WHAT WAS I THINKING?: 02/01/2009

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Too Much Information!!!!

Gearing up for the Sunday Boulder way road ride I once again marvel at how complicated it is to ride a bicycle. The actual riding part is pretty much like I remembered as a kid but the technology to verify,measure and record your effort is nearing ridiculous.

1. Heart Rate monitor-Polar Gizmo gives me max heart rate, average heart rate, time in zones, total time and hopefuly an alarm if my heart quits beating altogether.

2. Flight Deck cycling computer- Mr. Shimano tells me speed, mileage, cadence, highest speed, average speed and what gear I'm in. Lap and odometer stuff too.

3. Garmin GPS- Tracks route, time, speed, elevation, pace, total elevation gain and loss and more. Sunrise and sunset info also available.

4. Ipod-Lonely sections of county roads fly by jamm'n to Alicia Keyes, Eagles and Eric Clapton. Tempo quickens for hill approaches with Van Halen.

Overlaying GPS maps on Sunday's ride shows a casual 58 mile route from Broomfield to Niwot, NW to Nelson Road and Hwy 36 and back via Hwy 7.

The start and stop of the route is etched in digital history. Except I did NOT run over that car in the coul de sac on the cool down!!

Despite these gadgets...my younger team racers will brand me as "techno-retarded" because I don't use the $3,000 Cycle Ops watt-o-meters!

Not yet..

Sunday, February 15, 2009

COMPETITIVE CYCLING GROUPS PROMISING IMPROVEMENTS FOR 2009

The great thing about being over 50 is you've probably already accomplished or are content with your life goals. Your spare time is more important to you and you like to know that you control how it is spent.

When the old school NORBA organization became pretty much useless as organizers and provided no real benefits for your license fees, I said "F@&# it"...I'm 50 and don't have to deal with it. Same attitude when the regional mountain bike racing promoters showed little interest in XC racer's complaints during the 2007 season. Now I'm being positive.

USA Cycling has come full circle since the NORBA days and promises an excellent racing season in 2009. More focused membership support, useful race scene notifications and a newly structured points system are just some of the changes.

https://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=2589

USAC membership includes discounts for almost 3 dozen sponsor companies and the opportunity to follow your race results and national rankings. Check out the link and join or support USA Cycling.

Like the USA Cycling changes, I'm confident we will see a great year racing with the folks running the Mountain States Cup Series in 2009. With venues including Fruita, Nathrop, Angel Fire,NM, Crested Butte, Sol Vista, Snowmass and Breckenridge, travel will still be a big part of the challenge but hey....sometimes half the fun is getting there!