Slow Motion with D

Can't say that I ever thought I'd be in Florida...and not sure I'll come back.

Gotta be careful with the dogs...miss you James!

Hey!  This is my idea.  Cool video shop w/more room for the cafe than me.

The biggest hill in Orlando.

 So I flew into Orlando on the red eye Monday night and hit the ground running on Tuesday.  I'm here getting a few shop visits under my belt.  Much to my surprise, we're not as well received as I thought we would be.  More on that later.  I guess Gators are a problem here.  I'd like to see one.  As you can see from the pic, there's not really any hills around here and the riding in general...lame.  I'm in Jacksonville now, and I hear that there's some good loops.  I got a map for tomorrow morning, but we'll see.  I'm supposed to do intervals all week, but I'm not sure how it'll work with the traveling.  I managed to get a set out of the way today, but it was hard to find stretches of road for 6 min efforts. 

Last week ended up being a pretty good week on the bike.  5 hard days in a row made me tired.  3 hours  with cadence efforts on the mtb was crazy.  7 min low cadence zone 3 followed by 3 min 100+cadence zone 3 gets you moving fast on Bend single track!  I also decided to start my 4hr Saturday ride with the am Hutch's hammer fest.  It didn't end up being too hard, but I did, "burn some candles."  Early on Brig went up the road, followed by Ben and Chris Sheppard.  1 or 2 more bridged up then I decided to take a dig.  Oops.  I waited a tad too long and the gap was too large for me to make it.  Brig said once Ben and Shep made contact they went up to 31mph.  I can't ride that fast, so I was in no mans land doing 400+watts.  Too much for D.  Got back with the group, got dropped on a long hill, then got back on before the, "big," climb up horse ridge.  I made the decision not to ride with B, B and S, so I just did my own thing to the top.  Felt good though.  Anyway, finished the ride strong, rode another 2 and had a pretty good time mtb'n with Gf on Sunday.  I rode my mtb for 8 hours last week!  I think that's more than I rode all Spring last year.  Hope all is well with ya'll.

Some know, some don't, but about a month ago I applied for a job with Pedro's. Well, after weeks of emails, phone calls, interviews, waiting and wondering, I was offered the job on Friday. My new job title is: Pedro's Technical Representative for the Western region of North America. So, basically, if you're a bike shop in the top 20% of national retailers, and located between B.C (eh!) and Sacramento, as well as Colorado, I'm gonna be stopping by to spread the Pedro's love. Hopefully I'll be able to hit some of the cooler, smaller shops in those areas too. Pedro's has always been involved with the environment, but now more than ever, they're...I mean, we're stepping up our commitment to keeping our world clean. Biodegradable cleaners, lubes made with renewable resources and corn based packaging (safe for compost) are just some of the ways Pedro's is hoping to become an industry leader (and example), for how products can be environmentally friendly.

Check out these new products. The Green Fizz will be used at the bike wash stations at Sea Otter.

So, yeah, starting this weekend with a flight to Florida (never thought I'd go there), then up to Massachusetts, then back to OR, I'm gonna be on the road for a few weeks a month. Oh, the trip from MA to OR...I'm driving. Cross country!!!! In this:

2007 Dodge Sprinter Van, bio-diesel. Yes, painted with flowers and Peace signs. This is my new vehicle. Let the hippie comments start flowing. If you see me on the road, wave and say hi! I'm getting satellite radio installed tomorrow morning, so I'll be able to listen to 80s music all the time!!!! If you see me singing, "Love is a battlefield," just keep driving by. So excited. Needless to say, I'm excited and nervous to start the new phase of my life. Don't worry, I'm keeping Westside Video open and I think it'll be better than ever. I'm excited to see old friends and meet lots of new people in my travels.

My man Murrdog and I had a plan in college. After we graduated, we wanted to convert an old short bus into a road trip machine. We were gonna load it up as living quarters and bring all our gear. Bikes, climbing equipment, boats and camping gear. The plan was to hit all the best spots to ride, climb, boat etc. In between hot spots, we'd stop at trail maintenance days, larger festivals and races. Of course, we were gonna get companies to sponsor us with free gear and gas and we were even going to write several monthly columns on-line and in print. Well, this job may be the closest I get to that dream, and it's pretty darn close, only I'm guaranteed health insurance and a pay check. It's in my job description to go on rides. I get to bring my dog and can even bring the GF or a friend along for trips. I'm gonna ride and see places I otherwise may have never seen.  The company has a commitment to the environment. I think this could be one of the best experiences of my life. So, if you see me in your town, or at an event, come over and chat. Chances are you'll walk away with a little more knowledge about a company with a commitment to helping the environment...and maybe a bottle of lube that you'll feel good about putting on your bike.

Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to writing about my experiences. If you know epic spots I should stop, eat at etc. let me know. 

Chainj is good.

Ah yeah! I got my first new (I've gotten used bikes) mountain bike in 6 years on Tuesday!!!! I went with a Trek Top Fuel 9.8, but upgraded the SRAM package to XTR. This is a big step for me...my first full suspension bike. I had a pivot-less rear suspension that had around an inch of give, but I don't count that one. The bike is sweet and the Fox fork is amazing. That Terra-logic is awesome! It knows when I'm sprinting or climbing and locks itself out, but eats up the bumps otherwise. I only took the bike out for an hour, but it seems like a great ride. Even though it was sunny, it was cold as the GF and I ran James into the ground.  For being a bit on the heavy side (my fault), James was motoring!

before

after

in action

Mentioning that I lacked the high end fitness led to a good hard workout today. 40min warm up then 40 minutes of: 20sec all out effort followed by 5 min zone 3, repeat, cool down. 3 hours in all and I'm tired, but I already feel better than I did on Sunday. I had a little more snap in the legs. Sunny, but cold again today...I hear we've got some warm weather on the way though!

 

Well, the first race of the year didn't go exactly as planned.  Although I've only been training for a month and a half (read, very controlled base, no race efforts), I headed over to the valley to test the legs.  I will admit that I thought it was going to be easier for me then it ended up.  I was thinking that I'd get in a ill fated break or two, then finish with the main bunch.  Maybe even have a last ditch effort with 1K to go.  Boy was I wrong.  Straight away (like out of the parking lot) I could tell my legs weren't ready for a day of hard efforts.  The pace was high on lap 1 of 7 and eventually 3 escaped.  I thought I'd have a dig to see if I could blow the legs out, and failed miserably...twice.  Oh well, I just figured later in the race I'd feel better and still finish with the group.  The team (Hagens Berman) took a few pulls at the front (mostly Joe and Soloman) to try to control the break, but my time at the front was short.  On lap 6 I was tail gunning in a bad way, then at the end of the lap, I was dropped.  End of day for D!  The break was finished off on the last lap, Zach W attacked (apparently against team plans) and won the race.  One guy stayed with Zach, but for reasons unknown, the sprint wasn't contested.  So, there it is, the first race of the year.  High end lacking.  It's been 3 months since efforts like that and I was feeling it.  At first I was a little down, but I'm over it.  The year is long, mtb season is getting nearer and cross season is still along time away.  

I got myself a new job.  Details coming soon.  Hope everyone's enjoying the sunshine (at least in Bend it's sunny!)   Thanks for reading.

 

d 

The week has been pretty mild as far as rides go. I was pretty tired Monday and a bit stressed out, so I opted to leave the bike in the garage for the day and just took care of some errands. Seemed to be the wise choice, since my full days off lately have been used up with long, tiring rides.

Tuesday only held a brief ride to and from the gym to throw some steel, do some core and flex in front of the mirror. I used to really dislike my body...too skinny for what I wanted to do at the time, which was post'n up fools in the paint! Now I find that it works for me just fine. At some point in college I learned to embrace the fact that I am skinny, you can see all my ribs and I have toothpick legs. Just fine for a cyclist, thank you very much!

Anyway...Wednesday brought about my low cadence, high cadence zone 3 workout. I like this one, but it's been hard to get my cadence as low as I would like to on the trainer (Single ring up front). Basically I got in an hour of riding outside before night set in, then I hit up the living room for the focused part of the ride. 7 min, high zone 3, low cadence (around 70, but should be 60) then 3 min, same watts, but high cadence (100ish). Repeat. Repeat. No rest in between sets. Not a good one to do outside if it's cold. Lots of stress on the joints, so I've just been doing them inside. Oh yeah, I got a deep tissue massage on Wednesday too. Long overdue.

Thursday, after I converted my cross bike to more roadie style (i.e 2 rings up front, road pedals), Timmy and I rode to Redmond in great weather. 3 hours, no arm or knee warmers. Brilliant. First ride like that of the year. Anyway 2 hr endurance pace, 45 min tempo, 15 cool down. Timmy was with me for 40 min of the tempo, but by then we were back in town. He went straight home and I turned onto Archie Briggs for the last 5 minutes of tempo. Anyone out there done the Cascade Classic the last few years? Archie Briggs is used on Saturday in the circuit race. It's basically a wall at the base of the climbing, mellows out, then kicks up for the last 300ish meters. It's hard to stay in a lower zone, so I decided to test the legs and drill it a bit for the last 300. Um...it hurt.

That brings us to today. Today was a good day, but more on that later. I got to work all day and look at all the cyclists go by in the 70? degree weather. Oh man, so nice out. After work I slipped into the bike shop (sunnyside sports) and chatted it up with Don for a few before heading home. Loaded up the car with my newly roadied up cross bike and the dog, then headed to the trails for the last hour+ of daylight. What a great way to end the work week. Me, dirt and James. I love riding with him, even if I do slack off on it right now, and he loves running with me. It's a great way to spend an easier day on the bike. Now, if I could only get kitty to go...

James the dog

Still on the trail...getting late

Faster group ride tomorrow (or solo intervals), then my first road race in almost a year on Sunday. 77 miles with Doug O and Even E, as well as the CMG guys should be fun! I'm interested to see how this training thing is working out.

If You're wondering where I get my workouts, check out Bart Bowen.  Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

Kill Bill.  I'm sure most of you are familiar with the 2 part chop-socky, western, samurai flick from QT.  This film amazed me.  I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, as the saying goes.  The 2 films probably rank below the original Star Wars Trilogy for me, I like them that much.  So, QT often gets criticized for, "stealing," from other filmmakers of the past.  Old westerns, samurai, gangster, noir, pulp, exploitation, etc.  Well, so what if he does?  He does it very well and gets people watching the original films that most would have never heard of.  That's what Kill Bill did for me.  I don't even know how many samurai, kung fu, Sergio Leone westerns, and just crazy f'd up Asian movies I've seen since I first watched Kill Bill.  Now, his new project with Robert Rodriguez is about to hit theaters.  Get ready for an homage to 70s exploitation films at its best!  Anyway, check out the trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/grindhouse/ So, my only question is, when do the sweet films that this movie is rooted in come out on dvd?  I'm sure some are out, but the Kill Bill effect will happen.  He'll mention certain films in interviews and everyone will want to see them.  I'm gonna have to read up!  The only bummer...look who the distributor is.  Weinstein.  Damn.  Check out these films at your local indi store.  A small selection from my Kill Bill obsession.

Battle Royale

Revenge Trilogy (Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More (man w/no name trilogy) Once upon a time in the West

Azumi

anything from this guy...f'd up, Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer, The Happiness of the Katakuris)

Shogun Assassin (the film Uma's daughter watches to go to bed in V2) spliced together from the Lone Wolf and Cub series (awesome!) 

Suicide Club, Infernal Affairs (the movie The Departed is a remake of) and so many more!  If you've got some good ones for me, let me know.  Thanks for reading!

 

Quick back story: I own an indi video rental store 

Man-o-man!!!!  Frustration.  So, the Weinstein brothers like the indi films, right?  They're the guys who go to all the festivals and pick up the little films that other studios won't, right?  Fight for the little guy (Clerks, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Flirting w/disaster).  Recent events have led them to having their own company w/o a parent co. financing them.  Yeah little guy!!!!  Wrong.  The Weinstein Co has started bringing over awesome Asian titles.  Mostly old kung fu and current martial arts films.  "The Protector," is one of the more recent films starring Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak).  Well, they don't sell to smaller distributors anymore.  They only sell directly to the Wal-Marts and Best Buys (I do shop there) and.....the BLOCKBUSTERS.  Fuck man!  What about the little indi stores trying to stay afloat?  Isn't that how they got started?  So, here I am, ordering movies for April and I cannot get these great old-school kung fu films:

36 Chambers of Shaolin (yeah, like Wu-Tang Clan 36 chambers)

King Boxer

My Young Auntie

One armed Swordsman

Hapkido

The pisser is, I want these films.  Not just for my customers to give them something different, something classic, but for myself as a kung fu movie lover.  Damn.

For those who don't know, Tuesday is the day that new movies come out for your home viewing pleasure. I'm pretty sure it's the same w/new music also. Today, March 13, James Bond Casino Royale, The Holiday, Shortbus, Favela Rising and a few Spanish films came out. My pick of the week (w/o having seen the Spanish films or Doc), is the James Bond movie. Now, I've never been that into the 007 franchise, but this film is good...a bit long, but good. Although it has it's moments, for the most part he is a more believable character. Bond is rough and raw. He has just been promoted to 00 status and it shows. He lacks some of the smoothness of the earlier films (taken place later in his career), and as M put it, he's more of a, "blunt intrument." Gone are most of the crazy gadgets, but he still has a few toys to play with...and a few nice cars. When casting for this movie came out internet geeks everywhere went crazy (in a bad way) about Daniel Craig being JB. Blonde hair and blue eyes isn't Bond! Whatever! He nailed it and those same geeks proclaimed him the best Bond ever. I'd agree, but like I said, I don't really know the old movies that well.

The Spanish films are Matando Cabos and The Perfect Crime. Both look interesting and both got good imdb.com reviews. I wanna check them out. Favela Rising is a documentary from Brazil about, "a man who emerges from the slums of Rio to lead the nonviolent cultural movement known as Afro-reggae." Also looks good. Ah, and Shortbus! A sexually charged indi film from the director of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Again, I want to watch this! It's a rare week when I want to see all the dvds that come out. Oh man, I gotta get on that! Here's some info on the films. Get to your local indi video store and check them out!

Shortbus: http://imdb.com/title/tt0455949/

Favela Rising: http://imdb.com/title/tt0455949/

Matando Cabos: http://imdb.com/title/tt0380538/

Perfect Crime: http://imdb.com/title/tt0395125/

Casino Royale: http://imdb.com/title/tt0381061/

This one's about biking, so if ya got no interest, stop reading. No, don't stop reading, I'm just pulling yur chain. So, this week on the bike has been a little harder than the past month. Not harder in volume or intensity, but harder in the mental department. A few of the days, I just wasn't feeling it. Monday was a good rest day 'cause the Sunday before we had a house warming shin-dig at Gf's new pad. She's basically a real estate mogul now. On Tuesday I snuck out of work in the middle of the day to do some intervals up the local butte...Pilot Butte!!!! This little hill is nice right now because the gate is closed to cars, so you only have to worry aboot all the walkers. On the schedule was 5, 4 minute efforts just below...well, instead of explaining it myself, here's the description from the website:

This workout is done to increase maximum oxygen uptake but is a controlled effort that can be replicated day after day when done right and after adaptation has occurred. By increasing this number you are basically building a bigger engine that will help increase anaerobic power and your workload at Lactate threshold. This workout can be done on the trainer or outside. When doing them outside it is easier to control the heartrate and the watts by using a hill with a 5-8% grade.

So that's what I did, kinda. 4 minutes only gets you up 3/4 of the way when you're trying to keep in controlled, so I did 2, 4 min and 2 6.5 min efforts to the top. All the walkers seemed to be eyeing me, as if to say, "you can't make it to the top, can you?" I just had to do it. I ended up getting the same amount of time in my zones, so all is well in the training world! Wednesday was a low cadence, high cadence workout and Thursday was a muddy 1hr ride with the dog. Soupy mud that made the, "rest," day a bit harder than I liked, but oh well. James (dog) was happy and so was I. Friday was 3hr, w/45min tempo, Saturday was 4hr w/BGA every 30 min (I called them Big girl accelerations on accident...it's really big Gear) and Sunday was 5 hours. I had to rock the 5hrs solo 'cause, well, I just wasn't in the mood to be around anyone. What a great day! No knee warmers for the first time this year. The legs just saw the sun for the first time last weekend w/knickers and this weekend they were in the flesh! Tan lines are just around the corner. Not to mention that I shaved this week too. I'm gonna put a few pictures in my album (I don't know how to post them here...any pointers???). It was a big week and I'm glad it's over, but I'm ready for more.

I missed the Banana Belt World Champs round 2 this weekend, but I think I'm heading over for number 3. Should be a good race. CMG has won both races (despite a dq) and has the top 2 overall spots. I'm gonna try to get in a break w/Seth, Zach or Donald. It could be interesting though 'cause they could be playing it safe for the overall....probably not though. I don't think Andy will be in tow, so we (Hagens Berman) won't have a, "leader." Good times to just ride for myself, or Solomon.

Alright, that's probably enough for now. Look at my pics! Thanks for reading.

No, not miles last week, but the movie, "300." Basically a visual masterpiece. The dialogue is sometimes...corny, macho and moving...we'll just say there isn't a shortage of motivational speaches, that's for sure! The real gem of this film is the visuals. The only major color that stands out is the crimson red of the Spartin's cloak...and blood. The rest of the film is filled with a brown...kinda like the brown of my morning Americano w/cream. Speaking of Americano, I've read some posts saying this film is pro-America, pro-war. Can't anything just be what it is anymore, or does it always have to have an underlying theme? Anyway, I digress. This is based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller of Sin City fame (for those that don't know), The Dark Knight Returns, and Ronin (which I will get soon, 'cause I like Samurai tales), amongst others. Basically graphic novel gold. I've not read 300, but flipped through it today and just like Sin City, some of the images in the movie are directly from the page. The book is even in widescreen format (from before the movie). If you like rich visuals, spend the $8ish and see it on the big screen. Lots of blood and a few boobies, so leave the kiddies at home.