I rode the "B" ride on Saturday.
Joel Price, who I met through this blog came out. After what seems like a year of talking about it, this was the first time we've gotten to get out on the road together. No matter what Joel tries to tell you, he's a strong guy. He definitely has the power to do well in races if he chooses to race one day.
From my side, I haven't been doing a lot of riding lately. With my parents having been down for a week and me feeling a little burned out, I've been avoiding my bike. It was definitely a little rough for me at times, but in general a really good ride. I was able to push things on the flats and do pretty well on most of the hills. I'm definitely lacking some muscular endurance for hills like Torrey Pines.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Good Ride Today
I had a really nice endurance ride after work today. Out on the ride I felt something I haven't felt for a long time; me pulling up with my left leg when sprinting. While, I'm taking it somewhat easy on these endurance rides (I usually try to keep my heart rate under 157), I also try to get some sprints and jumps in, particularly at traffic lights. When I see a green light in front of me I usually gun it, both so that I can make the light as well as trying to work on one of my biggest weaknesses, namely changes in pace. Today for the first time I could actually feel my left shin muscle flexing at the bottom of my pedal stroke as it tried to pull my foot up.
I also seem to be having some good success with getting some of the scar tissue at the top of my knee to break up as well as strengthening my quads and hamstrings. I've been doing a lot of single leg squats in the gym, which is really helping. Doing one leg at a time gives my knee a chance to bend under load and really gives me a chance to increase some of the strength in my leg muscles. I'm nearly to where I can go down to a 90 degree angle and get back up again, so things are looking up. Back when I first started doing these, a long time ago, I was lucky to be able to bend 25 degrees and then straighten back up. I'm also finding that I can sometimes feel the tissue at the top of my knee pulling away from the wires that are in there, especially on rides. It hurts a bit at first, but if I rub it down the pain goes away.
The bottom line is that I'm feeling really good about my decision to step back from racing and instead concentrate on my left leg and having fun on my bike. I'm getting to the gym once or twice a week, making time to use my electro stimulator five times a week, and still riding 8 to 10 hours a week.
I also seem to be having some good success with getting some of the scar tissue at the top of my knee to break up as well as strengthening my quads and hamstrings. I've been doing a lot of single leg squats in the gym, which is really helping. Doing one leg at a time gives my knee a chance to bend under load and really gives me a chance to increase some of the strength in my leg muscles. I'm nearly to where I can go down to a 90 degree angle and get back up again, so things are looking up. Back when I first started doing these, a long time ago, I was lucky to be able to bend 25 degrees and then straighten back up. I'm also finding that I can sometimes feel the tissue at the top of my knee pulling away from the wires that are in there, especially on rides. It hurts a bit at first, but if I rub it down the pain goes away.
The bottom line is that I'm feeling really good about my decision to step back from racing and instead concentrate on my left leg and having fun on my bike. I'm getting to the gym once or twice a week, making time to use my electro stimulator five times a week, and still riding 8 to 10 hours a week.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Goat Canucks Goat
Its spring time, and if you're from anywhere near Canada you know what that means; it's time for the male of the species to descend into his Stanley Cup Playoff bunker and forget about all of the now minor issues that real life might be trying to distract him with. The best hockey you'll ever see is on TV (or the internet in my case) every night of the week and on most nights, available in multiple doses.
The Canucks are off to a flying start, winning their first round matchup with St. Louis in four straight. For the guys at GoatCanucksGoat, that means at least 4 goats donated to African families in need. Check it out, this is a pretty crazy idea:
http://www.goatcanucksgoat.com/about-us/
The Canucks are off to a flying start, winning their first round matchup with St. Louis in four straight. For the guys at GoatCanucksGoat, that means at least 4 goats donated to African families in need. Check it out, this is a pretty crazy idea:
http://www.goatcanucksgoat.com/about-us/
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Went to the Neurologist Today
I went to the neurologist this morning. With the small, yet no where good enough improvements I've seen in my nerve recovery over nearly two years now, I wanted to get one final opinion on the status of my nerve. The opinion of the guy I saw this morning is that when the traction pin was put through my knee, it grazed my peroneal nerve. Didn't sever it, but damaged it irreparably. His prognosis is that the nerve won't get better and it won't get worse. In his words, "of all the people I see this is a pretty minor problem, on a scale of 1 to 10, it's about a quarter". Uh, well, sure, I don't have significant neurological issues. I do however have a complete inability to race my bike any more.
The peroneal nerve for those who might be interested:
The peroneal nerve for those who might be interested:
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Keep Plugging Away
This morning I rode around the San Luis Rey road course for a few hours with a couple of my team-mates. We started out in Escondido, worked our way to Champagne Blvd, and headed down to the course for a couple laps. We then rode back to the cars in Escondido.
Based on how I'm riding these days, I'm really starting to think that losing my discipline with my muscle stimulator wasn't the best thing. My hip surgeon had suggested to me that using a electro-stimulator on my leg might help bring back the atrophied muscles. Back in November and December 2008 I was pretty religious about strapping it onto my left shin four or five times a week. It seemed to help resuscitate my shin muscles because I got to the point that I didn't need to use my brace to hold my foot up any more. Once I started seeing some progress, my thinking was that since the muscles were now able to function better, they wouldn't need the stimulator. I then stopped using the stimulator as much.
Back in January at our team camp I was able to hold around 280 watts up the hour long climb of Montezuma. After an hour of riding this morning I was having a hard time keeping it over 200 watts on the hills. You don't have to be a genius to see that:
a) I've regressed.
b) You're not going to be able to hold onto any sort of fast paced ride if you can only putt out 200 watts.
Based on how I'm riding these days, I'm really starting to think that losing my discipline with my muscle stimulator wasn't the best thing. My hip surgeon had suggested to me that using a electro-stimulator on my leg might help bring back the atrophied muscles. Back in November and December 2008 I was pretty religious about strapping it onto my left shin four or five times a week. It seemed to help resuscitate my shin muscles because I got to the point that I didn't need to use my brace to hold my foot up any more. Once I started seeing some progress, my thinking was that since the muscles were now able to function better, they wouldn't need the stimulator. I then stopped using the stimulator as much.
Back in January at our team camp I was able to hold around 280 watts up the hour long climb of Montezuma. After an hour of riding this morning I was having a hard time keeping it over 200 watts on the hills. You don't have to be a genius to see that:
a) I've regressed.
b) You're not going to be able to hold onto any sort of fast paced ride if you can only putt out 200 watts.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Done with Windows
This weekend I took the plunge and jumped on the Linux bandwagon.
I've wanted to check out Linux for a long while now. You hear so many good things about it like; stability, security, cost (free is always nice), etc. With all the constant security issues in Windows, especially this latest Cornficker worm, I got to the end of my rope with Windows. When I found myself using my computer, not having any confidence in whether it was secure or not, I knew it was time for a change.
So, I made a trip down to Fry's. There's always a good excuse to head down there. I wanted to buy some more RAM anyways, plus I needed a good way to back up all my files from my hard drive. At first I was thinking I'd buy an external drive and back all my files up on to there, but when you look at some of the prices on hard drives these days, it becomes obvious that a hard drive upgrade is the right answer. $130 for 1TB of storage! Back when I bought my PC 6 years ago, my 160GB drive was pretty big.
My original plan was to set up a dual boot on my existing hard drive. However, armed with this new hard drive I decided to go all in; swapped out the hard drives and installed Linux onto the new drive. I then just transferred my files from the old drive to the new one, and voila, up and running on Linux. If I had to do it again I could probably do the whole thing in less than an hour. I'm really impressed. Last week I had no clue as to how one would install Linux or what the implications would be. With a minimal amount of reading online documentation and some basic computer hardware knowledge I was able to pull this thing off.
For those who aren't familiar with Linux, it's an open source operating system. Linux is then distributed as a pre-built package. For those of us who are used to the nice graphical interface of something like Windows, there's a distribution type known as Desktop Linux. Desktop Linux has all the sorts of point and click capabilities one is used to in Windows for things like printing, file management, web browsing, etc. After looking around the internet for 30 minutes or so, I came to the conclusion that the Ubuntu distribution was the right thing for me. If you want more info, go check out their site, the documentation is very well written. They've got guides for how to go from Windows to Linux, how to run Windows and Linux on the same hard drive, how to install Linux, etc. Basically you download the distribution from their website and burn it as a bootable cd; from there you can install it, or even run your PC in Linux off the cd without installing.
At this point I'm up and running full steam, with one exception. I can't seem to get my bluetooth mouse and keyboard working. They were working after my install; however, once I loaded all the cumulative Linux updates they stopped working. It's rather odd in that my PC can see other bluetooth devices like people's phones. This'll be something for another day. My wired mouse and keyboard are working fine.
One of the first things you notice about Linux is how software is distributed and installed. In Windows you hunt and peck across the internet looking for an application that will meet your needs. Maybe you want a media player, so you install Windows MediaPlayer, Winamp or RealPlayer. If you've installed any of these apps you know that RealPlayer is constantly trying to get you to buy something else. MediaPlayer and Winamp constantly need to be upgraded, etc. If you're looking for something more specialized, say for example a video file combiner, you might end up grabbing some freeware. That freeware might have a ton of bugs in it, might just install a virus on your PC, who knows?
In Linux (for the most part), all the software you need is cataloged inside the environment. So, if you want a media player you simply click add/remove applications (note that it opens in seconds, not minutes like the Windows add/remove programs) and then browse through all the open source, free media players that are available for Linux. Each of these programs is managed, distributed, and QA'd by the Linux community, so they are validated to work and be secure for the Linux OS. Each of the programs has info on what it does, a ranking based upon how popular it is etc. If you install it, check it out and don't like it you can simply remove it (and btw you don't need to restart your machine after you install or remove something). These applications aren't a bunch of useless crap apps. For example, if you like MS Office, there's a Linux word processor that will save and open MS Word files.
First impressions vs. Windows:
1. Much, much faster. It takes literally 20 seconds to boot my machine. And when you do see your desktop you can use your machine. Not like Windows where you wait another few minutes for your hard drive to stop spinning.
2. So far, a lot simpler. With 1 hour of reading the usage manual on Ubuntu's website I think my parents could use this OS and get more out of it than they get from Windows.
3. Really easy to customize. For example, you can add as many "workspaces" as you want to your Linux desktop. You can then run different applications in different workspaces. This makes it really easy to run multiple applications at the same time, yet keep them separated visually.
4. Everything you're used to doing in Windows can be done in Linux.
5. Windows applications of course won't run in Linux. I have read somewhere that you can get a plugin for Linux that will allow this to happen, but don't know for sure. Not being able to run some of my Windows apps like some games is a little frustrating. But, I can always just put my old hard drive back in and have my old Windows environment when I want to play a game.
6. Free!
7. Sorry, now that I'm back on my laptop I had to come back and add this one, no more of the stupidest keyboard key in the history of computers, the damned "Windows Key". What sort of impression do you have to have of yourself to look at a keyboard that has been pretty much constant since the days of the typewriter and say to yourself, "hey you know what, I think we should add a key to the keyboard just for Windows!".
I've wanted to check out Linux for a long while now. You hear so many good things about it like; stability, security, cost (free is always nice), etc. With all the constant security issues in Windows, especially this latest Cornficker worm, I got to the end of my rope with Windows. When I found myself using my computer, not having any confidence in whether it was secure or not, I knew it was time for a change.
So, I made a trip down to Fry's. There's always a good excuse to head down there. I wanted to buy some more RAM anyways, plus I needed a good way to back up all my files from my hard drive. At first I was thinking I'd buy an external drive and back all my files up on to there, but when you look at some of the prices on hard drives these days, it becomes obvious that a hard drive upgrade is the right answer. $130 for 1TB of storage! Back when I bought my PC 6 years ago, my 160GB drive was pretty big.
My original plan was to set up a dual boot on my existing hard drive. However, armed with this new hard drive I decided to go all in; swapped out the hard drives and installed Linux onto the new drive. I then just transferred my files from the old drive to the new one, and voila, up and running on Linux. If I had to do it again I could probably do the whole thing in less than an hour. I'm really impressed. Last week I had no clue as to how one would install Linux or what the implications would be. With a minimal amount of reading online documentation and some basic computer hardware knowledge I was able to pull this thing off.
For those who aren't familiar with Linux, it's an open source operating system. Linux is then distributed as a pre-built package. For those of us who are used to the nice graphical interface of something like Windows, there's a distribution type known as Desktop Linux. Desktop Linux has all the sorts of point and click capabilities one is used to in Windows for things like printing, file management, web browsing, etc. After looking around the internet for 30 minutes or so, I came to the conclusion that the Ubuntu distribution was the right thing for me. If you want more info, go check out their site, the documentation is very well written. They've got guides for how to go from Windows to Linux, how to run Windows and Linux on the same hard drive, how to install Linux, etc. Basically you download the distribution from their website and burn it as a bootable cd; from there you can install it, or even run your PC in Linux off the cd without installing.
At this point I'm up and running full steam, with one exception. I can't seem to get my bluetooth mouse and keyboard working. They were working after my install; however, once I loaded all the cumulative Linux updates they stopped working. It's rather odd in that my PC can see other bluetooth devices like people's phones. This'll be something for another day. My wired mouse and keyboard are working fine.
One of the first things you notice about Linux is how software is distributed and installed. In Windows you hunt and peck across the internet looking for an application that will meet your needs. Maybe you want a media player, so you install Windows MediaPlayer, Winamp or RealPlayer. If you've installed any of these apps you know that RealPlayer is constantly trying to get you to buy something else. MediaPlayer and Winamp constantly need to be upgraded, etc. If you're looking for something more specialized, say for example a video file combiner, you might end up grabbing some freeware. That freeware might have a ton of bugs in it, might just install a virus on your PC, who knows?
In Linux (for the most part), all the software you need is cataloged inside the environment. So, if you want a media player you simply click add/remove applications (note that it opens in seconds, not minutes like the Windows add/remove programs) and then browse through all the open source, free media players that are available for Linux. Each of these programs is managed, distributed, and QA'd by the Linux community, so they are validated to work and be secure for the Linux OS. Each of the programs has info on what it does, a ranking based upon how popular it is etc. If you install it, check it out and don't like it you can simply remove it (and btw you don't need to restart your machine after you install or remove something). These applications aren't a bunch of useless crap apps. For example, if you like MS Office, there's a Linux word processor that will save and open MS Word files.
First impressions vs. Windows:
1. Much, much faster. It takes literally 20 seconds to boot my machine. And when you do see your desktop you can use your machine. Not like Windows where you wait another few minutes for your hard drive to stop spinning.
2. So far, a lot simpler. With 1 hour of reading the usage manual on Ubuntu's website I think my parents could use this OS and get more out of it than they get from Windows.
3. Really easy to customize. For example, you can add as many "workspaces" as you want to your Linux desktop. You can then run different applications in different workspaces. This makes it really easy to run multiple applications at the same time, yet keep them separated visually.
4. Everything you're used to doing in Windows can be done in Linux.
5. Windows applications of course won't run in Linux. I have read somewhere that you can get a plugin for Linux that will allow this to happen, but don't know for sure. Not being able to run some of my Windows apps like some games is a little frustrating. But, I can always just put my old hard drive back in and have my old Windows environment when I want to play a game.
6. Free!
7. Sorry, now that I'm back on my laptop I had to come back and add this one, no more of the stupidest keyboard key in the history of computers, the damned "Windows Key". What sort of impression do you have to have of yourself to look at a keyboard that has been pretty much constant since the days of the typewriter and say to yourself, "hey you know what, I think we should add a key to the keyboard just for Windows!".
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Interesting Wildlife Encounter
One of the folks I work with posted these pictures and the following write-up on our bikes mailing list. Normally when you hear of folks interacting with nature on a bike ride it's something like a mountain biker avoiding a snake, or a road rider barreling into a deer or bear on a descent. It had to be pretty amazing to witness something like this first hand:
"Koalas are not social and don't come out of trees very often. They don't normally drink water at all. All their food and water comes from the eucalyptus leaves that they eat. That's why they sleep about 22 hours of the day. Their caloric and liquid intake is not enough to keep them awake more than a couple of hours. But Australia’s major drought has changed all that."
"Koalas are not social and don't come out of trees very often. They don't normally drink water at all. All their food and water comes from the eucalyptus leaves that they eat. That's why they sleep about 22 hours of the day. Their caloric and liquid intake is not enough to keep them awake more than a couple of hours. But Australia’s major drought has changed all that."
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