Back at it

Wow I just realized it has been since October that I added a post here. I will summarize the winter and then move onto spring.

Winter:

• Cold but couldn't complain as it was our choice to move back to Maine from Miami.

• Parking sucks as we have a nut job neighbor who doesn't know how to drive. Oh well just more motivation to buy a house with a garage.
• Got fat and lazy. Wait...I got fatter and lazier.
• Really enjoyed being able to host my family for Christmas and had a blast seeing the Grover's and Humphrey's just after Christmas.
• Still employed and actually selling some professional services, not as much as I nor my company would like but survival is the key.
• Joined a really nice gym, went a few time and took a few spinning (xbike) classes. Not enough but better than nothing.
• Got a kick ass 16GB Nano from wife. What a cool iPod!
• Drank Geary's beer, hung out in Portland with Dale, Josh and Courtney.
• Played poker 5 times and finished up 3 out of the 5 including 2 wins.
• I still love my wife and have had a blast being back in Portland with her.
  
• Missed seeing the Hendersfhegs every month!
• I got to see my nephew a few times. He is growing and maturing before our eyes. Martial arts is good for him whether he likes it or not.
• Crit and his Fiance chose me to be their best man! I am flattered and excited. (well except for having to deal with Crit's crazy friends. How is it one fairly normal person has such a variety of freaks for friends)
  
• That is about it.

Spring:

• It is still cold here but still not able to complain cause of the whole our choice to move here thing. (there is a one year moratorium on complaining so expect lots of whining next winter)
• Got back on the bike early this year. Why? See fatter and lazier from the winter.
• I have rode 160 miles already and averaged about 18 for those miles. All the rides have been with Crit who is a great motivator. Seeing as he is barely working he has plenty of wind to yell at me to pull and I have been called a mule at least 10 times already.
  
• I have had to stand in the shower for at least 10 minutes to warm my feet up 3 times already but still not complaining that it is cold. Just stating a fact.
• Goals; get my strength/watts back, practice increasing my cadence and lose weight.
• This whole cadence thing is hard for me. I know all the "Experts" say you should spin between 85 and 95 for maximum efficiency but I am much more comfortable at 80. I feel like I am going to spin my legs completely out of my hips. The worse part is Crit would still be yelling for me to pull.
• I am doing the spring Scarborough Crit Race series. The first race is April 5th. I am going into these not looking to win just looking to survive.
• BF, Crit and I are climbing Cadillac again on Memorial Day Weekend. Hendersfheg might even show up and Slim knows about it but I have to imagine it would be hard to tow 2 kids up the mountain behind your bike. My goal is to break 20:30.
• Still employed.
• Still love my wife.
• Still drinking Geary's. (hmmm is there a correlation there with the whole fat thing? NAAHHHHHH)
  
• That is about it.

OK let's be honest about why I am riding. BigFoot has dropped from 235 to 205 and spent $10k on a bike. I can NOT lose to him on the bike. I would have to give up cycling and I really don't want to. I would have to chop off a leg and that would really suck. I must say I am happy for BF and he has really motivated me.

Now we just have to get Slim on the bike....Tour de Cure is June 7th.

Cadillac Mountain Ride

BF, Crit and I are in Bar Harbor this weekend with our significant others. The three guys headed out yesterday morning to bike the Park Loop Road and bike up Cadillac. We usually stay at the Wonderview where the ride to the base is only 4 miles but this year we rented a house and due to some navigation issues we ended up riding 17 miles around the Park Loop Road to the base of Cadillac.

The three of us rode up Cadillac 4 years ago with Crit going up in 19:47, I went up in just over 24 and BF went up in about 30. All of our goals this year were to beat our previous times and be within 3:30 of each other.

We headed out in 2 minutes gaps with BF first, me second and Crit chasing both of us. I had a clear plan in place, go out easy and push as high as a gear as possible on the flats to leave me with easier gears to spin around the steep switch backs.

One of the reasons I need to go out easy is the 2nd to last left hand switch back always confuses me so for about 1/4 of a mile I think that is the last switch back. Unfortunately there is a sweeping right hand turn and a long hard climb to the last switch back. That is why my plan was ride out as easy as possible and leave some gas for the last 1 mile. I did this and of course the switch back still confused me at first but only for about 100 meters this time.

I went out a little hard for the first 500 meters and then backed off. I settled into a good rhythm and tried to focus on being in my 22 and 23 as much as possible so I could spin in my 25 on the steepest parts. Of course for half the ride I was cross eyed and praying someone would just tell me it was over but that didn't happen. I passed BF about a mile in standing on the side of road. He didn't have it but at least he was out there trying. Cadillac is definitely as much mental as physical!

My plan worked out well as I crossed the line in 20:50 and Crit never caught me. He had actually started about 2:30 behind me. He did post a personal best as well at 19:27. I was pretty happy to beat my personal best by over 3 minutes. I am not sure what happened except I had a different strategy, cooler weather and we rode at the end of the season instead of the beginning but I suspect a lot of it has to do with just having a good day. I wasn't even tired cycling up to the base even though there is a ton of climbing.

I am now convinced if I ride Cadillac at 195 I can break 20 and Crit is convinced he go under 19. BF is convinced that if he loses 25 pounds and has his new Serotta he will make it to the top.

Good times.

Does 1 person make a B ride?

I did 37 miles with BBB last night. There were about 30 people on the ride. I hadn't been on a fast group ride in 3 weeks and it felt like it but the weather was great.

I was fine until we hit Range Road which is a series of rollers and bad pavement. I was dropped off the main pack but still managed to beat 4 or 5 people to the fair grounds where we all re-group. My breathing was ok, not 100% but certainly better. My legs were not ready for it though.

Right after we stop there is a sizable hill and I got dropped again, I chased on over about 3 miles and got to sit in for 4 or 5 miles before Dutton Hill Rd. As the road name suggests yeah it is just a big hill. It sucked and I came over the top last. One of the most annoying things on these rides is when you see a person (man or woman) who can not weigh more than 120 pounds fly up these hills like they are not even trying. Damn skinny people! No offense Slim and Crit.

Everything was fine on the way back. We were on Blackstrap Rd when a car decided to pass the pack. Unfortunately they didn't accelerate much and all of the sudden they saw a truck coming. Instead of braking and pullling in behind us they braked just enough to not get by the pack. The truck had to pull in the ditch. At this point I backed off and let the pack go as the car was still sitting in the other lane and I could see 2 more cars coming down the hill. I was pretty sure someone was going to get hurt. All of the sudden I realized I was stuck in between the main pack and 4 or 5 people 50 meters behind me. The car in the left hand land continued to force the other cars off the road. Why not accelerate and get in front of us or simply brake and get behind us.

So there I am going up Blackstrap all alone. 50 meters behind the pack and 50 meters in front of the other pack. ARRRFFFF

I tried to chase on but in the end had to let the other riders catch me. Thankfully once we were over the hill I could pull the other riders back but apparently they didn't share my desire to bomb the hills at 40 mph to try and chase back on so I was constantly riding alone unless I decided to wait for the others.

All in all a good ride. I am hoping that this ride gets me ready for Saturday morning.

BTW I am hoping to get a cycling computer for my birthday so I can start giving good stats for these rides.

Long overdue update

So I haven't posted in awhile and I thought I would simply recap my past months activities.

BW New Bike

The beautiful wife got an awesome road bike! The picture doesn't do it justice. All carbon fiber except for a carbon fiber/alu mix on the fork. It is in great shape and all we needed to replace right away was the saddle. Thank you EBAY! She also picked up a pair of Sidi 5.5's which are top of the line women's cycling shoes and a great helmet. Sadly though she is wearing one of my old SMCC jerseys.

We have been riding quite a few times (she went out with BF once when I broke my chain as well) and she is now over 100 miles with her longest ride being last nights 30 miler. We averaged 17 with some nice rollers and some long but not too steep hills. She is already getting strong and becoming more comfortable. I have even stopped looking back at every stop sign petrified she will not be able to clip out and hurt herself. The first couple rides were pretty stressful! I enjoy riding with her and the added miles is great for me. Here are the parts we will most likely change this winter:

Carbon handlebars with flat tops

Wheels--perhaps she will get the Rolf's and I will get new wheels this might have to wait but her current wheels are bricks

Rear Cassette--she is riding an 11-23 so we will either get her an 11-27 or a 12-25. This is a must change and will most likely happen before we go to Bar Harbor for Columbus Day weekend.

I would like her to be on a sub 19 lbs bike and these changes would probably get her closer to 18.5.

My Rides

I was sick/had allergies for a whole week almost a month ago now and it has been affecting my breathing ever since. I was dropped a few Saturday's ago and not even during a hard part of the ride. I literally couldn't catch my breath and my chest hurt, not heart attack hurt though. I could breath in fine but couldn't expel my breath normally. I then rode on a Thursday and after pulling over at one point to expel every piece of phlegm I had in my system I felt much better but my breathing still was not right. I stayed with the A ride all the way back and we were flying at between 22 to 38 even up the hills but I think that was simply adrenaline. It is much easier to ride when you can breath. I finally went to the doctor and they have me on a 30 day regimen of Claritin and an albuterol inhaler to see if I can get rid of the crap in my chest. It isn't bronchitis or anything like that so hopefully this will solve the issue. The good Dr. also thinks that all of my post nasal drip, vomiting issues are caused by allergies I have never dealt with. I hope she is right.

The results so far have been good but I have not pushed it extremely hard since I went to see the DR. last Thursday. This Thursday and Saturday will be the real tests as I am doing the BBB A ride and the SMCC Saturday ride with Critracer. I hope that I can breath this time!

My Bike

First of all I need to admit once and for all that I am jealous of my BW's nice new Bianchi! It is a great bike. So I immediately started researching new bikes for myself. I now know I want the Kuota Khan. I can not get a better picture of it off the Kuota site as it all Flash. Who knows if I will get one but at least I know what I want. It is designed to handle larger bikers who throw down the watts but don't necessarily compete in the sprints. All I know is it is really cool looking and super light!

In the meantime I have added FSA K-Force Carbon Cranks and a new FSA BB, a new Ultegra chain and front der. So now when I shift or have to get out of the saddle to climb hills my bike doesn't complain loudly like it is about to explode. I have also ordered new bearings for my Rolf Prima Vigor front wheel. It now looks like instead of buying a new bike/frame this winter I will probably invest in moving all my parts to 10 speed which would mean a new rear der, cassette and shifters. With all that being done my bike will weigh in at just under 18 lbs. Not bad at all for a nearly 10 year old Klein frame.

Poker

I have only played once since my last poker blog and here is a great summary:

Had terrible cards all night, made it to the final table without winning a hand as I only played in 3 hands. Won a few hands, got busted out due to a better kicker and went home. It was actually one of the most boring poker games I have played except for TBO breaking his hand when he punched the wall. That was fun....for me. I feel bad for the wall though.

Outside of that just working, camping once with BF, LF, Slim and family which was great. BF even brought Opus X's for the 3 of us to smoke. Good times!

I have cycling, poker, taking care of Sam and my fantasy football draft in the next week. I am excited for all of it.

SMCC Saturday Ride

Crit and I both had to start from the school on Highland as he had to be at Funtown with his son at 10 and my BW and I had to meet Captain Dale at Lost Shaker of Salt II by 11. This removes the neutral sections of the ride but also to my benefit removes the annoying little hill from Broadway to Highland.

I felt pretty good that morning but Crit said he felt like he had a rock in his stomach and his legs were tired. Could have been left over from the rainy ride on Thursday. I wish I could ride as strong as he does when I feel like crap.

We jumped into the group at about 27 miles an hour. Nice way to wake up your legs. Things went pretty smoothly outside of the random guy who showed up with a backpack and a bike pump sticking out of the pack. The first time he went through in the pace line he just sat up until someone yelled for him to pull through. This would be a recurring theme.

I felt good and took my turns in the pace line as we headed to Blackpoint. Crit took a flier off the front about 1 mile before the fire station hoping to catch people by surprise. He did as he quickly jumped out to about a 30 meter lead, unfortunately for him there was a fire truck in the middle of road stopping traffic so that break was for not. For some reason he decided to break again right after this but two guys went with him meaning I had to bridge the 15 to 20 meters so he wasn't on his own. Once he realized the break didn't take we sat up and waited for the group.

The plan was for me to give Crit a lead out from 500 meters but we got caught a little far back and on the outside so I went with about 800 meters left. I did pull him to the front but we came from so far back that too many people saw it and caught on. Crit did give me credit for stringing out the group though and as I pulled off he simply sat in for a 100 meters and then blasted by the 2 or 3 guys in front of him for the win. He sounded pretty happy to have his lead out guy back even if I am not quite where I was a few years ago.

The rest of the ride went well and I just sat in as much as possible while taking a couple of short pulls. With about 1.5 miles left two of the better riders (I know them as Hank and Dixon) went off the front and had a gap of about 100 meters. As I was coming up the last hill near the Portland Headlight I realized that I had a lot more momentum the 10 guys in front of me so I pulled around them and just kept going. Of course who was causing the slow up? That's right the guy with the backpack. So knowing I wasn't going to contest the sprint I figured I would do my best to pull the pack back to the break. I gained about 80 meters in the 600 to 700 meters I pulled for and got some thanks after the sprint for closing the gap. I even helped Crit by pulling the pack back I allowed him to shoot past a lot of guys and he finished 3rd.

Good times and then even better times on Lost Shaker of Salt II for about 10 hours and a couple of hours in the Old Port with my BW, Kelly B, Crit, his fiance Jrock and Chimp Hands. If I can get my hands on the video of Crit and Jrock dancing that is going straight to youtube!

Thursday in the Rain

I decided against my better judgement and my BW's text message about a tornado warning in our general area to ride with Back Bay Bikes. I was one of the few as it was only Crit, our riding friend Bike Shedd, Kris from BBB and one other guy.

I believe this proves there are always at least 5 idiots in every group of riders!

We started out on the usual route which is torture for me because it meant we were going up Mtn. Road. The guys had to wait for me but after that due to the rain and impending darkness we took a different route home avoiding Dutton Hill Rd. SWEET

I felt pretty good, did some long pulls and took some fliers off the front. These fliers always seem to be just before hills, this is my plan so I can hit the hill with as much momentum as possible. The ride was going smoothly until the other guy flatted. Standing there in the rain chilled us all but we got the flat changed quickly and got going again.

I flatted about 300 yards from BBB and thankfully Kris was nice enough to take the bike in the shop and change the tube on the rear tire. The Klein is a great frame but the reverse drop outs are a pain in the ASS. Remember flats come in 3'S

I have now decided that BBB is a very friendly shop so I am going to get my bike tuned up there and get my Rolf's bearing re-packed there as well.

It was a good ride, we did about 30 miles but neither Crit nor I have any stats.

Poker, I just met her!

One of the nice things about being back in the Portland area is the bi-weekly poker tournaments that TBO hosts. These are usually $25 buy in with $5 bounty no-limit hold-em tournaments but quarterly he has a $50 buy in with a $10 bounty. This past Friday was the big buy in tournament with 24 people.

I hadn't played much poker in the Miami area so my plan was to play as tight as I could and slowly work my way back into a rhythm. I am not really a by the numbers player or a play on instinct only player, I like to be somewhere in the middle. I wouldn't say I am any where near being a great poker player but I think I am decent which is largely based on my patience.

Friday night started out pretty well with a friendly table. My cards were running ok and I simply played when I had the cards and didn't mess around much. I folded a couple of times when I was probably in the lead after the flop but I don't think calling big bets that early is worth the risk. There are enough people in every poker tournament who aren't afraid to chase so why risk it until you have to. That doesn't mean I am against pushing a little when I sense weakness but usually players are a little looser early in tournaments and tighter later so I try to play the opposite.

When we combined tables from 2 to 3 I had a pretty good chip stack, I was about 3rd at my table. I had a good read on some of the players including the guy 2 to my right. I had him about 3 to 1 in chips and when he smooth called the BB with only about 6 times the BB left in chips I had him with a middle pair or Ace, something. I had pocket J's so I went all in assuming he would call. He did but unfortunately he hit A, 3, A on the flop. Hand basically over. It was a little bit of a bad beat but not due to him, he had to call.

The next hand really bothered me. I had K,Q and no one raised pre-flop. I called and the flop came down blank, Q, blank rainbow. No flush draw no straight draw. The guy 3 to my left who now had me about 3 to 1 in chips bet 20 after the flop. I smooth called assuming he had middle pair. Turn was a blank and still rainbow he bet $20 again and I smooth called again letting him think his middle pair was good. River turned an Ace but no straight draw or a flush draw. He bets $40 and I think he is either making a continuation bet hoping I missed or did he actually make all those bets with nothing but an Ace. I called as I was getting about 5 to 1 on my money and he turns over an Ace. I very politely asked what he was chasing. I wasn't rude about it. He said he was chasing the flush....I was stunned and not sure what to say. Apparently he thought two of the black cards where both spades but one was a spade and one was a club. The guys I knew at the table all gave me a knowing nod....bad beat and very bad play by him but he won so I guess it wasn't a bad play.

I went into a little funk and thought about just going all in as I was down to about 3 times the BB. Luckily I had all terrible hands for about 15 minutes and eventually ended up with 10 J suited so I went all in. I had 3 callers and this was my luckiest moment of the night as I hit the flush.

With enough chips to hang around for awhile I went back to being patient until I had pocket 9's. There was a raise from the guy 2 to my right who had drawn out against me when I had pocket J's. Seemed like a good time for payback. The flop came up 9, 6, J. I checked hoping he would take a shot at me seeing as he had me about 5 to 1 in chips at this time and he went all in. I insta-called and he was a tad shocked to see I had trip 9's. He gave me props for the trap and I won that hand. Shortly after the tables combined and the other table had a lot more chips in play so I was about 7th in chips out of 9.

I went into lock down poker mode and only played from position or when I had the cards. There were too many big stacks for me to push anyone around. I won a couple of decent size hands and then had Q, 6 from the little blind. No one raised so I called. The flop came out 10, J, Q rainbow. MMullet who was first to act went all in, it folded to me and I studied his chip stack. I had him about 3 to 1 and the only other guy left in the hand had less chips than I did. I folded but here is why. MMullet has taken me out of at least 4 tournaments and usually from behind. I assumed I had him with the Q's but I didn't want to risk that many chips in a race. He showed pocket 8's so I was right and I didn't even rabbit hunt as I just assumed he would hit either the 9 for the gut shot straight draw or another 8. That may seem like a defeatist attitude but like I said I play as much by instinct as by numbers.

I stayed very patient and watched other people beat up on each other until I had pocket J's again. The guy who chased earlier when the flush wasn't there raised. We ended up heads up and I had him about 2 to 1 in chips so I pushed all in and he called. He Ace, 6. This time there was no suck out for him and I took him down. From there until there were 4 of us I played very few hands. Once there were 4 of us I got a little more aggressive as I had already won $35 in bounty's and the 4th place prize was $60 so I would make money on the night no matter what. I took out the 4th place guy and at that point the other 2 players had about 85% of the chips and I had the other 15%. I made it back to almost even with some decent play (I raised all in when the dealer folded and the LB just called. I had 9, 6 off suit and he folded) and some nice cards. I lost when I raised 240 (I had about 700) and the other guy went all in. I had K, Q and decided to make a stand. Unfortunately he had A, K and that held up.

I was happy with my play especially given how little I have played lately. I am excited to get back into playing there regularly and perhaps making some trips to Seabrook to play in some tournaments. I have determined that at this point my game is much better suited to tournaments and not to cash games. Wish me luck!