Cat 3 Comics - Issue 2 (part 3)

There is a video embedded in this post that you may not be able to view. Click through to the blog to watch it. Hello Justin Bieber fans.

One of my favorite stories from Cat3 comics. "Junior Gears, Vet Restrictions" follows a junior and an older vet riding and discussing life.

Link to other Cat 3 comic book posts
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 1)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 2)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 3)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 2 (part 1)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 2 (part 2)

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A hard choice

www.almanzo.com

But sometimes you have to make them.

Registration is now open for the Almanzo 100 and 162. Postcard entry as always and the fee is... $0.

It's a great event and I will be doing it again. Just not this year.

This year, I am planning to race the MMBS Afton Avalanche on Sunday (5/20). I know for some riders, it'll just be a weekend of racing on both days (Almanzo is 5/19).

My reason for doing the Afton race over Almanzo, is that there is(will be) a Kids Comp or Shimanos Kids race for the Pork Chop to do. Not sure which one yet. But I think it'll be a good introduction to racing for her. If she enjoys it maybe we'll do some more.

It's also pretty close to home, so travel time isn't to bad.

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Cat 3 Comics - Issue 2 (part 2)

I normally post these on Thursday evenings, but was a little busy then, so I'm doing it today.

This weeks post is for Issue 2's second story called 'Winter Training.' Something a lot of us are doing right now. In fact, I think the timing is perfect for where I live as the temps finally dropped and there's actual snow on the ground. I've been feeling the desire to ride or 'train' go down the tubes this week, and I know if I don't get off my ass soon, I'll be in pretty sorry shape come spring.

Link to other Cat 3 comic book posts
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 1)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 2)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 3)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 2 (part 1)

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Syncros - No Bull Steering (Old school ad)

Everyone is talking about the Scott purchase of Syncros. Some claim it's gonna be a good thing, others think it's bad. I won't claim to know one way or the other. I think it's great that Ritchey kept the brand alive. I've really like the old Syncros products. I don't own any Syncros products right now, but I have a small stack of old magazines. So I pulled out this old Mountain Bike Action and scanned this ad. Enjoy.

Those old bar ends were awesome. The curve made them very comfy to hold. They were expanding internal wedge installation bar ends, so when handle bars started being very thin walled (or krabon), you couldn't use them any more.

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Races to think about - Lutsen 99er

Even though this race is more expensive then I'd like, it may be more realistic that I can do this race over Cheq 100. (Not that they're the same time or whatever, it's just that I can only even think about a limited number of races - much less actually reg and do them) The facilities may be more family/spectator friendly (Lutsen resort and/or Lutsen Lodging), as well as being up north where we haven't visited yet.

Guess I'll have to see.

http://www.lutsen99er.com/

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Cat 3 Comics - Issue 2 (part 1)

Cat 3 comic book issue 2 cover and first story. Issue 2 has a slightly larger page size then all the other issues.

Link to other Cat 3 comic book posts
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 1)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 2)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 3)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 2 (part 2)

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ESI Racers Edge Grips - Initial riding impressions

I installed my new gray Racers Edge grips from ESI last month, and have ridden them at least once a week since.

I'd like to state that I think they are great. A billion times better then the bar tape wrapped over with ODI Attack Wrap Tape. And I thought that was a pretty hot set-up.

The only thing I'd do to improve the ESI Racers Edge is to not make one side thicker then the other. It's done to reduce bulk on the finger side and add extra shock absorption on the palm side. I think it just makes mounting more difficult as it's hard to tell which side is what. I ended up mounting them off and having to re-install them. That's not a big deal, get some rubbing alcohol under the grip and slide it off.

Just be careful when borrowing your wife's knitting needle to jam under the grip. Even though it doesn't seem very sharp, you can very easily jab a hole through your grip. I don't think this would be covered under warranty, and mine is still useable.

I think I'll still buy another set, so I can cut this one down and mount it on the Pork Chop's bike, as her oem grip keeps slipping off the GripShift side.

Back to riding with the grips, they are noticeably more comfortable then what i've run on the bike so far. Even with winter gloves on they don't feel bulky under my hands. They grip very well, even with wet bare hands (we've had an extremely comfortable winter so far).

Now I wish they made a road version as tape (instead of tubes), I'd get a set for my Roadie. Heck, I may see if I can get a single long tube for the Orange Fixed as I run top mounted brake levers on it.

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100 Push Up Challenge - Update

I started this program on November 1st, thinking that by New Years I could do a single set of 100 push ups. Now I've come a pretty far ways in that when I started, I could barely do ten push ups in a set, much less do another set after. Now I can do sets of up to 40(?) and as many reps to get to about 140 total.

Now I've slacked a couple weeks where I may not have done any push ups at all, and other weeks where I've repeated a previous weeks set of workouts because I wasn't where I wanted to be to proceed. In fact, even though I did finish week 6 (easiest mode), I know I will have to repeat it once or twice before I can really consider doing the single set of 100.

Pretty chart of push up progress. 

After my first try at week 3, I started looking for an app, so that I could track my progress on my phone. I wanted a free app, because I'm to cheap to pay a buck for something I could just use a piece of paper for. I found Drop and Give Me Twenty (DGMT!) that not only tracks your push ups, but counts them for you (via a nose touch to the screen), and follows the onehundredpushups program workouts. As a bonus, it has a situp workout program. So the goal with that is to do 200 at the finish of 6 weeks. I was attempting to do them normally (as done in high school gym classes), but I think it stresses my back too much. So I went to doing them as crunches on the exercise ball. The app stills counts your reps for you in this exercise using the gyroscope.

Other things the app does is post your workout to Facebook or Twitter so you can impress your online social peeps. Of course my peeps are more like virtual potatoes, and so they are not impressed by my attempt to become huge. It also makes pretty charts. The one you see isn't mine, because I don't know how to do screenshots with my phone. I have better things to do at 10:14 PM then push ups. But you should still get the idea of what's going on with the app.

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Most viewed posts on this blog

This chart is a screenshot taken from the Blogger interface. I'm sure it's not as accurate Google stats or some others, but I think it gives a good idea of where and how much traffic this blog gets.

Apparently lots of readers are looking at Bob Haro's illustrations.

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Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 1)
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Races to think about - Chequamegon 100

The Chequamegon 100 is 100 miles of mountain biking in the Chequamegon National Forest. That should be pretty tough. It's another grassroots (and free) race, so it's just travel and lodging to pay for.

The dates not yet set, so I'll have to see when it happens in 2012, but I'd like to see if I can make it.

Here's the link: http://www.chequamegon100.com/ (forgot to post it earlier).

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Maybe someday I'll do Trans Iowa...

There is a video embedded in this post that you may not be able to view. Click through to the blog to watch it. Justin Bieber racing a gravel grinder.

This looks like a great look at what Trans Iowa is. 300 miles of gravel. Serious riding. Like I said, maybe someday...

I'm on the Twitters, follow me: @AnelloGrande

Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 3)

This is the 3rd and final post for issue #1 of Cat 3 comics. I will be continuing to post weekly, till I have all 4 issues up.

You can view all posts with the "Cat 3" label by clicking this link: http://anello-grande.blogspot.com/search/label/Cat%203

I sincerely hope these are enjoyable. Like I said the rest will be posted.

Link to other Cat 3 comic book posts
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 1)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 1 (part 2)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 2 (part 1)
Cat 3 Comics - Issue 2 (part 2)

I'm on the Twitters, follow me: @AnelloGrande

This year, last year, just some charts

If you're not into charts and stupid training log data, you may want to skip this post. It'll prolly bore you to death. However, even though I'm not officially "training," I keep a log, use a Garmin and track heart rate, etc. It's just another way for me to stay motivated.

So below are some charts using the Year View plugin for SportTracks (I'm still on version 2.1 because of the upcharge for version 3 and the plugins I use).

Hours spent riding my bike (all tracked rides) per month.

Same as above but presented in a year to date format.

You can see that January and even February was kinda on track to having more hours riding then previous years. The plan was to do more "racing" and group rides this year. So I wanted to have more hours in the saddle before the group rides start up in about March. Unfortunately, in the middle of February I got into a project that took my time away from riding till the middle of May.

So I bailed on my entry to the Almanzo. Which was actually ok with me, as the weather was horrible. Yeah, I know, I'm a wuss. I totally look up to the hard men of the sport. I love reading/watching about races in bad weather conditions. But that doesn't mean I want to ride/race in them myself. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a fair weather cyclist. I don't get paid to ride my bike, and I'm not chasing an cat upgrade. So I don't benefit from riding in weather that I'd rather be at home with the fam.

Hours spent running vs prior years

Running YTD

Mountain biking hours per month

YTD mountain biking hours

Road hours

Road hours YTD

Indoor cycling hours (rollers & trainer)

Indoor cycling YTD

So I didn't include other hour breakdowns which include Gravel, Races, Cyclocross and Family/Trail rides. The time for those, while included in the very top graph, are not really high enough to chart out.

So below you will see a couple charts from the Training Load plugin. It uses heart rate info to calculate a TrImp (Training Impulse) score, and then uses that to calculate CTL (Chronic Training Load), ATL (Acute Training Load) and TSB (Training Stress Balance). All this means is that you get a general idea of how much fitness and stress you are putting on your body.

Current training load over the last 6 months.

CTL over the last 4 years.

You can see that even though this year never really got very high, it has been holding pretty steady, even through fall and winter. Hopefully this year (2012) will see a bit more of a rise into summer as I attempt to get in shape and maybe compete a bit more. We'll see if it can go as hoped.

I'm on the Twitters, follow me: @AnelloGrande