Nick Brown

I wrote my last post so I could write this one.

It was about 7AM this last Wednesday. I had just gotten off the ferry on my morning commute. I was extra rushed for one reason or the other, so I had strategically positioned myself to be the first off the ferry. I made my way up the dock, flashed my ID at the gate guard, waited for traffic to stop at the crosswalk, mounted my bike and took off.

After getting clipped in and cranking out of the saddle for a few rotations, I crossed the same railway tracks that I have probably ridden over hundreds of times by now. Today was different.

My front tire decided to wedge itself in the track instead of carrying over the rail. Before I knew what had happened, I experienced a moment of extreme clarity.

Time stopped. I said to myself: “Self, where did our bicycle go? Why are we not touching the ground?”.

When time resumed, I found myself in a short skid over the concrete, my trusty bike sliding over the ground behind me.

Before anybody gets concerned, this accident was fairly tame. It was no Luke-Walton-Suicide-Kidney- Peleton-Pile-Crash. What really hurts, is the fact that I ate it in front of a ferry full of my fellow bicycle commuters.

I jumped up, and immediately went about caring for my bike. I did this less out of concern for my bike, and more out of my concern for my reputation with the roadies, fixed gear counter culture types and other cyclists behind me. I couldn’t allow them to see me in this weak and vulnerable state!

After re-seating my chain and straightening my seat post I was off again, trying to distance myself from the onlookers. Once around a few corners and on my own, I took stock of my health and well being. I was pretty lucky. I never hit my head and my helmet was unscathed. My hip and my palm seemed to take most of the impact. I have cuts on my palm and some scrapes down my hip and legs. No bruises. No broken bones. I just barely tore my bike shorts. My bike more or less survived, but the saddle has a scar now and the bar tape has some blood stains. (Sweet!) I ‘m thankful to have slid across smooth concrete instead of asphalt.

Everybody has told me that eventually, I will crash. I hope it’s out of my system for a while now.

I am very proud of the fact that I am a bicycle commuter. There is no better way to get to work. Its fun, somewhat unique, and it allows me to sneak in a few more hours of low intensity training every week. I’ve only been cycling seriously for about 10 months now, and I attribute much of the growth of my cycling fitness to these early morning and early evening jaunts to work or back home again.

This lifestyle does require some extra logistics. Here is how I do it:

Every week, I shoot for three cycle commutes, typically on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesday and Thursdays I load up my small truck with work clothing, uniforms, food and any other supplies needed for the rest of the week. Tuesday and Thursday also become my errand days since I have a little bit more range with my choice of vehicle. San Diego drivers are scary enough when its dark and dry, so on rainy days I succumb to the comfort and safety of my trusty pick-up. I have about a 13 mile commute that takes around 45 minutes of cycling, depending on how I time the traffic lights. I live in Pacific Beach (A beach “suburb” of San Diego) and work on Coronado (a semi-island on the other side of the city). My route to work includes a free trip on a commuter ferry from downtown SD to the Naval Air Station on the Island. Some mornings I stop by Starbucks downtown to grab a treat for the ferry ride. I make every effort to take as little as possible with me, as I hate commuter bags and backpacks. Usually there is a newspaper or magazine stuffed in my jersey pockets for the ferry trip. The total trip, with down time on the ferry, takes about an hour and fifteen minutes. Remember, it’s not just commuting time, its also training!

The mornings I ride to work seem to be easiest to wake up. I think this is because, semi-concisely, I know that I’m up to go “play” instead of going directly to the jail cell (do not pass go, do not collect $200) that I call work. At about lunch time, I start to get excited about my trip home. Before I know it, I’m bolting out the door, executing a flying mount onto my trusty steed and mixing it up with the suckers waiting in traffic to get past the gate guard on base. The day just goes by faster when it’s sandwiched with rides.

My co-workers seem to be impressed (or at least intrigued) by my unique choice of transportation. They’re always asking questions about the bike, or looking for a reason to talk about their cycle-experiences. (”This weekend, on the beach cruiser, my sandal slipped off the pedal and I accidentally ended up on the street of all places!”) Anytime I have a piece of new gear, somebody seems to notice. They even comment when my maintenance has been lax and the bike isn’t its normal shiny self. The tight fitting clothing comments went away after the first few weeks. Now everybody seems to accept that on any given morning “LT in tights and funny shoes” sightings are possible.

I am lucky to have a job that supports this alternative form of travel. There are several workplace requirements that must be met for anybody to be so fortunate:

1. Showers in or near your office building or place of work.
2. Flexible work schedule. (The “F” word happens to the best of us)
3. Safe roads or paths
4. The workplace must be within a reasonable distance of the home.

I encourage any leader, manager or executive to make every effort to afford your workers the first two requirements. I have a bit of experience in the facilities field, and converting a bathroom into a shower room is not as hard as one might think (especially if you’re not bound by government contracting red-tape!). Showers and schedule flexibility not only allow bicycle commuting, but also encourage workers to partake in other forms of exercise during lunch breaks or immediately before or after work. This in turn should increase moral and subsequently worker productivity.

The second two requirements are on you and your choice of a home and place of work. I know when I was looking for a place to rent a few months back, proximity to the workplace was one of my biggest decision factors.

Some other random benefits:

• I love feeling like I’m sticking it to the oil companies. High grocery bills are way better than high gas bills. Go ahead gas prices….rise all you want. I don’t need you. Brag all day long you yuppie-tree-hugger-types. I don’t care how many miles per gallon your hybrid gets. My bike gets just over 16 miles/KCal, beat that!
• Plus, I’m saving the whales, fixing the ozone layer, minimizing smog and decreasing traffic. Bring on the good Karma!
• I also love to eat. More time on the bike = more eating.

Now for the “concerns” with commuting:

• I do have to be careful to minimize the impact of my commutes to my more legitimate training sessions. I do my best to keep my heart rate strictly aerobic on my way to work and back home.
• Runs after work tend to take me a while to get warmed up, since technically they’re all brick sessions.
• There have been a few cases where I leave work fired up for one reason or another (usually out of pent up frustration), and I end up crushing my trip home. In addition to jeopardizing my training plan, this just isn’t safe. When I’m excited I tend to try to race traffic, or at least draft cars. Not the smartest and safest way to get home in the gridlock of San Diego. Especially when it’s dark outside. I know, I know……I’m working on it. But sometimes, on windy afternoons, a free ride in a vehicle draft is just to tempting to pass up.

I think thats all I have to say. Biking to work has been a pretty positive addition to my lifestyle, one that I will always try to maintain. My advice to anybody: Ditch your motor coach and pedal your ass to work!

Because it kicks ass to catch familiar faces and voices cheering me on from the sidelines.

Because the simple act of watching a race will motivate me for the days to come.

But mostly, because I had nothing better to do at 0640 on a Sunday morning.

I give you…..Pictures:

Sorry, some are out of focus. I’m still working on my mad camera skills.

If anybody wants a high-res version of any of these, send me an email (ncb118@lycos.com) or leave me a comment.

I love to go fast. Fiesta Island is a great place to do it.

A few weeks ago Felipe suggested that a bunch of us Breakaway cats register for this time trial. I love racing around Fiesta, so for me it was a no-brainer. Plus I figured getting schooled by a bunch of Cat I/II cyclists would build character too. I was joined by Matt, Dave Platfoot, Chris, Felipe and Bethany. Daniel of Elfin Forest fame was floating around as well.

People started to arrive on the Island about an hour before the first cyclist took off. Walking around was a bit intimidating. Fast and shiny bikes everywhere! I ran into Chris first and together we found the B-way van and joined the rest of the group warming up on trainers.

I was all dorked out with my best race gear. Zip 606 setup, all the spandex I could ever want, aero-helmet. I even took the water cages and spare tire off my bike frame. The race was only a 20K, and I figured I could last 30 minutes without drinking. The improbable flat would end my morning. I was attempting my best spandex/carbon torpedo impression.

This was my first “bicycle only” race as well as my first time trial. I was surprised by the lack of timing chips, but I quickly saw how it wasn’t necessary. Cyclists left a starting position 30 seconds apart. Somebody would hold the back of your bike seat while you clipped into your pedals and waited for a second volunteer to count down…3…2…1…and you were off! Once cyclists crossed a finish line, their times were computed by simply taking to overall race time and subtracting their start time. Of course the race was not draft legal (though I did see some shady stuff on the course!). Other then that, there really were not any rules. You just had to stay on the course and go fast!

I got to witness Felipe’s morning fall apart. He was slated to leave about 2 minutes before me, but the knucklehead arrived early, left to warm up a bit more and ended up missing his starting time by about a minute! The race organizers had no mercy and, though he still got to ride, he had to take the hit on his overall time. Poor Felipe. Pay attention next time buddy.

A few moments later it was my turn.

My Planned Strategy for the 3 Loop Race:

Loop 1: Heart Rate - 170

Loop 2: Heart Rate - 175

Loop 3: Empty the Tank!

Thanks to Felipe, I had some experience here since I had done 20K as fast as possible a few weeks prior. With my normal wheels, water bottles, and normal helmet I had pulled a 30:30. My HR for the first lap was 165 and for the last two was about 177. I finished feeling exhausted. This time I wanted to go a bit harder and see what happened. I’m just coming out of a recovery week, but I still feel Wildflower deep in my legs.

I had managed to stay cool and not get nervous right up to 3…2…1…but as soon as I started cranking out of the saddle adrenalin kicked in big time. It didn’t help that loyal training sled dog Chris was leaving 30 seconds behind me and would be hunting me during my time on the island.   This burst of energy made quick work of my plan. About 2 minutes into the effort I decided to continue with reckless abandon and see how long I could hang on.

What Actually Happened:

Loop 1: Heart Rate - 177

Loop 2: Heart Rate - 185

Loop 3: Heart Rate - 186

(By the way, the Garmin worked great!)

As I mentioned in my Garmin post, there is a ton of information here. If you double click on the picture and get out your reading glasses you can pick out everything. Max Heart Rate (188 bpm), Max Speed (28.2 mph), Calories Burned, Time, etc. Allow me to get my indulge…

Red Line - Heart Rate

Blue Line - Speed

Yellow Line - Cadence

The fact that the blue line and the red line stay relatively parallel shows that I’m conditioned to put out like I did over the duration of the race. If I would have crashed, the blue line and red line would have separated. I’m also thrilled to see that my cadence was rock solid at about 96 RPM (today was the first day I’ve ever rode with a cadence sensor). You can see at about 27 minutes my cadence dropped and my speed increased. I had dropped into the most difficult gear I could handle to gut it out and spend myself as I raced towards the finish. My heart rate stayed steady though…..Can I go faster at a lower cadence without increasing my heart rate? Its an interesting thought. However, I think my heart rate didn’t climb because I was pretty close to my max heart rate anyways. I remember that last bit of the race being pretty painful, and I don’t think I could hang on to that pace for more then a few moments.

Assuming somebody is still reading after I let out my inner-nerd, I will continue….

I finished in 28:28 - 26.2 MPH. I think the two minute drop in time is evidence of two things:

1. All my expensive gear actually works.

2. I have a higher anabolic (and pain!) threshold then I had previously thought.

I think my “reckless abandon” actually worked to my advantage. It’s nice to know that I can handle an all out “balls to the wall” (that’s a “tito” throwback for any old friends out there) effort for 30 minutes.

I placed 1st of 4 in the 18-29 age group. I ended up beating a fair number of Cat IV, V cyclists and even one Cat I, II, III guy. This was also my first race to not be “chicked”. Don’t worry though, there is still humility to be gained for me here. I was schooled by two 53 year old guys and two 54 year old guys. A sixty five year old was 1 second behind me and a 17 year old was two seconds behind me!

Dad…being old doesn’t matter. Buy a bike. Get outside. Old dudes can bring the pain.

It was an honest morning. The 1st place medal and free socks are nice too!

Check it all out here.

Prepare yourselves….I am now even more equipped to get my dork on.

This is my new toy. It’s Gamin’s newest GPS/Running Computer/Heart Rate monitor/Coffee Maker. I think it can even do my taxes, but I haven’t made it to that part of the user manual yet. I now have all the information I can possibly digest while I’m working out. Pace, Speed, Average Heart Rate, Lap Speed, Elevation, Grade, Cadence….the list goes on. But the coolest part is after the workout. Not only does it log my overall and weekly distances and times, but I can graph everything this little beast records. I can map the course I ran or cycled and even import it into Google Earth!

Track Workout Data

My 6 Mile Bay Loop

Did my heart rate decouple from my effort? How steep was that climb? How fast did I fly down the backside of the hill? Was it truly a Zone 3 track workout? (NEVER!) I’m in number heaven!

Check this out…

So these are hard to read, but if you look close:

I beat Kelly O’Donnel by about three minutes in the San Digueto Half Marathon.

Kelly O’Donnel beat me by about three minutes in the Superfrog Triathlon.

Kelly O’Donnel beat me by one second at Wildflower.

I have an arch rival!

What a kick ass weekend. I will do this race every year possible for the rest of my life.

Thursday:

Marty Taylor and I sneak out of work at about noon to start the 6 hour trek north. After making some last minute purchases (Because believe it or not, I have my own share of blond moments. I had lost my helmet and bike shoes on Fiesta Island a few days earlier) and picking up a 3rd Navy dude with a Tri problem (Pat), we were off. Somehow we managed to fit bikes, tents, clothing, race gear, food, and a queen size mattress in the back of Marty’s (not Marties) truck.

We showed up just before dark, set up camp with some of Marty’s friends from Team in Training (and a few other Breakaway teamates) and crashed for the night.

Friday:

Let me stop here to say that my tent was HUGE. I was sharing it with Pat and in a tent that could shelter the homeless population of San Diego. Of course, being two dudes, we slept as far away from each other as possible. I woke up to some pretty gnarly snoring comming from Pat, stretched out and started a day of nervous preparation for my race. It went by so fast. After cooking breakfast, driving the bike course, registering, loosening up the legs on the bike, getting my race gear together and checking out the expo the sun was already starting to set. All day the sea of tents grew around the transition area. It was so cool to be hanging out in the middle of nowhere with so many fit people. Some combination of travel, camping and nerves must have taken its toll on me because I slept like a baby Friday night.

Jay Chilling at Camp

Saturday:

Race Day! I woke up early and found that I had nothing to do because all of my gear and nutrition was ready to go the night before. I downed some oatmeal and relaxed as the crew around me started to wake. It was about a mile trek down hill to the expo and the gi-normous transition area. In a theme that carried on all weekend, the race staff was extremely organized, making it easy to find my spot in the transition area. I set up my stuff, made a nervous trip to a port-a-potty and zoned out for a few quiet moments. Just me, my I-pod and the Black Keys (they rock!).

When the time came I crawled into my wet suit and made my way down to the swim start. I’m always affected by pre-race energy, and it was available in abundance here. I was so amped up. I’m a big fan of the National Anthem being played before races, and whoever sang for Wildflower did an awesome job . I watched the pro men and women start and then it was my turn.

The Swim

This swim was way more aggressive then my other two races. I was surprised to find that it never really mellowed out and I was fighting for space for most of the race. After about 500m I could tell that I was in a large group hanging on about 10m behind two or three that had broken away. I settled into a comfortable rhythm and cruised with that pack through the whole swim. My swim split was 26:59 which I am very happy about. I liked the sleeveless wet suit I had just purchased and felt much less restricted and much more in control then in my previous suit. I think I’m going to try to race sleeveless as much as possible (water temp. permitting) from now on. Climbing out of the water I was greeted by a TON of onlookers since most of the days waves had still not started. SDRI Paul caught my eye as I ran past and told me that I was indeed in a lead pack chasing down two people a few minutes ahead. I was so stoked!

Can you find me?

(middle left)

I felt blurry at this point too

The Bike

T1 went smooth and before I knew it I was climbing away from the expo area. The course had a considerable amount of climbing with some rolling hills and a few fast flat spots. I was pretty well prepared for the climbing, even for the dreaded “nasty grade”. I’d say the course was challenging, but expected. I wasn’t to surprised on the bike.

One of the advantages of leaving in the first age-grouper wave is that you end up cycling with all the pro females! I think I fell in love about 10 times during the race.

As much as I try to always race my own race, I ended up mixing it up with two cyclists in particular. I probably pushed a little bit two hard thanks to these two unknown knuckleheads, which made the run painful. My nutrition plan went well, I took in about two bottles of about 400 calories each and two gu’s.

The Run

All those fast female pros I got to mix it up with on the bike….yea they passed me when I started running. Humbling.

The first half of my run was painful! Especially the climb at mile four. I thought the climbing on the run was much more painful then the climbing on the bike. I started cramping up and had to walk steep portions of the course. However, things started to change for me at about the halfway point. As soon as I started to see onlookers I some how found my stride and was able to put together a decent effort. I finished strong and with an empty gas tank in 4:56.

T-Rex style!

Overall, I was about ten minutes slower then I had hoped but I drastically misjudged the difficulty of the course. I finished in about the top 9% of my age group (and also overall) which is an improvement, so I can’t complain.

So yes, the race was hard. But now I had about 24 hours to hang out with friends and watch another race. Saturday night was great and Sunday I had a good time with Jay watching Paul and friends race the Olympic course. Overall, the atmosphere of the weekend made the trip well worth it.

Other Pictures

(Thanks to Jay for taking Pictures while I was racing!)