Wow.

Wow?

WOW.

I woke up this morning to check Eurosports to find out that my man Floyd Landis had lost huge time in the Tour de France. I stared at the screen in disbelief even still watching it on OLN this afternoon at the AFN 2pm showing. I sat down in my chair at the computer desk tonight and turned on to see how it was going for the rest of the field. I heard... the unbelievable. Floyd Landis chasing the breakaway. I watched. I stood and paced. I walked in and told my wife about it and came back and sat down. I paced and listened, and got something to eat. I came back and sat down.

Then, well - I got the bike out. I had so much energy I even got the rollers out. Alright, I didn't have the energy to overcome the total lack of desire to spin on rollers for more than 30 minutes, but at least I got them out.

On a side note regarding the rollers - over the winter, I was struggling in the low rings on the lowest resistance to keep going. My average speeds on the lowest resistance were around 21-25kph. I got on tonight and found I was keeping 27-30kph without any significant challenge. I'll go to bed thinking I'm stronger if nothing else.

So, I put the rollers away because I couldn't hear the radio and listening to Floyd dominate was more important than spinning in the hallway.

Floyd Landis goes from "yellow jersey" to 11th place, 8 minutes down, back to third place and only 30 seconds off the lead. These 30 seconds are easily overcome if he holds it to that going into Saturday's time trial.

And.. better yet. No rain in the forecast for tomorrow afternoon! Riding for me, Landis style. (yeah .... right )

VW

The week rolled out with some cool events happening.

First, I finished all but the final exam for my current college course.
Second, I learned a lot about PHP code - which makes third, the creation of a PHP based mailing list script for us Iwakuni riders to coordinate on.
Fourth, I got around 300km in and rode 140 of that with 3 different riders.

Welcome to Rich and Scott, who I took on a 90km beating. Sorry guys! Hopefully Scott quickly recovers from his Iwakuni Crud - that's the sickness that gets everyone in the first month aboard MCAS Iwakuni.

Also welcome to Ian, who rode with me today in some hellacious winds. It was a short 50km day, but the ride southbound to Oshima bridge was definitely a beating down. The ride back was FANTASTIC! I was spinning easy at 40-42kph with a heart rate down in the 140s.

Both of my last two ride days this week ended up being pretty much rolling recovery days. That works for me. The two days prior were just miserable rides.

Saturday: 93.47km, Avg HR 143 (just inside zone 2)
Sunday: 50.67km, Avg HR 137 (zone 1)

I'm glad I got the distance in this week though. I rolled over just around 300km this week, but it'll do nothing for me in the coming week.

The weather?





They said rainy season was over last week. SO much for that idea. The hard part about weeks like this, you never know more than a day out what time you'll be able to ride. It really ruins the family schedule. My wife has always been pretty lenient with my ride addiction, but I know the rainy season scheduling is taking a toll on her schedule too. I'll be so glad when this rain stuff is out of the weekly forecast.

VW

What a ride today. In honour of last nights first real mountain stage at Le Tour, I went out and attacked the Rakaan Plateau climb today. After today, I've decided I am going to rename the hill for public consumption though.

In April I attempted the Rakaan Plateau climb. I took an alternate route I saw on the maps that looked like a lot of fun. On the way up the mountain, I blew a tire. No big deal, right? I replaced the tube and continued on my way. About 2 km later, I hit a rock that pinch flatted me. This was bad. I didn't have the patch kit with me, and I was a long way from everywhere. I called back to the base and had some friends GPS their way out to pick me up. My ride ended that day in disappointment.

The next time I road Rakaan Plateau was a week later. As my ride partner, Chris, and I approached the bottom, we saw snow on the mountaintop. By the time we reached the summit of the plateau, the roads were completely covered and - in many places on the north side of the mountain - too icy to ride. We walked about 2 km over the summit before beginning the descent.

Today, I decided to attack again. Today's temperatures are into the high 80s with around 70-75% humidity. Sweat shop riding. I got to the base of the climb already feeling pretty worked. By the time I was half way up the mountain, I realized I had made a mistake on this route today. Too late by that point though, shorter to go over and come down the other side now. Then, I felt it happen. That's right. Tube #1. Pinched on a metal grate going across the road. I took my time changing the tube out and for the life of me could not get the hand pump to get me over 70psi on the tire. Brand new hand pump. (side note: I have a CO2 filler and will be going to that from now on. To heck with the hand pumps) The Rakaan Plateau climb is intimidating in all its glory. It's about 12% all the way to the top. Some portions of it are 6%, while some are 14-15%. You come around the corner near the top and see this: (don't mind the quality, it's a cell phone pic)

When you get up that part of the climb you can finally get a good view of where you came from:

I crested the mountain after refilling the water bottles at a vending machine and started the descent. Finally! And then.... piece of glass through the tire, into the tube. It was at this moment, that Rakaan Plateau became .... Two Tubes Mountain. I pulled the second tube out and found the glass in the tire. I removed the glass and replaced the tube, still not being able to get more than about 70psi. Maybe I'm just a weakling.

The rest of the ride I took very gingerly. I was definitely worried about still riding on such low tire pressure. That was really disappointing because the descent on Rte 186 is a real blast at high speed. Tomorrow I'm going to go replace the Zaffiro's with Rubino's again. I had no flats on my Rubinos when I replaced them at 3000km. I've had the Zaffiros on for about two weeks and flatted three times.

The ride ended slow and long, headwind all the way home on Rte 42 and Rte 2 into Iwakuni. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I'm going to do the 63km down to Mr. Max and back. I need a confidence booster after today's performance.

VW

It went away! The rain gave up for the afternoon for me. I got out for an 87k ride up to the Nishiki River Stop and back. It's a pretty flat shot into the mountains in the river valley. It's a gradual 2%ish climb to the turn around where there are plenty of vending machines to restock the water (and on the really long rides, grab some ice cream).

I saw another rider out today. I think I know who he is, but I'll be blasted if I can remember his name. We met a little over two weeks ago the day he got into town and talked for a while outside the base food court, Crossroads. We were going to ride, but then it ended up pouring rain during the time we intended to ride. I have no way to get a hold of him, and can't remember his name to call him! Oh well, it's a small base. I'll find him again sooner or later.

I'd have loved to have had another rider out today. My legs felt pretty good. I averaged 35.7kph on the return trip of 40km and would loved to have had someone to take a few pulls to get my heart rate down.

I got an email thanking me for hosting the cycleiwakuni.com web site. I'm pretty stoked about that. I agree with him though, I need more pictures. I'm horrible about picture taking. I got the camera phone but never even use it. I need to start making a commitment to take one picture per ride.

On the up side, my goal for the July-September quarter is 2500km (to get me to the 10,000 km for the year). It's July 9th, and I have 520 km so far! I think I'll make my goal.

VW