Moronacity Cycling Journal » Cycling

Love Stinks

Diane Ursu — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:00:33 +0000

Monday’s trainer workout was the first after a two-day layoff. I didn’t ride on Sunday because I expected to do a hard hill workout on Monday, but those plans were squashed. Instead, I hopped on the trainer for another pyramid workout. Not only was I able to make it through the hardest gear at the “top” of the pyramid before resting a moment to drink, but I managed to push through a total of five sprints over the usual three. Marked improvement!

I popped in The Wedding Singer for motivation. It turned out to be a great movie to watch during my sufferfest. One part that I particularly enjoyed—and that had a beat that facilitated the perfect cadence—was the scene where he sings Love Stinks. That is one of my favorite scenes . . . period. This might have to go into a spinning playlist on the computer, especially since I won’t be able to crank up the TV volume now that my downstairs neighbor has returned from her winter vacation.

WINNING!

Diane Ursu — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:29:45 +0000

Friday’s trainer workout was difficult. I had already ridden on Thursday, so my legs were feeling a little tired on Friday. Even so, I needed exercise. The weather was shitty. The trainer was my only option.

I was going to do an hour-long workout of fairly steady spinning. Instead, I started off with a cadence of 90 rpm in a moderate-effort gear. I did that for 10 minutes. Then, I shifted into a harder gear and pedaled at a somewhat varying cadence of 88 to 100 rpm. That was hard. After the five-minute interval, I dropped it down into a really easy gear and kept the cadence around 70 or 80 rpm and spent the next five minutes regaining my breath and lowering my heart and respiration rates to much more bearable levels. I repeated the moderate, 10-minute interval; the hard, five-minute interval; and the easy, five-minute interval twice more.

The last hard, five-minute interval was a little too much for me. I had to stop pedaling for 20 seconds about halfway through; then, I resumed the hard effort to finish the interval. Wow. It. Hurt. So. Bad. During the last half of that interval, I suddenly heard some motivational voices pop into my head. The first was Gilad from the butt-kicking, strength-training videos I did last winter. “You can do it! This last interval is going to change your muscle!” Then, suddenly, another familiar thing popped into my head: “WINNING!”

It’s amazing what our minds ponder in the midst of suffering.

The Golden Carrot

Diane Ursu — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:02:35 +0000

I wasn’t particularly looking forward to my trainer workout, today; but I seemed to go into automatic pilot when I got home. I slipped on my cycling gear—the bonus being that it’s a hell of a lot less than what I would wear if I went outside—and mounted my green steed for an honest effort over the usual 60-minute period.

As I warmed up, me debated with myself over what to do, but it was I who recommended something completely different: a pyramid! This came to me 10 minutes into my workout when I shifted into a harder, although moderately easy gear to spin for five minutes at a cadence of 80 to 90 rpm. When I realized the progression of my workout up until that point—warm-up at 70 rpm in an easy gear, progression to 90 rpm at the same gear, shifting into a harder gear at the same cadence—I decided that I would progress to one more harder gear, which just so happened to be Jake’s second hardest gear. I think my cadence slowed a bit, but it remained respectable, and well over 60 rpm. Unfortunately, it got the best of me, so I had to stop pedaling for a minute, drink, and then finish the remainder of the five-minute interval.

I was so spent after that interval that I had to hop off my bike to go fill up my glass, and quickly return for a five-minute easy spin. Afterwards, I finished the pyramid by repeating the second hardest effort, and proceeding in the reverse order of the first part of my workout.

I pedaled at a moderate effort at an 80 to 90 rpm cadence for 10 minutes and then decided to finish with three sprints. Each was in a harder gear, as fast as I could pedal while maintaining a little control, and for 30 seconds with 90-second rest periods in between. I then finished with 10 minutes of moderate spinning, because the easy cooldown that I had been doing over the past week now felt too easy.

The good news is that there was a noticeable improvement over my last workout! This is the golden carrot dangling in front of my face, encouraging me to continue my training. My new goal is to complete that pyramid without having to stop. Any bets on how long that will take?

No Gung-Ho on Cycling

Diane Ursu — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 02:42:19 +0000

I’ve been doing quite well with my workouts throughout the holiday weekend. Wednesday, December 21 was the first day on the trainer (see Jake’s New Toy). I “trained” again on Thursday for 40 minutes. I sprinkled in three sprints, and my heart responded by saying, “No, not gonna slow down until you get off this damn bike.”

Friday, I got out for a hike at Stony Creek with Kristi, Eric, Nick, Marty, Steve, Walter, Chili, Roxie, Dobby, and Coriander: six people, five dogs. We spent two hours hiking all over the place. I was ready to quit long before we did, but I’m really glad that we were out for as long as we were. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also really needed it. I guess you could say that my friends took me for a much-needed walk. Here are some awesome photos from that hike:

Saturday and Sunday were travel days for Christmas with the family, so I didn’t get any exercise, but I managed to get back on schedule with a 40-minute walk along some of the streets of Mount Clemens, yesterday. Cori wasn’t quite sure she wanted to leave the apartment. I think she thought I was going to throw her back into the car for a ride to God only knows where, but she perked up when she realized that we were hitting the pavement sans driving.

Today, I took Nick’s advice of popping in a movie during my trainer workout. Since I’m still working my way through Christmas movies, I popped in Holiday Inn. It really did make it easier to get through the workout. I managed to spin for 60 minutes. I did some faster spinning at about 90 rpm, switching between an easier and a medium gear. In fact, the faster spinning felt better than the slower spinning. This is good. It was somewhat of a challenge syncing my cadence with the early-40s music, but I managed, and I realized that musicals are great for trainer workouts. The movie focuses my mind on the plot, while the music encourages me to switch it up a bit. The problem is that I don’t own very many musicals.

I had to do three sprints toward the end of the workout. To make it more challenging, and to shock my muscles into being like little rock stars and fine-tuning their craft, which just happens to be being strong and fast, I like to do sprints or simulate hills as much as I can in my quaint, little living room.

So it seems that I have a bit of a routine, and I intend to keep it up. Instead of going gung-ho on the cycling, I am going to continue alternating cycling with walking. This means that Cori and Jake get equal time. Aside from keeping the dog and bike happy, it also keeps my body happy. While I’m going through the “getting back into shape” phase, I think it’s best to give my legs rest days between trainer workouts. In the past, my legs have responded quite well to rest days, coming back much stronger for the next workout.

If I can keep this up, I’ll be ready for race season.

A Complete Tour de France Viewing Experience

Diane Ursu — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:02:58 +0000

Last year’s Tour de France was my first. I woke up early every morning so I could watch the Tour and cover it for Examiner.com. Sure, it was work, but it also became a bit of a habit. I cheered for Lance. I tried to win free stuff in all of the contests. I learned about other riders that I now cheer for in the absence of Lance.

One thing I took away from last year’s experience was how I watch the Tour. You see, I can’t just sit and watch something. I usually have to be doing something. In fact, I am writing this as I watch today’s stage. Out of that work mentality has come an interactive Tour viewing experience.

There are three very important tools for a complete Tour de France viewing experience:

coffee;
television;
computer (preferably laptop).

If you really want to be a geek, you can add your smartphone to this list and download any variation of swanky—and not so swanky—apps to complement your Tour viewing experience.

Tour de France Websites

The Tour de France offers excellent, online Tour coverage. The Tour de France home page is the online hub for information and provides a very obvious link to live Tour de France coverage. This is nice because it provides additional commentary to our favorite Versus announcers, commentary which sometimes provides much more detail and fills in the gaps. Speaking of Versus, if you feel like the Tour de France website isn’t enough, you can visit the “2011 Tour de France on NBC Sports“.

Tour de France on Social Media

Both Le Tour de France and Versus provide social media coverage:

Le Tour de France on Facebook
@letour on Twitter
Versus Cycling on Facebook
@VSCycling on Twitter.

Izod Race for the Podium Watch & Win Sweepstakes

How can you not play this? It’s so simple. Visit the “Izod Race for the Podium Watch & Win Sweepstakes” page, enter the day’s word and your email address, sign up, spin the wheel, et voila!

To get you started, today’s word is WATTS. Simply watch the Tour de France on Versus every day for a new word. The coveted awards are a trip to the 2012 Tour de France and a Cervelo S5.

Travelers Fantasy Cycling Challenge

Who doesn’t like fantasy cycling? It’s free. You get to select so many riders to be on your payroll for each stage, and people win prizes daily. Visit the NBC “Travelers Fantasy Cycling Challenge” page to play.

RoadID 2011 July Giveaway

Win a Trek Madone in the RoadID 2011 July Giveaway. You can enter by donating $5 to charity, becoming a RoadID Facebook Fan, following RoadID on Twitter, taking a survey, and ordering $20 worth of merchandise from RoadID.com.

There you have it: a complete Tour de France viewing experience.

Di’s Abridged History of Wheels

Diane Ursu — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:00:43 +0000

Do you remember what it was like to learn how to ride a bike? I remember my tricycle. I remember my pink, banana-seat Huffy with training wheels. I remember my dad holding onto the back of the bike and running with me while I got started, and then letting go as I rolled down the sidewalk. I remember that my bike was an extension of my body. I rode it all the time.

After the Huffy, my dad bought me a candy-apple blue Schwinn 10-speed. That was a cool bike. It was a cool color. Unfortunately, I stopped riding in my early teens. Maybe it had something to do with the horse that I rode for the next decade, but biking seemed like more of a chore.

Even as a kid, I understood the benefits of cross-training. Roller skating was one of my favorite activities. I was pretty good at it. In the winter, I would try ice skating, but I always feared falling on the hard ice. My tushy didn’t appreciate that.

I knew that I would need some mad skillz to support my bike habit. One time, I even got to help my dad build a house.

Unfortunately, those mechanical abilities never translated into my adult life, which is kind of a hindrance when it comes to bike repairs.

I also understood the importance of just chillin’. In those days, I enjoyed honing my skills with the latest flavor of Bubble Yum or Hubba Bubba. These days, I prefer post-ride chill sessions with Michigan micro brews. This past winter, I really took a liking to IPAs, but now that the days are warmer, I prefer sweeter ambers.

It wasn’t until I moved to Hancock in 2006 that I rediscovered the joys of riding a bike. Until recent years, I didn’t know that I was actually “mountain biking” on that pink, banana-seat Huffy on the trails behind our house. You can see a couple of pictures of those unofficial trails at “Bicycle Tour of Durand Part I—A Photo Essay.”

I now realize that the times in my life when I truly enjoyed bicycling are linked by one common thread: mountain biking. Finally, I can understand this kid’s enthusiasm:

He figured it out, early in life.

Racing Greyhound Duathlon Part I – A Photo Essay

Diane Ursu — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:29:23 +0000

Here are some of the photos I took at Island Lake, last weekend. I think this team proves one thing: men are exhibitionists when they are in front of the camera.

The Thought Process of a Cyclist

Diane Ursu — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 05:02:31 +0000

Do you remember that one time on the A-Teamâ€¦heh, just kidding. I bet you thought this was going to be retro-TV week on Moronacity, didn’t you? Actually, there was an episode of Magnum P.I. where Magnum was doing the Ironman. He figured out the case as he was doing the bike part.

I’m pretty sure that most of us would not figure out a case while riding the bike. Our thought process would probably go something like this:
* Okayâ€¦steady cadence.
* Push through the top of the hill and keep pedaling downâ€¦
* I need a gel.
* I better wash that down with some beverage.
* Ow. Okay, be strong. The pain will end, someday.
* I could really use a steak.
* BEER! BEER! BEER!

As you can see, this thought process is highly unlikely to lead to the conclusion that treasure could have been buried in that flower garden, back there, and that someone could be holding a gun on two other people, right now! Yeah, umâ€¦no. That’s probably not going to be the resulting thought process, but what can I say? Magnum is a P.I. god. Just don’t call him a “P.I.” He is a private investigator.