Friday, March 30, 2012

Meet Domane (Doh-MAH-nee)


  

What an announcement today from Trek!

Fabian Cancellara was seen riding a prototype several races ago and Trek unveiled their newest addition to the racing stable.  The Domane is designed to be the Classics-type road machine that has a wider wheelbase and what they call IsoSpeed suspension in the seat tube and more rake in the fork to smooth out the ride for those epic-days while ensureing your contact points to the bike are more comfortable and power to the pedals stays consistent.  Look for it this Sunday on NBC Sports where Fabian will ride it in the Tour of Flanders or "Ronde van Vlaanderen" in Dutch, a Classic race in Belgium that traverses 254.4 km or 158.1 miles this year, where riders will not only ahve to deal with competing riders, but cobble-stone roads or pave' which will separate the men from the Supermen!  I won't deny that I'm rooting for Cancellara (twitter.com/f_cancellara) and Team RadioShack Nissan Trek (twitter.com/RSNT)

Oude_kwaremont_stones_medium


 Until the next time,
Keep your mind sharp, body fit, and pedal hard
MB&B





Thursday, March 29, 2012

My Fav SkinnyTaste.com Meals

These SkinnyTaste.com meals are a staple in my home as they are easy to make, great tasting, and good for you, not to mention it makes enough for leftovers so you can focus on sharpening your mind and body without having to spend every night cooking.   

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken

MB&B Substitutions: 
  • brown rice instead of white 
  • nix the cheese
  • add cayenne or slight dashing of Tony Chachere's (use lightly due to sodium)  

 

.

Turkey Chili Taco Soup

MB&B Substitutions: 
  • nix the sour cream
  • added light sprinkling of coucous
  • add chopped green onions

Until the next time, 
Keep your mind sharp, body fit and pedal hard
MB&B

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

T-shirt Tuesday

There are some really inspiring, funny, and interesting tees out there!  Here are a few for today.  Enjoy!

Stomach of Anger

Cyclelogical







Until the next time,
Keep your mind sharp, body fit and pedal hard
MB&B

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Inspiration

What inspires you and gives you that extra boost to keep going?  Is it beautiful scenery or a powerful phrase that you recite to yourself or is it sheer stubbornness and determination that keeps you pushing to the end?  My tolerance for suffering is that not that high, so I have to rely on other modes of inspiration to keep me  the pedals turning.  I'm sure like most of you, it is a combination of things that keep you pushing hard to meet or exceed your goals.  I have  been inspired and motivated by people, places and phrases and use them all to keep me pushing harder and riding longer.  In addition to beautiful scenery and grinding it out through the pain, I have a phrase on my Road ID when in need of some motivation especially when fatigue sets in and all I want to do is reach the end of a ride or workout:

    PEDAL HARD I'M THE MOTOR


I've said this to myself more times that I can count and not sure if it's a Jedi mind trick or verbalizing to no one around me that I have to dig deeper and keep pushing.  I seem to find that extra bit of energy to take me to the finish.  Granted, the mind trick doesn't always yield the exact result every time but it still provides that extra something to direct your focus and keeps you mind from wondering into doubt.  I hope you find this inspirational and use it in your daily workout routine or develop your own method of pushing yourself when it's needed.

Please send your feedback and ideas.  I look forward to hearing from you and incorporating your ideas to keep me inspired and motivated.  



Until the next time,
Keep your mind sharp, body fit and pedal hard
MB&B

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Shut Up Legs!!



Hola MB&B'ers!  


There are a few things that I am certain of.  One of those is how your body can start to "talk" to you when working out.  You feel the strain, the muscle ache, and you almost think you hear your body telling you to stop putting it through the misery of lifting weight, running, riding or whatever you are doing to cause discomfort and fatigue.  When on the bike, my body talks to me a lot, "Stop pushing so hard!", "This is hurting!", "I'm out of breathe!", "Why do you make me work so hard?", and its these times that I think of Jens Voigt and the conversation he has with his body.             

Talking Back
By Jens Voigt for Bicycling.com
I am always surprised when people come up to me wearing a T-shirt that says, “Shut up legs!” It was just something I said once, long ago, to a journalist who’d asked how I could dig so deep in races. But even today people who see me say, “Come on, Jens. Tell us! You know what we want to hear!”
“Shut up legs,” I say, and they love it. They laugh. They tell me it inspires them.



Shut Up Legs








Shut Up Legs
Jens Voigt Inspired tee from StomachofAnger.com



Until the next 
Keep your mind sharp, body fit and pedal hard
MB&B

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Tailwind, Good...Headwind, Baaad; Wheel-Suckers Not Welcome!

One is the loneliest number until you find another one to hang with or they find you...Wheel-Suckers beware!

The Magnolia Miles ride was one of the best event ride experiences to date.



There were over 700 participants in attendance taking part in the 25, 36, 53, and 64 mile routes. It was a staggered start based on average MPH.  I was in the 3rd group of riders averaging 15-17 MPH, right behind the 20+MPH and the 17-20 MPH group and ahead of the 15 MPH and under group.  The weather started out cool and gradually warmed up to the upper 70's to the low 80's.  The chatter among the riders was the forcasted winds were expected to reach 20MPH coming in from the South/SouthEast, which the riders would have to face on the way back.  Mother Nature didn't disappoint as the 53 and 64 mile riders met the headwind with more than 20 miles to go.


This being the first time doing this ride and unsure of the terrain and route, I began thinking of ways to keep myself motivated so I could keep going when my body wanted to stop.  That's the hard part of riding solo or working out alone is the only person to keep you going is you.  If you're really psyched about the ride/workout, you can keep pushing yourself further and further while you still have the adrenaline pumping and the power in your legs.  The real test comes when fatigue sets in, the hills get steep and the wind starts to howl in your face saying, "Ah, Ah, Ah, you're not going to go that fast!  The harder you try, the harder I'll blow in your face and slow you down."  However if you happen to find another solo rider that is willing to hook up and share some of the work, you stand a better chance at putting the smack down (however great in your mind and slight in reality) on the obstacles that are facing you.  


At about mile 9 after the first rest stop, a rider saddled up next to me and using the unspoken language cyclists tend to use at times, began taking turns at setting the pace and doing some of the work when the winds got bad or the climbs got steep.  He and I struck up real conversation and decided to hang together for as long as we could, which was for the rest of the 64 mile ride.  Partnering up had us challenging each other, pushing harder and riding smoother.  Up until mile 42, he and I were blessed with a tailwind and we used it to our advantage with us averaging 17.33 MPH (a personal best for that length of time).  Once we made the turn into the wind, our average for the remainder of the ride, being approx. 23.5 miles to the finish, dwindled down to 13.74 MPH.  This serendipitous meeting of two lone riders turned into a synergistic machine of 4 wheels working to keep each other moving forward.  He would pull and I would tuck in behind him and recover while in his slipstream and then he would peel off and I would pull so he could recover.  At one time two or three other riders tucked in behind us to get in the slipstream and when we tried to rotate them into the pace-line, they refused.  These riders were going to suck on our wheels while we put out the effort and not reciprocate?  Unacceptable!  I took my turn at setting the pace and began to hammer it down to the best of my ability with the headwind still coming on strong somewhere after the 50 mile mark.  A few miles down the road, it was just my cycling partner and I while the wheel-suckers were left behind us.



We made it through to the end without collapsing or calling the SAG(Support And Gear) vehicle and have agreed to meet up on a regular basis to ride.  Having a partner for this ride made the event more enjoyable, challenging and fun, not to mention that it opened a door for future opportunities to ride non-solo.

Has there been a time that you could have used a partner to help get you through a hard workout or difficult ride?  I'd like to hear about it.  Post your comment/experiences below and I look forward to reading and sharing with you all.



Many hands make little work!




Until the next time
Keep your mind sharp, your body fit and pedal hard
MB&B

Friday, March 16, 2012

Gibbs' Exodus

Check out this blog of One Man at War with Responsibility!

Lake Travis, Texas
Provence Region, France
This awesome adventure began with one man striking off across America (driving to locales and cycling) from the East Coast to the West Coast and hopped the pond to Europe to continue his journey.




Living His Dream


Until the next time
Keep your mind sharp, your body fit and pedal hard
MB&B

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Indoor Training - Thanks Kurt Kinetic & Garmin

This past weekend was completely rained out so the opportunity to get out on the open road to ride was squashed.  To stay motivated and focused, you may have to get creative with your bike training or fitness strategies.
Late last summer, after hours of research, reading reviews, side by side comparisons and the like, I decided that I could benefit from owning an indoor trainer to log in some miles when it was far too cold or I was too lazy to get on the road.  I chose the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine due to its sturdiness, design, and mainly because the resistance simulates the ride and feel of being on the road (not to mention that it is also 100% leak-proof).  This Road Machine came with the trainer, mat, riser, dvd, and cyclo-computer that provides you with loads of data, including power output for current watts, average watts and max watts.  It's a great piece of machinery to have in your arsenal when the weather turns south as it did in my case over the weekend.  

Owning a DVR, I was able to record and watch every stage of the Paris-Nice classic race and decided what better way to work out than to do a "virtual" ride with the pros ( I think I might have smoked a few of those guys as I fast forwarded through the commercials).  So Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I was racing in France and sleeping in my own bed in Texas...pretty cool huh? 

In addition to the Kurt Kinetic computer, I also own the Garmin Edge 500 cycling computer that provides far more data such as heart rate, elevation, programmable workouts, routes and saves all the data for download.  

The best ride (or one of the toughest) came Sunday night when the ride-along with the TV was no longer motivational.  I set up a workout on my Garmin Edge 500 that was taken from Bicycling Magazine or Chris Carmichael or Chris Carmichael doing a piece for Bicycling... either way, the program, drill, workout session or whatever you want to call it breaks down like so:  
  1. Warm Up 10:00 min:sec None
  2. Repeat 4 Times
    1. Interval 1:00 min:sec 100 to 140 rpm
    2. Recovery 2:00 min:sec 80 to 90 rpm
  3. Recovery 5:00 min:sec 70 to 90 rpm
  4. Repeat 12 Times
    EditDelete
    1. Interval 0:30 min:sec 100 to 140 rpm
    2. Recovery 0:30 min:sec 80 to 90 rpm
  5. Cool Down 10:00 min:sec 70 to 90 rpm
The focus for this workout is to spin an easy gear and a high cadence designed to build fast legs.  If your struggling to turn the pedals over, you're in too hard a gear and need to back it down.  You should be able to feel that connection to the pedal as you spin, but not so much that your muscles are screaming.  If the cadence I have listed here is too easy, adjust accordingly.    
  
Here are my overall results of this Speed Interval Session taken from the Gamin Edge 500.  Note that the power (watts) in the details section were taken from the Kurt Kinetic computer and added in.    
Try it out and send me your feedback, I'd very much like to hear your thoughts/comments/suggestions on this workout or anything from my other posts.  


Until the next time
Keep your mind sharp, body fit and pedal hard
MB&B

Monday, March 12, 2012

Newest cycling gear

Need that extra something to ward off the dogs or protect yourself after some jerk nearly ran you over? Check out the latest in protective cycling gear.
 
Photo courtesy of ProBikeKit

Paris-Nice 2012

Wiggins Paris-Nice Win Raises Tour de France Prospects
Chapeau! or hat's off! to Bradley Wiggins aka "Wiggo" of Team Sky for his victory of the Paris-Nice race which concluded this past weekend.  He becomes the 2nd Briton to win this classic race since Tom Simpson in 1967.












Paris-Nice ran from Sunday March 4th to 11th 2012, the 70th annual classic race was made up of 8 stages and covered a total distance of 1,155.5 kilometers or 717.994 miles.


Paris-Nice 2012: Bradley Wiggins beats Lieuwe Westra in time trial to win race for the first time


Until the next time
Keep your mind sharp, body fit and pedal hard
MB&B

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Raven's Revenge Bike Ride - Update!

Well MB&B friends, as I feared, the thunderstorm chances have not dwindled and because I view my safety far more than getting a ride in, I will not participate in this ride.  With the rain bringing a damper to outdoor riding, I am thankful to have the option to train indoors, which is what I did Thursday night and again Friday morning.  For all those that are going to stick it out tomorrow, I wish you the best of luck and the safest of travels.

Cheers,

MB&B
large image

Gearing up for the Raven's Revenge Bike Ride this coming Saturday, March 10, 2012 starting in Huntsville, Texas.  There are several rides for everyone.  I hope to see you there.  This will be my first time at this event and I will be taking on the 61 miler which will roll through the Sam Houston National Forest.  Best of luck to all the participants!


Raven's Revenge Bike Ride-Huntsville, Texas

Individual Ride Names

  • 10 miles - Remember the Alamo!
  • 20 miles - Sam Houston (The Raven) Statue Ride
  • 33 miles - Come and Get It!
  • 51 miles - The Ride for San Jacinto
  • 61 miles - The Ravens Revenge



Until the next time
Keep your mind sharp, body fit and pedal hard
MB&B

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

New Shoes = Fast Feet


It never ceases to amaze me how wonderful my feet feel in a new pair of sneakers...it's like my feet say "AHHH" the moment I slide them in...I run fast because I have new fast shoes.  New Shoes = Fast Feet!  
 

Did 5K on the treadmill today and thought I'd see how much I could kick it in gear for the last 500 meters.  I ran 4.5km at 6 MPH then pushed it to 7 MPH until I reached the last 100 meters and kicked it to 8 MPH to the finish.  The awesome thing was that I still had juice in the tank to kick it a little harder...I'll save that for the next run.

Until the next time
Keep your mind sharp, body fit and pedal hard
MB&B

Friday, March 2, 2012

Stop and smell the roses

On the bike enjoying the morning and look what I saw! It's nice to stop and smell the roses...er Bluebonnets.