Jeans

So I was getting ready to go for a ride this morning and I couldn't find my tights. It was just cold enough that I needed something covering my legs or else it would be a miserable ride. Well, after a decent amount of procrastinating and lollygagging and hoping the temperature would go up ten degrees in an hour (it didn't), I did what any other snobby, style concious, young cyclist would do......




..... I put an old pair of jeans over my chamois. Now, wearing jeans on a bike may be about as acceptable as wearing jeans while you ski, but it turns out that its pretty comfortable on a 30 mile ride. I stayed warm, didn't sweat to much and nothing rubbed or caught on anything. So if you're hard up for some leg wear on your bike this winter, put a rubber band around your cuff and have at it!

Manifesto '08

OK, the titles are getting a little dramatic. I'll cut back on it in the future.

Anyway, its that time of year again. Training is about to begin and I've got to figure out what it is I'm training for. This will be the first time I've trained and raced in New York. Training should be a little easier considering I won't be fighting the cold streaks and 18" snowfalls of SD in February, March and April, just a little rain and ice. This is good, because I can spend more time on the bike and less time in the weight room. Everyone in cycling seems to be getting away from base miles and moving towards weights and (more often) intervals. Now, I understand and agree with most of this thinking, but last year I seriously skimped on the base miles early in the year and I think it hurt my ability to do medium to long intervals later and thus my ability to keep up when the screws were tightened in a race. So this year I'm focusing a large chuck of my training on endurance and sub threshold training. I'm hoping I can get a half dozen centuries in before SMSP intervals start.

My big goal this year is health related. A good way of measuring you blood sugar long term is an A1C. A normal person has one of like 5. A healthy diabetic has one in the sixes (or more realistically under 7.5). Last year, after race season, mine was near 9. So the goal this year is under 7.5. You'd think it wouldn't be hard right? Exercise is supposed to stabilize blood sugars and all that good stuff. Unfortunately, I would just become so unstable during races that I'd need to overcompensate just to prevent a crash into hypoglycemia land (the Dakota 5-0 was nuts). With the help of my new best friend and a little bit of focus, I think this year will go better. Its time to grow up a little bit..

My other goals are to win a race, upgrade to a cat 3 and do well in one big mountain bike race. If I win a road race, I'll basically have the upgrade. I can't wait to get out of the cat 4/5's. The tactics in the lower categories aren't very realistic, since breaks never succeed, and the crash last summer has me a little nervous. Hopefully everything will calm down a little bit when I get to a higher category.

As far as races go, I'm going to do mostly road. There are a few crits on Long Island I'll enter and a number of crits in Prospect and Central parks, which I'll use mostly for training. I'd like to enter at least three road races, because those are what I enjoyed the most last year. I really liked the Proctor Cycling Classic and tickets are super cheap to Chicago, so I'd like to make it to that again. For mountain biking I'd like to do the Dakota 5-0 again, but otherwise I'll try to make the NMBS races at Windham or Mount Snow. Tboughts is planning on doing a bunch of the regional mtb races, so I'll probably do a couple of those, too. I liked how I picked my races last year, only entering events I thought I had a chance of winning. It helps my confidence when I'm not constantly finishing mid pack (and it feels good too).

I'm not sure what I'll do in the fall yet. I could just take it off, but I'm not sure that's a great plan. I don't think I want to run a whole lot more, but maybe a 5k or two would be fun (a sub 20:00 5k would be cool). 'Cross racing looks interesting, but I'm not sure I can make the investment in a new bike. I haven't played soccer in a long time, it would be really cool to get back into that. So I've got my options, I've just got to figure out which one I like best.

I still get chills every time I see the climax of a Mighty Ducks movie.

Really cool cars are one of the reasons I got into Mechanical Engineering in the first place. This just further justifies my decision. Makes me want to work for Proctor and Gamble.

Merry Christmas to me

I got one of these recently. Sort of a Christmas present/get-healthy-you-lazy slob.


I was really apprehensive about going on the pump at first, for three reasons: 1)I didn't want to feel like the Bionic Man, hooked up to all kinds of machines (still true) 2)I thought it would be a hassle to drag around with me (somewhat true, but not as bad as I thought, so hopefully it'll last a little longer than my cell phones) 3)I didn't think it would change anything in my therapy.

I was totally wrong about (3). Its not that the pump does anything radical, its the level of refinement it has. Doses are much more accurate and immediate, adjustment to basal rate is easy and immediate, it has a log of activity, poignant reminders, analysis of activity and its just convenient to have everything always at my hip. From the perspective of a diabetic trying to lead an active life, the level of transparency it offers is invaluable.

The reason I finally decided to go on the pump was the continuous glucose monitoring feature. Turns out its a little cherry on top. Using this CGMS, I've got continuous feedback as to whats going on and I don't need to be quite as concerned with upsetting my nicely balanced blood sugar.

My only hope now is that it continues to work as well as it has this first month.

Dr. Prudhomme or: How I learned to stop worrying and use simple logic to win the Tour de France

So in racing, if you beat someone in a race (or place ahead of them), you can usually say you're a better racer or at least at the same level. If you've never had the chance to race someone, but you know you can beat someone who beat them, you usually assume theres a good chance you might win in a race. You know, if a>b and b>c then a>c.

Well, I've applied this to a grander scale.

In the 2007 Tour de Romandie, Chris Horner came in second and beat (among others) Andy Schleck, Dave Zabriske, Michael Rodgers (who all beat Lance Armstrong on various occasions) and Oscar Pereiro.

In 2006's Jingle Cross Rock, Doug Swanson beat Chris Horner.

In 2007's Chequamegon Fat Tire race, Sam Oftedahl finished ahead of Doug Swanson.

In 2007's Minnesota State Championship Cross race, John Eppen beat Sam Oftedahl.

In a few races, I have finished ahead of John Eppen. Therefore, I win the Tour de France.

I think the real measure here is the degrees of separation. It took me 5 connections and it took John, Sam, Doug and Chris quite a bit less than that.

Winter Wonderland?

Tboughts and I have spent the last week making fun of the weather out
here. Apparently everyone here mistakes sleet for "snow". On Thursday
we got 2 inches of 'snow'. Unfortunately, it was actually a day full of
rain and sleet which froze immediately upon hitting the ground, meaning
we had 2 inches of crunchy ice. No one seemed overly surprised or
concerned and everything proceeded as normal, except for the maniac
drivers who manage to be both overly cautious and out of control. I'm
glad I don't drive a car.




In the recent cold snap, I've had a chance to try out my snazzy new gloves.
I'm not impressed. First of all, they're too small. I have larger than
average hands, sure, but they're not an ogre's hands andLG's largest
size (XL) is much too small. The other problem is that these aren't
winter gloves. They look like winter gloves, fit like winter gloves and
have the terrible dexterity of winter gloves, but they aren't warm. There's almost zero insulation and the shell isn't completely windproof. So if you're looking for a nice, warm, comfortable pair of gloves this year, don't get them here.

Kill the Coward

Lance is more fun since he stopped racing.

So , Mike Woell the guy who would spank me at every race we entered together, has made the big time.

Congrats, now please stop tearing my legs off! If you look close, you can still see the 'Little Gym' and 'Flanders' logo and where they removed the logos from the side of his shorts and his back.





In other Kurt news, Carl G is a youTube celebrity.

2007 in Review

23 Races
3 Wins
7 Top 5's

One of my big goals was to win a race, which I did first at the informal hill climb and then a few more times over the summer.

May 9th M-Hill hill climb 1st Cyclist
June 26th Summit Crit 5- 1st
Proctor Cycling Classic RR 5b- 1st
Tour or Granite County Omnium- 1st

I did 23 total races, which is a bit more than I'd like to do. Its hard to focus and take each race seriously when you're doing them one after the other after the other. I was able to upgrade to a 4 and was nearly able to become a cat 3, which will happen with one more first or a second place and any other top 6 finish.

Other races include:
Redwater Roubaix
May 22nd OPUS Crit
Minnesota State Crit 4/5- 9th
Afton Avalanche MTB Sport- 7th
June 12th Summit Crit 3/4/5- 7th
June 19th Summit Crit 5 and 3/4/5
June 26th Summit Crit 3/4/5
Mankato NVGP Amatuer Crit 4/5- 2nd
Proctor Cycling Classic Crit 5- 3rd
Northfield Crit- 4/5, 3/4
Hopkins Crit- 4/5, 3/4
July 17th Hollywood CRS- 4/5 and 3/4/5
July 24th Hollywood CRS- 4/5
Tour of Granite County RR 4-3rd
Tour of Granite County TT 4- 14th
Tour of Granite County Crit 4- 2nd

I beat John, though it was mostly by following his every move and waiting til he was burnt out. He's a great racer and I hope I have the chance to race him again.

And finally, I finished a sub four hour marathon.

So, 4/4 as far as this year is concerned.

The real triumph isn't that I finished the marathon or that I won a few races. Its that I was able to do both in the same season and that I was on crutches for 10 weeks in the fall of '06. Next year I'll sight my sights a bit higher and see if I can continue the success. I should be out on Long Island all summer (though not for sure yet) and I'm trying to find a team to race with. I've talked with the guys down at Carl Hart; I'll miss wearing Flanders red and white, but the CBSC guys seem pretty cool and they're right out my back door. Training starts in 4 weeks!