Authors
Kim is a CPA, crafter, and triathlete, currently training for no race in particular. Steve is a software engineer, photographer, and cyclist on the Platinum Performance Cycling Team. We live in paradise a.k.a. Santa Barbara. Read More
Categories
Accidents | Accounting | Art | Cars | Cycling | Data | Entertainment | Family | Food | Gadgets | Gear | Health | Honeymoon | Miscellanea | Photography | Pictures | Camera Phone | Week in Pictures | Poetry | Politics | Programming | Race Report | Racing | Reviews | Ride Report | Running | School | Site | Training | Travel | Triathlon | Vacation | Video | Wedding | Work
Blogosphere
Marco off the Mark. A guy who likes to hang out with family and friends, pedal his bike, dig in the dirt, and live life healthily and happily.
The Young and Restless. 22 year old kid who loves to ride his bike.
Happenings in SoCal. Ass-kicker extraordinaire...
Through Z's Eyes. Bikes, rants, ideas, and more!!
Of Dogs and Bike Racing. Aka. Dr. Kim. Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UC Santa Barbara.
On The B Team. The Chicken Ranch aka B Team's site for local cycling information and trash talk.
Lint Trap. Nothing to see here, move along now.
A New Hope. Sean
Pedal More. Overweight Underpowered Nor-Cal Pack Fodder.
George's Epic Adventures. Ultra Cyclist and father who recently completed 2- Person Race Across America (RAAM) and Furnace Creek 508 Fixed Gear.
Suffer-O-Rama. Eric’s blog about cycling and bike racing
Riders Ready. Jamie Smith's blog devoted to roadies, road cycling, and his book, Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer. Go buy it NOW at VeloPress.com!
Think Fast. Quarq
Old Guy Racer. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll write bad cheques.
Wheels Rolling. Brandy
Sprinter della Casa. Carpe Diem Racing
Ryanf. It comes down to doing the above, or being a chump. your choice
Cat3 Phenom. "I'm kinda a big deal"
My Shaved Legs. The fine art of failure. Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies.
To Be Honest With You. Thirty something and searching for my next obsession.
The Brenda Report. The journeys and thoughts of an adventurous woman
The Tour de Chris. This blog is all about Chris. Fueled by espresso and metal.
The Incidental Cyclist. Cycling in and around Union County, NC
Everest Challenge x2. My wife and I have committed to enter the [Everest Challenge] Tandem division this year. This blog will chronicle our preperation, and ultimately our race experience.
Cycling in Seattle. The ride is the destination
As the Crank Turns. I attmept to ride bicycles...often
Cycling
Platinum. The Platinum Performance Cycling Team is a Santa Barbara based team with a diverse group of talented riders.
Echelon. Echelon Santa Barbara is a road bicycling club based in Santa Barbara, California. Echelon welcomes dedicated new riders and experienced racers, men and women, old or young, and all those who want to expand their cycling horizons. With a history our History in Santa Barbara bike racing since 1984, we are a USCF registered club.
Bikeforums Road Cycling. Road cycling internet message board. Discuss equipment, rides, races, and all cycling-related discussions.
SCNCA. Southern California Nevada Cycling Association
NCNCA. Northern California Nevada Cycling Association
BiciCORSA. An online group for cyclists of all levels--from recreational riders to weekend warriors to aspiring and professional racers.
Yehuda Moon. Yehuda Moon works at the Kickstand Cyclery, lives on his bicycle, and dreams of a day when everyone does likewise.
Everest Challenge. The hardest two-day USCF race. With the spirit of the "Death Rides" and the dramatic scenery of the Eastern Sierra, this bicycle race and ride will test your perseverance going uphill. We have three climbs each day with gains of 2,600 feet to 6,200 feet.
Local
The Restaurant Guy. John Dickson's Food News
Santa Barbara Independent. Delivers fresh news, arts, and entertainment news and information online all day, every day. The weekly newspaper is published every Thursday morning, with Santa Barbara county's largest circulation of 40,000.
Edhat. One subscriber suggested that the name came from "Every Day Happenings Around Town".
Vita Bella Photography. Local journalistic-style wedding photography
Miscellanea
Adam Szary. Freelance illustrator who is strongly interested in fantasy and comic art.
Virtual Dub. Proof that Avery had too much free time in college...
Liō. Daily comic strip created by Mark Tatulli that focuses on the adventures of a strange little boy named Liō. Most of the story is told visually, with little or no dialogue.
whilshire|one. this site covers topics including web standards-based development, web application development, Textpattern and other miscellany
Recent Comments
Steve, no, not going to Cantua nor Pine Flat. Got a training camp. Have a great time if you go! Quarq is replacing my meter. It …
Sarah Donohue (Mothballs Women Cat 4 Pictures)
Hello! Dorothy Wong sent out this link to those of us that rode in the race. Wondering if it is possible to get …
Steve (Mothballs More Pictures)
John Goodman has some good ones on his site poor kids mothballs
Term Papers (Incognito Explained)
The particular client that got it too had this really unique thing that she collected corks and she said that she actually made these little …
Kevin (Mothballs More Pictures)
Do you know of any other sites that might have taken pictures of the crit or road race?
I had a few cadence spikes the other day. I had like 1 or 2 samples in a 4 hour ride where the cadence and …
Zero’s bouncing around like crazy and cadence spikes. Also found that the radio is pretty darn weak. I put some loctite on the chainring bolts; …
Mike, it was a problem with a solder joint. They had a bad run but the problem has been fixed as far as I know. …
what’s the problem with the quarq? mine’s been flaky, too
The bakery worker asked if I was waiting for the cake. I said “yes, but…” The other shopper was disappointed.
Feb 7, 05:47 PM by Steve | Training 2/1-2/7
Posted in Cycling & Training
The theme of this week is threshold, threshold, and more threshold. Two good threshold workouts during the week, and several threshold and over-threshold efforts over the weekend. Sunday I got my leash let out a bit and had a chance to play at Worlds again. But a week of hard training took it’s toll and I blew up on Goob, the first time I’ve been dropped on it in a long time.
This was my most intense week that I can remember. My ATL is 142 right now on a CTL of 130. My TSS this week was second only (barely) in the last several months to a week where I had two additional hours.
Total: 14.75 hrs, 264 miles, 914 TSS, 9,223kJ
Mon: 1 hr easy spin
Goleta/University Loop
Tue: 2 hrs easy
Refugio and back
Wed: 2.5 hrs w/4×8 threshold intervals [see power graph]
Went out to OSM for threshold climbing repeats, after warming up on Cathedral Oaks and Glen Annie. Ended up 10W over target on first interval, but felt good so I tried to the same effort for each subsequent time, and ended up increasing 5W each time. Each effort felt the same as the last and I did not feel wasted at the end… I made it halfway in the 8 minutes and felt like I could have kept that pace the rest of the way up. 291W, 295W, 300W, 305W. Average 32 minutes @ 298W (4.5W/kg).
Thu: 2.5 hrs w/3×12 threshold intervals...
§
Feb 3, 12:02 AM by Kimberly | Mothballs More Pictures
Posted in Cycling & Pictures | Comments [2]
§
Feb 2, 11:53 PM by Steve | Mothballs Masters 35+ Pictures
Posted in Cycling & Pictures
§
Feb 2, 11:50 PM by Steve | Mothballs Women Cat 4 Pictures
Posted in Cycling & Pictures | Comments [1]
§
Feb 2, 11:43 PM by Steve | Mothballs Masters 30+ 3/4 Pictures
Posted in Cycling & Pictures
§
Feb 2, 11:37 PM by Kimberly | Mothballs Cat 3 Pictures
Posted in Cycling & Pictures
§
Jan 31, 10:16 PM by Steve | Training 1/25-1/31
Posted in Cycling & Training
The theme of this week was work getting in the way. Makes me realize how lucky I am to generally have a flexible schedule that allows me to take long rides in the morning. Throw in some meetings, places to be at certain times, cusomters to meet and parties/functions to go to, and it can be hard to squeeze in a 3 hour ride!
Also with the races this weekend there was a slight easing off of intensity during the week. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it tapering since I don’t really care about these races and am just training through them… but no VO2s, more long endurance and a pinch of tempo. Towards the end of the week I did some 10 second sprints and a little bit of time near threshold. Not enough to make me tired, but enough to get everything opened up.
The races themselves went well, much better than I expected. I don’t really feel that my fitness is where it was at this time last year, so I am pleasantly surprised.
Note for the power geeks: the power graphs from this week’s races are displayed with smoothing at 1 minute, rather than the 5 or 10 seconds I usually use. They are pretty much impossible to see what’s going on otherwise as power is so variable during the race, unlike intervals during training.
Total: 13 hrs, 275 miles, 725 TSS, 8,157kJ
Mon: 1 hr easy recovery
Goleta/University Loop to home. Drove into work due to...
§
Jan 24, 03:20 PM by Steve | Training 1/18-1/24
Posted in Cycling & Training | Comments [5]
This week has been a break from the routine of the past few weeks, welcome or not. The theme of the week has been wet. As predicted, several storms have hit us pretty hard bringing more water than we can handle in such a short time frame, heavy winds, and a tornado (!). As such, and compounded by a problem with my power meter on my Tarmac, I’ve been riding the Tricross. It gets the job done but it’s a little akward on the road and I don’t think I can put out as much power or be as comfortable in the position it puts me in.
I spent my two VO2 max interval days, or 4 hours, on the trainer but otherwise spent the rest of the time on the road. I hate riding on the trainer and would rather (and did) ride in the rain, but I don’t think I could manage to do intervals in the rain so I suffered through it as necessary.
Overall the VO2 intervals seem to be working, I dispatched several 4-5 minute VO2-level efforts during the Simi ride, and one impressive near-VO2 13 minute effort up Box Canyon after the ride. Things are shaping up nicely for a strong season, and to some extent I have to hold back so I don’t build too quickly and burn out. That’s what I have a coach for :)
Next week is reduced hours, extra recovery, some tempo spinning and a few mini sprints leading up to the...
§
Jan 17, 04:11 PM by Steve | Training 1/11-1/17
Posted in Cycling & Training
More VO2 this week, and improving. Power both days improved over last week and getting more comfortable with doing them, although I wouldn’t say they are any “easier” because “it doesn’t get easier, you just go faster.”
I’ve sqeezed in some extra riding at the end of this week because next week’s forecast is rain, rain, and more rain. I know, I need to HTFU and quit complaining, it’s still great weather for the most part and at least it won’t be cold and snowing like much of the country. Nevertheless, it’s still going to be difficult for me to do intervals in the rain and I’m coming down with a bit of a cold, so I suspect I will be getting very friendly with my trainer.
Total: 16.75 hrs, 302 miles, ~950 TSS, ~9,700kJ
Mon: 1 hr Rest day easy under 150W
Did my standard Goleta/University loop with my backpack fulled with clothes and food for a few days.
Tue: 2 hrs under 180W w/2×12 at 230W [see power graph]
Similar to last week on 101N to Refugio and back, but extended each interval to 12 minutes. First 12 minutes from freeway to just before El Capitan Ranch, second from just after El Capitan Ranch to Hollister offramp. The timing works out perfectly!
Wed: 2.5 hrs w/6×4 VO2 intervals [see power graph]
Wet ground and threat of rain, I chose to do these on OSM instead of 154 this time. To get the appropriate recovery I coasted...
§
Jan 10, 03:31 PM by Steve | Training 1/4-1/10
Posted in Cycling & Training | Comments [1]
I’m going to change up the format of these training logs a little bit. A brief overview of the week up front followed by the detailed daily information for those who care (probably just myself!).
This week, and the rest of the month, is about VO2. Coach says, “It is about pushing yourself as hard as you can physically and mentally. It should be hard the whole time, on the verge of blowing up.” Sounds painful, hehe. I’m doing two days each week with 24 minutes of VO2 intervals, one day climbing and one day on the flats.
In other training news, my legs are getting bigger. I thought maybe it was an illusion but the ruler read 22” around, about an inch more than sometime in December. I wonder how much an inch of leg weighs…
Total: 17 hrs, 306 miles, ~880 TSS, ~9,500kJ
Mon: 1 hr Rest day easy under 150W
Did my standard Goleta/University loop with my backpack fulled with clothes and food for the week. Truthfully I cheated a bit and Kim brought me more clothes and food later ;)
Tue: 2 hrs under 180W w/2×10 at 230W [see power graph]
There’s not many places in town I can go to get a good 10 minute uninterrupted run. This workout means another day on the freeway, 101N to Refugio and back. First 10’ from freeway to around Dos Pueblos Ranch, second from El Capitan Ranch to a mile or so out from Goleta. Getting better at holding steady power...
§
![[see power graph]](http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/8859.png){kind=link}
![[see power graph]](http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/8585.png){kind=link}
![[see power graph]](http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/8577.png){kind=link}
![[see power graph]](http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/8573.png){kind=link}