Squeezing in the effort

 Making Things Work...when they otherwise won't.

What the view will be in only a few more weeks....

Time commitments being what they are, it is often difficult to get the miles in as one may otherwise desire. This past week was certainly the situation, with it culminating today - being out and about taking care of personal business. It seemed everywhere I went, there were road cyclists out doing what I desperately need to be doing myself. As the day dragged on, time slipped away - making it nearly impossible to get out on any kind of a ride. I did say nearly. As quickly as I could get everything put away from the day, I threw it all together and did a serious session of "pass/fail" hill intervals. Funny, when I perceive my back is against the wall, I tend to put out considerably more effort - and tonight was exactly that. The net result being impressive was one thing, but more so I pushed limits that I had been short of doing these same intervals. Taking quality above quantity can be productive.

Your Brand

Recently I have been reflecting back on how I have managed to land exactly where I am in this world. Along with that, I have stopped to notice what really sets some people apart. Back in the college days, we were taught that our "education" would be what defines us above others in our field. I learned very quickly that GPA contributed to getting in the door of your first job - maybe grad school. Truth is, you can waive the colors of your alma mater, but that really doesn't define you in the end. It is kind of funny how I notice more people wearing the swag of a particular school that they never have attended - call it "fandom". Truth is, you make your own brand over time - whatever it may be. You cannot run from the truth, it always catches up. Whether through relationships or reputation, given enough time your brand is made. so what is your brand anyway? Does it even matter at this point? The particular place I have landed is rather non-traditional - admittedly. When I look back at the various "forks" I have taken, I'd say luck has been on my side more often than not. But than again, I'm reminded of what Gene Simons has said in countless interviews (not that I'm a big fan, but you can't argue with success). People have said they were lucky. He would reply that he agreed. He would also go onto say he found the harder he worked, the luckier he became. In spite of my own bad decisions, I have somehow managed.

Going back 51 years

In 1975 I was doing my first paper route. They bent the rules for me as the company was desperate. They gave me that route when I was only 11 years old. Sure, I had to walk almost two miles to my first house, but hey - I was making it on my own (or so I thought). Truth is, Sunday mornings were hell in those winter months. Cold and dark. My dad helped me during those winter months, which made all the difference in the world. I played a ton of baseball that summer and was my last two years playing hockey. I learned to save money and put off buying stupid things for those that mattered more. After a few months I bought my own NEW baseball mitt. I saved up for my first shotgun - a used Mossberg 500A. About every other month I would buy a new vinyl album. One of those was "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player" - Elton John. It was a couple years old by then, but was available as "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" was simply hard to find. It (Don't Shoot me) was a good album, but it was a bit too sophisticated for my undeveloped gray matter. 51 years ago to this very day, "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" was released. My album hording buddy bought it - if only for the album art. Talk about sophisticated for my mind - what was he even talking about with some of those lyrics. Its debut at #1 was the result of the momentum and inertia of "Yellow Brick Road". I threw that on this evening while doing hills. I can still remember the first time I heard some of those songs. I takes me back to those very long walks delivering papers on that first route. That year set the stage for things to come....

Click here for "Capt. Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy"

Ride HARD!

Milestones

 The importance of learning to finish

It can be assumed that training is generally about doing hard things - whatever they may be. Perhaps one of my weaknesses is developing a habit to finish. There have been some years that I'll do some long and enduring rides, only to call for a bailout from the last hour of riding. Too often it will be as simple as bailing on the final 4 - 5 miles. I'm pretty good at making those excuses to cover for it as well. The fact is, riding right out of my house for almost any ride is an ideal situation. A typical road ride drops almost 500 feet in elevation in that first four-plus miles. I have options to jump into some pretty good short duration climbs in the initial 20 minutes or so, that allow my heartrate to jump up before heading out on the course across the valley. Other days I can simply spin my way all the way out and back, or take it into a solid hour of climbing to Snow Basin. Regardless of what the ride is, I always have to recover that initial 500 feet of elevation back home. It gets progressively harder the closer to home I get, with a steep little section less than a half-mile from my driveway. There have been years that I would add a little more climbing by going up and around - driving it home even more. The point is; you have to learn how to finish. Going through the motions will get you nothing in this life - and that includes mailing in the finish.

It is also important to set yourself up for success. Being overly ambitious is not helpful, nor is taking the easy path. Yesterday's ride on the hardtail was just that - not overly ambitious, but geared toward one key metric: FINISHING! As weak as that sounds, it is about conditioning oneself to push through the end of whatever IT may be. Once finishing has been established as "non-negotiable" then you can stretch the effort more along the way. Save the bailout calls for when it really matters - not as a matter of convenience. Lets face it, not finishing is watered down quitting at best. But it is still quitting. That is not building on success.

The Left Sleeve of the 2020 Jersey.

Taking too much for granted

One of my riding buddies, kind of my barometer from the past, has been sidelined with an ailment that has kept him off the bike. This is a guy that would be stacking 300 miles a week by mid summer, with a solid showing at LOTOJA every year. The point to all of this is very simple - you never know when things will stack against you, keeping you from doing those things too often taken for granted. I suppose my situation is somewhat like that, albeit I can still ride. I just don't know that I have the confidence my ticker is going to allow me to continue somedays. I'm being more cautious about things I believe my trigger the issue, but I'm certainly not making the most of these opportunities - admittedly. I suppose at some point we tend to lie to ourselves, telling us how we would never take things for granted - but we still do. 2020 was a terrible year for riding. That same buddy and I went out to pickup our packets together that year. It was very strange indeed. We shared a support crew for most of the race that year, with me starting 12-minutes before him in my group. Once we were on our bikes, it was like that year never happened. Conditions were near perfect and was a welcome reprieve from the previous 5 months. That was also the year we had to traverse down a dirt road and across a wooden bridge about 22-miles from the finish. Man, that was a great year. Now I'm totally on my own and having to make it up as I go along. Talking to my buddy, he reminds me of how not to take things for granted - as he would give his eye-teeth to be riding anything this year. But somehow, I seem to miss the message. Call it laziness on my part.

Katies motivation

Katie is one of only a few that I will follow occasionally, as I'm impressed with her story and transition. She does have some legit advice from time to time. Watching her most recent post, she talked about reserving interval training for the indoor sessions - beating herself to failure, whereas she doesn't have to save some in the tank to get home. You know....she's right. Blowing up on a ride always leads to a struggle getting home - if not calling for a bailout. Blowing up on an indoor trainer, or spin bike - well, you are already home and can push those limits to their fullest. Doing hills does this for me as well, as I don't have to ride any distance to get back home. What it boils down to is my motivation - and that is lacking. I guess I shouldn't say she motivated me, but she sure did get me thinking about my methods. Katie is a stud - because she just is. Look up her YouTube stuff and see for yourself.

Lets hope for a solid couple days going into the weekend.

Click here for "Thunder Island" Jay Ferguson

Ride HARD!

Slow progress - but still it's progress.

Ideal trail conditions

 Time on the old reliable

I really didn't think I'd be riding the full suspension bike until well into the season - like perhaps autumn. But the past few rides have been a solid reminder of what it is I love to do. That bike is getting a bit old, but still a great machine. Truly more a trail bike than a cross country bike, but very comfortable to ride. In the day, a pretty solid - middle of the road outfit, that would take me pretty much anywhere I'd want to go. Sure, I have a crash or two on her, but aside from a broken ankle eight years ago - we've gotten along pretty well. I'm currently running some pretty heavy tread on my best wheelset - creating some serious drag, but excellent grip on the trail. I'm too old to bomb the descents, but still enjoy the fast flowing run from the top. Frankly, I don't know why I'm not doing it more often.

You can't buy this in a bottle

Overcoming the things that draw me backward

Being self employed comes with it's own challenges - different than going into the office every day. I mean, I did that for the better part of four decades before I finally decided to tell "the man" to go and piss up a rope (that requires significant surface tension). Having been with the same organization for well over 30 years, I wasn't prepared to accept that it had become my identity. Look, I did it on my own terms and am glad I finally bailed, but I didn't really expect the part which seemed to be missing every morning after that. Never mind the fact that I have been very busy since the day I left to go out on my own, but somehow it felt like a part of me had been taken away. Here I am some forty-four months later and have proven my own identity. There are still those days, somewhat reminiscent of 2020, when things just didn't seem exactly right. Those situations can result in a loss of several days progress - even creating a setback of sorts. Almost like clockwork, I get a stray and unexpected message from an old friend that seems to land with incredible timing. Other times.....its' just a matter of hearing a track that takes me back to a place that is wholly specific to that one moment - and I find myself smiling. I'm fortunate to have the fledgling little business that I do - and darn grateful for the clientele. There are no guarantees, and there are times it can be a bit stressful - but to have the ability to pull yourself along everyday is truly a blessing. I'll take the challenges - as long as those occasional messages continue to roll in at the right moments.

 "461Ocean Blvd"

Funny how somethings get better with age. It was at this very time of year,  fifty-two years ago Clapton connected with Tom Dowd to create the comeback masterpiece "461 Ocean Blvd". Eric had basically been holed-up in his estate for nearly three straight years - mainly following Duane's untimely death. Prior to that he had one helluva run with a number of different collaborations - including Duane (Derrick and the Dominoes). There was the mystical image of an unidentified graffiti-artist having painted "Clapton is God" that seemed ominous. Through those years he played a mix of Les Paul's, SG's and even an occasional 335. When he hooked up with Duane, he ran across a bunch of vintage Strat's that led him to build what eventually became "Blackie" - a mix of a '56 & '57 Strat with hand picked single coil pickups. That became the iconic sound he produced with "461". Of course "461" was a serious departure from his heavier work prior to his sabbatical - featuring a lot of acoustic and even a lap-steel guitar. It was recorded during April-May of 1974 - rolled out at the record stores in July of that same year. Needless to say, it caught a lot of traction. Some may say it was a tectonic shift in the industry. When you look at the other stuff that was released that same year, as well as the two years before - I think it can be a qualified trend setter for sure - leading to '75 that exploded with countless rivals. To this day "461" just seems to go down smooth regardless of the occasion.

Click here for "Please be with me" Yvonne with the beautiful harmonies.

Ride HARD!

In the dirt - Finally!

Atop Mules Ear

 Familiar territory

Living close enough to great dirt riding, that I can do it right out of my driveway, certainly has its advantages. The first single-track was cut around twenty-years ago. The trails were very limited and archaic by todays standards. Very few mountain bikers would ride what was there, as it was rough in many places, with a ton of overgrowth. There were probably more trail runners on average than cyclists, mixed in with even more horses. It was pretty quiet even on the busiest evenings. On rare occasions you may run across someone - that you most certainly would always know. It was rather quaint. About seven years ago they (whoever they are) hosted a race series up there - mainly on the original Mules Ear. This was in conjunction with more trail building - but on a still smaller scale. And then of course....COVID. That year from the first weekend the park opened until about the time school started back up, the place was "choked" with campers. Add to this the stimulus money flow that put tremendous pressure on the mountain bike market and....well, the place has never been the same. Sure, it has brought a ton of attention to the area, but they (again, whoever they are) have developed a lot of new trails, while improving some of the original stuff. I have learned to take the good with the not so good. The past couple years I haven't taken advantage of the close proximity, making excuses all along. A couple nights ago I just had the urge to pull down the full suspension bike and take it out for a run. As painful as it was, I felt surprisingly good about getting on the dirt again. Tonight I made a couple minor adjustments on the bike, that really needs a full service, took it up and pushed myself to the overlook area. Given the relative levels I have to push, there is no reason I shouldn't be doing this several nights each week. I suppose I tend to take things like this for granted too often.

Looking across Ogden Valley on the way down from the top.

What riding in the dirt does for the bigger picture

My best years have always been associated with a ton of dirt riding. The route I took tonight is notorious for being more like extended interval training than anything resembling a casual ride. Generally I can get a solid twenty-minutes warming up before I have to "gas it". There are a few technical spots in the first thirty-minutes that also require a little attention. By the time I hit the base of the main section (Mules Ear), I've already peaked heart rate a couple times and am settling in for a lengthy session of grinding. Throughout this first hour or so, I will be in Zone-4 a lot. When my leg strength improves, there are places I will punch into Zone-5 briefly. Generally splitting a balance between Zones 3&4 evenly. Of course the ride down is Zone-2 pretty much all the way home. So.....for now, I'm getting a harder workout riding in the dirt - on this particular course anyway. At some point, I will have to master this particular ride from start to finish. This will also have to include morning sessions that will be multiple loops consuming at least three-hours. When the road season is finally over, the autumn leaves will be falling - and that is when the best riding in this park really is. Having mastered this particular course makes the casual rides through all of the park a special experience. Call it an investment.

Stick around. More to come......

Ride, Ride, Ride.

Click here for "Let it Ride" BTO

Ride HARD!

Getting past the head games

Feeling it

I did an impromptu tempo ride Friday - because I could. The stats weren't overly impressive, but it was a consistent push for nearly 3-hours solid. Believe it or not, the boredom threshold is only about 20-minutes at the moment - meaning I really have to want to be out on my bike. Frankly the boredom really has a lot to do with success these days. That and having the daily thing that is life taking the wind out of your sails quickly. There are four basic levels that have to be met for success - all in time increments. 75 - 90 minute interval (mainly hills), 3-hour consistent tempo (near race pace), 5-hour century (100-miles) and the 6-8 hour plus endurance (typically Monte, or East Canyon). With all of that, you really have to be in the mood to be on the bike, as well as concentrating on the key points and milestones. If you don't feel it - go do something else productive and don't waste the resources.

The things you see along the way....

Things have not gone according to plan the past few days and it shows. Measurables are pretty stationary at the moment, as the input method has kind of sputtered-out.  Several distractions between work and home commitments are taking the toll. If character is what we do while alone - well, my character is certainly floundering. The need for inspiration has probably never been greater - and this is the time of year it is supposed to be easy. Probably needing to reinvent the input method - or maybe just lie to myself. One thing for sure, you can't by it - whatever it is. A precious commodity if you can find it.

Southern Hemisphere

In my previous life I was working on projects in South America - for several years. I'm guessing there had to be 24-25 trips to Brazil (Brasil) over the course of only a few years. Somehow I still managed to train with all that travel. Those trips were all business - typically 112 - 115 hours each week. Very early mornings, very light nights - all work and no leisure. So many evenings heading back to the hotel around midnight, driving through the darkness of cities and industrial areas - I never could see the stars of the Southern Hemisphere. I guess I had always figured there would be more trips, but I always packed them with a busy schedule. Through all of those visits, I saw three or four different hotels, a hand full of restaurants, a couple grocery stores and the same 145 miles of highway between the airport and the jobsite. I let that opportunity slip by without truly seeing the beauty that was literally all around me. Man.....if I had a dime for every time I've done that very thing.

Sometimes you don't realize what you've had until it is no longer there.  Speaking of that, this album speaks directly to the previous paragraph. For such a brief period, it sure brings back some special memories. Take it all in while you can - because you can.

From the Portland Rose Garden, 1982.....

Click here for "Southern Cross" 

Ride HARD!