My training partner, Wade on the other hand had a nasty spill this past Saturday. I thought he broke his hand but luckily didn't. I had to laugh afterwards because it was funny. I can't tell you how much I enjoy MTB. Its totally different from road racing. For one you don't have to worry about auto traffic. Its just you and the trail. Second, I can't imagine I won't get stronger on the road bike riding that 23 pound steel frame with nobby tires.

Trainnig is still going pretty good. I have taken some time off from running only to put more miles on the bike. I'm still on target for the Page Valley MABRA championships, Aug 24th. BUT all that can change when you have kids.

The kids are doing great. My boy, now 21 months is talking up a storm. He pretty much repeats everything he hears and damn does he have a good memory. My little girl is now almost three months old and is more beautiful by the day. Fatherhood is awesome but challenging. Not much else to report. Here are some pics of the kids and the new JAMIS MTB.

Still around

I'm still around. I really haven't had the energy to blog, but I do still enjoy reading my other friend's blogs. Again, the heat has been miserable and I hate it. Training is actually going well and I even bought a new bike...A Single Speed Mountain bike. I love it. I gotta run but I'll put a more complete post with pics later today. C-ya.

Not much to blog about lately

Its been awhile since my last post. The kids have definitely been keeping us busy. Not much has been going on. The heat came back for a while there but today is an absolutely beautiful day. It will be nice to get out for a ride at noon.

On the training end, it looks like my top end is coming back. I had two good days of training on Sat and Sun. with my teammate Matt. I absolutely hammered the ride on Sunday to the dislikes of others as usual. Matt put in some hard efforts as well. So hard in fact that he blew his wad into the final sprint into town. He did set me up nicely though for the win. Only reason I was going so hard, is my wife said be home by 11:30am sharp. We had other things on the schedule for the rest of the day so I had to be back home asap. I actually made it home by 11:38am. Pretty close.

Yesterday, Monday I stayed off the bike and did my run/jump rope/run/weights workout. It is an awesome endurance workout. For those of you who might be interested in this workout here it is: 5k run on the tread mill at a 9.5 mph at 3% gradient. After that hit the Jump Rope for 20 minutes. I alternate Jump Ropes every 5 minutes. One jump rope is normal and the other one is a weighted (heavier). Next, I jump back on the Tread Mill for a race pace 1 mile run. My time for the 1 mile run is usually around 5:15minutes - 5:28 minutes depending on how I'm feeling. I'm trying to get it to 5 minutes flat. Oh yeah, put the % gradient at 1%. It gives you a more realistic run to what you would do outdoors (at least that's what I read in some workout magazines.) Next I do a 3 x 10 sets each of chest/back/shoulders on the Nautilus machines. The workout usually takes me about an hour flat. It is all nonstop. In other words don't rest to much in between sessions.

Hopefully that will put me on track for the VA Road Race Championships/Page Valley Road Race at the end of August.

I've thought about adding things at the end that I like and dislike

LIKES: Big hugs from my little boy, little smiles from my baby girl, goodbye kisses from my wife, snuggling with Roxy the dog, early morning rides to work on the Buell, and morning coffee with my good bud Wade.

DISLIKES: Shitty VA drivers, bad customer service, people who order coffee at Starbucks with like 4 names (I always say the bigger the drink the bigger the asshole), Yuppies, Bills, Gas Prices.

So long, hasta la otra.

Week coming to a close

I wish I could sleep like this again

Christian busting balls for some milk, how can you say no to that face.
My beautiful baby girl

This week has gone by pretty fast for me. I'm finally back on a consistent bike training schedule. The ride at the point was fast today. Heavy hitters Ken and Nima were putting on the hurt. They put in a few attacks and I tried going with them. I didn't last very long. Ken and Nima just rode me off their wheels. The funny thing is 2 months ago I would have stayed right there with them. Like I said in an earlier post, I'm missing that top end I had 2.5 months ago. Its hard maintaining that kind of form all year around. It just can't be done in my opinion. You have to break down sometimes in order to rebuild again. It will come back though. Its hard to maintain any motivation to train when I'm pretty much not racing the rest of the year. I have my eyes on the Page Valley Road Race in late August. It is the MABRA Senior Championship Road Race. If I went I would do the CAT 3 which consist of 63 miles. I believe the race is in the Shenandoah area. This area is known for some serious climbing. I would have to lose an extra 5-6 lbs before this race. I'm at 190lb right now. I guess I'll cut down on the peanut butter.

On the family end, its good to have my wife and kids back home. Things are back to normal; crying baby girl, Christian busting my balls for some milk, Roxy the dog fighting me for the bed covers and my wife.....well she's actually been my support. Thanks babe.

Wife, Kids and Dog are back

My little family made it back to town from the beach late last night. I was temporarily a bachelor from Sunday to Tuesday night. Holy shit was I bored. I was having withdrawals bad. I missed them so much. My family is everything to me.

I tried to keep myself busy. Monday when I got home from work I planned on watching the College World Series. A severe wind/thunderstorm came through and knocked out the power for about 2-3 hours. No family, no dog, no power. Luckily my buddy Wade called and we went out for some cold ones with some of his friends he hadn't seen in years. I had a great time. To great maybe, I had a headache the next day.

Last night I anxiously awaited the arrival of Erin, the kids and Roxy the dog. The College World series kept me busy until she arrived. Did anybody catch the LSU vs RICE game. LSU really pulled one out. Awesome game!!!! Fresno State won the second game against UNC. I'll be watching that again tonight. I love college baseball!!!

On the training end, I'm back on the bike. I can tell I've lost a bit of my top end. Oh well, kids will do that to you.

Stay tuned for the beach pics soon to come.

Relaxing Fathers Day Weekend

This weekend we went to the beach to spend Fathers Day with my in-laws. We drove up Friday morning. I actually drove up on the motorcycle because I had to come back Sunday. Erin is staying up there with the kids through Wed. That's the longest trip I've made on the bike. It's about a 3 hour ride. Wade, my buddy made the trip up there on his Buell as well. We also came back together. It was an awesome ride. The weather was nice. Very peaceful.

Training wise, I manged to get in some long runs. No bicycle. We took some fantastic pictures up there. Once Erin makes it back from the beach, I'll put up some of the pics we took. It was a fun time for Christian. We took him to Frontier Town. I'll give you more on that once I get the pictures up.

Thanks for reading.

Finally a nice cool down

Last Years Pool Picture

The heat is finally gone. Yesterday was in the mid 80s and today will be the same. What a relief. When I got home from work I jumped into the pool again for a nice 1500m swim workout. A bike and a swim in one day. I'm paying for it though. My shoulders, back and arms feel like jello right now.

After my swim, I went home and had dinner. Erin is quite the cook. She never disappoints. Mmmm Mmmm. After dinner I took Christian to the pool for a swim. He loves the water. When it was time to go he kept saying "no don't want it". Even after I told him, let's go see Mama and go eat dinner. Again.. "no, no, no, don't want it." He's a smart little guy. So I had to revert to bargaining with him. Geez, I have to bargain with a 19 month old?

Christian is into the animated movie Cars. He loves it. He'll watch it everyday if I let him. So I had to use that to get him to come home. He says.."Ok watch cars Ok." As to not let him think I was a push over I told him that he had to eat dinner first, take a bath and then he could watch cars. He gave me a look like, "its a deal". He only got to watch about 30 min of it before he had to go to bed, 8pm sharp. Kids are the best.

So finally today I'll get to go out to the Haines Pt. noon ride. It has been over two weeks since I've been out there. I'm looking forward to it.

Early Morning Ride

This morning I met up with Matt, my colavita south teammate for a training ride. I Got up early this morning to get my gear on the motorcycle and headed out at 6am. Got to the office at 6:25am and got my cycling gear on in time to meet Matt at 6:45, our start time.

We did the 20 mile Hill Ride in Arlington, VA. Who knew Arlington was so hilly. This is the kind of ride that even if you decide to go easy, your heart rate's going to jump up due to all the up and down climbing. At the beginning of the ride Matt put in a huge effort up the second hill and I wasn't even warmed up yet. Matt commutes in on his bicycle so he was nice and loose by the time we started. I thought to myself if he continues at this pace I'm in trouble. The effort hurt him a bit though. After that we settled into a nice rhythm and finished the ride in about an hour.

Towards the end of the ride, Matt and I started talking about baseball. I actually brought it up. When I first met Matt I came to find out he was also an ex college/pro baseball player. AND get this, he was a catcher just like I was in my baseball days.

Matt got drafted out of high school as a catcher by the Cleveland Indians back in 1992. He decided to go to school first and played at the University of Indiana, THE Hoosiers BABY !!!!. He then got drafted again in 96 by the Florida Marlins. Awesome!!!!

As for me, I got drafted back in 1995 by the New York Mets out of high school as a catcher as well. I decided to go to school first also. I played two years at Cochise Junior College in Arizona and then transferred to NMSU to continue playing.

To get to the point, what are the chances to ex ball players who turn cyclist come to meet each other. Pretty cool huh? He also works in the building right next to me. I got Matt to join our team early in the fall of 07. By the way, he's a monster on the bike and has just CAT up to 4 from 5.

thanks for reading.

Back in the Pool

Yesterday I managed to do something I haven't done in close to 3-4 years. I jumped back in the pool for a swim workout.

Let me veer off topic a bit to give you a brief "The Meat History Lesson of the Day." When I finished my college baseball playing days at New Mexico State I ventured into the sport called triathlon. I used to swim (at least what I call swimming) to keep my arm in shape throughout the long grueling season. In my many swim visits to the New Mexico State Univ. pool I met an interesting bunch. These guys would do these outrageous swim workouts that wore me out just looking at them. I later learned they were triathletes. What the hell is that right? It's a sport consisting of three disciplines (Swim, Bike, Run). Long story short, these guys got me into triathlon. Before long I was doing the workouts with them. The only ingredient I was missing was the bike. I had no idea what a tri bike was or what it looked liked. My friend Tomas, gave me all the details and not to long I had a tri bike, thanks to my Dad. I don't think he was to excited busting out $1500 for a bike. I don't think he was into the idea about me going into this sport. He still gave me his full support though. Anyways the bike was a trusty Kona. I still have that bike today. To cut to the chase, I became pretty good at triathlons. Before long I was finishing just 1 or 2 minutes down in the results from the overall leaders. I got hooked. In fact so hooked I signed up for Iron Man California after I graduated in May of 2001. You'd think a guy would wait to do an Iron Man a couple years after just starting triathlons. No not me, I jumped right into it after a few months of my triathlon venture. It's a big deal because an IronMan consists of a 2.5 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a full marathon 26.2 miles. All in the same day, May 19th, 2001. I'm still very proud of that accomplishment.

After I moved to DC in June of 2001 I continued to do triathlons for up until 2002. Then I met these guys who call themselves roadies. Roadies are cyclist who just do cycling and compete. You mention triathlons to them and they may just slap you across the face. AND that's how I got hooked on cycling. Triathlons became a thing of the past. In fact I keep it a secret that I still run for conditioning purposes. You mention running to cyclists and its off with your head :)

So that brings me back to the beginning of my story. Being back in the pool brought back good memories. I did a 30 min interval workout (about 1500 meters) and it wasn't to bad. In fact I may sign up for the Osprey Triathlon in Public Landing, MD October 4th. Oh boy, an ocean swim in October. Holy Crap, I hope the hurricanes don't bring the big waves. Shhhh, don't tell my cycling buddies.

The kids

Big Bro with his little sis

Big fury sister Roxy checking it out
Little Miss Chicken Legs

HOLY CRAP ITS HOT

We didn't get to do very much this weekend. Its been hotter than a joggers nut sack in the summer time. The temps down here are in the high 90's with almost 100 percent humidity. We have a heat advisory through Wed I think. Being from the southwest you would think I'm accustomed to the heat. The humidly just kicks my ass though.

I skipped this weekends racing to just train. To be honest I think my season is pretty much over. With the new baby, time is just limited right now. I've also been busy at work so I haven't been able to train at the Haines Pt noon ride. I've pretty much have just been running for the last two weeks to not lose any of my bike fitness.

Saturday morning me and my teammate Matt went out for a 2.5 hour training ride. First hour of the ride we had this intense fog. We could barely see 10ft in front of us. We almost bagged the ride due to the fact that maybe the cars wouldn't see us. We only had about 5 miles to reach Mason Neck Park where it is generally safe from vehicles, so we decided to proceed. The ride was good. Afterwards Matt came in to meet our new little girl Matea. Roxy our dog finally took a liking to Matt. The heat got so intense throughout the day that Erin and I decided to go do our shopping early. We hit up Costco for diapers and baby supplies. The kids pretty much slept through the whole thing. My buddy Wade and his wife came by the house late afternoon. Wade brought his Buell Motorcycle. We gave the motor bikes a nice wash then we hit up Old Town in Alexandria. Mind you that it's 100 degrees. I must have sweat half my body weight on that 1 hour ride to Old Towne.

Sunday morning I went on my regular training ride out of Old Towne. It was actually hotter Sunday. The training ride starts at 8:30 and pretty much ends at 11:30. 3 hours in the hot ass sun. The ride was intense as usual and two guys from our pack succumbed to the heat and got dropped. They know the way home so we kept going strong. Went home after the ride and Erin the kids and I just sat inside all day. Its to damn hot to go out. I think we might get some relief from the heat this weekend. I see mid 80s in the forecast. Oh yeah we are also heading to the beach again to see the in laws for fathers day. I'll try and take some pics.

Thanks for reading

BIKE JAM PHOTOS

Bike Jam Race Report

The race reports are bit late but here they are. Bike jam is a race I always enjoy doing. Mainly for the atmosphere. Its really just a big festival of bikes and some intense bike racing. My favorite part of the day is watching the pros race. Its a whole another level watching those guys. We actually took the whole family to the race. It was a great task for my wife to keep track of both a 2 week old baby and an active 19 month old. My wife did awesome. I owe her big time for that. After the races we headed off to the Ocean City for some fun on the beach and a visit with my in-laws. The weather was beautiful that weekend. A bit more on that later, but here's the race report:

I started off doing the 30+ /40+ race combined. I didn't get much warm up before the race only because I was helping my wife find a suitable place to set up camp to watch the race. After doing that and getting dressed I only had 20 minutes to warm up. I believe the field was 100 strong if I'm not mistaken. Not having any teammates I was going to have to race smart. I wasn't able to do much. I spent to much time on the front early on covering moves but being a one man show I couldn't cover everything. I decided to fade back in the peleton a bit to get some recovery. When I did I missed the winning break. I went up to the front again to see if I could work on pulling them back with the help of those not represented in the break. It didn't happen. In the end I managed 20th overall. I think the same result as last year :)

An hour later I lined up for the CAT 2/3 race. Again I had no teammates. This race was much faster. I tried to do less work in this race. I pretty much sat mid pack the whole race. I felt good but I just couldn't get in groove as far as moving up. I figured with the pace we had people would start fading and the pack would dwindle off little by little. At one point I looked back and I was the last man (not a good place to be). Damn, had we really shed that many guys already. I hightailed it back to the middle of the pack. I could have swore I came in top 15. I only say that because I finished along side one of my old teammates, Wade Jennnings and they had him 11th in the results. They didn't even have me in the results. I guess the camera angle missed me or something. Oh Well. Overall is was a fun time at least for me. Afterwards when I got to my wife's little campsite she gave me this look like "OK you raced, let's pack up and head to the beach, NOW". YOU GOT IT BABE. Above are some pics of the race courtesy of JIM WILSON and KEVIN DILLARD.

Tornadoes, lightning and sideways rain

So on my commute home yesterday I completely got stuck in the rain. I was on the motorcyle. I had to take refuge under an overpass for about 10-15 minutes until part of the storm had blown over. This wasn't just any rain/down pour. I've done the commute in the rain before but when you throw in lightning and super windy gusts with side ways rain, you have to know when to throw in the towel. In the end, I made it home with no problem. The buell handles the rainy conditions quite well. The wind and lightning managed to knock down some trees in my neighborhood.

I think we actually had some tornadoes touch down in the Anarundel Mills area. NUTS!! We may get some late thunderstorms today as well. ROUND 2 I suppose.

Thanks for reading.

Taking Roxy for a drive

Here is my boy pretending to drive roxy our dog around. He is now 19 months old. He got a little pissed after I took him away from the steering wheel. I think he gave me a taste of the terrible two's soon to come. Oh boy!!!

Sorry for the super late entry. SO our bundle of Joy has arrived. Matea Carolina Moreno came in at 6lbs 10oz. She was born May 15, 2008 @ 3:18pm. She's beautiful. Mommy and baby our doing well. She is acutally 3 weeks old today.

In my next entry I will catch you up on my recent races and family happenings.

So my wife found out at yesterday's baby appointment that they will be inducing her Thursday morning at 7am. She is excited to hear the news as was I. I may have said this before but we are having a baby girl.

I also want to congratulate my friend Ken. His wife delivered a 9 pound baby boy named Austin Young on Sunday. Congrats guys.

On the training end, things went well. After some much needed rest on the bike, I took Thursday-Saturday off and ran instead. As usual we got pounded by the rain Friday through the weekend. Luckily the rain let up sunday morning. I was able to get my sunday ride in before it started raining again. Monday, it rained all day again so I decided to do my 10k almost makes me puke run on the tread mill at Gold's Gym. I clocked a 36:48. I do that run once a week and everytime I promise myself I'll never do it again. It just friggin hurts man.

My next race is May 24, Bike Jam up in Baltimore, MD. I've always liked that race. I'll be racing twice that day. The following weekend will be the Michael Murad Road race on Sat., followed by one of the HARDEST CRITS IN THE COUNTRY, CSC Invitaional on Sunday. I'll be doing the CAT 3 race for the road race on Sat. and on Sun I signed up for the CAT 1,2,3 combined. Those dates are May 31 followed by June 1st. I'm looking forward to racing again. I'm doing all this training but just haven't had the time to race.

As soon as we are back home from the hospital I'll we post pictures of our new little baby girl !!!!! Keep us in your prayers that we have a healthy delivery. See you guys next time.

Late 5 de Mayo Posting

I know I promised you a cinco de Mayo special but I got tied up all weekend doing yard work and bike training. Know this though, I did pound my share of TECATE beers with limones and salt. We even had dinner at El Paso Mexican Restaurant in Springfield, VA where I managed to down a steak and bean burrito the size of my head.

To give you a quick history lesson, 5 de Mayo signifies the battle at puebla against the French. Most people think it is Mexican Independence but no. That date is 16 de Septiembre, Mexican Independence from Spain.

You might ask yourself, why is this guy (me that is) so pro Mexicano? Well, I was raised on the Texas/Mexico border. The majority of my family lies on the Mexican side of the border. My mother is from Chihuahua by birth. I'm very proud of my roots. BUT I am an American and proud of it. I'm a hard working Chicano. I've always been a Mexican and not a Mexican't. So with that I hope you all enjoyed your cinco de mayo.

On the training end, had a great Sat and Sun of on the bike. Did an easy recovery ride Monday followed by a hard 10k run that evening. Yesterday was a super fast day at the pt. I got in a break with Chuck from Harley (that guy is an animal) and Nima. We manged to stay away the entire time. It was hard on me being with those two motor heads. Today will be more of the same at the pt. I hope to initiate a break and see if we can make it work again. Hasta Luego.

P.S. No baby yet. Still waiting. C'mon baby have my baby already

Ahhh the weekend has arrived

Took a day off the bike today and decided to go for a run at lunch. Did about 10 miles in 1hr and 6 min. I felt pretty good the first half and stuggled through the second half. I think I went out to hard. I came from a triathlon background before I started cycling full time. I was always a pretty good runner. I still enjoy running. I don't run as much as when I was doing triathlons but I still put in some decent miles per week. This might sound odd, but when I run, I feel I recover better from the hard days on the bike. It just might be muscle memory from my tri days.

No much planned for the weekend, other than maybe our baby girl will be born. It's driving me nuts that she's hasn't come yet. That aside, we are having brunch with some friends tomorrow morning. I'll try and get out early for a 1.5 hr ride before that. Sunday will be a routine Old Towne to Gunston ride. AND stay tuned for my 5 de mayo special. Have a great weekend.

Fighting a cold in spring

My cold has gotten worse. Probably not the smartest thing, but I decided to go train at Hanes Point as usual but this time it was raining. It wasn't a heavy down pour but a steady rain. The first half was completely bone dry but the 2nd half of the ride was all rain. Now I'm sitting back in my office with cold chills. Maybe this overpriced coffee will eventually warm me up.

Second, I've been following the Tour of the Gila down in New Mexico and my mexican homeboys Tecos Trek cycling team has dominated the 1st stage. They also dominated the Vuelta de Bisbee down in Arizona. Tecos Trek cycling is based in Mexico and all riders are Mexican except for one Columbian, Gregorio Ladino who can climb like only a true columbian can. Viva mexico.

Stay tuned, for my 5 De Mayo Special. How to celebrate like a true Mexican.

Another semi windy day at the point

The training day at Hanes Pt. went well. Did some hard efforts especially when chasing down Nima (Team Evolution) and Chuck (Team Battley Harley Davidson). Steve my colavita south teammate and I managed to bridge up to Nima and Chuck with the peleton about 25 seconds back. I had a hunch that once we caught them, Nima would recover for a few seconds then launch another attack. Sure enough he did. After pulling them back initially I just didn't have it in the legs to respond. Chuck managed to bridge up to Nima and Steve and I just looked at each other and said, screw it no more. The field managed to catch us eventually then Steve and I sat up and called it a day. All in all it was a good days work.

At least it wasn't as windy as yesterday. Yesterday the group shattered after two laps. I stayed up at the front to avoid all the gaps opening up.

I have included a picture of Hanes Pt. so some of my readers can see what a great training place we have. The pic isn't great but inside that little tree covered area is a loop that is just over 3 miles long. I think it is closer to 3 and 1/4 miles. The straight aways are over a mile long on each side. It's awesome. Ride speeds can get up to about 27-33mph on the straight aways. Traffic wise it is ok but during the touristy season you have to be really heads up. There is always close calls. PLUS you have to watch out for all the Freds that think they can keep up when all they're really doing is getting in the way and making it dangerous for everybody. These guys usually tend to show up when the weather turns nice but come the heart of winter and heat of the summer they disappear. Hooray for that.

I think the hard efforts in the last two days has made me vulnerable to my sons cold. I feel like I'm coming down with it now. I'll try and train through if it doesn't hit me to hard. I'll have to Harden the fuck up as Mr. Stuart O'Grady says and ride through it.

On a last note, my boy turned 18 months yesterday. He is growing like a weed. Pretty soon he'll be asking me for the car keys. I love that little guy more than anything. Just when you think you're having a bad day, you come home to that little face and all the stressful feelings just go away.

Hasta otro dia mis amigos.

Hard time keeping up

I guess it's time for an update. I'm pretty lousy about updating. No baby yet. We're still waiting. Should be any day now. On the cycling side, I got in a good ride on Sunday. I did my normal 8:30am ride out of Old Towne Alexandria to Gunston. In all it is about a 60 mile loop. It usually consist of myself and about 6-7 others. I tend to make it a leg pounding ride. I try to keep the intensity up through the whole ride, sometimes to the disliking of others. That was my only ride of the weekend. I took Friday and Saturday off as well as Monday (rained all day).

I haven't raced since walkersville. I signed up for a few others but failed to show up due to the heavy rains we have been getting. I just decided not to race in the rain this year. With the baby coming, I definitely can't afford to be gimping around. I have to be of some use to my wife. My next race will be Bike Jam. I'm doubling up that day doing the CAT 2,3 combined and the masters 30+. I'm looking forward to that.

Other than that, nothing exciting. I'm trying to keep this blog funny and humorous, but I'm not feeling it. Maybe after the baby. I'm on edge right now.

Headed out to the Pt for some training. See you next time.

MABRA's toughest at Pete's Italian Shop Hill Ride

Today was the who's who of MABRA at Pete's Hill Ride. Some of MABRA's toughest: Ken Johnson, Ken Young, Simon Walker, Art Brown, Josh Frick, and Mark Sommers decided to join us. They made the ride an excellent leg burner. It's nice having guys like that show up. You pretty much have to decide there and then that you're going to have to raise your game. I'm glad I made it.

On another note, we are 4 weeks closer to the new arrival of our baby girl. I'm always on edge waiting for that phone call from my wife saying it's time or waking up in the middle of the night realizing we are having a baby. This will be our second baby so no biggie right? My boy is 17 months now. Sleep isn't really a factor anyway since we don't get much now. We are going to have our hands full. Nothing a nice cold TECATE can't cure. See you next time.

Pete's non-conversational thursday Hill Ride

Yesterday turned out to be another good training day. Did an hour of tempo at the pt then headed to Pete's thursday conversational hill ride. I ended up mostly conversing with myself cause folks just weren't into socializing. The pace just got to high and I didn't follow. After a hard tuesday and wednesday, I told myself I would take it easy. The highlight of the ride was running into Il Nessie. Flippin Scotsman just doesn't know how to ride easy. We'll see who gives you your spanish lessons now pinchi puto.
Today will just be an easy ride with ABRT's Art Brown down to Great Falls and back. No racing for me this weekend. Saturday will be family day and training will resume Sunday.

ABRT's Guy Perotti joined us as well. I'm sure Art was happy, having two big gorillas pulling him around from G-town to Great Falls. Between Guy and myself, that's easily 400lbs combined. Maybe 395lbs, I actually managed to get under 200lbs coming into the spring.

Drinking it up with the jennings

We just got back from drinking it up with the Jennings. My boy's Godparents. It consisted of mostly making fun of Wade aka Mongo. I had an awesome training day. Did 3.5 hours on the bike today so no better way to celebrate than by downing a few mexican style. There is nothing better than good company and good beer.

Jumping on the Blog Bandwagon...

Out of curiosity I've started this thing people call a blog. Hell, I read plenty of them from the gamjams.net blog links. Some are funny, some are interesting and some I just skip. So without further delay, I'm jumping the wagon. I guess it will consist of everyday happenings from cycling to family.

I won't bring up anything about this past weekends racing. Everyone blogged that to death. I mean how many race reports can a guy read. But I will leave you with a pic from the Walkersville Road Race. I'm in the Colavita Kit for those of you who don't Habla.

If you're wondering why they call me El Carne aka The Meat, well its because one day Jason Meidoff, back from the NCVC days called me that and it stuck. Till this day I don't know if that was a compliment or an insult.