Scott cycles…

First Win of the Season!

Let me start by saying this – when I roll out onto the track – I often through ‘caution’ to the wind.  I make random, seemingly senseless attacks for no apparent reason.  I could be off the back for 3 laps – catch the field and attack without notice.  I never go easy – I rarely use the tactical sense that I could/should.  I could VERY likely get much better results if I used some proper training techniques, focused and raced with 2 ounces of common sense.  That being said … I get a great workout every time I race.  That’s what I am TYPICALLY trying for.  Perhaps all of that feeds into what I am about to tell you…

As you can guess, last night was race night.  It was my least favorite night – especially after 2+ weeks of suspect training.  Chariot, Win-and-In and 8 Mile….

Chariot – This race – by all accounts, was created to make you hurt.  It’s basically a little over a lap, from a standing start, Ready, Set, GO!  If you hit the start right – you go really fast.  If you have 350 meters of power – you win.  If not, you complain that you hate that stupid event.  75% of the races are won on the start.  I know how to start well.  I don’t always time it right, but I know how to start very fast.  If my legs are right, if the time is right, if I get my mental game on – I go fast.  Typically – I fade in turn 3 and falter.  Well – last night I came out of the box like a ‘rat on crack’.  I hit the “GO” perfect and was flying instantly.  I didn’t quickly got the lane and stood up well into turn three.  I was flying.  I was expecting others to come around me but in this glorious 25 ish seconds of pain and suffering, I was able to hold off all takers.  The win was good and I am quite happy.  I realize, it means very little but I do like to win.  I like to race hard and I don’t think I could have gone any harder.  The ironic thing is this paragraph took 8x as long to type as the race took to complete.  It was good to know I will end this season with at least one win. The don’t come often, but when they do – they make me happy.

Win-and-In (The Australian Hat Dance) – I truly hate this event.  I was smoked from Chariot and it showed.  I finished in the field.  Closed a few gaps, but really – I was an integral part of “pack” – the filler.

8-Mile (Not just a place in Detroit) – FAST FAST FAST … I exploded 3 miles in.  Tried to rejoin a few laps later and they were going FASTER.  UGH!  I watched as people quit – realized if I just finished I would get 5th and score a point.  I finished…

Not my best night of racing, but there was a diamond in the ruff.  It may very well have been my last Wednesday of the year.  I may have to turn my focus to Tuesdays as we have some new commitments on Wednesday.

Final note – the way my upper body feels today – I need to do more work on that in the off season!

Is something better than nothing?

I’m conflicted – wrapped up in a conundrum – twisted around my axle – a bit bunched if you will.

My whole life, I’ve done things.  Some things I’ve done very well, other things I’ve just done.  The problem is that SOME things – I can’t “just do it”.  Confused yet?  Welcome to the inner fuzzy zone in my brain.

Let me give you an example… I don’t like to ride unless I am “riding a lot”.  If I can’t get out and ride 5-7 times a week, I would rather not be riding.  That is basically pretty stupid in many ways.  I mean, if I can’t ride 5 days a week, I could enjoy the fitness, fun, freedom and all that FOUR times a week… or even THREE times a week… but NO…. if I am not ‘training’ and ‘focused’ I drift farther and farther from my good habits by the moment.

Why am I all twisted up about this?  It’s stupid – but … it’s bugging me so I am venting.  As you know, I am trying to drink “more water”.  Now, I’m going to be honest – unless I ride – a GLASS of water on a weekend is more than I drank last weekend.  If I don’t drink a GALLON of water at work – I feel like I failed for the day.  Yesterday, I drank about 48-64 oz at work and then had 3 x 22-24oz glasses in the evening.  This morning, I was like “Ugh… I already screwed up the week yesterday”.

I need to read this and some how beat it into my thick skull:  It’s not a freeking race.  It’s not a competition to drink more than yesterday.  It’s a quest to be healthier.  Everything you do that is BETTER than before is GOOD!  Good is GOOD!  It’s ALRIGHT not be part Nemo!

These simple, self destructive thoughts often knock me off my positive train of thought and send my life back to the way it was (the way that makes me fat).  This blog entry may suck for you guys – but it was really therapeutic for me.  I drank SOME water – not all of my water.  I took a few deep breaths and now I think I will see if riding today is an option.  Weather is looking lame.

Week Two

Every week – I want to update you on my progress with last week’s ‘challenge’ and declare my new weeks challenge.

Last week – I said I was going to drink more water.  I did VERY well on the water thing on Monday through Thursday.  I was hydrated like a camel and clearing liquid like a fire hydrant.  Good times… Well, Friday – with a modified work schedule due to Maxwell being a bit sick, Saturday at the velodrome and Sunday at home – not so good. This isn’t the end of my quest, it’s just a realistic description of my success and failure.  It happens, we aren’t out of water!  I can succeed!

This Week - The challenge will be to work out – for at LEAST 30 minutes – 5 days a week.  That simply means – if I haven’t ridden, raced, run or something by the time the kids go to bed – I’m going to be on the road w/the bulldog or in the basement with the boxes running for a while.  I’m not focusing on running – but I can not in good faith deny the workout you get is quality.  Some may say – this isn’t an every day thing – but good coaches will tell you that rest is important to your workout routine as is the actual workouts!

Other Comments – I did notice an oddity in my brain cells this week (I only have 2).  By simply focusing on drinking more water, adding ONE positive-health change – I began noticing my brain trying to make right decisions.  When I look at a plate of junk vs. a plate of healthy food, I wanted to eat healthier.  I didn’t always – but I wanted to and did in more occasions that the previous week.

Status:

Week 1 – Drink More Water – Partially achieved and ongoing!
Week 2 – Workout at least 5 days a week.

One thing a week!  Rebuilding the man in the mirror.  What are YOU doing this week?

It was dirty?

I’ve been doing a cool new thing that I am finding refreshing and productive.  I’m getting up early and doing a few things, doing a few chores and then getting on about my way.  Well – yesterday – I decided I needed to do some laundry.  No problem right?  I do it all the time – i’m fairly good at it!  I get clothes clean… lets do it.  I grab up a bunch of “mediums” and start a load.  About 20 minutes later I realize – I cant find my phone.  Only 2 words come to mind.  Oh and shit (very close together, might I add).  Well…. I go pause my front loader, look in the pocket and there it is… dead as a doornail.  SONOFA….

Okay – so i’m trying to not get as worked up about things.  Let’s not get worked up!  Just bite the bullet and order a new one using the insurance you pay for on a monthly basis.  $50 – phone comes home tomorrow.  AWESOME!  Now comes the horror story … I hate that this has to end in a bad story because I have tried so hard to remain calm.

I grabbed an old phone and activated it.  Sarah had used this phone in the past, prior to that it was my sisters.  I tried to use the Verizon Wireless Backup Assistant, which prior to this incident I had nothing but great reviews.  It wont let me log in… hmph…. this isn’t good!

I get to work and see that SOME HOW it has taken all of Sarah’s contacts and assigned them to me.  In addition, the behind the scenes stuff is pointing at Sarah’s phone – while the web says my phone.  DOH!  Import a lot of my contacts (again, trying to remain calm and just deal with the loss – its really a pimple on a flies buttocks here ….).  I hit sync and nothing happens.  You see – Sarah now has all my contacts.  UGH!

I ended up having to kill Sarah’s account, re-import, purge/clean things and finally – rebuilding my own contacts.

Enough to make your head spin!  Well… I’m back on my own (new) phone and have a bunch of my contacts restored.  The are still filtering in and there is a chance my old phone will come back on long enough to get a few off as well.  It is currently baking in the sun here in the #ATL!

All in all – my phone wasn’t dirty – but it’s much cleaner now!

I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror

I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I’m Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change

As I’ve walked around Northside Hospital pondering weight loss, obesity, American culture, lifestyle, fat people, myself, my family and about 1000 other things – I came up with a lot of blog topics that would make people say “Hell yeah!’ or “Seriously!” or “Man, you are right!”… things that would spark lots of ‘Likes’ and comments on facebook and was compelled to write them.  The problem is, I couldn’t bring myself to write anything like that, it just wasn’t coming from my heart.  It was coming from my head and my head is amidst turmoil.

There are so many things I could complain about.  The cost of eating healthy, McDonalds at a hospital,  portion sizes at various restraunts… but complaining will not help me  It won’t help me one bit.   It won’t help Sarah, it won’t help Derek, Max or anybody else.

In my three days of pondering all of this I’ve come up with something … I have to do what I have to do and do it the best I can.  Stop making bullshit excuses.  Stop looking at my environment, my culture and anything else I am blaming for myself being overweight.  Simply put – I am overweight because I put more food in my mouth than I need.  Some of my weight is caused by putting the wrong food in my mouth – but ultimately – I eat too much of the wrong things and because of that I am fat.

A while back, I did a feature on TV and that was a lot of fun.  It was all inspired by my “Jerry McGuire” moment where I decided to tell the world if everybody did something different to get to work, one day a week – they would get lots of benefits.  I still believe that.  I can conceptually prove all of that too you.  I *INVITE* you to join me in my quest to commute by bike or other means 1 day a week.  I’ve enjoyed it!  It’s good for you.  The problem is, commuting one day a week is not enough.  It’s a great start – but it’s not enough.

All this brings me to a blog post starting with a Michael Jackson song.  I never in a million years thought that would happen, but it’s true – I need to take a look at the guy in the mirror and make some new changes.  The problem with that is – changing your whole life TODAY means in 3 weeks or 3 months, all the changes will have fallen by the wayside and you will be back to the old ways of thinking/acting. Don’t believe me?  I’ve lost over 350-400 pounds in 6 years.  I still weigh the same amount (and haven’t been over 300 pounds).

So here is my latest greatest attempt at getting my life in order.  I’m going to keep with my plan … call it “One A Week”.  What does that mean?  One thing a week.  I am going to focus on ONE THING a week.  The catch is … it has to be a snowball.  I can’t work on this one week, that the next and forget about this!  I might add something to my life, I might subtract something from my life.  I might MODERATE something from my life – but every week – I am going to try to introduce one healthy habit.

Here’s my current list:

• Commute by bicycle, on average, one day a week (Successfully engaged)
• Drink more water (Starting 8/9/2010)

If you are one of the seven readers of my blog and would like to partake in my insanity – please feel free to comment on your one-a-week!  Support from friends, relatives and peers will do nothing but help!  Sarah has to walk the walk now.  While I can not walk the same walk, it’s time for me to walk in parallel and lead a healthier lifestyle!  What will you do this week?

Stop – no REALLY! STOP

In light of the current situation in my life, I find it necessary to blog about something random and humorous.

I haven’t confessed to this publicly, but on July 4th, on my way to the Peachtree Road Race I ran a red light.  I don’t remember doing it, but the video and photographic evidence is conclusive.  Ooops…

Well, on our way to our final destination this morning, I pulled up to the same light and said to Sarah, “I’ve got my bike rack on there, we can go!” (it blocks my tag).  Well, as I said that,  Cobb County Sheriff rolled by.  We both agreed it was good that I didn’t go.  We are smart at 4:45 am!

We get to the Glenridge Connector and get stuck at a left turn light.  There is a car in front of us. The lights cycle 2-3 times, but we NEVER get a left turn lane.  That sucks, eh?  Well, the car in front of me decides to take matters into his own hands.  He looks both ways and goes.  Listen up here, kids…. CRIME DOESN’T PAY!

Just as the guy takes off, a cop comes up from behind and sees him do it.  The cop makes a high speed left to follow him and nails him for running a red light.  A bit flabbergasted at the situation, I watched as a car pulled up next to me in the left-left turn lane.  Seconds later, the light changed.  I felt bad for the guy, but hey – I’ve done my fair share of supporting “The Man” this year – thanks for taking one for the team!

It’s pointless

Well, “It” isn’t pointless – I was last night!

Last week, I raced okay, had fun and placed really well in 3 out of 4 races.  Last night, I’d love to tell you I slayed it, but that was not the truth.

Chariot

Normally an event I am good at, I got a good start but didn’t have anything once I got to the back straight.  I really can’t explain it other than I probably would have won in Frisco… I just didn’t have the POW to roll 323ish meters super hard.  In a race that lasts under 30 seconds, there’s no time to regroup and get back into things.  Once I realized I was out of the points…. I just finished.  Maybe 5th?

Win and In

I don’t generally like this event much.  Of the 9 events at the track on a weekly basis, it is my last favorite (maybe because I’ve had ZERO success in this event.  Well, the streak of suckdom continued last night.  I made a couple moves that could have worked out.  I was a little opportunistic early – tried to create opportunity late, but in a 15 lap race with sprints every 3 laps – it’s a fast race no doubt.

8-Mile

I am proud of this one.  In previous 8-mile attempts – I have fallen apart with about 6 laps to go.  I’m happy to say when the bell rang with one lap to go I was in a great position to attack for the win.  I did just that…. unfortunately, 5 other guys were still there and they had more gas than I did.  At least I didn’t go down without a fight!  I got hooked pretty hard in the sprint, took a guided tour of the apron but didn’t stack or lose any spokes in my Naten sponsored wheels.  The more impressive thing is I made it through the incident without a single word of profanity.  It could have been the nearly instantaneous apology from the guy who did it?  I don’t know – it worked out alright.

So… a tie for third in the omnium last week… no points this week.  I’m more impressed and happier about my performance this week.  Bike racing is a funny sport like that.  Welp, time to get back on my bike and get to work… as everybody now calls me Commuter Dude – I must commute and I have not done that this week.  Looking forward to the ride!

Race Report

So I haven’t posted one in a while.  Not because I haven’t raced, but because any number of things have gotten in the way.  I enjoy writing them, but at the same time – it doesn’t always work out.

Last night … the weather was threatening.  I wasn’t even sure if it was going to happen.  I had a new set of wheels that Naten had delivered, prep’d and hooked me up with.  I was eager to try them out.  I was excited to race, but the weather – it weighs heavily on me.  In the long run, the temp rose back up to about 85 and at least that in humidity.  It was MOIST!

A lesson in counting…

8 Lap Scratch

In this event, I typically wind the speed up because I hate slow scratch races.  This one, I decided to be smart and play my hand in the field sprint.  I’m still not 110% sure we didn’t ride a 7 lap scratch – but hey – we finished one lap after the bell!  With – what I thought to be three laps to go, Wayne attacked over the top.  Fighting everything in me to chase him, I let others do the work.  Good idea!  We come out of 4 and I see the lap counter say “2″.  Sweet, I like where I am.  I never looked at the lap counter again, it’s typically static for at least the distance of the home straight.  As we pass the bell – it rings?  Time to sprint?  Okay… I got 4th in the sprint.  I was pleased.

Miss-n-Out

I used to utterly and completely hate this event.  As of recent, I’ve had reasonable success.  Not sure how or why, but I’m enjoying it.  Last night was good.  I started off like I do… rolling tempo.  Letting a few “low hanging bits of fruit” get dropped off the back of the field.  Being completely team-less, aggressive and a little outspoken, i’m also noticed.  People do try to drop/pass me here and there.  I enjoy the challenge.  Wayne came through for 2 laps of solid pull.  I was loving that, I got to take a break.  I then had to go back to the front as the mustache men weren’t about to help me.  I knew we had 4 people… but as Wayne was popped … they rang the bell.  Mind you, I had just taken a 2 lap pull.  I was at my redline and I tried to sprint – no gas.  3rd.  Not bad!

Madison

I rode the maddy with a new partner.  He’s been off the bike for a bit, it was our first time.  We did OK, we were getting things together at the end.  I think if it had been 40 laps, a few more exchanges, we would have pulled things together a bit.  We missed 3rd by 2 points, won in the final sprint – so that was good.  The last 10 laps were intense and left me REALLY smoked.

Tempo

I didn’t hurl.  That’s about all I can say.  My game plan fell apart, I fell apart, it sucked.  I finished in the field.  Sometimes that is all you can hope for!

Thanks to Wayne for help in the M-n-O.  Someday all my cylinders will fire on the same night.  One more week of racing before a little break.  Get in some riding, some good training and I’ll be back to finish off August and September.  Maybe we can get a cool dry evening?  NOT!

How I met “Commuter Dude”

A lot of set up here… Commuter Dude is a guy on the local NBC news station.  He takes calls and emails from people about about traffic and commuting issues and tries to get people to fix them.  His segments are a lot of fun and typically lead to somebody benefiting in some way.  A good thing in this negative, broke as a joke world we live in.

Well – about 2-3 weeks ago, Commuter Dude was told by a local county “Sorry man, we don’t have any more money.  We cant fix things just because you show up on the scene.  He interviewed the guy, it as a nice exchange – but it basically said “Your screwed.”

Well, on my way to work (on my bike) I was thinking about this and I came up with my latest thing – one day a week.  One day a week to change the world (or at least Atlanta traffic!)  Here is my theory – and I know I am idealistic, dreaming and asking a metric ass-ton on this one – but – *IF* everybody in the Atlanta area (or any municipality) committed to taking SOME FORM of alternative transportation to work just ONE DAY a week…. what would happen?  Let me list a few things that come to my mind:

Whatever group of people did this would:

• Spend 20% less money on gas.
• Pollute 20% less than they were before.
• Have 20% more variety in their commuting life
• Perhaps exercise more
• Use 20% less oil commuting

One day – 20%!

So… I decided to do a Jerry McGuire and email Commuter Dude my bike commuting manifesto.  Keeping in mind, I don’t commute every day, but I try to at least once a week!  (Currently sitting at about 1.25/week for the season).  I rambled and ranted and didn’t really expect to ever hear from him…

Just a few short days later I got an email saying “It takes you 45 minutes to drive and it takes you 50 minutes to ride? Wanna race? “  Now … we aren’t really comparing apples to apples here.  45 minutes is my “school time” commute, and that is real.  School is out so traffic is better… but my commute is 48:30-54:00 depending on my horsepower and the number of lights I have to stop at.  I’m sure he can beat me – but that’s not the point, we must support my manifesto!

I agree, we talk about it a bit and plan it out…

There are TONS of clips on the cutting room floor.  There are a lot of things I said that didn’t make it, but what did – was pretty cool.  I’m not a tree hugging, birkenstock wearing, nalgene carrying (well, I do that) hippy from Boulder – but as I get older talk to my tree hugging hippy friend from Boulder, I look at the world I live in falling apart, filling up with trash on the side of the road, more and more code red days – things like this mean more to me.  Cycling …. being on 2 wheels and enjoying the freedom it provides me – priceless!

Here’s the video:  http://www.11alive.com/news/local/commuter_dude/default.aspx?bctid=129084653001

“Hey there biking boy”

Those were some unexpected yet welcome words I heard on my way into the office today – more on that later!

As many of you know, this weekend marked event I had pinned my 2010 ‘season’ on.  The Peachtree Road Race.  ‘The Peachtree’ as most call it is the worlds largest 10k race. Over 50,000 people run it every year.  They only sell 55,000 numbers – which are often times a challenge to get.  Two years ago, I did it for the first time in 1:99.xx , last year, 1:05.xx and walked away saying “I can do this in under one hour!  I want to do that!  I will next year. ”

I started training in January, giving up a lot of time on the bike for running.  I spent a lot of time on treadmills, trails and roads – doing something that I hate – but oddly enjoy at times.  I can’t figure that out.  Who knows – i’m not always that normal.

July 4th, 2010 – the stage is set, I’m in good shape.  I feel good, the temperature is not too hot and we are good to go.  We get there, use one of the 100+ porta johns and all is well.  It’s time to start lining up and I “might have to go” again.  UGH!  The lines are HUGE, i’m nervous and don’t want to lose my friends as I’m hoping Roger can help me pace myself.  I figure “I can make it!”

WRONG!  1/2 mile into a 10k, I have to pee so bad I cant see straight.  I’ve got this one hour goal looming over my head.  I don’t want to risk it at the porta-pottys – that might not work out!  Might take too long – so I “lumberjacking” as Derek would call it and find some bushes.  Mind you – there are about 250,000 people lining 6.2 miles of road way – so finding a bush with some privacy is not easy – but I think I did ok.

Mile one – 9:37 w/pee stop – okay

Mile two – 18:37 – still doing pretty good – all is well

Mile three – the hill has started – 28:00, the fade has begun.

Mile four – the hill has beaten me down.  My memory of the course is not what it should be.  There are new hills that weren’t there last year.  I’m DYING!  My HR is higher than it ever has been on a run.  38 something – memory loss is kicking in, math at 170 bpm is NOT going well.  I’m fearing I am going to miss my goal.

Mile 5 – I know I have 12 minutes, exactly to run 1.2 miles.  I know I *CAN* do it – but I know I’m getting slower and the hills keep getting longer.  I push.  I push.  I push.

We make the left turn onto the final road and I am at 178 bpm.  (I normally run at 155-165.  I’m trying to run faster, but I’m falling apart.  I have to walk, but only for 5 step.  I start running again and get to the photo booth.  SWEET – we must almost be done – no – it seems like an eternity.  I’m calculating in my head and freaking out.  I don’t remember the clock time, I cant remember how to stop my stop watch – I run through the thing and look down and …. maybe I did it.  I don’t know.  I’m all worked into lather,  I cant see straight – I can’t think,  I’m txting Sarah and she is worried.  I ahve to pee but she wants me to go see a medic – but that’s a long way away… if I fall over, they will come running.  Better stay in line!  Wow…. it took me over 15 minutes to feel better …   I am still wondering if I achieved my goal.  I didn’t stop my watch – I don’t have a time… That’s ok… they have electronic toe-tags!  They will tell me!  Maybe I did it – I can live with that (for now!)

I get home – no results… no results… I’m impatient, but trying to be patient.  The results are posted … but NOT MINE!  I’m so upset.  I try to rationalize – I try to chill – but I cant.  All that – and they didn’t get my time!  Are you kidding me?  I contact the organizers… then I realize – there might be a bigger issue than missing MY time.  No numbers between 10,000 and 10,999 have times!  Is it possible that I am the only one in that range that ran and … They didn’t get my time?  This gives me a ray of hope!  Maybe… Maybe!  I’ve convinced myself – even if I was at 1:00.10… I stopped to pee, that time will get me under the line… and if I never see an official time, I will say “I did it.” but I know that come January – I will be trying to break an hour again.

At 11:30 last night – I decide to check the results one more time….

I DID IT!

I shared some of this mental insanity on Facebook along the way.  It was hard to deal with, but I tried.  THIS is the blog post I’ve been waiting one year to post!  This is the monkey leaving my back.  Thanks to everybody who supported me along the way.  Mostly Sarah.  She has had to listen to me obsess about this stupid run over and over.  My plan, my training, my this, my that, my shoes, my socks, my monkey butt…. even my nipples!  (This isn’t the first blog to mention them…. running is not friendly to your womenly man bits!) Thank you, Sarah!

I know, my time is not world class.  I know, it’s not even fast.  But – you know – I achieved what I wanted to and that feels good!

Today, even though I wasn’t prepared to ride to work (I hadn’t pre-stocked the office w/clothes – so I have to carry everything) I just wanted to ride my bike.  I threw my sore legs over the bike and rode on in.  It wasn’t fast.  I didn’t feel good.  I hurt on the hills – and I smiled all the way.  The air was cool on my freshly buzzed head.  I was back to “my world”.  I know I’ve ridden many times this year – but I always sort of felt like “maybe you should be running”.  Today – I felt like I should be riding.  I walked through the door and security guard said “Hey biking boy!”    A perfect ending/start!

At this point, it’s time to sort out what event I want to focus on.  I’d like to do a century this year, maybe even the 6 gap.  Not sure.  I think my best bet is to ride my bike, run if I feel like it and focus on fitness and weight loss again.  I’d like to end 2010 much lighter than I am now!