Double Play

I feel a little like Mark Zuckerberg (thx AT for keeping me straight on his spelling). Out of the blue, I invented a new concept. And it's a whole lot more productive than Facebook!

I am talking about the Double Roll fellas! 2 rides in 1!!

Me, Hoodie, Bergamo and Ullrich rolled a 6am "inner loop". All but hoodie were lumen-enabled. Note here that Bergie is a little like MacGruber. His lamp is almost literally a lamp. Puts out 900 lumens, and will blind a deer at 100 yards. One minor issue. It's not a bike lamp. More like a flashlight with macgruber-like velcro. but I digress.

Roll 1:

Dark and dare I say cool for the first hour of our ride. We headed north on 360 to Jollyville. About 3 cranks out of the parking lot, Bergie was off the front. We let him go until we crested Rob Roy, then things got frisky for the remainder of 360. Surreal to bomb those hills in the pitch black. Those 900 lumens came in handy! Thanks MacGruber!!

Hoodie was feeling his oats on Loop 1. Dropped me on the Steck descent (I had no answer), and on the Bull Creek sprint. Note on Strava I am in the top10 on Bull Creek. Hoodie is KOM baby!! Nice! Would have been higher if I knew when the segment ended. Coasting the last tenth of a mile is not good for your stats.

Let me call out Ullrich at this point. That kid is getting leaner and meaner everyday. After some pretty intense efforts, I would look over my shoulder. And there was the German. I have dropped the "big" modifier for obvious reasons. Keep grinding it Ullrich! and well done today!

After Bull Creek, the only event of note was the thousand or so runners on Shoal Creek and Jefferson. Was there an event today? They were everywhere. And many were hypoxic. This was evident in their choice of road vector. Many were running down the double yellow. WTF? More power to 'em for getting off the sofa.

ROLL2:

Bergie checked out post Roll1, leaving Hoodie, me and Ullrich to ride with Stanton, Malo!, MC, and Tyler. Stanton was a little compromised, due to the 50 beers he pounded yesterday. His performance today was superhuman, given that half his blood was Miller Lite.

We rolled the Mod Oz, with the going-in strategy of an endurance pace. As we left the parking lot, I would have sworn under oath and passed a lie-detector test, on my commitment to the endurance pace. Alas, there are a lot of riders out around 8am. When the first guy rode by on his Scattante, with a generic yellow jersey, I did not take the bait. Shortly thereafter, a girl passed us on a tri-bike. Like a greyhound that sees "Squirrel!" the concept of endurance pace ceased to exist in my mind. Game on, we rode the wheels of the Tri-crew for half of BeeCave. Then Stanton's blood started to thicken, and he jumped off the front as if he had a helium enema. Endurance pace? I seem to remember.....nah, that was last week, right?

Pretty calm pace on 620 until we got to the dam. Then Hoodie starts to channel the spirit of Marco Pantani and goes off! Stanton, still filled with his helium injection floats up there too. I was not strong today, but too proud to fall back, so I gritted it out. On a serious note, one of the guys Hoodie paced next to on the road (Tenzing guy), mentioned to him that he lost his son last week. Can't remember his name, but say a prayer for Tenzing guy and his family.

Regrouped at Walgreens, but did not refuel (mistake). Easy pace down 620. Thanks fellas. Moderate pace on Anderson Mill ( I pulled the whole way, thank you very much). Then Spicewood.

Hoodie encouraged a brisk pace on the Spicewood segment. Brisk was what we got. My best time so far on that segment was achieved due to The Hoodster playing the role of overseer, exhorting me, Stanton Tyler and himself on the last climb up Spicewood. Ridonk.

After Spicewood, I survived 360. Tyler was our KOM on the 360 climbs, finishing strong! Nice dude.

Great coffee/smoothie/conversation at Lola post-ride. Great to get Malo and Yeti back in the Pelo!

If you want to see Strava stats, page down in the blog for the HCD team ride info. Pretty cool!

Early Birds...

Sick of the heat, Ullrich and I sparked up the road lights and lit out at 6 am for 3.5 hours of endurance paced ambrosia. While the sleep was missed, it paid huge dividends. We had 2 hours in the saddle before first direct sunlight, and temps were in the 70's/80's the entire ride. Manageable but steady effort got us around the track without any breakage of the endurance plan.

Strava ranked it as moderate, and I agree. On Bee Cave my true nature was revealed. On a slight downhill a pot bellied weekend warrior rolled past me. Could not let him go, and had to drop him, after siphoning his wheel. Will I ever learn?

Sweet roll Ullrich!!


http://app.strava.com/rides/1317472

Flashdance

Today's ride was delayed due to some adopt-a-highway trash pickup duties. So after an hour or so of shagging stray beer bottles (3), hypodermic needles (1), dessicated horned frog (1) and various other roadside sundries, me and Panozz rolled the dam loop, Mod-Oz style. Left at 9:45am.

He had steady state + 8 sprints on his calendar. So it was a pretty fun and manageable pace. Until we got to Spicewood. His 8 sprints were max sustainable effort. And not fun at all. If you want to live forever, do a lot of 30 second max efforts. Time stands still in those 30 ticks, I swear. Thankfully most of the efforts were slightly downhill, so I kept Mike in view. That kid is strong.

Once we got that nastiness behind us, it was a steady state roll home. Unfortunately, it was also approaching high noon. By the time we stopped for water at the 360 C-Store, we were damn-near cycling on the sun. They have a walk-in beer cooler. I estimate we raised the temperature in that beer cooler 5 degrees. Bought a gallon of cold water, and Flashdanced about half of it. Freakin' awesome!!

A little throwback ride, as I was on Mike's wheel for about 90% of the ride. Coulda been the 2006 MS-150. Good times. Chack out the Strava link for details on suffering.

http://app.strava.com/rides/1305827

Trautwein Segments = Fun!

Cloudy skies and a gentle breeze from the south made for an excellent roll this morning. Hoodie, Ullrich, Stanton, Z and I rolled from 12 and Hamilton Pool at 7am.

This track is always fun. I added a few Segments on Strava to inject a little incentive into the ride. If you haven't checked out the site, you should (see link below). Cool features. Stanton/Ullrich, you should load your data in as well.

Great to catch up with Z, who is getting back in the saddle post injury. Getting old sucks. Ullrich looks skinnier every ride. Stanton continues to get stronger, begging the question as to when he will join the hairless club.

The initial segments were steep and short, leaving me and Stanton in solitary conversation. But Darden Hill signalled a change in the winds. With an average grade of 3.7% and about a mile of climb, the Ticket unleashed the dragon. Crushing it at 440+Watts all the way up, he dropped me right before the top. Well done Big Fella!!

We slow rolled it to CVS on 290 (our only water stop), then hit Trautwein. I dropped in that segment for the Clydesdales, and the Ticket cranked up the engine again. After we finished, discovered that Ullrich punctured on the Trautwein descent, but was able to fix it solo. Sorry bro!

Not a lot of conversation, but I think fun-suffering was had by all.

High Plains Driftwood

http://app.strava.com/rides/1218359#

It's like the air here has less oxygen!

A small Dough contingent traveled west to the Rockies this week. I am in Breckenridge trying to escape the Texas heat for awhile. Packed everything except the bike. Shoes, check. Pedals, sunglasses, gloves, helmet, kits, shoes, socks, check, check, check. I even remembered the frigging Garmin and HR strap. Sean, you'd be proud of me!

So I went down to the first bike shop in Breckenridge with hope but not a real expectation to find a solid road bike. They only had one 56 cm and it was already rented. So, I asked to see the one bike bike they had. When she went back to check, there was in fact a 56 cm Trek 1.2. An aluminum frame that was just my size. Went home and fitted it up to my measurements and put on the pedals. Presto chango got my bike.

Today I went out for a thirty mile shakedown. Everything was fine except my heart and lungs. It seems there is less oxygen in the air here! Actually I already knew that. I do however now understand how Hoodie was so strong when he first came to Texas! The air in Texas must have seemed like pure oxygen soup. BTW, Hoodie we visited U of C in Boulder. Very nice campus.

I left Breckenridge and went down to Frisco and beyond. The terrain here is tricky. On a section that I would swear was down hill, the Garmin and my legs corrected the seeming optical illusion. This happened a lot. I guess the mountains and streams kind of throw you off a little. I met a guy on my way back to the condo. I was loading a snot rocket into chamber one, and just before I fired, I sensed someone coming up on my left. He passed me but did nothing to keep me from staying with him. I eventually came along side and started talking to him. We are going to do a 50 miler on Wednesday I think.

I have a 400 foot climb from downtown to our condo and that sent me into anaerobic fits at the end! Overall a great ride. The best scenery I have seen. I hope to get out three more times this week.

Ullrich

Warning: Andice Town Sign Sprints May Cause Pectoral Damage

We met at Scheibs' house this morning for a 60 mile roundtripper. Me and Ullrich carpooled up to the South Dallas starting area. Witnessed two cars run stop lights at 50mph. Crazy drivers up there in Dallas. Stopped at Whataburger for a biscuit and some ritual mystery, then ready for the Andice roundtripper.

Me, Mauricio, Ullrich, Stanton, Sean and Q. Pretty salty bunch for the roller coaster ride to Andice. Good day for a ride, typical Texas hot, winds from the south. Pre-ride directional tutorial from Scheibs. I confess that I was not listening. I was either getting my game face on, or daydreaming about actually dreaming.

Our warmup consisted of about a mile of chit chat on Avery Ranch Blvd. Then we got our game on. With the wind at our backs, we set a nice pace to Andice. See the Strava download for some kickass details of the ride. Particularly, check out the "3405 to 2308 North TT" Segment. If you want to compare your ride, upload your data to Strava. Some cool features.

We topped off the first half of the ride with a sprint to the town sign in Andice. Mauricio won the sprint (I was second, Q filled the last podium spot), but Mauricio paid for it. Apparently, the strain of the competition tweaked his pec muscle! Say what? Just a little foreshadowing Mikey! Getting old is a beeyotch.

Regrouped at the General store, where 1. Q ordered the largest phallic pickle ever created, 2. we got a knife sharpening tutorial from a guy that has likely killed for money, and 3. heard some highly innovative and disgusting jokes from the Scheib. I am gonna look up "Superman" on UrbanDictionary once I finish this schlock.

The way back was painful. Mauricio, Stanton, Q, Sean and I took the long route, chasing Scheibs and Ullrich, who had taken a two mile shortcut. Against the wind, it paid to have a lot of friends, as we reeled the rabbits in far sooner than estimated. I burned two many matches on the front, and popped like Mr. Bubble on one of the last rollers on the course. Q and Mauricio were the hardmen of the day.

Great roll fellas.

Rumor has it that AT has sold his bike and is contemplating an audition for the Amazing Race.

http://app.strava.com/rides/1129144