Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 163)

Well on Thanksgiving I was doing my best wimpy effort to be thankful.  Then I found out that a guy I know was mtn biking Thursday afternoon and went off a bridge (probably one of those wooden bridges going over a creek or deep wash) and broke his neck.  He was paralyzed.  He couldn't breath easily so was placed on a respirator and he opted to have the respirator removed because he didn't want to live with his injuries.  He was removed from the respirator some time Friday night I guess and he died yesterday.

So it wakes me up and makes me realize how far I have to go in my gratitude.  I am thankful for the fact that I'm alive and that my body is sound and I get the privilege of testing its limits and feeling pain in my joints.

Jeez Jeff and Tracy, really terrible tragedies. I can't even imagine. My heart goes out  to all involved.

How about some good news? My sister who is pregnant just had an ultrasound and everything looks good. Baby girl is small and has the docs confounded but good news at least!

Jo63 - 2012-11-26 4:11 AM Dina, good to hear from you! Warren and Dirk thanks for the info I will try the recommendation I was gonna hop right into a winter maintenance program but I will hold off and eases into it. Although I am still trying to get into Kona next year for my 50 birthday...i am almost finished with my video for the Become One contest Today is my husband and my 29th anniversary, it is hard to believe it seems like time has just flown by. When I think about that it reminds me to slow down and enjoy today. Iam hoping to get out of work early so I can get my short run in and then we are going out for dinner to celebrate! Happy Monday!

Happy Anniversary!

This is something to really cherish.  Wow!

Great news, and I pray they have a healthy baby.

Jeff and Tracy - tragic stories.  My heart and prayers go out to the families and friends.  Tracy, there's been enough tragic events around you these past few months for a lifetime (or two).  You seem to be holding together but take care of yourself.

No doubt that we have so much to be thankful for.  It's hard to put it into perspective sometimes while we’re worrying about how to up the FTP for a 40k time trial, but there’s so much suffering all over.  We can’t dwell on it all the time lest we become useless, but we can appreciate all we have. 

Just in case anyone here doesn't know this....there is a simple fact of the ocean that every 20 or 30 waves (can't remember, but every couple of minutes) there will be 1 wave about 50% bigger than all the others...it's part of the ocean's rhythm.

If you are watching big surf and enjoying the crashing waves hitting the rocks...it's not safe to move up close to them. 

This seems so tragic.  I have often thought of how I might feel in a similar circumstance and there is no way to tell.  This really makes me melancholy because I would feel so useless to anyone and everyone around me and that is what most of us deplore.  Yet I don't think I could come to terms with allowing my conscious mind to pull the plug because I would already be able to see the hurt of those around me.

It also drives me to remember the things in my life that make it worth living and dreaming.  We have a tradition at our Thanksgiving meal that begins with one of us providing a particular thing that we are thankful for.  We go round and round the table until everyone is done eating.  Sometimes these meaningful things can become emotional for all of us and other times they can be quite humorous.  Usually, in the end, it turns into a joke-fest and we just laugh about some of the silliest things and we retire to the TV for some football.  But it does help us focus on some the things that really matter in our lives.

Another tragedy for another family to have to deal with leading into the "most wonderful time of the year."  This is another fear that I would have.  I would not want one of my kids anywhere near a situation like that because the thoughts would go to "what I could have done" to try to rescue me.  They need to worry about their lives not put themselves into a situation that would place their life in jeopardy.

My thought and prayers go out to all of the family members and friends involved.

It wasn't too long ago that I struggled while swimming.  Today, I jumped into the pool while the munchkin was doing his swimming lesson and busted out 2 X 500 (no warm up) without any trouble.  Honestly, it felt like a warm up even though I'm fighting off a cold with some nasty head congestion.  I was ready to get busy with a real workout!  I'm pretty darn pleased!

The moral to my story:  get some in-person swimming lessons from a reputable coach.  It's worth the money.

Thanks Warren.  I've been crying a lot today.  Sucks.  I've been thinking about all of the people in my life that have died or been horribly injured this year.  It started in February before I joined you guys.  At one of our running club races, a runner just sat down and died just before the race started.  My friend did CPR on him.  She knew he was gone, though.  He had a massive heart attack.  I was still at the truck getting the munchkin squared away with daddy.  I just can't believe all this crap!

Yes, we need to appreciate everything.  Every little tiny thing.

Jo I have trouble sleeping frequently. Sometimes I take melatonin and that really helps me sleep.

Do you all have a trainer tire? I am working on my Christmas list, thought that might be a useful gift for me. Any suggestions of what to look for, where to buy, what I would need would be appreciated!

Tracy that has to feel good to make so much progress in the pool! Congratulations!

Tracy I agree with you on the swimming coach. I think having one would be money very well spent however I don't think I can fit that into the budget right now but I am seriously thinking about it.

Dina I am thinking the same thing as well. I was thinking about getting a inexpensive wheel and buying another cassette and just getting a trainer tire just to make it very simple to switch out. Anybody using one and is there a benefit to having it as oppossed to just riding on the trainer with your current tire/wheel/cassette?

Bike experts... I'm thinking about getting a new road bike, it will still be a cheap one, aluminum, I can't afford carbon but I want at least 105's, right now mine is Tiagra. 

Is it worth the difference to go from Tiagra to 105 or Ultegra?

In a prior post it was stated about teeth or something on the chain, what do I look for and what do I need to go as fast as possible?

I don't want to spend $2,000 on wheels either.

Any other advice?

I don't ride my trainer often enough to warrant a special tire.  But I do ride on my cheap training wheels.  If you ride the trainer on a regular basis throughout the winter, your tire will be quickly worn out.  The reason for having a trainer tire is so that you don't have to replace a $60 tire once or twice during the winter months.  Just go to a place like Nashbar and buy a $20 tire for your rear wheel.

If you put the bike on the trainer and leave it there all winter...then just change your tire.  Then in the Spring, change it back to the better one when you switch to outside riding.

but if you are constantly back and forth it's certainly more convenient to have a wheel devoted to the purpose.  If so, just get a cheap used wheel from ebay with any cheap cassette.  The cheaper the better!

I can't speak from personal experience about the Tiagra parts, but can say that the concensus is that worthy components begin with 105.  From 105 and up, it's debatable whether the benefits live up to the cost increase.

So I would say that it's worth it to get 105 rather than Tiagra.

The discussion of 'teeth' was related to the front and rear cogs.  Since you live in Tallahassee, you probably don't need a compact crankset (smaller chain rings)--but if that is what is available to you there's no reason not to get it either.  So that means don't worry about the front chainrings.

For the rear, most bikes you buy will already be equipped with a cassette in the range that you probably want.  I'd look for a cassette that ranges from either 11 or 12 on the small end to 27 on the top end.

You can seek out fast wheels at some time in the future.  The basic wheels that will come with a new bike will be pretty good.

Jeff thanks and I am really considering doing that. I was thinking of just getting the trainer tire with a very inexpensive wheel. I was debating the cassette though. I could get a cheap one or I could invest in something that I could consider using outside as well. In either case a dedicated tire, wheel and cassette would be a great way to go for the trainer.

Today was one of those days where I was planning to swim and I really, really, really did not feel like doing it but forced myself to go to the pool anyway and it turned out to be a great session. I kept it short about 35 minutes and I only did a 1000m but I think I swam very well today. Trust me that does not happen very often. I was very relaxed and it just seemed easy and effortless the way I imagine it is supposed to be. Maybe I am actually making some progress. I know it wasn't perfect but it was a very encouraging session today and I am glad I didn't skip it.

It seems like this happens more often then not. I find when I really don't feel like working out 99% of the time I wind up having a really good session very rarely do I feel like I shouldn't have worked out. Why is that?

I also got to test out my new swim watch. I picked up a swimovate poolmate watch on sale and it works pretty well. It kept an accurate count of my laps, distance, time and stroke count. I am always losing count so is nice to have and no buttons to hit it counts automatically. Since the Garmin 910XT is not in my future any time soon this was the next best thing.

Yay for a great swim workout!  I'm the same way about my workouts.  When I don't want to do it, it ends up being a spectacular workout.  Good to hear the swimovate worked.  I've had my eye on it.  Keep letting us know how it's working out.

One thing to add to this discussion.

Using an old tire can also create a lot of burned rubber flecks all around your room if you don't get the tension adjusted properly of the trainer.  My entire first winter on the trainer resulted in Lis yelling at me about "all this black stuff everywhere."  It took me a little bit of time to get the adjustment down to where I wasn't throwing it off in any form.  Now I can make a cheap road tire last an entire winter training season.

Since I have bought 2 bikes in the past 3 years I have used the factory tires (Vittoria Zaffiro - junk) as long as possible.  Once I have burned one of those up I'll buy a new one for the road once the weather breaks and I'm back on the road.  Once I run out of junk tires I will buy a trainer tire but I don't expect to need one for about 2 more years.

I have no practical experience with this either but I have heard that a trainer tire can be much more quiet.  This would be another benefit if you do WO's in the same room as your family (like I have to do) and the TV won't have to be booming all the time.

As far as what to look for in an indoor trainer tire there are some reasonably priced models online in any variety of sites.  Anywhere from $30 -$60 but I would opt for the cheaper models.  You really can put thousands of miles on them according to those that I know that use them.  They are quieter, smoother and sustain less vibration throughout the rest of the bike.

One of these day's I'll plan on buying an extra wheel that's cheap too.  Right now I'll allow the budget committee to catch up on her desire to walk/jog her races and then maybe I'll ask for a couple of more bucks for another rear.

I had one of these WO's on the bike last night.  I was trying to rationalize every excuse in the book but decided I needed to get on and ride.  I had one of the most successful intense rides of the winter session so far.  It hurt!  But it was worth the pain once I was done.  I seem to be having quite a lot of these days recently.  I think it is because I miss running so much and I love the variety of doing all three disciplines.