Team Meeting December 7th

Instead of going to the Crofton Italian Market, the team went to the Annapolis Bike Doctor for the monthly meeting (December 7th). The owners -- Mr. Jack and son Andy -- rolled out beer, wine, cheese and fruit, which was very much enjoyed by the riders, even some who looked a little over their racing weights (unfortunately this last group includes the wheelsucker).

In addition to President Waring filling us in on various club activities, we had the legendary John Howard in to speak (BTW, he looked fit enough that he could eat all the fruit and cheese he wanted too).

Bobby Stu and John set up a bike for John to demo his FITTE system on

John also spoke about some of his experiences cyling.


This image is of the first cycling training camp in the US; that is some of the Raleigh Team on the porch in the image.

Three guesses as to which one John is ...

With a little rearranging Bike Doctor Annapolis turns into a very useful space.

Is Spring on the Way?

What a weekend! Both Saturday and Sunday had highs of over 55 degrees, so the Saturday rides and the Sunday ride had large turnouts. While it was still slightly below freezing when the wheelsucker left home at 9:15AM Saturday, it warmed up nicely; Sunday morning started above freezing and hit a similar – or better – high.

For Saturday, the wheelsucker’s workout instructions were to get "as much time in zones tempo/threshold power zones as you can accumulate", for four hours.

After lots of e-mail chatter on the ABRT listserver about doing the Goon Ride, everyone but Mike Wagner showed up at Davidsonville, including Ace and Nat and new members Christine and Amy. With ten miles on the wheelsucker’s legs before the Davidsonville ride even started, it was easy for him to roll off the front early, just after crossing Governor Bridge Road, simply by holding Z3 watts. Bill "don’t drop me" Neumann followed the wheelsucker. A couple of minutes later, the tandem rolled up and pointed out that the three bikes/four riders were well off the front. The wheelsucker sat up so as to not split up the ride so early, but the tandem and Bill continued, and after crossing 214 Steve Owens bridged up; that group stayed away to the rest stop (nice going, guys and gals!) Holding wheelsucker Z3 power was an excellent way to go OTB on short climbs, but the wheelsucker would slowly drag himself back, on the flats and descents. Then someone caught site of another group up the road, the peleton surged, and the wheelsucker went OTB big time! Fortunately the peleton slowed at the start of the climb after the left turn on Ed Prout. The wheelsucker caught back on and then just holding Z3 power on the climb, rolled off the front (with the jeers of team mates saying the group was slowing for a pee break ringing in his ears) also staying away until the rest stop.

After the rest stop, a small group split left at Boyd’s Turn Road for the short cut, but the main group did the full course. Ace looked strong on the wall, with Michel hammering off the top and looking good. The wheelsucker, noticing that he was not riding one of his weight weenie bikes, sat up and waited for the tandem to roll by, grabbed a wheel and took the tow back to the front. Shortly after the short cutters were caught on Sudley Road, Ace was pinned against the shoulder by the tandem and several other riders, behind the wheelsucker. Ace asked the wheelsucker to move left – which he did, not realizing that Ace was being pinned deliberately – and Ace jumped hard. A chase led by Nat went after him, but only caught him after the turn onto route 2. The wheelsucker found the tandem’s back wheel and hung on. Later, a tiring wheelsucker was gapped again on the climb out of the flood area on Patuxent Parkway before crossing 214, but the light saved him, and he caught up as the leaders rolled through a fresh green. The setup for the sprint was looking interesting. The wheelsucker took a short wheelsucker pull, rotated off and got to the back of the rotating part of the paceline, just before the start of the last dip. Several of the leaders went over a new pothole, with Rick Paukstitus losing a water bottle, and Ace flatting. With Ace out, Nat went with two guys on his wheel. A chase of Steve Owens, Tom Aga and the wheelsucker were a short distance behind. Nat pulled away for the easy win, with Michel looking strong in second. The wheelsucker put in no effort at all letting first Steve and then Tom tire, and rolled across third.

A few of the riders met for lunch at Chipotle in the Annapolis Mall, after the ride. The wheelsucker was long past being able to hold Z3, and slowly rode to the mall, finding Christine, Amy and Ace in Chipotle, and had a fajito burrito. The tired wheelsucker needed those calories badly!

Wheelsucker data:
Ride time 4:40:26
2899 calories burned (and more than that added between Chipotle and Pussers)
Zone 1 (Recovery) time: 112 minutes
Zone 2 (Endurance) time: 48 minutes
Zone 3 (Tempo) time: 51 minutes
Zone 4 (Threshold) time: 42 minutes
Zone 5 (VO2Max) time: 13 minutes
Zone 6 (Anaerobic) time: 13 minutes

Saturday night was the Latitude/ABRT kickoff party, and a great time was had at Pussers, with the new women’s team and the elite team introduced, a number of team members congratulated on their 2008 season, some key volunteers thanked, 2009 kit handed out and much more. Many stayed for dinner after the party, and some of those ended up at the Doetsch’s place later for more partying and fireworks. Being Doetsch’s neighbor must be rather exciting.

President Doug encouraged everyone to do a 10:00AM Sunday ride. This merged with the Peter Penzell Sunday ride, which turned out to be to Sandy Point and back with some extra loops for high gear/low cadence muscle tension intervals. A large group were in the Annapolis Park & Ride at the designated time, though some number of them appeared to be hung over and short of sleep. The wheelsucker was again trying to do a specific workout – this time it was stay in zone 2 for two hours – and again found himself going OTB on short climbs and then catching back on the flats and descents. As the group started their big gear low cadence intervals, the wheelsucker cut short the ride and headed home for a break and then a recovery/coffee ride with his girlfriend, Leslie. But the sun was out, the temperature was up, and he needed to switch his long sleeve jersey and vest for a short sleeve jersey – it must have been 60 degrees – before heading out with Leslie. They did the Lake Ogleton loop, and then went downtown for coffee. Everywhere they want, they saw cyclists enjoying the day. But the drivers were out in force too, with traffic through downtown Annapolis stopped. Why couldn’t everyone ride their bike?

Wheelsucker data:
Combined ride time: 3:32:39
1685 calories burned
Zone 1 (Recovery) time: 102 minutes
Zone 2 (Endurance) time: 88 minutes
Zone 3 (Tempo) time: 18 minutes
Zone 4 (Threshold) time: 2 minutes
Zone 5 (VO2Max) time: 0 minutes
Zone 6 (Anaerobic) time: 0 minutes
Total calories burned over the weekend: 4584. Weight gain 2 pounds.

Night Out With The Homies

Friday night as I was riding home in the car with my wife, Dana, I get a call from one Lance Lacy at around 4:30pm. He tells me some of us who live with 10 miles of each other were gonna be getting together with spouses and girlfriends for dinner at the Sakura Japanese Steakhouse on Housley Road (near Westfields Mall) in West Annapolis and follow it up with some drinking and fun at Stevie D's house in Millersville. My wife had a long day and didn't want to go, but I was up for it, so long as I got a ride in before. Dana gave me a pass and told me to have lot fun. So after doing a 45 min stint on the rollers, I got dressed, put on the sharp, new Team Latitude polo and headed on over to the restaurant. I got there and everyone except Sue Estes had already arrived. Ali, aka The Wheelsucker, was there sans date too. That's good, so now I wont feel like a total loser being by myself.

L to R: Amanda Wu, Amy Jones, Lance Lacy (partially hidden), Kyle Jones, Sherry Collison (Lance's girlfriend), Ty Wu (mostly hidden) and Ali Meller. Not shown, is me who took the picture.

They seated us pretty quick and took drink orders. I was kind of disappointed at the beer choices so I ordered the old standby, Sam Adams. Mind you they had every Japanese beer and Sake, but I'm not a fan of either.

They seated us a a really large grill horseshoe style. I took and end seat directly facing the Teppanyaki chef so as to get the best opportunity to get my eyebrows singed off. He did warn me...



Amamda, Ty, Sherry and Lance



Kyle, Amy and Ali



Me, and Amanda. Only Sue is missing.



That's Sue on the right.

I ordered the Filet Mignon and Chicken combo with Teppanyaki Shrimp and fried rice appetizers. The chef did all the usual stuff, the egg on the spatula trick and the onion volcano. It was pretty cool to see a Teppanyaki chef work the grill in person versus watching it on The Food Network. The food was excellent. I left nothing on my plate.

After we were done, we all packed into our vehicles and headed to the beer store and then Steve's place. While at the Waterbury there was much discussion about the proper 40 to pick up. I was looking for a 40 of Bass, but ended up with a 24 oz Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Kyle Jones on the other hand went right for the good stuff. We all thought he was getting these for Amy, but he said they were for him. You draw your own conclusions...LOL.



When we all got to Steve's he was out on his back deck blowing off fire crackers and bottle rockets at his neighbors. Seems the party was already going. After tiring of lighting off noisemakers a hasty retreat was made back into Steve's kitchen for some shots of Bourbon. Doetch went all out and picked up a bottle each of Makers Mark and 1792 Ridgemont Reserve. First up was the Ridgemont. I took my shot and slugged it down expecting the burn and gag, but not this time. It was like drinking a shot of ice tea. 1792 is probably the smoothest Bourbon I've ever had. I'm normally a vodka guy, but I will buy this. The Makers Mark was next and it was quite good also, but not nearly as smooth as the Ridgemont. Just to be sure we had another shot of Ridgemont. Did I mention this stuff is really smooth? After this I was ready for a beer so Steve handed me Grolsch to go along with the Sierra Neveda. Needless to say I drank them both and I think there was more Ridgemont too. After awhile things were getting really warm and fuzzy. I also think there was some guitar playing going on too, but I don't think I could call what I was doing guitar playing. It's been 13+ years since I played out with a band, and when I stopped gigging, I pretty much stopped playing for myself too. I've picked it up for longish stints on occasion over the years, but I'm very rusty to say the least and being drunk doesn't help.

All in all we had a great time and around 11 pm we all took off. I live 5 mins away from Steve, so my ride home, while not kosher, was not a big deal.

So now I've learned a few things about my teammates. Outside of racing, they're all great people and lots of fun to hang with. I need to start practicing my guitar on a more regular basis. And lastly I still get hangovers. I didn't do my 3 1/2 hour training ride until 1pm. By then I was able and the weather had cleared up. I did a pretty decent solo ride from the Park & Ride to North Beach and back. Using my TT bike I stayed mostly in zone 1-3 and came in with a nice 18 1/2 mph avg with 2500 feet of elev. gain for 60 miles. Maybe I should drink more often.

One last thing before I forget. There is no such thing as a free lunch when your married. Dana had off work on Sunday and her birthday is tonight. Happy 39 hon!

Even so I spent the whole day with her on Sunday and we went to Stitches 2008. A yarn and knitting expo at the Baltimore Convention Center. I think we actually spent more time at the light rail stops waiting for the damn train then we did at the expo. Still any day I get to spend with my wife is a good day.

Cheers,

FGR

October 12th Team Ride and Party/BBQ

A large number of Latitude/ABRT riders descended on Lynn and Steve Doetschman's home near Millersville at noon today, first for a relaxed team ride, and then a party/BBQ.

Despite concerns that Latitude/ABRT could not have an easy civilized no-drop ride, no matter how hard it tried, we ended up with a good ride with no one dropped. The long lost John Ver Byrke was there, as was new member Larry Dieran. Doetsch had a nice rolling route chosen which took us just over two hours to cover at a good, but not killer pace. Not only was no one dropped, but it was even a "fixie friendly" ride, as Ryan, Tom and Ali all rode their fixies.

Beer is a recovery drink. Who knew?

We were back at Lynn and Doestch's by 2:15, but the party did not really get rolling until about 3:30, as riders returned with spouses and family, and others rolled in.


The correct recovery behaviour after a ride. Sit down and drink your beer! Tom did not ride, so is drinking cola


The people playing volleyball had not done the ride!





Between multiple courses of Red, Hot and Blue, and several beers, President Shapter gave the volunteer of the year award to Dana Mellerio (club secretary), who helped keep ABRT going through some shaky times in late 2007 and early 2008, and recognized Sue Estes for rebuilding Latitude/ABRT's junior program from a standing start of zero riders, to a BAR winning program. Members present did concede that some of the credit might also go to the riders ;-)


While some considered this to be an afternoon party, others hung on for the evening.


I left before things got out of hand, but Monday rumours of late night drunken hair cutting, Jack Daniels shots, more shots, etc. are circulating.

Great company, great food, multiple kegs of beer, wine, and shots of Jack Daniels; a good time was had by all. We should do this more often!