Humbling Experience

[kimbottles]

So as I sometimes do, I rode with my Pal Kiel Reijnen of the Trek-Segafredo ProTour team today before he catches a airplane this afternoon to the Vuelta a España, his next scheduled race.

Kiel is 33 and 142 pounds dripping wet, I am 71 and 195 pounds. So of course I can’t stay with him climbing if he tries. (I raced 45 years ago at 167 pounds and could climb rather well back then.)

But today I foolishly thought I might have a chance as he was riding a heavy bike.......with his 35 pound almost three year old daughter Emma on the back. I was on a 15 pound Carbon Merckx AXM.

Nope! (He was 197#’s all up and I was 210#’s all up, so maybe I should not be too bummed.)

But I kept him in sight and he only beat me to the top of a several mile fairly steep climb by about 50 meters (I don’t think he was trying very hard.)

Talk about getting goated into riding harder than I had planned today!! As Phil would say, the rubber band got stretched pretty fair, but it did not break!

And Kiel does it with such a cheery attitude!

I had to buy the treats for all of us as the loser.

[Benno von Humpback]

So as I sometimes do, I rode with my Pal Kiel Reijnen of the Trek-Segafredo ProTour team today before he catches a airplane this afternoon to the Vuelta a España, his next scheduled race.

Kiel is 33 and 142 pounds dripping wet, I am 71 and 195 pounds. So of course I can’t stay with him climbing if he tries. (I raced 45 years ago at 167 pounds and could climb rather well back then.)

But today I foolishly thought I might have a chance as he was riding a heavy bike.......with his 35 pound almost three year old daughter Emma on the back. I was on a 15 pound Carbon Merckx AXM.

Nope! (He was 197#’s all up and I was 210#’s all up, so maybe I should not be too bummed.)

But I kept him in sight and he only beat me to the top of a several mile fairly steep climb by about 50 meters (I don’t think he was trying very hard.)

Talk about getting goated into riding harder than I had planned today!! As Phil would say, the rubber band got stretched pretty fair, but it did not break!

And Kiel does it with such a cheery attitude!

I had to buy the treats for all of us as the loser.

You gotta try! I get completely humiliated about three times a week. There’s only one former pro in that group and he’s my age.

[Rob McAlpine]

My life has been a series of humbling experiences, starting with my first sexual experience.

I'm just glad no one else was there.

[Benno von Humpback]

My life has been a series of humbling experiences, starting with my first sexual experience.

I'm just glad no one else was there.

God was there, Rob.

[BeauV]

My life has been a series of humbling experiences, starting with my first sexual experience.

I'm just glad no one else was there.

ROB!!! That was hysterical! I literally blew my wine out my nose! By my standards, that is a bases-loaded home-run joke. Well played sir, well played!!

[BeauV]

Kim,

You do all us Geezers great honor by even trying this sort of thing. (And managing to avoid having a heart attack on the way up the hill.)

Good for you, giving it a go. I used to try this sort of thing, but I haven’t kept up my training and there is no way I’d do it now. Again, “good on ya” to use a phrase I learned in NZ. Still not exactly sure when to use it.

[kimbottles]

I got to lose some weight.

I was 174 when I did this and I rode it in a respectable 58 minutes (at age 58.)

It is all about power to weight.....

[Rob McAlpine]

My life has been a series of humbling experiences, starting with my first sexual experience.

I'm just glad no one else was there.

God was there, Rob.

MY God has much better stuff to watch, like that Japanese tentacle porn you're into.

Humbling experience? Trying to hike with Bill Miller, who patrols at Copper on Tele skis. Hombre!

[Benno von Humpback]

I got to lose some weight.

I was 174 when I did this and I rode it in a respectable 58 minutes (at age 58.)

It is all about power to weight.....

Weighing <145 lbs isn’t helping me much right now at age 63. I need me some Watts!

[kimbottles]

I got to lose some weight.

I was 174 when I did this and I rode it in a respectable 58 minutes (at age 58.)

It is all about power to weight.....

Weighing <145 lbs isn’t helping me much right now at age 63. I need me some Watts!

I still got lots of watts, (and I suppose riding with this extra weight is good training for if and when I lose some of the excess pounds.)

In 2005 at age 58 when I rode the TdF climbs I had shed about 20 pounds in 6 months as I trained for it and the watts to weight ratio was delightful.

Watts come from intervals and motor-pacing, both are easy to perform on a Computrainer.

[BeauV]

.

Watts come from intervals and motor-pacing, both are easy to perform on a Computrainer.

“Easy”? Nope, not for me, I get so FREAKING BORED on a computrainer or an erg machine. I have to go outside and watch the tail end of a car/bus/truck as I swallow the exhaust fumes!

[kimbottles]

.

Watts come from intervals and motor-pacing, both are easy to perform on a Computrainer.

“Easy”? Nope, not for me, I get so FREAKING BORED on a computrainer or an erg machine. I have to go outside and watch the tail end of a car/bus/truck as I swallow the exhaust fumes!

Then you are not riding hard enough on the Computrainer. You can’t get bored if you are going full gas. You are trying to survive. (Old habits are hard to break.)

[Benno von Humpback]

Then you are not riding hard enough on the Computrainer. You can’t get bored if you are going full gas. You are trying to survive. (Old habits are hard to break.)

Yeah, I have no trouble doing structured workouts on the trainer, as long as they hurt enough. However, this year I think I've talked my wife into a smart trainer.

[BeauV]

Kim, you and I are wired up differently. When I’m riding on road/dirt I have things to look at and think about. The pain of the work disappears. Staring at a wall or a TV set, the pain is always front-of-mind. A simple measure of my output shows that when my brain is engaged I perform better. It could be I’m not watching interesting enough things while on a trainer of some type.

No, I can’t stand being bored and staring at the wall is almost the archetype of boredom. I’ll stick to the roads and trails.

[Benno von Humpback]

When I’m riding on road/dirt I have things to look at and think about. The pain of the work disappears.

A good interval workout or more than a few minutes near anaerobic threshold is see-red-and-feel-like-puking country for me.

[kimbottles]

A good interval workout or more than a few minutes near anaerobic threshold is see-red-and-feel-like-puking country for me.

Perfect, that is what anaerobic threshold is SUPPOSE to feel like. (I can be motivated by a watt meter well into pain.)

Having once ridden at the top of USA Cycling (many years ago) I can verify that “it never gets easier, you just go faster.”

And faster is quite satisfying to experience despite the pain.

[Benno von Humpback]

And high socks are back, but they have to be aero.