Nap

I just woke up from an afternoon nap and I feel great. I was watching the 2006 Liege Baston Liege and I zonked out hard. I still don't know who won that race.

The Future of US Para-Sport

The future is likely to be wounded veterans out of the wars in the middle east.  I'm not sure that the Cerebral Palsy classifications will see a large influx, but the amp, SCI, and maybe the Visually Impared classes could see a large increase in participation over the next few years.  Programs such as the Wounded Warrior Project are encouraging disabled veterans to get active and involved in sport and life.  I think it would serve US-Para well to encourage these types of programs, and I think they are.  An influx of veterans into the program could have significant impact on the visibility of Para-Sport in this country, visibility that is desperatly needed.  Heck, I've had Cerebral Palsy since I was 4 months old and didn't know about the Paralympic Team until I was 21.  It's not widely enough supported because it's not widely known about.  Take a country like Australia, population: 20.5 million, they won 10 golds in Cycling at the 2004 Athens Paralympics.  We, the US, has a population 15 times that of Australia and we came away with  3 golds.  The difference is that Australia's Para-athletes are very visible and well supported.  More visibility and support here in the US could go a long way in returning us to the top tier in Para-sport.

One More Day

Tomorrow is the last day of the Olympics, so I will be able to get back to my regularly scheduled sleep program.  Of course, the Paralympic Games start in 2 weeks and I will be following cycling and T&F closely.  It won't be on TV, but it will be broadcast online.  I'll provide links as it draws closer.  

The Athletes Village

Just imagine you are living in the Athlete's Village for 2 weeks.  You will be surrounded by 11,196 of the finest physical specimans on the planet, bodies and minds honed to the razor's edge of the demands of being elite athletes.  Now imagine that 4,746 of them are women.  Yeah, it's phenomenal to think about.  Those women aren't gym bunnies, they are competitors, the Triathletes are actually racing and the T&F athletes and Marathoners are running.  I would feel like I was in heaven!  

I Totally Picked the Wrong Disability

Cerebral Palsy is just not as cool as some of the other disabilities.  Seriously, why would you ever use someone with CP in a commercial or rags to riches story when you have perfectly good amputees and SCIs rolling around!?  CP just doesn't make for good TV.  CP4s usually don't look that disabled, so you have to pan the camera close in to the fingers that are curled up and look funny and bent out of shape in extension.  It really isn't as sweet as having a carbon fibre arm or leg, because you just say "My leg is carbon fibre."  Then everyone goes "oooh".  You can totally build one in the shape of an aero fairing, I'm green with envy.  I spend all this money on carbon bike parts and the LC2s one up all of us with carbon legs, pfft.  I'm not sure if LC1s are as cool as LC2s from a TV standpoint, but they still get this neat little arm/claw thing that a camera picks up pretty easily.  On top of that, they are the fastest category in Para-cycling; so not fair.  CP4 tends to be the third fastest single bike category behind LC1 and 2, a pure reeep-off (in the spirit of Bela Karoli).
Then you have the hand-cyclist.  They look all swole with their broad shoulders, lady killer guns, and low slung chariots.  And then they break their cranks.  Tell me this is not a great "made for TV story";  "Yeah, I was going to win, then I broke my cranks, WITH MY ARMS!"  WHAT, who does that?  I don't break cranks with my legs.
So clearly, I need to pick a new disability.  It's all the doctor's fault.  They didn't have to prescribe medicine I would end up being allergic to.  I'll even makes suggestions.
1)  They could have just chopped my arm off, that way I'd be faster.  
2)  They could have chopped off a leg; this is probably my pick.  I'd get into laying up carbon so I could make totally killer new legs.  I'd do one that was super aero and one shaped like a Lord of the Rings Sword, I'd call it "the dagger".
3)They could have just broken my knee caps or something so I could be a handcyclist.  I'd get way more girls because I would knock them dead with my guns.

PS: This is a humor piece, please read it that way.

Having fun on Tuesday

The Tuesday Crit was modified due to a section of our backstretch being ripped up (what's up with that?). So we had to come up with something to do. A certain individual decided to lead a group down Bluff Road. Well, this sends up 2 huge red flags. Riding Bluff Rd is a death wish during the week, and that individual is the most miserable person to ride with; ego, bad attitude, big mouth, miserable. Tom Sunday was going to stick around with his Junior team and whoever wanted to stay. So it was Tom, me, and 3 other guys along with the Juniors. We were going to be doing the loop with 180 degree turns on the 1 mile course.
The first race was a warm up lap with 5 hard laps. We went out of the gate with conviction and traded pulls among the masters (myself included). It was hard, we jumped out of the turns and did a lot of work in the small group. I was 4th or 5th wheel on the home stretch and jumped from a good ways out. Tom came charging hard at the line but I got him by a tire width, it was close.
Race 2: Tom was pulling into the home stretch and I was 3rd wheel (2 of the guys had dropped off). I got a good jump and took that one.
Race 3: Tom got a huge gap and I tried to pull him back, but blew myself up.

I saw a max HR of 196, haha.
Max Cadence was 151, not bad, but I want to get that up.

It was a painful day, but it was amazing! I fell in love with my bike again today! It feels so good to ride well and be able to go fast.

2 for Sundays

Since I am self coaching I've been reading the Friel Book on training and looking at my "limiters", those things that limit one's racing abilities.  I'm pretty sure that my biggest limiters are force production and speed.  Speed as in sprinting, spinning is a strength, but I suck at producing raw speed.  Honestly, I do not see myself winning races with a crank-snapping sprint.  Force Production is an area of hope for me.  I think that improving this weakness will provide the biggest racing gains for me from a fitness standpoint.  I can put up some decent numbers in the Deadlift in the gym so I need to translate that into power on the bike.  
Enter Today:  My early workout was 4x6 minute big gear intervals.  I put the bike into the 50-12 and slugged away until time was up.  Didn't feel much at all in the heart or lungs, but my legs were protesting.  This was day 3 in the new aero setup (yes, a compact on a TT bike) and I feel like I'm adapting well and beginning to reach a point were I can comfortablty produce power.
My late workout was in the gym.  I was doing Front Squats and going by feel with weight since i haven't lifted in over 3 months.  115lbs was good for the legs but it killed my wrists so I moved down to 95.  I'm not sure if I'll feel it in my legs in the morning but my wrists and shoulders are pretty tender right now.  
So force production:  The big gear teaches the muscles to push a big gear, eventually I want to be able to spin bigger gears and go faster.  There is nothing like big barbell lifts to teach the muscles and the Nervous System to operate against big loads, now I just have to translate it to the pedals.

Tinkering

I've been getting out on the TT bike recently as I have set the State Champ Time Trial on Oct 4th as my priority race for the rest of the year.  I've been a little frustrated because I didn't feel I was getting the full advantages that the aero bars should produce so I started to tinker.  Now, I've been intrigued by the skinny elbow, high hands, body forward position since I saw Levi Leipheimer use it last year.  
2007 Tour de France: Stage 19

2008 Tour of California

Notice how close the elbows are and how his face is near his hands.  His hands are high enough to close the gap  that would exist in his chest cavity.
In contrast, Fabian Cancellara rides with wider elbows, and keeps his hands very low.

2007 TdF Prologue


These positions do work for the specific riders but they have vastly different builds as is evidenced by the pictures.  Fabian is 6'1" and weighs 180lbs; Levi is 5'7" and weighs 140lbs.  Levi is benefiting from aero, Fabi is benefiting from power.  As a side note, Fabian won the Olympic Gold, Levi won bronze.
I don't make much power, I'm working with one good leg and one smaller, less powerful leg.  I need all the aero help I can get.  I started looking at my bike and pondered how I could get more aero.  The first thing I did was to slam the elbow pads as narrow as they would go.  Then I angled the whole bar up a little so my hands would be higher.

Previous set-up with flat to slightly downturned bars.


I went out to Hopkins to ride the new set-up and found that I REALLY liked how aero I was.  I literally felt like I was cheating the wind.  I was very unstable, but a slight outward shift of the left elbow pad fixed this.  The odd bend in my elbow necessitated this.  After I got the position correct I was able to freaking motor.  I am looking forward to training in this position and taking it out to the State Champ TT.  If I ride the 40k, we'll see how I stack up against the other U23s.  If I ride 20k I'll be gunning for a qualification time for next years Paralympic World Champs.

Accepted

My application for the Training Camp at the Olympic Training Center was approved today!  Now I just need to get permission to be gone from my professors.