MikeZagorski.com

Night rides...

2008-10-09T19:52:28Z

Last night was a good example of why I like to ride at night! I didn't have to deal with damn hot mid day sun, traffic was light, there was hardly anyone riding... ... and the sky was awesome. I met up with the junor at 5pm, and we ripped it out to Waimanalo in about 45mins! Average speed for my entire ride was 22mph and watts were in the high 250's. It's getting darker earlier so it's time for me to start using the Lupine. I'll probably try and pick up a Dinotte for the rear because I've heard that they're blinding! - Exactly what I need to stop my ass from getting run over.

Faster

2008-10-08T21:53:49Z

I took Monday off from training, but was back at it on Tuesday evening. The changes that I made to my road bike position are feeling less uncomfortable, and my power is increasing steadily. I did another short 1.5hr ride out to Makapu'u and it went perfect - Average watts in the 240's, and average speed a hair under 22mph. Not too bad for an early October endurance ride.

Fishing...

2008-10-08T00:33:34Z

... for a frayed cable! That's why I ended up riding the last 12 miles of my training ride in the 53 x 11 on Sunday? It took me 30mins to fish this out of my Dura-Ace STI - A total pain in the ass!

Working on the t-lines!

2008-10-06T22:46:33Z

My month off from training caused a severe reduction in the definition of my farmers tan-lines so I used Sunday's ride to work on improving those. I did the same route as I used for Saturday's ride but on my own. The first hour sucked and I felt like crap, but the last 1.5hrs were way better... Well, until my rear der. cable snapped 12 miles from home... Riding into the wind with climbs in 53 x 11 turned into a 30+ min muscle tension interval that I could have lived without. What doesn't kill ya... On my way up Kunia I stopped off at the Dick Evans KoM spot that I've owned for the past 3 years.

West-side ride

2008-10-05T00:15:33Z

Based on the time I've been waking up on weekends over the past month, today I woke up super early. My alarm went off at 545am and I was out the door a little after 6am to go and meet Casey Tucker for a training ride. I rode down Kam Hwy, along Farrington, then part way up Kunia where we arranged to meet. From there, we went up Kunia, past Schofield, down snake road, over to Haleiwa, then Waimea. We turned around there, and I rode back to Mililani via pineapple hill / Wahiawa. Not super long, but a nice 53 mile training ride, and not super hot due to the early start. SRM File. The temperature was good for the first hour then it got progressively worse. Update: As LA pointed out, my ride was more of a central / north shore ride vs. west. Hmm, my reasoning is that if you split o'ahu into quadrants, most of my ride would probably fall into the south-west quadrant. To me, north is NORTH. I don't get why O'ahu's "north-shore" is named that as it's more north-west than pure north.

Back on the wagon...

2008-10-03T21:59:02Z

After month long hiatus from real training, I'm back in the saddle to prepare for my 14th season of racing! Time flies! After stepping off the 9hr flight from Sydney to Honolulu last Sunday, I ate some lunch, then did a Pali loop to get the legs back in the game. As expected, they didn't feel too snappy after 9hrs crumpled up into my plane seat. It's time to start burning off some of Sydney's treats - Chocolate fondue from Max Brenner! I took Monday off, followed by a couple short rides on Tuesday and Wednesday out to Makapu'u and back home - About 33 miles each time. Nothing too epic, just enough to get the body used to sitting on a bike. Tuesday's ride averaged 20.5mph and somewhere in the 215w range, then Wednesday's ride was 21+mph and in the 230w ballpark. For my first couple of real training rides since Dick Evans, I'm quite happy with my off-season form. It doesn't feel like I've lost much fitness since early September. I didn't touch the bike on Thursday due to taking care of more important business - Yup, sometimes cycling isn't the priority in life. Probably I'll do some rides on Fri, Sat, and Sun, on road that I don't normally get to train on.

Back on the rock...

2008-09-30T01:54:12Z

LA and I made it back from Australia in one piece. We didn't - Have too many near-death experienes driving 250 miles on the left side of the road. - Get our asses kicked by the freakin' big kangaroo's in the wild. - Get bitten by any venomous arachnids. - See any snakes other than at the zoo. - Drink any Fosters or XXXX. - Understand some of the Aussie lingo "t'av'ere or t'go?". We did - Have to deal with a crying baby on our flight for 10hrs going there. - Irritate some people by maxing out the overhead compartment space above our seats. First come, first served... Ya snooze, ya lose!... Freakin' awesome! - See Koala bears up close, see them walking around (rare because they sleep 20hrs/day!), and see them leap from tree to tree (they can do that over short distances, but it takes a 20hrs of downtime to muster up the motivation). - Overdose on chocolate at multiple visits to Max Brenner. - Ride a sketchy rollercoaster at Luna Park (near-death experience). - Fall asleep at the Sydney Opera House... Between us I think we caught the entire Pearlfishers show. - Survive a sketchy cave "adventure" tour with some damn tight spaces. Busy typing up a monster blog entry about the trip along with various photos... Stay tuned.

It's a hard life!

2008-09-22T23:21:32Z

Aussie Aussie Aussie...

2008-09-20T03:31:36Z

...Oi Oi Oi! I've got all my stuff packed, picked up some Australia dollars... Think I'm good to go! Should be enough to buy a few tinnies!

Two rides in one week!

2008-09-19T20:27:01Z

Last night I decided to throw a leg over the road bike and get in my second ride of the week. It was a mellow 21-22mph ride for the most part, but I did throw in a few harder efforts. It's amazing how much a hard effort feels when you're not done one for 2-3 weeks. Not super pain, but a different feeling for sure! I rode through Waikiki, around Diamondhead, through Kahala, out to Sandy Beach, then back to town. On the way back I threw in some one-legged efforts at 28mph to work on a muscle imbalance. Next year I'm going to be racing with two legs at 100% vs one at 100% and the other at 75%! Apart from the semi off-season without a lot of biking, I've been having fun with rolling dice on the nasdaq, and I still have the shirt on my back! Enough profit to buy a plate lunch or two.

Training beats!

2008-09-18T01:48:10Z

Finally, I found some new music to add to my collection for training rides...

Lakeview Terrace

2008-09-17T00:48:47Z

Last night I went to the preview of Lakeview Terrace, starring Samuel L Jackson - A cop that's got some major issues with an interracial couple that moved in next door. It's already had some bad reviews, but I thought it was a half decent movie. Plenty of humor, but it's probably a movie that some people will either love or hate. 2 movie previews in 2 weeks!

Fuzzy

2008-09-16T21:09:54Z

2 weeks into my planned 4-6 week off-season, I finally cracked and went for a ride. Two weeks into living the life of a non-cyclist... Well, other than the daily clicking around cyclingnews and velosnooze... I was starting to get a little fuzzier than my typical athlete self... OK, not quite this bad, but bad enough to make me cringe and question whether I should be riding a bike with unshaven legs. Monday was one of those shitty stress-filled days where I just needed to get out for a couple hours to clear my head, and it was definitely needed. Just a short spin out to Hanauma, working on some changes to my position for the '09 season, and a brief stint of 38mph drating a bus on the way back into town. Position changes? Well, according to Einstein, the definition of insanity is "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". So I figured it's time to force myself to make some changes in the hope that my performance will improve. Cyclists usually hate to make any changes to their position, so trust me, this ain't easy! Not sure when I'll ride again, most likely not until I get back from Australia... So, most likely that'll mean sometime in October. Only 5 days until LA and I go to Sydney! I can't wait!!!

RumFire Waikiki

2008-09-10T18:14:25Z

Last night I went to RumFire in Waikiki with LA - A cool place to watch the sun plummet out of the sky into the pacific ocean. We ended up eating... inside out musubis seasoned sushi rice, smoked ahi, togarashi beef, fresh wasabi relish tobacco maui onion rings chipotle rum bbq sauce kalua pulled pork quesadilla carmelized maui onions, jalapenos, lomi tomato, cardamom pineapple chutney ...and washed it all down with... Hot Diggity chocolate, hazelnut pot de crème topped with vanilla foam ...and... Dole Drums pineapple upside down cake with an island twist Going... Going...

Confirmed!

2008-09-09T22:36:46Z

Lance's Comeback to Cycling in 2009 -- powered by http://www.livestrong.com