I played at Purpoodock Country Club tonight. The format was an early turbo with a $20 buy in. I made it to the final table while trying to determine the quality of players and styles. I made some good early moves but got caught with my hand in the pot just before the merge and the guy apparently didn't see the flush I was representing...oh well.
With 7 players left I was down to about 4 times the BB and had pocket K's. Thankfully 2 players assumed I was simply all in because it was late so I tripled up but in the long run it didn't help. I got my money in twice with the best hand and lost both times, once at my own hand as I rolled the guy a 4 to beat me.
In the re-buy tournament I was playing well but got too loosey-goosey based on the re-buys and a couple of mistaken bets based on the weird chips with no numbers. I am not a loosey-goosey player and it was hard for me to reign the style back in. I still had fun and overall am pretty sure I can do well at this game. I watched for about 25 minutes after I was knocked out and it seems pretty obvious that a lot of the players lock it down late and the majority of them don't bet without a made hand or a good drawing hand. Not a lot of moves....
However I did notice that a few of them love to raise out of position to buy hands and I suspect I can use that to my advantage in the future.
Overall a good group of guys and I look forward to playing my tight early loose late strategy there in the future to see how I fare,
BACK to the cycling Thursday-Sunday. Looking to get in a short ride on Thursday and then 45 on Friday, 35 before my league of dorks draft on Saturday and then the first Scarborough Crit on Sunday.
It is going to be HOT HOT HOT
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Cran the Kanc...or not
Well why not right, I mean it was a balmy 34 degrees with some bitter winds but lets go ride the eastern side of the Kanc.
The approach isn't really that bad, about 17 miles of 2 to 3 percent grade. Dixon, Crit racer and I pushed fairly hard on the way in but certainly weren't going all out.
But wow when you hit mile 17.5 and all of the sudden you have 2.5 to 3 miles of at least 7% it really hits you. Especially when you try to keep up with Dixon when he first takes off. BAD IDEA
The lactic acid shooting into my legs was torture. It was the closest I have come to getting off the bike in a long time. I decided to not worry about Dixon, not that I could do anything about him rapidly pulling away from me and just try settle in. Of course I had no idea how long I needed to settle in for as Dixon thought it was 26 miles from the ranger station to the top but thankfully it was only 21.95.
The best part for me was right when I was about to give up I turned to say something to Crit but he wasn't there!!! I rode Crit off my wheel on a mountain. It doesn't matter that he had been partying until 2 in the morning and had to throw up twice I still beat him to the top of the Kanc by at least 2 minutes. Trust me I am sure I will pay for writing this but it is still worth it!
2675 feet of climbing in 21.5 miles really REALLY hurts. Average speed for the first 21.95 miles was 13.7 mph. Not great but not bad.
Overall ride was 17 mph, 44.43 miles with the Garmin claiming I burned 3431. Garmin admits their calorie calculations are high I wish I could find out by how much. No heart rate monitor for this ride, I didn't want to know.
The approach isn't really that bad, about 17 miles of 2 to 3 percent grade. Dixon, Crit racer and I pushed fairly hard on the way in but certainly weren't going all out.
But wow when you hit mile 17.5 and all of the sudden you have 2.5 to 3 miles of at least 7% it really hits you. Especially when you try to keep up with Dixon when he first takes off. BAD IDEA
The lactic acid shooting into my legs was torture. It was the closest I have come to getting off the bike in a long time. I decided to not worry about Dixon, not that I could do anything about him rapidly pulling away from me and just try settle in. Of course I had no idea how long I needed to settle in for as Dixon thought it was 26 miles from the ranger station to the top but thankfully it was only 21.95.
The best part for me was right when I was about to give up I turned to say something to Crit but he wasn't there!!! I rode Crit off my wheel on a mountain. It doesn't matter that he had been partying until 2 in the morning and had to throw up twice I still beat him to the top of the Kanc by at least 2 minutes. Trust me I am sure I will pay for writing this but it is still worth it!
2675 feet of climbing in 21.5 miles really REALLY hurts. Average speed for the first 21.95 miles was 13.7 mph. Not great but not bad.
Overall ride was 17 mph, 44.43 miles with the Garmin claiming I burned 3431. Garmin admits their calorie calculations are high I wish I could find out by how much. No heart rate monitor for this ride, I didn't want to know.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Training training training and POKER
I did a 70 miler today. I am pretty sure that is my 2nd longest ride ever and the only one longer was back in 2005. That gives me 140 miles on the week and if the weather holds out I will either ride with Base36 again and do another 60 to 70 miles or I will do a shorter ride around Windham. Either way a big mileage week.
I am having a hard time getting the Garmin Connect set up and it looks like my wife's computer doesn't have a powerful enough graphics card to handle Google Earth. Soon though I will start sharing more stats.
I learned something interesting today: When you do a 70 mile ride the last 15 miles should be really really easy. Like no more than 15 mph easy or as Dixon calls it "noodling". I must say my legs don't feel as bad as I thought they would. I always thought easy meant backing off to 17 or 18 but in Dixon I shall trust.
I do feel like my legs and lungs are getting stronger. Not sure if the weight is coming off as our scale needs a new battery. I can check my weight on the Wii Fit as that had me at 206 a couple of weeks ago. I actually think I was closer to 215 when we got and have no idea if it is accurate but either way I will know if I lost weight.
Looking forward to riding with BF and Slim as Slim is back on the bike!
On a side note I split the pot at poker last night and will put the winnings towards my fitting at Fitwerx. SWEET
I am having a hard time getting the Garmin Connect set up and it looks like my wife's computer doesn't have a powerful enough graphics card to handle Google Earth. Soon though I will start sharing more stats.
I learned something interesting today: When you do a 70 mile ride the last 15 miles should be really really easy. Like no more than 15 mph easy or as Dixon calls it "noodling". I must say my legs don't feel as bad as I thought they would. I always thought easy meant backing off to 17 or 18 but in Dixon I shall trust.
I do feel like my legs and lungs are getting stronger. Not sure if the weight is coming off as our scale needs a new battery. I can check my weight on the Wii Fit as that had me at 206 a couple of weeks ago. I actually think I was closer to 215 when we got and have no idea if it is accurate but either way I will know if I lost weight.
Looking forward to riding with BF and Slim as Slim is back on the bike!
On a side note I split the pot at poker last night and will put the winnings towards my fitting at Fitwerx. SWEET
Friday, March 19, 2010
Garmin and Sidi
They claim the 305 is now supported!
Now if I can just get Garmin Connect to download. I have never been able to download Garmin stuff at home. (Except the web updater tool for some strange ass reason)
Wireless? Time Warner? No idea why but I know it doesn't work. I will download it at work today, throw it on the usb key and install it this weekend.
Then I can start sharing my ride data.
So I was installing the new cleats on the new Sidi's last night and after about 10 minutes of complete frustration decided to look for the manual that came with Kelly's Sidi's. I must have thrown mine away.
If you look carefully and determine what kind of sole you have you will learn that they take 10mm screws instead of the standard 8mm that come with the cleats. Thing I wish I had known!
Of course due to my lack of mechanical skill (does a small allen wrench and 8mm screw fall under mechanical?) the wife decided to try. Turns out at least this time it wasn't me it was the equipment!
Oh well, hopefully I can get to Gorham Bike today and get 10mm ones as I really want to try out the new shoes.
I did however get my new rear tire installed. I found a decent size piece of glass in my old tire and the puncture holes matched up so that explains my 3 flats in 10 miles. I checked the rim strip and all seems well there. I guess I will find out tomorrow.
Happy riding!
Now if I can just get Garmin Connect to download. I have never been able to download Garmin stuff at home. (Except the web updater tool for some strange ass reason)
Wireless? Time Warner? No idea why but I know it doesn't work. I will download it at work today, throw it on the usb key and install it this weekend.
Then I can start sharing my ride data.
So I was installing the new cleats on the new Sidi's last night and after about 10 minutes of complete frustration decided to look for the manual that came with Kelly's Sidi's. I must have thrown mine away.
If you look carefully and determine what kind of sole you have you will learn that they take 10mm screws instead of the standard 8mm that come with the cleats. Thing I wish I had known!
Of course due to my lack of mechanical skill (does a small allen wrench and 8mm screw fall under mechanical?) the wife decided to try. Turns out at least this time it wasn't me it was the equipment!
Oh well, hopefully I can get to Gorham Bike today and get 10mm ones as I really want to try out the new shoes.
I did however get my new rear tire installed. I found a decent size piece of glass in my old tire and the puncture holes matched up so that explains my 3 flats in 10 miles. I checked the rim strip and all seems well there. I guess I will find out tomorrow.
Happy riding!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Miles and Miles and the Benefits of My New Job
First off let me just tell everyone that having a boss who rides is awesome. He told me to bail at 4:50 so we could get in a good ride and he is "making" me take 4 hours of comp tomorrow for all the hours I have put in so we can get in 60 miles. Who would I be to turn down my boss? I don't want to anger him.
Well I already have in 236 miles this year with 202 of those being in February and March. Tonight was a 25 miler with my the aforementioned boss the Cat 2 Dixon. His easy rides are my hard rides so that works out well for me.
We spun over to Gorham and then worked our way back to Pope Rd in Windham for sprints. I pulled for about 2 miles of the 20ish non sprint/cool down miles. Trust me I wanted to pull more but when you are doing 23+ on the flats and you are woefully out of shape you just hang on. We only did 3 sprints tonight at about 250 meters each. It felt good to get out and enjoy the sunshine.
I also got the Garmin 305 all set up on my wife's laptop. The new training center is nicer but I haven't checked to see if it works with Garmin Connect yet. They have only been promising that for 3 years....
So I think my first step in cycling equipment this year will be to go to Fitwerx to get fitted. That is where BF got fitted and bought his bike and my boss also has been fitted there. They both found it useful so my turn. Not sure what will come out of that but I am leaning towards the Kysrium SL's. Less than 1500 grams for clinchers and apparently bomb proof for dudes my size.
That is the quick update. Battenkill is now less than 4 weeks away!
Well I already have in 236 miles this year with 202 of those being in February and March. Tonight was a 25 miler with my the aforementioned boss the Cat 2 Dixon. His easy rides are my hard rides so that works out well for me.
We spun over to Gorham and then worked our way back to Pope Rd in Windham for sprints. I pulled for about 2 miles of the 20ish non sprint/cool down miles. Trust me I wanted to pull more but when you are doing 23+ on the flats and you are woefully out of shape you just hang on. We only did 3 sprints tonight at about 250 meters each. It felt good to get out and enjoy the sunshine.
I also got the Garmin 305 all set up on my wife's laptop. The new training center is nicer but I haven't checked to see if it works with Garmin Connect yet. They have only been promising that for 3 years....
So I think my first step in cycling equipment this year will be to go to Fitwerx to get fitted. That is where BF got fitted and bought his bike and my boss also has been fitted there. They both found it useful so my turn. Not sure what will come out of that but I am leaning towards the Kysrium SL's. Less than 1500 grams for clinchers and apparently bomb proof for dudes my size.
That is the quick update. Battenkill is now less than 4 weeks away!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
New wheels or a cross bike?
So with the Klein sold and my job going well I need to prioritize my bike spending. You know with what ever is left over after the bedroom furniture, new TV, living room furniture and lawn mower.
The wife and I are apparently convinced we can tag along with the BF's in pulling the economy along. Anyways I digress.
So my boss (the work one not the wife one) has Zipp 404 tubulars with ceramic bearings and he is willing to sell them to me for about 1/3rd of retail. A very sweet deal seeing as that includes ceramic bearings which are $400 by themselves. Plus they have less than 1000 miles on them and are the dimpled tubulars which is what I want.
On the other hand I could get a cross bike and try my hand at cyclocross this fall. It looks like a blast and my previous athletic endeavors should give me a leg up over of some of the rather uncoordinated people I cycle with.
Of course I could also take a less expensive route and go to Fitwerx for a proper fitting which would most likely require a new stem and seat post but still cost about 1/2 of the other items as long as I don't also need different length cranks.
So much to think about!!
Of course my boss has also indicated I would not get a bonus if I didn't agree to buy his wheels...
I am open for suggestions. And trust me I will make sure to make the beautiful wife happy first as we both agree bedroom furniture and lawnmowers come first!!
The wife and I are apparently convinced we can tag along with the BF's in pulling the economy along. Anyways I digress.
So my boss (the work one not the wife one) has Zipp 404 tubulars with ceramic bearings and he is willing to sell them to me for about 1/3rd of retail. A very sweet deal seeing as that includes ceramic bearings which are $400 by themselves. Plus they have less than 1000 miles on them and are the dimpled tubulars which is what I want.
On the other hand I could get a cross bike and try my hand at cyclocross this fall. It looks like a blast and my previous athletic endeavors should give me a leg up over of some of the rather uncoordinated people I cycle with.
Of course I could also take a less expensive route and go to Fitwerx for a proper fitting which would most likely require a new stem and seat post but still cost about 1/2 of the other items as long as I don't also need different length cranks.
So much to think about!!
Of course my boss has also indicated I would not get a bonus if I didn't agree to buy his wheels...
I am open for suggestions. And trust me I will make sure to make the beautiful wife happy first as we both agree bedroom furniture and lawnmowers come first!!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Back on the Bike
Note to self don't take 4 months off from all types of physical activities and then go do the hardest local ride! I know I know it is crazy to think that is a bad idea.
I had only exercised 6 times since October 1st. That is almost hard to accomplish.
With Battenkill in 4 weeks I thought--"maybe I will try to ride at least a little before the race". In case you don't know Battenkill is 62 miles of sheer terror including numerous brutal climbs on dirt roads. Oh joy
I jumped into the PVC Saturday morning ride and actually did better than I thought I would. I held on over the bridge and up Anthoine but as soon as they hit 33 on the Highland I was out of there. So I think I held on for 3 miles!!! Arrfff
My riding day didn't get any better from there. A group of 5 of us left from PVC for 30 more easy miles but by the time I had my 3rd flat I called it a day. I haven't checked to see if it is my rim or tires but I am replacing the tires and getting new rim strips just to be safe. The tires have 2500 miles on them and I am pretty sure the Rolf's have the original rim tape.
I coasted downhill on RT1 from Yarmouth until my tire was completely flat and then walked about 2 miles in cycling shoes while my wife came to get me. Thank you baby!! Adding insult to injury as I was sitting on the grass waiting for my wife to pick me up the wind blew my bike over and it fell on my head. And no my helmet was not still on. On the plus side it was sunny.
Today we rolled out from Crit Racers house at 9:30 with Bike Shedd and his girlfriend. What was supposed to be a nice easy 40 miler felt really hard and then they had the brilliant idea to climb Mitchell Wall. Assholes
Bike Shedd lost 10 pounds over the winter and is riding really well which is great until you have try and keep up with him.
But I needed the work so that was good and riding in 50 degree weather in early March is glorious.
I finally sold the Klein. I listed it on eBay for $289 and it sold in 30 minutes. I only paid $425 for it is so even though I might have left a little money on the table it is sold and the wife is happy!
Cycling season is back. Shooting for at least 3000 miles this calendar year and if I can somehow get back down to 190 I feel confident I can compete in all but the hilliest races. Wish me luck!
I had only exercised 6 times since October 1st. That is almost hard to accomplish.
With Battenkill in 4 weeks I thought--"maybe I will try to ride at least a little before the race". In case you don't know Battenkill is 62 miles of sheer terror including numerous brutal climbs on dirt roads. Oh joy
I jumped into the PVC Saturday morning ride and actually did better than I thought I would. I held on over the bridge and up Anthoine but as soon as they hit 33 on the Highland I was out of there. So I think I held on for 3 miles!!! Arrfff
My riding day didn't get any better from there. A group of 5 of us left from PVC for 30 more easy miles but by the time I had my 3rd flat I called it a day. I haven't checked to see if it is my rim or tires but I am replacing the tires and getting new rim strips just to be safe. The tires have 2500 miles on them and I am pretty sure the Rolf's have the original rim tape.
I coasted downhill on RT1 from Yarmouth until my tire was completely flat and then walked about 2 miles in cycling shoes while my wife came to get me. Thank you baby!! Adding insult to injury as I was sitting on the grass waiting for my wife to pick me up the wind blew my bike over and it fell on my head. And no my helmet was not still on. On the plus side it was sunny.
Today we rolled out from Crit Racers house at 9:30 with Bike Shedd and his girlfriend. What was supposed to be a nice easy 40 miler felt really hard and then they had the brilliant idea to climb Mitchell Wall. Assholes
Bike Shedd lost 10 pounds over the winter and is riding really well which is great until you have try and keep up with him.
But I needed the work so that was good and riding in 50 degree weather in early March is glorious.
I finally sold the Klein. I listed it on eBay for $289 and it sold in 30 minutes. I only paid $425 for it is so even though I might have left a little money on the table it is sold and the wife is happy!
Cycling season is back. Shooting for at least 3000 miles this calendar year and if I can somehow get back down to 190 I feel confident I can compete in all but the hilliest races. Wish me luck!
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