Trainers

I had another spin class last night and once again it was an excellent workout. The hour went by quickly and the sweat poured off me. Although I like going to them I have been searching for another way to "ride" in the winter and it seems computer trainers are the way to go.
After considerable research I have decided there are 3 worthy trainers that interest me. They all have their plusses and minuses and picking one will be difficult. The one feature they all have that I really like is if you are climbing a hill on screen the pedalling will get harder to reflect that and the reverse is true if you are going downhill. Very cool.
The first is the Proform TDF which is an entire exercise bike. It has it's own display screen which gives power output, calories burned and several training stats. You can also display this information along with this course you are riding on a computer or through the computer to a big screen tv. The ability to map your own rides using Google maps and then riding them in the basement is also possible.

Proform Tour de France
 

The second is the Computainer which you attach your rear wheel to like many regular trainers but this one also displays many different training stats through a computer onto a big screen tv if you like. You do need a computer though which hooks up to the handlebar mounted control module. It has virtual courses which are cool because you can set the power output of a virtual rider (Metal man) and then chase after him. It even has a draughting option. It also allows you to ride real videoed courses.



Computrainer


The third is the Tacx trainer which is a lot like the Computrainer in that it attaches to the rear wheel of your bike and uses a handlebar mounted control module to display through your computer onto a big screen. The Tacx has videoed courses of famous rides as well as the virtual rider option. Some models also have a steerer which your front wheel sits on so you must steer while going around corners or you will "crash". Some models, such as the Bushido power themselves through your pedalling which is pretty amazing.

Video ride from Tacx
 

All three of these trainers have their pluses and minuses and the biggest minus is they're not cheap. They are all in the $1500 to $1700 range so you would have to be pretty serious about training to purchase one. I have no doubt though that anyone training on one of these through the winter would be well ahead of the curve come springtime. If interested in one you should check out their web sites to get the complete story on each one because I have only given a brief synopsis of what each trainer is capable of.

Stiff and sore

Yesterday I rode almost all the way to Badjeros and back. The ride took 2:10 but the real story is how the ride there differed from the ride back.
While getting ready for the ride I noticed that the wind was picking up but from the house it was tough to tell the direction. As soon as I got moving it became obvious that the wind was coming from the SW and it was steady and strong. This made the climb up the Pretty River road much slower than usual. To make things even more difficult was the road surface which was tarred and gravelled several months ago and is now a rough surface with much more rolling resistance. I doubt anyone will be setting their personal best climbing Pretty River road for a few years.
The wind blew steady down the hill. I made up it to Robroy and continued straight through but now it seemed even stronger, blowing directly from the SW. On days like these I am glad I didn't buy aero wheels because they definitely would have given me handling problems in the cross wind.
At 30 kms out I turned around and headed back. Riding home was a complete contrast to the ride out. With the wind now at my back I made great time although near the end I was lagging a bit, mostly because I was pooped from the ride out.
Riding up and into the wind for 30 kms took 1:25 with an average speed of roughly 21.5 kph. Riding back took only 44 minutes with an average of 37.8 kph so it was like two completely different rides. I should also note that because the bottom half of Pretty River road is so rough and there is still loose gravel I don't push hard on that section. Crashing on that surface would rip your skin to shreds.
I also had a close call in the traffic circle at Poplar and High where the car driver was oblivious to the fact that a bike was in the circle.
In the evening I went to my first ever league curling game and it was great. I actually got some rocks in the house and swept my ass off and let me tell you, sweeping those rocks all the way down the ice is hard work. Despite my limited ability we won 8-3 so we had to buy the first round of drinks for the losers which is how it is done in curling. Certainly takes the sting out of losing.
I think I'll take it a bit easier today.

Spin class

I have now joined the Y with the intention of going to spin classes over the winter to try to keep some biking fitness in me. I would like to have a good start to next season and hopefully build on that because my goal will be to get a top ten in next years Centurion. Now if anyone had ever suggested to me years ago that I would be happy being in the top ten in anything I would have told them they were nuts but times change.
I must admit I didn't think my age group (55-59) would be so competitive. This year I worked hard, dropped my time by a significant amount yet I only improved a few places to 17'th out of 97 riders. In order to be in the top ten I would have had to knock off another 6 minutes or so . Six minutes may not seem like much but at 30 kph that's 3 km which is certainly a significant distance.
Today was my first spin class and what a workout it was. I now understand how Susan and Brian improved so quickly this year. The class was an hour long and the instructor, a very nice young lady, kept us sprinting, climbing, standing, sitting and sweating for the entire time. If they handed out an award for who sweat the most I would have won it hands down. Both my jersey and bike shorts were drenched at the end of the session. On Sundays there is a 2 hour session but I think I'll pass on that one until spring rolls around. I want to keep some leg in me but 2 hours on an exercise bike seems a little much to me.
Next time out I will wear my heart rate monitor and report back on the results. It should give me a pretty good idea on how good a workout it is.

Motivation.

With the change of seasons comes a change of activities. I haven't been on my bike for over a week now, one reason being the weather has been awful and the other reason is I am now lacking in motivation. I did ride over 3300 kms this year which was 900 more than last year.
Motivation for me this year was to improve on my time and placing from last years Centurion race. I really enjoy going out for rides but preparing for a race helps me to focus on the task at hand. When I mountainbiked a lot it was the same because I did a fair amount of racing for a while so all rides led to the goal of better fitness for better results.
I don't think there are many rides left in me this year due to the fact that there is nothing to work towards now. A rest is always good but at the same time it's a bit of a drag that my biking fitness level is sure to drop over the winter. To stay relatively fit in the coming months my activities will include hiking up Blue, snowshoeing, downhill skiing and snowboarding and to keep some bike fitness there is a good chance I will go to some spin classes. My friends Brian and Sue went to spin classses this year and the improvement in their bike fitness was impressive so it can only benefit me as well. I will be also be curling but that will be more for fun than fitness.
My one other goal is to keep my weight down. This year I dropped almost 10 pounds which makes a big difference when you are doing a tough climb. Think of the effort it takes to carry a 10 pound sack of potatoes around and then relate that to lugging that weight on your back climbing a hill. It's worth it to keep that weight off so I can start next season with a good base fitness. My motivation next year will be to crack the top 10 in my age category in the Centurion. It will be difficult to do as I was 17'th out of 97 this year and to gain the top 10 I would have had to knock another 5-6 minutes off my time. It won't be easy but goals easily reached aren't much to celebrate are they.   

Stupid beyond all imagination, updated.

This time of year in Collingwood is not the greatest because the weather is frequently lousy for outdoor activities such as biking. Today was that kind of day, cloudy, cool and drizzly.
To stay busy I decided to try baking a sweet potato pie which I have had a couple of times compliments of my friend Brian who along with his wife Sue have had me over for dinner a couple of times. Brian makes the fantastic sweet potato pie although when he first mentioned it there was no way I thought I would like it. I was wrong.  
Today I decided to make my own so it was off to the Metro to get some sweet potatoes and a few other ingredients. I got back home, pulled up a recipe on the internet that looked good and got to work. Within an 1 1/2 hours I had the filling made and poured it into the store bought graham cracker pie crust. The oven was preheated a few minutes later so I grabbed the pie and went to transfer it to the oven. Sadly, idiot that I am, I didn't take into account how heavy the filling was and when I picked it up the by the sides and went to move it the centre collapsed and the entire thing ended up splattered on the kitchen floor and lower cabinets. Fuck fuCk fUck fucK.........FUCK!
There was such a mess that I was only able to call myself a fucking moron for about 5 minutes straight before the massive task of cleaning up the mess took precedent. The amazing thing is I didn't go absolutely apeshit. I am either getting old or mellow or possibly both because years ago I would have been banging my head against the kitchen counter for being such an idiot, such a complete moron, such an incompetent twit, such a clumsy oaf. Today I was in a state of controlled rage if that's really possible. Strange. Really strange.
It's now a day later and I have tried again, this time putting the flimsy aluminium pie plate inside a solid metal one so as not to royally screw up again. All went well I think and the finished product smells good so all that is left is the taste test.
I have now had a taste and I would say it is quite good and was worth the coniption fit. I am now going to look up the meaning of the word coniption.

It looks good...I think.

New toys

The fall colours were brilliant this year but now the wind is blowing, the leaves are starting to fall and snow has already been spotted, only for a minute or so, at the Scenic Caves. It also seems unusually cold to me for this time of year so buying a new pair of skis seemed like the right thing to do so it was off to the annual ski swap at Blue.
The skis I have now are Dynastar Sultan Legend 85 all mountain skis and I love them but for this year I wanted something a little turnier so to speak. I arrived at 9:30 AM last Friday and it was already busy there. I figured a shorter slalom ski would be a good ski to contrast my Legends. After talking with a young racer and then getting help from a gentleman named Carl, who really seemed to know his skis, I settled on Dynastar Omeglass Speed 155 cm slalom skis with an 11 metre turning radius.  They are not the titanium model but they reviewed very well so hopefully I will be heading down the hill this winter linking a lot of nice round turns.

 

I have also joined the curling club in town so it was off to Play it Again Sports to see if I could find any decent prices on shoes and a brush (brooms are for wives and witches and my understanding is sometimes they are hard to tell apart). I managed to get a nice pair of shoes for $40, a gripper for $16 and a brush for $15 so it was a very worthwhile trip. Shoes at Canadian Tire were $130 so I saved some money (remember, I'm a cheap guy) and still ended up with new equipment.

 

So here comes winter and the only left to buy is my 5x7 ski pass and I am good to go.
I also have to admit that my somewhat unreliable memory (OK, I'm bordering on mindless twit territory) almost cost some some cash this weekend. I had put in ski boots for Lori at the swap and I was supposed to go back Thanksgiving Monday to pick them up if they hadn't sold but of course I forgot. It was Tuesday when it finally dawned on me that I had forgotten so I rushed over to the swap but everything had already been cleaned out. Luckily, after a few phone calls I tracked down the guy in charge of the swap and the boots didn't sell so he's going to drop them off at the house. Talk about great customer service. I guess I should also say sorry to Lori. Please don't beat me with your broom.

A Comedy of My Errors.

So I walk into the liquor store on Tuesday in a GET BEER! frame of mind and see a young guy who looks sort of familiar but I have BEER! on my mind so I continue on my quest. He approaches me and says "hello Gary" and it is then that I realise that he is a fellow employee at Scenic Caves. We talk for a while with me racking my brain trying to figure out what his name is. I think it's Jackson.
We meet up again at the cash and I see some Makers Mark bourbon so I mention that all bourbon is made in Tennessee. Wrong again, all bourbon is made in Kentucky. We get through the cash and I say "see you later Jackson" and head home.
When I get home I realise that all bourbon is made in Kentucky so I go into the work email list and find Jackson's email address and apologise for not recognising him and I correct myself on the origin of all bourbons.
The next day I get an email from Jackson. He doesn't know what I am talking about and figures I have the wrong email address.
I then go back into the company email list and realise that the guy in the liquor store is named Mark and not Jackson. Fuck fUCk FuCK fucK...........fuck!
I then had to send new emails to both Mark and Jackson explaining that I am now in the fast lane on the highway to senility and my only hope may be that I forget where the hell I'm going.
So this afternoon I am at the Turkey Tent sale at Blue Mountain and I see another Scenic Caves employee and wonder of wonders I recognise her AND I know her name. I tell Krista about my comedy of errors but when I mention that Mark is an Aussie she say no, Marty is the Aussie. I know who Marty is and insist that Mark is an Aussie as well only to be corrected by Krista for what I hope will be the last time for the next few minutes. Mark is a Brit.....who sounds a whole lot like an Aussie to me. Where's my Geritol?